The Second Proposal

We were (and are) excited by the site. The water company who own, and still use, the building want it used and, Richard who looks after the building is an enthusiast.

On the 26th May, I sent the steering group a second proposal intended to show how we might use the spaces....

The Waters of the Wim

I think the performance is in walk-through form. There are moments which are attended by one person at a time, at other moments people join into larger groups. The subject is water and our relationship to it. So there are mythical bits, factual bits, emotional bits and social bits. What I can’t find at the moment is the through line – but that will come.

So…

We arrive, the building is flood lit. There might be something in the field as we approach – a life sized garden gnome fishing, perhaps.

We gather outside the building – beside the door to the big room. From within we can hear voices – call and response – a ritual offering.

ROOM 1 (the big room), ingredients – a large choir, film, a Well, the creature of the river

We enter a few at a time. In the big room there are a lot of people lining the walls passing small receptacles of water while they sing. On the wall is projected a film of the rivers in different seasons (in black and white ?). Each audience member is given one of the small receptacles. One at a time they are encouraged to visit the Well.

The Well is built out of the downstairs area. The audience member pours their water into the hole from the top – they can’t see what’s in there yet, but there’s light and steam emerging.

They might then be taken down the steps into the well, and there they see the creature of the river – and they are given another receptacle of water, which they then take back upstairs and give to the first person lining the wall – who passes it along the long line. (It’s a cycle). Eventually it will get back to another audience member who will in turn pour it into the well. This should be weird, beautiful and gentle.

ROOM 2 (the room with the round tanks in, which we can either enter down the stairs or through the big door by the toilet). Ingredients – soundscape, spoken word, nymphs and narrative.

This space is filled with a soundscape. Through the tanks we catch glimpses of Naiads (river nymphs) playing with water. A story of the river is told. The story is an interaction between a tape loop and a number of live actors placed around the space.

ROOM 3 (the room with the big square tank in)

The room of facts. An arrangement that shows and tells the history, geography and statistics of the river. But done as an installation created by a Women’s Institute (?) – the clarity of the river Allen is shown with kilner jars of distilled vinegar, while the muddy river Stour is laid out using hundreds of jars of chutney. The town of Wimborne depicted using only china tea sets, surrounding fields of embroidered quilts. A slide show and talk tells key facts about the rivers – the gorier the better, We might be given sustenance here.

THE CAR PARK (Ingredients, live music, waterproof children, water mist)

We pass out of the room of facts into the great outdoors. A musician, or small band will play if you answer their riddle. A ballad is sung as across the car park we illuminate a mist of water with a rainbow of light. Beyond it children play in puddles – skipping in Wellington boots, skimming stones, drowning a cat. A river god/waterskier, is pushed around in a wheelbarrow.

PASSING THE TANKS

As we walk through the 16 tanks we pass 16 people, each drinking tea and gossiping to themselves about a scandal associated with the waters.

UNDER THE TREES

We come to the grassed area beside the woods – our last destination. There’s an ice sculpture of a human figure. A fire burns around it gently melting the frozen water. Poems are whispered into a microphone.