positions is a piece i started making in august, and then performed twice in june. i have no video documentation of either of these performances, but you can view photos from both of these performances via the link above.
positions was a piece i made as a reflection on the meaning of position, as i was thinking about what my position would be within stan's cafe. my hope was by makng the piece i would have a better idea of where i wanted to be positioned, and for stan's cafe to reflect on their own positions in the company and how their positions affect their relationships.
i am still yet to perform this piece for stan's cafe.
there were some issues with my role as a composer-in residence between september 2021 and may 2022
due to the pandemic, i was required by bcu to have completed a risk assessment before going to stan's cafe. i was also expected to complete an erm (ethics review), in which i have to detail all of the ethical issues and risks and how i planned to deal with them in my project. i also needed to submit a phd plan to bcu, detailing everything i planned to do over the next six months with stan's cafe, for further ethical consideration. these forms, although tedious, i was able to fill out, however, certain questions required me to have some sort of experience of how stan's cafe are currently running, who is there on a regular basis, what work they are making and what they are planning.
without answering these questions, i was not able to find the answer to these questions, which presented itself as a conundrum.
on top of this, stan's cafe had recently left their office space. they had plans to move into a new space, and had done so without a contract legally allowing them to be there by the birmingham city council. this meant that for me to undertake any research within stan's cafe would not have been ethically sound, as it was not ethically sound for stan's cafe to be there, nor could they sign off on my risk assessments.
as an aggravating result, within the start of my studies, i was able to spend any time as a composer- in-residence with stan's cafe, or research anything about the company by existing in their space.
i have been reading about stan's cafe through their book devising theatre with stan's cafe on their history as a company and how they devise and make theatre. i have also conducted some projects about this situation.
this has affected the research dramatically for this starting period, as it shifted my angle as a composer-in-residence to being outside of the place i needed to be in residence in. this has made it hard to make work of value to stan's cafe. however, this unique situation has allowed me to view stan's cafe as a subject of composition rather than the subject of collaboration.
the following body of work was made under these restrictions.
below is a short piece i made about what works stan's cafe have presented that they have made on their website
below is a small video presentation/performance of some work i have made in the situation of not having access into stan's cafe. this also includes plans for the future which are expanded on in the next section.
lyrics
its stan’s cafe not cafè
think of franz fafka not fafkae-
like they say in france not dudley
have a laugh not a sad day
stay round my gaff don’t go away
have a bath not a cabaret
its not daft or a cliché
don’t be naff or be lead astray
its stan’s cafe not café
in may/june i finally had permission and access to stan's cafe.
the following is the work i have made in my time there thus far.
at the bottom of this page is a small conclusion about these works, and current works that will not be finished for the submission date.
conclusion/future work
reflecting on these works, i have no conclusive results to how these have impacted stan's cafe's work, output or day-to-day runnings. i have had no discussions or conversations about these works from members of stan's cafe.
these works were made from a specific environment of my office in the stan's cafe building. the office, although in the same building is quite solitary in relation to the work of stan's cafe.
however, stan's cafe are a thriving theatre company and are very busy, and have been preoccupied with other activities. their most recent show precious emily involved rehearsals and performances at ten different schools across birmingham, and the main artistic team have been out of the building throughout the summer. i have my composer noticeboard analytics and it does not get viewed very often (some work has had zero views).
to get a better reception with stan's cafe, i need to make bolder, more collaborative work, or more disruptive work. to make disruptive work seems counter-intuitive given that my residency is there to add value to stan's cafe.
so something needs to change, stan's cafe's work commitments will not change over the next couple of months so, i may need to change my attitude, and make more from the situation i am in by using stan's cafe as a material in my compositions, rather than expecting stan's cafe to actively participate in my work themselves.
this year has allowed me to observe stan's cafe's general activities and get to know the members of the company. this is a valuable foundation for future work. i have established two different teams of sorts, an admin team and the artistic team. i wish to make work that specifically targets both of these teams.
by being in the space the last couple of months i am aware of what the space is capable of, what areas of the building are used for primary activities and which areas are underused but have potential for new work to develop their usage.
generally being around has meant that i am an extra pair of hands for general use, whether that be washing up some mugs, moving furniture, helping set up spaces for rehearsals/interviews, helping make props buying milk, troubleshooting technical issues and sharing my own equipment/props for wider use.
the barriers that exist are contributing to stan's cafe by composing/making work without inherently derailing a situation that is necessary for general running (for example if i was to make a performance in the middle of the admin teams' workspace for 20 minutes would disrupt their work flow, or to play a recording in the middle of a rehearsal). but work made to be viewed by stan's cafe members in their own time, often will be avoided (according to analytics), so future work will need to be more direct, but not disruptive, or if disruption is involved it would be a "helpful" disruption by my view.
future work that i am working on at time of writing is providing music that may be of use to stan's cafe, like a jingle for the door keypad. i'm also looking to introduce fun performances/activities that happen when breaks occur within a rehearsal process.
during some rehearsals this summer, stan's cafe's hp printer broke and seemed to be unfixable. possibly not surprising for a piece of equipment that is ten years old.
i recorded some sounds of the printer stuttering, whirring, failing and bleeping. i used these sounds to make a piece of music.
i made this piece accessible via qr code above the printer, and made a little shrine with flowers, and an r.i.p sign. i also left some paper and invited members to say some commerative words for the printer.
in may i was invited to observe an online teacher training day that stan's cafe run. during this online session i noticed that the teachers and external partners involved in the workshop would say stan's cafè (caf-fay) rather than stan's cafe (caff). the artistic director messaged me privately to say that this was a "bug bear" of his.
i wrote a quick song in response demonstrating how it should be pronounced with what it should rhyme with. the shortness of the song making it something that could be performed without taking too much time from other activities or could be played at the start of a meeting.
while rehearsing their latest show, stan's cafe had between 10-15 people on site. a mixture of actors, directors, administrative team and british sign language interpreters.
stan's cafe have a tea and coffee area, no payment required, everyone is welcome to pour themselves a hot drink and have a snack. i observed that this was essential to most members when they arrived on site. throughout the day, these mugs would start in one area and then be deposited around the building. i saw this as an opportunity to play around with using the primarily white porcelain mugs as a way to randomise a composition process. by writing notes on the bottom of the mugs and then noting the order of the notes when collecting the mugs for washing. the resulting compositions can be found in the video, or the soundcloud playlist to the right of this text box.
to make the mugs more interesting to the team, i also wrote whimsical job roles on the mugs. this was to make people choose different mugs, or to pick a whimsical title that would engage in some sort of conversation with another member of the team. a lot of the team did not know each other and i hoped this would help break the ice.
by collecting the mugs at the end of the day and washing them, i was also helping the company on a practical level, had i not been there somebody else would have had to wash up the mugs after hours.
i accompanied the video with some improvised music i made in the office.
when i first entered stan's cafe to be in residence, i was shown where my office was to be. i made a quick video and piece of music to accompany things i'd like to do to this office, to remind me of things to do in advance of my next visit and to send to stan's cafe members so they could help me out.
i then made a similar video every day for a week, to help me get making things. i would send these videos to stan's cafe members at the end of each day.
however, i was aware that i was filling their email inbox with things that were not entirely useful to their working day.
so i made a virtual noticeboard/archive and anonymous messaging system. this can be accessed here: link (you'll even see the most recent update!)
this board is accessible through QR codes scattered throughout the building (as seen in the penultimate video in the playlist).
this noticeboard would be updated regularly with the tasks i was undertaking each day and i would play stan's cafe not café on the recorder loudly in the building to notify everyone in the building that there had been an update.
to the right of this text box is a link to some updates made so far.
the company enjoyed my previous project, taking surveillance photos of the stan's cafe building, and invited me to do the same with their teacher orientation day in birmingham city centre. the orientation day is a fun day where the company sets teachers on creative tasks around the city. like, making a railway map of their own lives, trying on clothes in shops that they would never be brave enough to buy and finding specifc colours along canals etc.
i took photos following different groups of teachers, made this presentation, accompanied my presentation with some music, took away the commentary and was left with some music from the process.
stan's cafe are world renowned for their piece of all the people in the world, a piece in which actors weigh out tonnes of grains of rice to represent different population statistics.
in stan's cafe's new space, i noticed a great number of dead woodlice in my office and around the building. i wished to use this as a material, not only to clean them up but to contribute to stan's cafe in a positive way with them.
i gathered them up from around the building and made my own version of their rice piece. i choose to represent the statistics of stan's cafe's most recent project precious emily, a show about two real life weightlifters, involving ten different schools.
i made a video to document the process of collecting the woodlice and how i presented the exhibtion. the exhibition is still availble to be viewed in stan's cafe.
along with all of the necessary forms (phd plan, research form and risk assessments) i will be open and honest with stan' cafe with the work i am undertaking. should any work involve the participation of stan's cafe members, audience or visitors, they will be asked to sign a consent form, which the participant is welcome to not sign should they feel unwilling to be involved.
work involving stan's cafe's audience will be dealt with particularly carefully.
i cannot be specific about activities involving members and audiences right now, as i need to have more information about stan's cafe before the activities begin.
the photos of stan's cafe from the surveillance projects will not be shared publicly.
any recordings of stan's cafe work will be copyrighted correctly and permission to use any performances will be asked for by all involved in that performance. should a work not receive consent, it will be left out of the portfolio. i will adhere to bcu policies and guidelines when considering making recordings, performances or visiting offsite locations.
stan's cafe works in education environments, i will be extremely careful with any work involving youths, any recordings will be made only with prior consent from parents. all names and identities involving youths will be redacted and anonymised.
some work may involve stan's cafe's members being unaware that they are having an intervention, as to prepare them in advance may ruin the effect of the intervention. to combat this and make these interventions safe, the company will be made aware that these sort of interventions will happen at any given time over a specific time period (say 15 minute intervention will be happening at some point in the next three days), alongside this, the artistic director will be informed far in advance about any such activities and will have the final say whether the activity is suitable to go ahead without distressing or harming any members of staff.
in general, the relationship between myself and the director of stan's cafe will be integral to making sure all activities are safe and above board for everyone involved. the rest of my supervisory panel will also be consulted regularly about the ethics of my activities.
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