Buskers in association with Company Many present:

GAZE – research and development period

By Carolyn YatesDramaturgy/direction by Drew Taylor-Wilson

CASTING CALL: x3 female identifying performers, 50+WEDNESDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2020, GTAC – Govan, 10am – 1pm / 2pm – 5pm3 hour movement/text workshop – no need to prepare anything

We are looking for three performers identifying as women over 50 to work with new playwright Carolyn Yates and director/dramaturg Drew Taylor to create a script incorporating spoken word, poetic ‘voice’, physicality and musicality. The script will be a performative response to photographer Kim Ayres’ bold nude portraits of women over 50. As a feminist forged in the late 70s and early 80’s, Carolyn wants to challenge the contemporary media obsession with beauty and youth entwined, with the notion that old women are pitiful and powerless. ***PERFORMERS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TO BE NUDE***

Timescale: 18th to 21st March - 4 days resident in Castle Douglas – travel, accommodation and subsistence will be providedOn Saturday 21st March a work-in-progress sharing will be presented at Theatre Royal, Dumfries.

Rate of pay: £150 per day This project is supported by Bright Sparks, DG Unlimited https://www.dgunlimited.com/bright-sparks.html

“From the age of 11 when I started to dance seriously, we were constantly aware of what we looked like and how your body is feeling. Perhaps more aware now that I'm older because, again, there are sore bits and if you don't move around you know, you get stiff. So keep moving whatever happens”

“My relationship with my body... I've spent my life, since aged 13, not liking. Which is really sad. I've gone through my whole life thinking that I wouldn't be accepted unless I was a certain size. It's an onward struggle trying to change. But I'll get there”

“I don't feel in touch with my body any more. With my brain, yes, with everything, my experiences, my personality. But not with my body My body is just... I can't feel happy with my body anymore.Seriously. “

BIOGRAPHIES:

BUSKERS, is a spoken word and performance company celebrating the creative processes of women writers, performers and storytellers.

COMPANY MANY is an engine house for multi-art-form theatre performances, created by multifaceted practitioners. We aim to create a safe, nurturing space for dual authorship creatives to thrive and be challenged to develop and deliver high quality theatre. Our first production was THICK SKIN, ELASTIC HEART, funded by Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund. Company Many was founded in 2017 by Drew Taylor-Wilson and Lucy Wild.

CAROLYN YATES is a published poet and an emerging playwright, gaining an MSc in Playwriting from the University of Edinburgh in 2017. Her poetry is published in print in The St Giles Anthology, Southlight Magazine, Writers’ café, Northword and Domestic Cherry and on line at: #UsTogether ; LabLit Science verse series 26; London Grip; NatureVolve and on Stanza’s Poetry Map of Scotland. Her writing practice is rooted in feminism and her fascination with the impact science and technology has on women’s life-cycles. In 2017 she founded the charity, Performance Collective Stranraer, to nurture and develop young theatre makers’ ambitions and skills, appointing Drew Taylor-Wilson as its Artistic Director. In 2019 she was one of the thirteen artists awarded a Luminate Professional Development Bursary. In 2019 she was one of three artist awarded Bright Sparks funding by DG Unlimited for the development of Gaze.

DREW TAYLOR – Director/WriterDrew is an award winning multifaceted practitioner, with 12 years experience. Drew is hungry to expand and flourish spoken word and theatre audiences. His approach is three-fold, he is a director, writer and arts-in-education specialist and this project utilises all of these skills. Drew has previously directed Scottish Tours: 2012 Bright Night International’s Parkour Dance-Theatre production "JAMP"- touring across the Highlands, to the National Theatre’s outdoor stage in London and to theeaterszene festival in Cologne. Drew also directed and was dramaturg for 2016-18 Leyla Josephine’s solo poetic show "Hopeless". Drew has directed and written several poetic works previously: Commonwealth Games 2014 Cultural Commission "44 Stories" and post-referendum production "HOWL[ing]" both at the Arches Glasgow. His recent production "Avoidable Climbing" (TAKE ME SOMEWHERE – Somewhere New Commisssion 2018, Citizens Theatre) heavily featured poetic writing in contemporary performance. He is the Artistic Director of Performance Collective Stranraer their most recent production "Remote Control" by Performance Collective Stranraer in collaboration with National Theatre of Scotland toured across Scotland in 2018. Drew is the current lead artist for Scottish Youth Theatre's MAKING SPACE programme, mentoring 6 emerging theatre artists for presentation at REP STRIPPED, DUNDEE REP, he is directing Kev P Gilday's new show "Suffering From Scottishness" and providing directing/dramaturgy support for Leyla Josephine on "Daddy Drag”. Find out more about Drew here.