Interview: Doug Francisco, Invisible Circus

Doug Francisco of Bristol’s Invisible Circus and Artspace Lifespace introduces The Loco Klub, the companies’ new venue beneath Brunel’s Passenger Shed, which has already hosted Raucous’ brilliant The Stick House and is now home to a thriving weekly comedy night and more 

Tell us the Loco Klub story then, Doug.
I have been interested in the subterranean section of the station at Temple Meads for some time and was in the final three choices for a commission through the Enterprise Zone based around the station. So I started to make enquiries. Turns out that the tunnels under the actual station are really tricky to use but the former station master was kind enough to show us around, he mentioned some other spaces under the Passenger Shed in the Council’s care so I made some enquiries with Ruth Essex [BCC’s Capacity regeneration project] and discovered this hidden (and dusty) gem.

What did you find there?
The tunnels are very atmospheric – and also much better laid out, from a health and safety point of view, than the ones under the station. They are completely blacked out and already make for amazing performance spaces. 
We then discovered, on a later visit, the remains of the old Great Western Railway Social club bar rooms on the front, which still had the old flock wall paper hanging on the walls and an amazing original alcove stage. It’s like a mini music hall: you could already feel the history and atmosphere and sense that it would be a magical thing to bring back to life.
That mixed with the unique and unusual aesthetic of the whole site was what I loved about it: the arches held up Brunel’s original station and were the ash pits for the huge steam trains above to empty into. With our passion for old spaces, it ticked all the boxes for us.

How long will you be occupying the space?
It was a short term agreement and still is really, that we could use it until the new electric line to London goes in up above and Network Rail take over the site. That was originally a year away but now seems likely to be two or three years at least. We independently fund-raised around £15,000 for the project and, with the support of Artspace Lifespace and The Invisible Circus, got it up and running in time to house Raucous’ The Stick House back in September. 
We hope to complete all the essential works, to increase capacity in the tunnels, early next year – and to have the place fully operational by the spring.
There are no real plans for the space as far as we can tell, so I am hoping it may go on for some time to come and continue to be a platform for creativity in the city.

Does Bristol still feel as exciting as when The Invisible Circus first arrived here in 2005, taking over spaces like the old Audi garage on Cheltenham Road (now Boston Tea Party) and Clifton’s Pro Cathedral?
Bristol has changed a lot since then – it still is exciting but in a different way. It’s lost a bit of its raw edge, and space is a lot less available as more and more development is taking over.
It’s ironic of course that the very raw creativity that made the city so attractive is now of course being slowly edged out, or at best squashed and sanitised. Things need to be more businesslike to compete now, an unfortunate symptom of how things work in commercial spaces. That said, there is still a lot of really exciting stuff happening and it’s a good thing that Bristol is acknowledging the creativity it’s so famous for.
But doors are definitely closing. Where before developers and property managers were open to suggestions, in the economic downtimes they are a lot less so. Likewise the government’s slash and burn policy across the board has really limited the rates relief that artists used to be able to get. As far as Artspace Lifespace and The Invisible Circus are concerned, it does not really allow us to undertake big projects anymore, as the rental price would have to be so high to cover commercial business rates. It’s now geared towards small, pop-up projects only. 

How are things back at The Island?
The Island is still going strong, providing a huge creative service to the city and hosting an awesome multi-arts programme of events. Thanks to the dedication of Dina Ntziora and the team there, The Island has become something inspiring, a signature project for the city. I am immensely proud of how The Island has developed and gone on to be a more permanent fixture after we took it on as a short term project – we’ve now been there eight years and counting.   
But to my mind it is really tragic and grossly unfair that these cultural projects are treated the same as commercial entities, so we have to pay the same business rates as Costa Coffee or Tesco who are making billions in profit. Under the glossy veneer of how Bristol loves and supports the arts these are the actual cold hard facts of the matter, and though it would convenient to lay this at the door of Bristol Council: it’s actually the government turning the thumb screws.

Tell us what’s planned for this weekend and beyond.
We have a couple of great events in next week. Bristol Underground Comedy [see our review of the first BUC here] has been packing the house every week and treturns this Thursday. On Friday, we have This Happened Bristol, who have been championing some amazing stuff this year, doing their final event of the year. On Saturday night, meanwhile, we host the incredible Mr Vast, a musical comedy performance artist who’s coming all the way from Leipzig. 
We have also had the immense pleasure of working with Impermanence Dance Theatre co and some of the variety acts from The Invisible Circus on some floor-based cabaret nights entitled The Last Train Kabaret, which will be rolling out for our big New Year’s Eve event.
Elsewhere, the Invisible Circus Creation Space project in St Philip’s has also been going from strength to strength. We opened this space up for some shows as part of Circus City Festival, which was a really beautiful experience. It was great to have an audience in our creation space, and we are planning another Cabaret Klub event  there over Valentine’s weekend. Watch this space!

The Loco Klub is an Invisible Circus – Artspace Lifespace partnership project. For more info, visit www.invisiblecircus.co.uk and www.artspacelifespace.com