This is the seventh in our series of interviews with visiting artists who are at the Brewhouse as part of the Distillery Takeover week between Mon 20 – Sat 25 September. They are receiving seed funding and organisational support to help develop their ideas, which will be presented as a ‘scratch’ performance to a live audience at the end of the week.
This is an incredibly exciting initiative to encourage and support artists and companies, made possible by funding from the Weston Culture Fund, specifically for a programme of activity to develop and support regional artists under Taunton Brewhouse’s Distillery strand.
We thought it would be great to get to know the artists a bit better, so we have asked them some questions – some serious – some less so.
Next up is Bee Taylor. Bee has very recently graduated from University of Exeter, where with Finlay and Josie, she took part in Spotlights – a musical theatre show choir which performs in Exeter and Edinburgh three times a year. The three of them say that being part of Spotlights has inspired them to utilise music as part of their collaborative theatre process.
With playwright Jack Hart, they will be using Distillery Takeover as a week to explore and experiment with their theatre-making practice and devise a new piece called THERE’S NO TIME (THE WORLD IS DYING). The company describe this as a “radical performance project exploring and challenging the potential of theatre as a means of responding to the climate emergency”.
So Bee:
- How are you feeling about putting on a performance in five days?
I feel surprisingly relaxed. Before we started rehearsals, I was wondering how in the world will we do this?’, but now we’re in the room I feel trust in the process. I feel like no matter what we end up with, I’ll be grateful to share the stage with the wonderful people I’ve been collaborating with.
- What are the challenges?
A real challenge is coming back to the vulnerable position of bearing your soul to other people after being away from in-person theatre-making for so long. To be back in a space where you need to give yourself so fully is scary – but also exciting. Another challenge is that it feels there is never enough time in the creative process – I think with creative projects they can keep going and going and going and evolving, so it never feels like you can be ‘finished’ with something and be ready to share it.
- What do you hope to get out of the experience?
The best part about working in the theatre for me is the freedom it gives you to connect with, and learn about, others. Also the way it challenges you to look at the world with new and differing focuses.
- What was your inspiration for the piece?
I hope to have the chance to experiment and create, but also to meet more creatives. So far, so good!
- What’s the best part for you about working in the theatre?
The best part about working in the theatre for me is the freedom it gives you to connect with, and learn about, others. Also the way it challenges you to look at the world with new and differing focuses.
6. And a last one because I’m nosey and love to know what people like– what’s the last book you read or film you watched?
The book I’m reading at the moment is Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo – I’m almost at the end and am loving it. The last book I read was Educated by Tara Westover which was really eye-opening.
