Biped Monitor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My third creative adventure this week happened yesterday again in the evening. I had purchased myself a ticket for an event, which was part of the local Nunhead Cemetery in South London and described as, “ a surreal performance at dusk in the trees, chapel and avenues of Nunhead cemetery.”

Organised by Arbonauts performance collective, Biped Monitor is experiential theatre including a cast of physical performers, a choir of 20+ local singers, classical musicians, soloists and operatic works inspired by William Blake and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

A cemetery is an unusual setting for a play but given that it is the home of so many who onced lived, a perfect setting for stored stories in one place.

I find it rewarding to have something creative to do in the evenings that drags me from collapsing on my sofa or reminding myself of how much work I still have to do.

The whole atmosphere around the event means that as a spectator one is invited to be present and to be really there. From the start we were asked to switch off mobile phones and not to take any photo’s to distract the actor.

We arrived and were instructed to stand behind a green line. Then in batches of seven or eight we were invited one by one to slowly walk the gravel path that leads to the ruined chapel in the centre of the cemetery. Lining the path from top to bottom were the choir draped in whote robes.

Our walk along the path was accompanied by choral singing, chanting and reciting imitations of animal noises. It was enchanting and at moments haunting.

I liked the fact we had to walk on our own without speaking even though the woman behind me overtook me and walked briskly forward overtaking several others. Her fast walking, despite being invited to slow it down reminded of a conversation in a DVD I watched last week entitled The Way where a father (Martin Sheen) is walking the pilgrimage of The Camino de Santiago, a Catholic pilgrimage route to the Catholic cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain following the death of his son whilst walking the pilgrimage. One of Sheen’s companions along the way comments that he is walking so fast he is missing everything.

I won’t go into everything about the Biped Monitor production, lets’ just say it was haunting, evocative and bizarre in places and I am still unsure about what I was watching. But it was captivating and a sensual experience to watch dusk fall and to see the actors shadows lengthen against the backdrop of the walls of the chapel ruins. The light was superb as dusk fell. I just wished we had been allowed to use our camera’s more at that point (I did steal a few shots, albeit on the iphone, not very good though) towards the end).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the performance what I really connected with is the value and the importance of slowing down. The mindful walk along the gravel path at the start of the performance reminded me of how many times during my day I could do with slowing myself right down, taking a breath and becoming more mindful. So many of my coaching conversations are about slowing down. Of making time to breathe and smell the roses as a way of really fine tuning our awareness and capacity to make better, more informed choices rather than rush to make quick and hasty decisions that have not been thought through.

Yesterday morning on my way to a coaching session in central London I was shoved several times by individuals whose whole bodies were contorted signaling a non-verbal message, “Get out of my way. I’m in a hurry.” I kept stopping noticing and breathing and using each moment to return if even for a few seconds into my own body.

My creative adventures this week has made me remember how important it is to make this time to feed my own creativity and what it does for the thinking quality of my own thoughts and how this enables me to deepen into my work as a coach and a writer on many levels in a way that makes me more alive and helps me create work and words that have meaning.

I plan to create an Autumn/Winter 2013 Creativity Curriculum Class for the next six months to continue this creative input. I have an eclectic taste culturally so I am open to being fed creatively from many sources.

Why not join me by creating your own CCC. I will be posting more events as I complete between now and December 2013.