East End Review

Tag: Rich Mix

  • The Passion of Lady Vendredi: Rich Mix to stage ‘blaxploitation epic’

    The Passion of Lady Vendredi: Rich Mix to stage ‘blaxploitation epic’

    Lady Vendredi by Jordan John
    ‘Blaxploitation heroine’: Lady Vendredi by John Jordan

    An immersive and explosive piece of musical theatre is set to kick off this month’s Arts Ensemble at Rich Mix.

    Part cabaret, part gig, The Passion of Lady Vendredi has been described as a “mytho-poetic epic chronicling the misadventures, quest and ultimate revenge of a blaxploitation heroine.”

    Fresh from a successful run at Soho Theatre, the immersive piece sees the eponymous Lady Vendredi rise through the ranks of extreme feminist cult M.A.M.A. (Mothers Against Male Aggression) who believe a female paradise can only be established by starting a gender war.

    Lady Vendredi is the alter-ego of Nwando Ebizie, a Hackney-based composer, recording artist, DJ and performer who runs the experimental theatre company Mas Productions with director Jonathan Grieve.

    “From an audience perspective the experience is going into a mythological space akin to a Greek Hades or a post-apocalyptic feminist cult,” Ebizie says.

    “There’s going to be an initiation and the audience is part of it, so it’s not like sitting down and watching a play.”

    The idea for the character of Lady Vendredi is a hybrid of evangelical preacher and northern male comedian, Ebizie explains.

    “I’m really into black preachers and how when you watch their ceremonies they’re like pop stars.

    “But Lady Vendredi has her own alter egos that she transforms into during the show. One of them is influenced by white working class comedians.

    Ebzie was brought up in Oldham, and the idea of playing a character who is a charismatic master of ceremonies one moment, white male northern comedian the next, was born through the weight of expectation she felt getting up on stage as a black woman.

    “There’s a narrative that people expect when you’re a black woman performer, so I thought I’d give the audience something they wouldn’t expect,” she says.

    “When I was first starting out I think people wanted to see an amazing, glamorous soul song diva – and if that’s not you then people seem to get confused. So I began to play on that.”

    Allusions to myths and fairytales abound, and the show even references voodoo – something Ebizie developed an interest in whilst researching her ancestry in Nigeria.

    “I’m Igbo, which is a people from Nigeria, and I wanted to find out more about our rituals and dances pre-colonialism,” she explains.

    “It was quite difficult until we happened to meet a Haitian voodoo dance teacher.

    “It came about that the mythology, the ritual and rhythms and even the symbolic art, came from an Igbo indigenous script.

    “I thought it was amazing that I was finding out about possible historical ancestry through a place that is miles and miles away from my original homeland.”

    One review of the show from its run at Soho Theatre earlier this year suggested audience members have a drink or two beforehand. How involved is it for audience members?

    “You don’t have to do anything like that,” she assures. “Basically it’s just like going to a gig where weird stuff happens.

    “It’s not one of these immersive shows where you have to pretend to be a dog or anything like that.”

    The Passion of Lady Vendredi
    8 July
    Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, E1 6LA
    richmix.org.uk

  • Saved! Rich Mix is no longer under threat of closure

    Saved... Rich Mix
    Saved… arts organisation Rich Mix

    Rich Mix is no longer at risk of closing down after resolving its long-running financial dispute with Tower Hamlets Council.

    The arts organisation has agreed to repay a £850,000 loan and, in turn, the council has handed over just under £1.6 million owed to Rich Mix under the terms of a planning agreement for a nearby development.

    A statement agreed by Rich Mix and Tower Hamlet dated 25 September reads:

    “Tower Hamlets Council and Rich Mix Cultural Foundation are pleased to announce that they have resolved the disputes between them and have brought an end to the legal proceedings currently in the High Court. The resolution of these disputes secures Rich Mix’s future and will benefit all of its stakeholders, users and the residents of Tower Hamlets.

    “As part of the resolution, Rich Mix has received Section 106 monies agreed by the council’s Strategic Development Committee in August 2010 and has, in turn, agreed to repay the £850,000 loan given by the council to Rich Mix in 2003 and make a payment in respect of certain external costs.”

    In an open letter, Rich Mix Chief Executive Jane Earl thanked the public for their “unfailing support”.

    Since the East End Review first revealed news of the dispute in January, a petition to save Rich Mix on change.org has received 17,424 signatories, with messages of support beamed onto their building in May.

  • Immersive classical music is a feast for all the senses

    Sensory Score performers. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval
    Rehearsals for the Sensory Score. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

    What colour is music? And what does music taste like? BittterSuite attempts to answer these questions by creating immersive classical music performances that utilise all the senses.

    It started out when musician Stephanie Singer was passing through Brixton tube station on her way to work, and could hear classical music being piped out of the station’s PA system. When she asked a member of staff, she was told it was to keep the passengers calm.

    Singer went away resolved to challenge people’s perceptions of classical music and to make them listen to it more actively.

    Her idea was informed by Singer’s fascination for graphic notation and her research into syneasthesia – where two or more of the five senses usually experienced separately are involuntarily joined together. “But it is more about cross-modal perceptions and putting an emphasis on one of our senses at a time in a unified sensory experience,” she explains.

    This month, BitterSuite is teaming up with emerging composer Tanya Auclair for a blindfolded and immersive concert at Rich Mix called The Sensory Score. Performers interpret the music and convey it to the audience by stimulating their senses.

    There will be bespoke tastes by gourmet chef Adam Thomason, perfumes by Sarah McCartney and a tactile experience choreographed by BitterSuite.

    “I felt like a child being cuddled,” says one audience member at BitterSuite’s performance of Debussy’s ‘String Quartet in G’.

    For composer Auclair, the idea of letting Singer and the performers have the freedom to interpret her music however they liked “felt like a real gift”.

    Blindfolding the audience is essential to the experience says Singer. “Everybody relies on their sight. That is real. But if you take it away it gives you more room to play.”

    The blindfolds mean audience members are more likely to let their imaginations free, explains Auclair, as there no visual distractions. It makes them hypersensitive to the all other senses too, including touch, taste and smell.

    The relationship between the 30 performers and 30 audience members is very intimate, with each person’s experience different. Singer says that as a performer you can “feel the person straight away and can tailor it accordingly”, building a sense of trust with them.

    She recalls being told by one audience member that it was the first time he had been touched like that in seven years. 

    “He was very emotional,” she says.

    The Sensory Score is at Rich Mix, 35–47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA on 31 July
    richmix.org.uk

  • Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs gives hope to Rich Mix

    Rich Mix
    Rich Mix: reasons to be cheerful?

    The future of endangered arts organisation Rich Mix may be looking up following the election of John Biggs as Mayor of Tower Hamlets.

    The new Labour Mayor has tweeted his support of the arts organisation, which is potentially facing closure due to a dispute with Tower Hamlets Council over the repayment of a £850,000 loan.

    Asked in the run-up to the election about his plan for Rich Mix, Mayor Biggs replied: “Rich Mix is a great cultural asset and deserves the support of the council in securing a viable future serving our community.”

    A petition launched in March to save Rich Mix from closure has received more than 16,000 signatures so far, with the organisation last month beaming messages of support on the wall of its building at 35–47 Bethnal Green Road.

    With a court date looming on 20 July, Rich Mix posted a statement on its website that read: “We have been very encouraged by some of the discussions that we had with a number of candidates in the run-up to the election, including the newly elected Mayor John Biggs.

    “We are seeking an urgent meeting with him and the relevant officers and commissioners in the hope that we can find a way to settle, which will allow Rich Mix to continue to do the work that over 16,000 of you have told us they value.

    “We are hopeful this may prove to be a way to finding a sensible settlement to what has been a long and debilitating dispute.”

    John Biggs was elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets last week, narrowly defeating his nearest challenger Rabina Khan.

    The election followed the ejection from office of former Mayor Lutfur Rahman, who was found guilty of electoral fraud in April.

  • Save Rich Mix campaign beams messages of support on building

    Projection
    Photograph: Russell Parton

    Endangered arts centre Rich Mix last night beamed messages of support onto the front of its building to draw attention to its financial dispute with Tower Hamlets Council.

    The arts centre is at risk of closing down following council demands that it repay £850,000 in full, a sum given to Rich Mix in 2002 to help it refurbish its premises.

    Rich Mix claims it was never clear whether the sum was a one-off grant or a loan, and that it is not able to cough up the money in one lump sum without having to close.

    Nearly 12,000 people have signed a petition on change.org to help save Rich Mix, and with a High Court case looming, the arts centre last night projected messages of support received so far onto the front of its building.

    A small crowd of well wishers gathered to watch the projection and read statements designed to stir the passions such as: “As an artist I see this place as one of my homes,” and “Supporting the arts supports the entire community.”

    Employees Eileen and Anna were filming the projection. They stand to lose their jobs if Rich Mix closes. “The response has been amazing,” said Eileen, who has only recently moved to London but managed to make friends through her work.

    Rich Mix 2 620
    Photograph: Russell Parton

    The High Court case between Rich Mix and Tower Hamlets Council is set for 20 July, with Rich Mix CEO Jane Earl keen to reach a settlement beforehand.

    “We’d much rather that we settle the case rather than having to spend money on internal and external legal fees,” Earl said.

    Earl told the East End Review in January that Rich Mix has offered to repay the money in instalments. “What we mustn’t do is pay it in a way that will make us go bust,” Earl said.

    However, Earl alleges that Tower Hamlets Council is withholding £1.6 million owed to Rich Mix as part of the planning agreement for a nearby development.

    The agreement saw developer Telford Homes pay over £2 million towards cultural development in the immediate area.

    The council’s Strategic Development Committee decided in 2010 that this money would go to Rich Mix, but the contract drawn up to transfer the money was deemed “unenforceable” by a court due to a lack of firm targets.

  • Petition launched to stop Rich Mix from closing

    Rich Mix
    Rich Mix: at risk of closing

    Rich Mix is in danger of closing down and has launched an urgent petition for support.

    The petition, which gained more than 5,000 signatures in four days, urges Tower Hamlets Council not to proceed with legal action over the repayment of £850,000, given to Rich Mix in 2002 for the refurbishment of its premises at 35-47 Bethnal Green Road.

    If a court hearing, set for 20 July, finds in the council’s favour, Rich Mix could be forced to repay the money in one lump sum instead of in instalments, which according to its CEO Jane Earl has the potential to bankrupt the organisation and force it to close.

    Commenters on the website change.org, which is hosting the petition, have overwhelmingly voiced their support for Rich Mix.

    Londoner Michael Dollan said: “Rich Mix is a venue that encourages the appreciation and experience of a wide ranges of arts. Culture unites communities. It’s a no brainer, close it and step back in time to the days of heightened cultural division.”

    Artist Amie Taylor added: “The venue has supported me massively as an artist and enabled me to earn a living when no where else would. I’m sure many artists feel the same.”

    Earl hopes the petition will show Tower Hamlets Council that Rich Mix is more than a “fringe venue for minority interests”, and convince them to accept a settlement offer.

    “We’d much rather that we settle the case rather than having to spend money on internal and external legal fees,” she added.

    A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council, following an investigation by the East End Review last January into the situation, said: “The council considers that it would be inappropriate to comment on either ongoing litigation or associated settlement discussions. Irrespective of the litigation between the parties the council remains open to constructive discussions with Rich Mix over possible partnership funding.

    “During these difficult times for local government funding and taking into account the council’s statutory obligations, the council must ensure that any further funding is appropriate, affordable and delivers value for the borough.”

     

     

  • Celebrating Women’s History Month in East London

    Jane Bown
    On Beauty exhibition: Photographic portraits of staff and students at Cass Faculty of Art. Photograph: Sue Andrews

    Not to be outdone by International Women’s Day, women artists, writers, performers and community groups in Tower Hamlets are putting on a range of events and exhibitions to celebrate Women’s History Month.

    Talks, art exhibitions, performances, films and comedy will be taking place throughout the month. At East London Idea Stores, the history of women in war will be the focus of a series of events. Photographer Jenny Matthews will be showing her work on the effects of war on women from across the world, there will be a talk on the suffragettes, as well as a screening about British nurse Edith Cavell.

    Other free film screenings include Going Through the Change!, the London premiere of a film made for the National Women Against Pit Closures at the Bishopsgate Institute. There’s also Looking for Light: Jane Bown, a moving portrait of the photographer Jane Bown, at the Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, as well as an archive screening of Granny’s Girls, a 1960s documentary about the lives of women from a close-knit Bethnal Green family, showing at Tower Hamlets Local History Library.

    Art exhibitions to mark Women’s History Month include the Museum of Water by Amy Sharrocks at Chisenhale Dance Space and MMMother at the Darnley Gallery, and over at Rich Mix there’s a full programme of performance featuring a Kathak interpretation of Federico García Lorca’s play Yerma, and contemporary dance from the Hagit Yaker Dance Company.

    See alternativearts.co.uk for more details

  • Exclusive: Rich Mix could go bust over Tower Hamlets Council ‘loan’

    Financial dispute: Rich Mix. Photograph: Rich Mix
    Financial dispute: Rich Mix. Photograph: Rich Mix

    Rich Mix is facing an uncertain future should it be forced to repay £850,000 to Tower Hamlets Council in one lump sum. The Shoreditch arts centre has decided to go public with the details of a legal dispute with the council dating back to 2011.

    The council is demanding repayment of £850,000 given to the arts organisation in 2002 to enable the organisation to complete the refurbishment of its premises at 35-47 Bethnal Green Road.

    Rich Mix claims it was never settled whether this money was a one-off grant or a loan that would have to be paid back. But in 2011, the council served legal papers demanding immediate repayment of the entire sum.

    It is not clear why the council has demanded all the money at once, but Rich Mix says it does not have sufficient financial reserves to pay the money and that the centre would find it difficult to continue to operate if it did.

    Rich Mix CEO, Jane Earl said that the arts centre disputes that the money needs to be paid back, though has offered to do so in instalments, adding: “What we mustn’t do is pay it in a way that will make us go bust.”

    She also claims that the council is withholding £1.6 million owed to Rich Mix as part of the planning agreement for a nearby development. Under this agreement, the developer, Telford Homes, paid over £2 million towards cultural development in the immediate area. The council’s Strategic Development Committee decided in 2010 that this money would go to Rich Mix.

    A formal contract was drawn up for the money to be transferred but contained no specific targets that Rich Mix would need to meet in order for the funds to be handed over. The contract was recently judged “unenforceable” by a court because of the lack of firm targets.

    Earl blames the contract’s poor drafting on the council, who rejected the idea of targets. She said: “In 2011 the council said it would be premature for us to set targets when we didn’t know what our level of Arts Council support would be.”

    Following the court judgement, Rich Mix has proposed a deal whereby the council would hand over the £1.6 million of development money and in return Rich Mix would pay the council the outstanding £850,000.

    Asked whether the council is using its power over funding to shut down Rich Mix, Earl declined to comment. She is, however, concerned that some councillors hold a negative view of its activities, including the “idea that it’s some kind of licentious drinking den”.

    A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said: “The council considers that it would be inappropriate to comment on either ongoing litigation or associated settlement discussions. Irrespective of the litigation between the parties the council remains open to constructive discussions with Rich Mix over possible partnership funding.

    “During these difficult times for local government funding and taking into account the council’s statutory obligations, the council must ensure that any further funding is appropriate, affordable and delivers value for the borough.”

  • Festival of Latin American theatre to go ahead this month in East London

    Parlamento! to be performed by Chilean theatre outfit Tryo teatro Banda at Rich Mix on 15-16 October
    Parlamento! to be performed by Chilean theatre outfit Tryo Teatro Banda at Rich Mix on 15-16 October

    When Daniel Goldman went to study abroad for year in Argentina, he had no idea it would shape the rest of his life.

    Goldman is now artistic director and founder of CASA Latin American Theatre Festival, the UK’s premier festival of Latin American drama, which returns this month, to be held at the Barbican and Rich Mix.

    It could have been so different for Goldman, who at the time was part-way through a degree in Spanish and Portuguese literature, and considering a career in investment banking.

    “Instead of being an English assistant in Spain, I went to theatre school in Buenos Aires,” he explains.

    “I thought a it would be a good place to speak Spanish and I was enamoured at the time with the writer Borges, but I wasn’t planning on being a theatre maker or a director or anything.”

    This was in 2001–2002, a time of crisis for Argentina’s economy, with unemployment exceeding 25 per cent and a climate of political and social unrest.

    “What was incredible was the response to it by artists and theatre makers. It was so inspiring to see theatre respond to huge social issues and audiences going to the theatre to engage in dialogue. It made me decide that it was theatre that I wanted to do instead of investment banking, which was part of an original plan.”

    Goldman’s idea was to “build a bridge” between the socially engaged theatre he found in Latin America and UK theatre culture, taking inspiration from the casas de cultura – houses of culture – he discovered in Buenos Aires.

    “They’re basically houses that have been converted into art spaces, where you’ve got a theatre on one floor, a gallery on the next, and instead of bedrooms you’ve got an art gallery or tiny theatre space. The aim with CASA is that we’re a home for all of Latin American culture.”

    Since it began in 2007, CASA has quietly grown a formidable reputation. This year it welcomes companies from Chile, Venezuela, Columbia, Argentina and Ecuador and a range of productions from mime to farce and drama.

    Highlights from the programme include the UK premiere of La Araucana, which sees four actor-musicians play more than 15 instruments in a wittily subversive take on an epic poem that recounts the conquest of Chile.

    Revolution and resistance are themes that run throughout the festival. Población Arenera is a bawdy satire about a 1940s boxer who inspired revolution, while Bar Ensueño is a tale of drinking and dissent from Chile.

    Most of the pieces include English subtitles, though these are not always necessary. For his show Mime, Argentine Jorge Costa, who Goldman jokingly describes as Argentina’s answer to Buster Keaton, builds an hour of material based on the first sound or movement the audience makes.

    “Call it high brow or not,” says Goldman, “but we want to celebrate things about Latin American culture that are beyond tacos and salsa.”

    CASA Latin American Theatre Festival is at the Barbican Centre and Rich Mix from 10–19 October.

  • Bring food – not a ticket – to see Rainbow Collective’s documentary about Bangladesh

    Rainbow Collective 620
    Life in the slums: Rainbow Collective’s documentary Mass E Bhat. Courtesy of Rainbow Collective

    No tickets are required to see Rainbow Collective’s latest documentary at Rich Mix this month, though the screening isn’t free.

    Instead, audience members are asked to bring along a bag of non-perishable food, to be donated to a food bank.

    The Food for Films initiative shows how the East London-based Rainbow Collective is more than just a film production company.

    Its founders, Richard York and Hannan Majid, formed the social enterprise to raise awareness of human rights issues.

    Since its inception in 2006, the pair have shot, directed and produced documentaries in South African, Bangladesh, Iraq and the UK.

    Their latest documentary Mass E Bhat, which premiered at the East End Film Festival in June, is the story of one man’s struggle to grow up and follow his ambitions in modern Bangladesh, with an original score by John Pandit.

    The documentary follows Nasir, a social worker in the slums, who reflects on his early life working in rubbish dumps and sweatshops and how he achieved his dream of an education and the respect of his community. Along the way we meet several children whose lives mirror Nasir’s past but whose futures are uncertain.

    Rainbow Collective crews are always diverse and often include students and local volunteers. “We wanted to use our skills as filmmakers to create social change,” says Majid.

    Mass E Bhat wasn’t an easy film to make. Early on, Majid and York struggled to find the right structure that would hold the film together.

    But then they did some work for Al Jazeera, which gave them experience of shooting quickly and under pressure. Returning to the documentary, they made “brutal edits” and managed to create a more focused film. The result is a striking documentary that manages to capture the movement, life and colour of Bangladesh.

    Education and youth are a key part of Rainbow Collective’s vision. Footage that failed to make it into the final cut is going to be used to provide students with film training, with students getting the chance to re-edit the outtakes.

    “So much of our work is about young people, which feeds into our youth projects,” says York.

    This training aspect is designed to make entrance into the film industry more accessible. The filmmakers see Mass E Bhat as a way of reaching out to cinema goers and raising awareness while passing on the skills of documentary making to another generation.

    Food for Film screening of Mass E Bhat with Q&A and live music from John Pandit is at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA on 15 September
    www.rainbowcollective.co.uk