Chunky Jewellery presented by Barrowland Ballet is set within a 12 month period when the world for our two creatives, Natasha Gilmore and Jude Williams, was crushingly challenging. Instead of retreating into a foetal ball and staying there for eternity, they decided to create a performance piece based upon it.
They brought in other creatives including Ben Duke of performance company Lost Dog as director, Davey Anderson as composer, Elle Taylor as lighting designer, Shizuka Hariu as set designer and Vicki Manderson as associate director.
What they have put together takes us from a meta moment at the beginning, where they discuss what it might look like on the Tramway stage through the year itself from the conception of it—the title relates to a present given to Gilmore as a birthday present in her forties which made her question herself, as in: is this what I have become, a woman of a certain age, because they now see me as wearing chunky jewellery?—to begin and end on a birthday party.
That birthday party is for one of Natasha’s children, held just after her partner and father of the child has decided to go back to Norway. She calls Jude to come and help because she has put together a great idea without the wherewithal to make it happen. Jude, who has a newborn baby after being told she was unable to have children, calls on her father for a lift, whilst she attempts to negotiate the social niceties of the arrangements. And so, we begin this meandering through the year to end up back where we began, and in between, there is plenty to “enjoy”, including Jude’s real-life challenge of speaking at her mother’s funeral, the day before having her 20-week maternity scan.
The narrative structure continues that meta feel with both artists lifting the lid on the rehearsal process, recreating it for us as they consider whether they should be doing this at all and what should be included within the performance if they do—of course they do perform, as we would not be here otherwise. But what is skilled about this is the way in which the rollercoaster of emotions is managed and presented. We can feel the pathos because it immediately is followed by the hilarity of circumstance and the personality of our guides. And this is beautifully poised, because we are witnessing two people who care…
For each other…
However, this is more than a cathartic exercise of retelling a challenging year. Though it includes a rehearsal process of things being tried out, most of this is typified by fun, laughter and the tears of these two very special storytellers.
Chunk Jewellery had a long period of gestation whilst Gilmore and Williams got this act together. The principal behind it was always one which could slide into self-absorption until you meet this pair. Nothing was ever going to get it down that road. Everything was going to be mined for deeper meaning and positive interaction. And to make sure we understood, the deepest and most intimate of tragedy has a salient counterpoint of absurdity to lift the spirits.
Favourite elements included the scenes involving Natasha’s partner “negotiating” his departure, the dual description of a kitchen in chaos, telling your dying mother you are pregnant and any time there was a song and a dance or when they were both together—particularly "Natural Woman", given a poignancy for which it was always destined. The end was particularly graceful and, whilst people rightly stood to applaud, I had to look somewhere to dab the tear away still hanging from the funeral scene.
It was a voyage, not of discovery but of simple revelation, which heightened the effect of the importance of the emotions, the experiences and the strength of motherhood, sisterhood and friendship.
And from their shore of sanity, Ben Duke captained their ship as he set them sail, but also kept them close to shore with a deft hand on the tiller of direction, whilst all theatre arts played a major part. The set was creative and instinctive, the costumes clearly in on the joke and the lighting interactive, so that the conceit of being in a performance space worked to add to the whole experience.
This was genius throughout, because time had been given to thinking it through, caring for each other whilst developing it and putting it into a rehearsal space with trust and creativity in the process—how do I know? Because you saw it. You felt it. And you heard it. Gilmore and Williams do not so much end each other’s sentences as complete each other’s thoughts.
This worked so well that if this does not have a second wind, a new lease of life, or even a tour. I don’t know what else can give us being in your stage and age of life where wearing chunky jewellery is the straitjacket we all want to avoid.
It was contemporary. It included dance. And it was a piece of work, Jude, and you were in it.