Theatre / visual storytelling
‘What Have You Lost?’ – The Cube hosts a visual storytelling experience
Artist Raina Monteith is a firm believer in the power of visual storytelling. It’s “an interplay of emotion, motivation and lived experience,” they say. “Stories bind, expand and transmit.”
Monteith’s work constructs temporary new communities, bringing people together through a sharing of experiences, and collective engagement.
In what is billed as an experimental theatre show, What Have You Lost? – coming to The Cube over the weekend of October 22-23 – they will be telling four personal stories in four very different ways.
is needed now More than ever
Terreka Baptiste, thinking about titles
For the artist, placing distinct narratives together helps people to notice commonalities, celebrate differences, find empathy, and process pain.
“It is built around forming connections, and finding new spaces of hope and collaboration. This work grapples with storytelling and why it is so important; reminding us we are not alone and that we exist.”
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The participants in the project are Terreka Baptiste, George Avill, mElanffro Madziva, and Simon Sofowora, all of whom responded to an initial call out before sitting down with Monteith to discuss their lives, and losses.
Baptiste’s piece, Love, is the apology that she would like to hear from her mother and her partner.
Madziva’s story Harmonic Convergence is an exploration of transformation, as well as the personal experience of having their queer identity denied as a child.
Rewriting a classic children’s book in order to access a difficult and confusing childhood memory is the theme of Avill’s Cutting with Elation.
George Avil drawing with their eyes closed
And in Duct Tape, Sofowora delves into depression through dance, poetry and a prop boat.
The participants have utilised actors, dancers, costume and props to give themselves some distance from their narratives, and give them a more objective lens.
Vanguard and Saili Katebe rehearsing Simon Sofowora’s story performed in a boat
Each story will be accompanied by specially made snacks made up of food and flavours that link to their creators, along with a live soundtrack from Mr Kit.
“It has been such an honour for me to learn so much about and work with these people, reflects Monteith, “and what they have made has blown me away.”
One of four What Have You Lost poster designs
What Have You Lost? is at The Cube on October 22 at 8pm (doors 7pm) and October 22 at 3pm (doors 2pm). More information can be found at www.cubecinema.com, and tickets are available via www.headfirstbristol.co.uk.
All photos: courtesy of Raina Monteith/What Have You Lost? (main photo shows Terreka Baptiste drawing with her eyes closed)
Read more: Crick Crack Club hosts a night of stories in the dark
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