'In a Teacup' brought the stories collected in 'The night that I was born' to life in a short, 20minute performance. Encapsulated within and around the specially made 'Birthtent' the artists used shadows, songs, narrated stories and everyday, household objects to explore Birth and its meaning.
In this new form the stories were given back to those who had shared them. Grandparents, godparents, aunts, brothers and sisters could recognise their own story of the night they were born in relation to the whole myth of birth.
The
performance took stories back to Lowick school, a small, rurally isolated
school whose twenty pupils had all spoken to the scribe. The children
discovered a corner of their classroom to be transformed and huddled around
to watch. The atmosphere of the performances was informal, to drink tea
with one another before sharing our family myths and histories. One felt
that a conversation was taking place, that the spoken stories had become
part of a larger dialouge within the community. Generations sat together
to watch 'In a Teacup' at Ellerside sheltered housing. Greatgranny, Granny
and Grandson watched these universal experiences delicately portrayed
in light and shadow, song and silence.
