We meet Joanne

Last night Joanne B Kaar arrived on the island with her husband Joe. They have driven down from their house by Dunnet Head in Caithness and are camping at Berneray hostel. Joanne has been working alongside the Horse + Bamboo arts team on this project for a few months now but, in all that time we've never met or even spoken to one another on the phone. But now, at last, we meet. Joanne has four large chicken feed sacks of grass weavings modelled on the work of Angus McPhee, and this morning she empties them into Berneray Community Hall, where we're working on the set. The hall now looks like this:

In the background is the model for the set that we've now completed and dressed in rough cloths. Chris, Joanne and I spent the afternoon going through the script, looking at what we might concentrate on on Thursday when the rest of the party arrive, and how we could best use Joannes remarkable woven pieces. 

Every rock has a name

Chris and Mary's house - where we're staying on Berneray

Guest spot by  Loz Kaye :

Monday was a significant day for me, with a visit to Lews College on Benbecula which hosts a Gaelic music course. In our conception of the show, traditional music has always been a vital thread, or piece of grass, to weave in to the overall production. For many of our shows recently the soundtrack has been recorded, or had a minimal element of live music or song. However with the Angus show right from the very first discussions we have wanted to have a live musician or singer. This is in particular to reflect the musical and bard traditions of the islands themselves. 

Equally, I am keen that the music of the show is grounded in folk song and melody. Music is very good at evoking a sense of place - as I have found with the Horse and Bamboo shows Veil and Little Leap Forward for example. But it is particularly important for this project where the musical tradition is so related to songs evoking specific places in the Isles, the villages, causeways, seascapes, rocks and fields that make up the setting of the narrative.

The college is quite a small building, but it comes alive with the sound of lilting song from one practice room and vigorous fiddle playing from another. I met with course head Anna-Wendy Stevenson, renowned fiddle player and composer, to outline the project and enlist help for my search for the right material and performer. She arranged for me to meet the students, a bright, varied and engaged bunch. They quickly assembled a song list centering on the key ideas of home, exile, and loss. We had a wide ranging discussion, including the importance of the landscape in local culture, as student Kathy put it, "every rock has a name". 

I also met with singing tutor Paul McCallum. He was very helpful pointing me in the direction of useful source materials as well as providing perspective on the music itself. As well as singing a couple of the tunes he mentioned for me himself in his beautiful and distinctive tone. He was very interested in the project and seems assured of its success - a confidence we would do well to communicate to funding bodies and potential sponsors. 

I had already discussed with the students the question of what traditional music is, and issues of authenticity, accuracy and innovation. Literally thousands of Gaelic songs have existed, in various versions according to different singers, and new lyrics are still written - it is certainly not a question of a canon set in stone or a museum piece. Paul's answer to these questions was this: "What is traditional music? It is music that has not been put in a straitjacket and is free." 

Paul also had insights in to Angus McPhee's life, having been cook at Uist House where Angus ended his days. He described him as a very private person, he would get up to have a bath at 2 in the morning, and also a very spiritual man. As Paul put it "He was crucified" - by being taken to Craig Dunain. On the one hand he was perhaps more damaged than saved by being sent there, yet in Paul's opinion, he would not have begun the weaving without it.

One of the main themes that recurred in today's discussions was the necessity for Angus of making his creations to survive. To all of us it was an idea that resonated, that art, craft and music are not just a luxury or add on, it is fundamental to the survival of our culture, and who we are as human beings. 

Perhaps I'll leave the last words to one of the songs Paul directed me to:

Fhir a théid a null a dh'Uibhist

'Nad fhear turuis air a bhàta,

Gheibh the eachdraidh ann ad uidhe,

'S gheibh thu spionnadh ann ad shláinte.

You who travel over to Uist by boat will find history on your route and will strengthen your health.

I'm feeling better already.

An important day

Today turned out to be an important day for us. Mairi MacInnes, the headteacher of Iochdar School and Chairperson of Ceolas, met us outside the school, and along with Mary Schmoller, took us on a tour of the area - taking in Angus McPhee's birthplace, school, the church where he was baptised, the machair and beach areas where Angus worked, the site of the old post office where he would have received his call-up papers and, finally, his last resting place. All the time the two kept up a conversation about the life of the crofting community at Iochdar; telling us all that they knew about Angus both before and after his life in Craig Dunain. They were also very interested in our intentions with the production about Angus, and we began to talk a little about the sensitivities of the subject for his family. 

Angus's school group, 1930. Angus is far left on the top row. His sisters are on
the next row down, on the far right. 

Angus's sister Peggie - Margaret MacPhee Cross - died in 2007, 10 years
after Angus, and was buried in Iochdar cemetery. We were told that Angus is
buried next to his sister, in a site without a headstone.

Mairi and Mary had also arranged for us to meet John Campbell, Angus's nephew. John received us warmly and kindly, but it quickly became apparent that he was also rather nervous about how we might portray his uncle who, he emphasised, was a gentle man. Following on from the earlier conversations as we drove around it was clear to us how odd it must be for the family, even the wider local community, to have a member all but disappear for 40 years; then reappear; and finally and suddenly become a figure of interest to the wider world. After all, Loz and I are total strangers; we're non-Gaelic speakers and can probably understand little of the world that Angus was born into; and then, suddenly, we're standing on the doorstep, asking personal questions about a close relative!

We did our best to reassure John. We explained that our theatre piece would be largely non-verbal,  that it in essence it wouldn't deal in facts or figures, but would be a poetic, visionary, response to the story of his uncle.  Throughout John remained very friendly, and I promised to keep him informed about our work. He had read Roger Hutchinson's book about Angus in draft and appreciated it's honesty and accuracy.  Finally I showed him the puppet of Angus as a young boy, and my mask of Angus as an old man. He said the mask was a great likeness, and things relaxed. Stories were told about Angus's home coming as an old man, and we began to laugh together at these. It turned out that when I worked up here in the 1980s I had met people that John also knew, and in some cases was related to; people like Fr. Colin Macinnes of Barra, who I (similarly in some ways) had to convince of the virtues of our show Seol that eventually toured the islands.

This period of research into our production is clearly so necessary. If I ever wondered if it would be something of a luxury for us, given our tight budget, today has convinced me that it has already proved to be absolutely essential. In order for us to get under the skin of this story - but also to test our ideas and our experience in the very place where its subject was born.  

Angus's house

At the top, the house in July 2010; below in May 2011. It's noticeable that the old thatch has fallen on the left hand side, exposing more of the roof supports.

Loz and I had a useful day - visiting the museum at Kildonan and discussing the lack of any information about Angus McPhee. The woman at the desk was anxious that they updated their displays to include something - interesting that although she hadn't heard of Angus, a visitor who was sailing round the Western Isles knew a lot about him having bought Joyce Laing's 'Weaver of Grass' book at Taigh Chearsabhagh. 

The museum is very interesting, particularly its collection of photographs of island life. The photo below, of a man making rope from horse-hair is from their archive. It demonstrates the kind of craft work that Angus would have known and clearly informed his activities in Craig Dunain psychiatric hospital. 

Chris, who does the Saturday post round here, was today talking with an island woman who knew Craig Dunain from the time Angus was there. She remembers walking in the grounds of the hospital (apparently footpaths went through) and seeing Angus's work all over the place, hanging from trees, under bushes - even glimpsing him working away at his weaving. She said she never dared touch anything. 

To finish today, the sign I love to see as we cross back to Berneray. In the distance, on the opposite shore, you can just make out Chris's house, where we're staying.

Big Dog and Gloomy Dog

Unfortunately I don't speak Gaelic. I know a few words and I also have the Briathrachan app on my iphone i.e a Gaelic-English dictionary. From these limited sources I've excited myself by working out that the two rocks that welcome you to Lochmaddy harbour (above) are the Big Dog and the Gloomy Dog. Even that Lochmaddy itself - Loch Nam Madadh in Gaelic, means the Loch of the Dogs. Actually, and to be precise, Briathrachand says that madadh can mean any wild animal, but somehow I prefer dog. Perhaps because I'm missing my own two, big dog and gloomy dog. 

To tell the story in sequence, I should have started with this photograph, taken from MV Hebrides as we left Uig bay in Skye:

We arrived at Chris Spears lovely house on Berneray at midday. Had a brew together and I then took Loz on a short tour of the island, checking out the Community Hall (where we'll be working next week) and the wonderful hostel (where Alison, Christina and Jonny will be staying when they arrive in the middle of the week). We then went to Taigh Chearsabhagh, stocked up with Weaver of Grass books (Joyce Laing's very special book about Angus McPhee) and introduced ourselves to the Director, Andy Mackinnon. 

Outside the hostel (above - it's right on the beach), Loz swung straight into action, trying out his new gizmo, a smart new palm size 24-bit recording studio. The lower photograph is Loz recording the sound of the waves on the beach, unfortunately slightly marred by the sound of the wind.

Getting Myself Prepared Day

Today is a Getting Myself Prepared Day for our visit to Uist and Berneray next week.   

 

Loz and I will be driving up on Thursday - Loz to meet Anna-Wendy Stevenson and talk with other local musicians; myself to work with Chris Spears on putting together a rough stage-set for later the following week when Joanne B Kaar, plus Alison (with Christina and Jonny) arrive. Together we'll spend a couple of days workshopping ideas for the show - and putting together a 5-minute performance for the National Theatre of Scotland film.

There's going to be a lot of improvisation involved in the couple of days we have together in Berneray Community Hall. We'll be taking up a number of masks, puppets and films to play around with. Chris has told me we'll have 4 x 500w lamps, a rack and dimmer board available. He also pointed out (memories of our horse-drawn days flood back) that the hall has a domestic-type 13amp power circuit and we won't be able to draw much more power than this (plus sound and video) in any case. He has a simple but decent CD player we can use too, while Christina will bring projectors, a Mac with Q-lab, and film equipment that we'll need to operate the technical equipment. 

Joanne will (possibly) improvise some grass shadow puppets once we meet up on the island. I'm really looking forward to meeting Joanne, who has thrown herself into this work despite never have met me - come to think of it we've never even spoken on the phone; everything has been done through email.

In addition to the workshopping and rehearsing, there are publicity shots to be taken for future marketing of the show, and material to gather in order to provide content for animations and film-work to be used in the show, as well as recording material for the soundtrack of the production. On our return journey we'll be making a diversion to Fife, where we'll record Joyce Laing reading extracts from her book 'Weaver of Grass'.

Above is a horse-in-the-making, a puppet Alison is trying to get ready for the trip, and at the top two of the Angus masks that have been brought to a further stage of their painting.

The nightmare of war

After taking a few days out for a sunny Easter and the various holidays we're back at Horse + Bamboo and suddenly our visit to Uist and Berneray seems just round the corner. There's still a million jobs to do - programmes to design for the Puppet Festival in July; helping Helen write applications for funding support for the Angus tour in 2012; planning for the next productions here (including Alison's version of The Nightingale), auditions, and more...

But also of course there's the jobs we MUST get completed before I set off to the islands in a weeks time. Making a tweed hat for Angus; finishing the horse puppet; cutting a window in the back screen for the set; more repainting of masks, finding costumes, and creating a short animation to try out front projections over the stage action. 

The picture above is a still from the animated film - there will be four main film and animation sections in the show. The first to set the scene and portray the view out of the window of Angus's small croft house. The second the wartime nightmares and return home from the front; a third will be the garden of Craig Dunain, and a final film will be the return to Uist as an old man. The photograph above is from the second animation - the nightmare of war.