Ikebana Performance & Companions of Pram
Come forth people of the city, under the cover of night
Citizens! Your Town Hall announces a secret ceremony for its public. A performative journey served with food and wine.
Come forth people of the city, residents and visitors alike, rally to your Town Hall under the cover of night.
‘Come forth people of the city, under the cover of night’ by Ikebana
Performance and Companions of Pram at PANDA-monium 2007.
Photo by Stacey Potter.
For a single eve you may sit upon the driving seat of the city, be raised aloft the familiar pavements & placed alongside the powers that be, the them, the they & the nameless few who know all. Every city has a heart and tonight you will catch it beating.
Rants, chants and lullabies will weave within conversation.
Ballroom dancing, snail pacing and shin-digging will deviate us from the familiar corridors, all as the midnight toast approaches.
You may find yourself taken to one side & whispered a forgotten story or perhaps carried along in a throng toward an unknown destination, either way, many nooks & crannies of the Town Halls past present & future will be prised asunder, as its public gather within their civic head-quarters for an evening of business & pleasure.
Tonight, we shall ring the bells, peel back the wallpaper and raise a glass to the dawn!
‘Come forth people of the city, under the cover of night’ is a theatre piece by Ikebana Performance and Companions of Pram, that will take you on a performative tour of Manchester Town Hall, a journey through the belly and brains of the Council, their meetings, practices and other special things that are lesser known.
Biographies
Ben Faulks – Companions of Pram
Ben Faulks grew up in Cornwall, studied performance at Bretton Hall School of Dance & Drama & then moved to Manchester in 2001. During this time he has worked as an Actor, Musician, Writer, Educational Artist & is currently a green room associate artist.
The majority of time has been spent working under the name of Johnothan Pram; a solo project that produced three shows, all featuring the character in sets of varying circumstances. Johnothan Pram went on to tour regionally & nationally during 2005 – 06 & received a Manchester Evening News Award for Best Fringe Performer 2004
Since this project concluded, focus has been placed upon collaboration most notably with Jonathan McGrath on the Town Hall Performance Project. Having ear-marked a collaborative effort for some time, here lies an exciting opportunity to explore site specific performance & devising techniques with another local artist.
Ikebana Performance
From its founding in 2001 Ikebana Performance has built theatre pieces that invigorate the way in which theatre is made and viewed. In its timed it has become Associate Artist at the Contact, Manchester, greenroom, Manchester, the Lowry, Salford and also the National Youth Theatre. The company has completed a one year “@ home” residency at the Contact, in association with the Zion Arts Centre during which time the company developed SKITTISH a promenade performance which was performed at the Contact Theatre and also the Royal Court Theatre in London as part of the Young Writers series. SKITTISH was nominated for Best New Play at the Manchester Evening News theatre Awards 04. Also the company has produced The Horse Of Death and Four Second Fool for the greenroom.
The company comprises of Artistic Director Jonathan McGrath who was classically trained in theatre acting at Manchester Metropolitan University, and trainee Administrative Producer Rowena Reekie who graduated in 2005 from Salford University.
The company are currently based at greenroom, Manchester.
2007 sees the development of a new piece titled Canada Square and The Blue Eyed Devil and the promenade town hall show, ‘Come forth people of the city, under the cover of night’.