Preview: Interval Takeover, Wardrobe Theatre

This Friday and Saturday (Sept 21-22), Bristol-based collective Interval set up camp at the Wardrobe Theatre and Old Market Assembly with a thrilling programme of performance, sound and film.

Based in a room above St Nicholas Market, the collective’s fields of interest span live art, contemporary theatre, dance, visual art, community work and sound art – so strap yourselves in for a fascinatingly eclectic couple of days.

Here are Interval’s Rachael Clerke and Alex Goodman to tell us more.

So, what is Interval and what do you do?
Interval is a collective of around 18 performance makers who share a big room above St Nick’s Market (look up at the clock on the front of the market, we’re right behind it!).
We all make very different work – dance, sound, devised theatre, physical theatre, live art, installation, writing, storytelling, walkabout.
It can be lonely being self-employed: we work alongside each other, helping and sharing early ideas. We also share rehearsal space and equipment: collectively, we are much better resourced than we could ever be as individuals and small companies.

And how did the Takeover weekend come into being?
We did our first takeover in 2016, in response to the fact that many of us – despite touring nationally and internationally – rarely perform in the city where we make our work. It’s a labour of love, but a lot of fun. An opportunity to share with each other and with people in our home city.

Interval fill the Wardrobe Theatre and adjoining Old Market Assembly with performance, sound and film on Sept 21-22. Pic: Paul Blakemore

What are your hopes for the weekend – both for audiences and yourselves?
Audiences will see a different kind of festival programme. They might watch something they know they will like, followed by something they would never normally go to see, followed by a work in progress of something totally unexpected. We are curating by community, rather than genre or subject matter. This leaves space for slippages and unusual pairings.
And for us, it’s a chance to perform in Bristol, to try something new, to revive something old, to test ideas and to all be together.

What can visitors expect over the weekend?
This year’s programme is really exciting. Alongside our members, we also have three Taiwanese artists in residency with us for two months, who will be showing the work they make in Bristol. Visitors can expect karaoke, a Cornish sound installation, guided walks around Old Market, a grief party, Donald Trump drag, hyper-femininity, resistance gone awry, a tea ceremony, lip-synching, evasive answers, ancestral landscapes and robots.
Everything is pay what you can, and performances will take place in the Wardrobe Theatre, in the bar at the Old Market Assembly and outside on Old Market.

And what’s the best way to experience the Takeover? Dip in and out or stay for longer periods?
Watch a show, get a drink, experience an installation, eat some food, watch another show, go to a talk, get another drink… that sort of thing! We’d say make a weekend of it, but it can be experienced any way you like. One thing we would say is: take a punt on something you wouldn’t normally go to see. There’ll be lots of opportunities to experience something new.

Interval Takeover 2018 Sept 21-22, Wardrobe Theatre / Old Market Assembly. For more info, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/interval-takeover