Re:Voice

  • 2023 – ongoing
  • Tate St Ives
  • Photography: Steve Tanner
  • Trailer: Neal Megaw

Stop. 
When do you stop? 
Together. In a place where you are.  
Just being. 
Remembering it’s been here for a long time. 
There were people here. 
Who created it. 
They are your ancestors. 
We exist now in the space they built. 
So from time to time. 
Stop. 
And be, 
Together. 
In a place where you are.

Re:Voice is a participatory theatre performance created as a part of the international academic research Re-voicing cultural landscapes: narratives, perspectives, and performances of marginalised intangible cultural heritage (Re:voice). The piece aims to provide new perspectives on a key research question of the project: How can a better understanding of the interplay between majority and minority in relation to intangible cultural heritage enable us to make European indigenous cultures more visible and resilient? The larger Re:voice project focuses on marginalised cultures across several countries, but the performance being a part of the project’s research in Cornwall focuses on the project’s data from Penwith.

The work draws on the research interviews from Cornwall and was co-written and co co-created with a community choir from Penzance, Tuesday Night Fun Club.
Collected stories and conversations addressing issues of belonging, identity, heritage and the interplay between majority and minority build a narrative delivered through performance, movement, sound and video. The performance was devised, created and rehearsed through a series of workshops involving invited artists, designed to exchange experiences through conversations, play, singing and actions. As the landscape plays a huge part in constructing our identities, the work centred around the main space of the gallery but also takes the audience for a processional walk connecting various gallery rooms and the space outside – allowing the audience to experience the performance not only intellectually and emotionally, but also physically through the journey across the space.
The show is designed to perform seasonally in various spaces, from a gallery to an orchard, from a stage to an outside space.

The show premiered on April 29th, 2023 at Tate St Ives.

Tuesday Night Fun Club Choir:

And Wilkey
Brenda Loader
Claire Bradley
Ellie Moseley
Emily Faulkner
Fi Read
Fran Driscoll
Helen Burgess
Jilly Hellerman
Judith Kerr
Hannah Bullock
Lesley Billingham
Mary Ann Bloomfield
Paula Fairweather
Penny Monger
Prue Rhys-Box
Rachel Gregory
Sarah Jane Andrewartha
Suze White
Tiina McCreedy
Flo Puddifoot
Jan Kirman
Karen Pirie
Claud Tonietto
Tasha Otto
Darcey Ball
Lucy Birbeck
Julia Cottam
Julie Macara
Maria McEwen
Kia Lucas
Sarah Williams
Eggy Ray

Director – Agnieszka Błońska

Composer & Choir Leader – Victoria Abbott

Choreographer – Jennifer Fletcher

Solo Choreography – Claud Tonietto

Creative Producer – Charlie Bunker

Video & Lighting Design – Joshua Pharo

Technician/Stage Manager – Louis King

Vocal support – Emily Faulkner

Technical support from AMATA, Falmouth University – Peter Hooper, James Scarle, Oliver Meyrick

Associate Producer – Gabby Vautier

Maker of the Golowan head sculpture – Graham Jobbins

Composer of the final song – Julia Macara

In collaboration with Falmouth University, the Tate St Ives Gallery and St Ives Community Orchard.

Funded and supported by Arts Council England, Feast Cornwall, Falmouth University and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.