The Company
'PAN' is a collective of three artists Patricia Reilly, Amy Nicholson and Nancy Nicholson, who have come together with shared interests and ambitions to create dynamic, aesthetically led performance. Inspired by our ever changing cultural and physical environments and the gradual decay and evolving of space, PAN strive to unlock an audiences sense of wonder. Collaborative working processes are important and a multi disciplinary approach essential in the creating of live works, installations and workshops. PAN met at Wimbledon College of Art and are all currently studying MA Theatre Design. Amy Nicholson specialises in puppetry and outdoor theatre and is co founder of the SHRUG ladies. Nancy Nicholson trained in Scenic Design and Realisation at Guildhall, harnessing a particular passion for the textural qualities of paint. Canadian based Patricia Reilly is a skilled design practitioner with key skills in technical costume construction and design visualisation.
The Project
We are a triptych tribe that explores why folklore binds a culture together, and examines how that public cohesion has changed. The costumes are inspired by the city: from rural roots to the modern urban age. We are examining the origin of folklore through the manipulation and dissemination in the industrial age, and into modern culture. We are employing the qualities of the characters in the folktale Long, Broad and Sharp Eye to illustrate the essence of each era. Our interest in the urban deterioration and aging process of the city will be brought into the texture of our costumes through various applications. There will be a familiar but abstracted sense of the human form in our tribe. We are constructing the costumes through collaborative methods. We are contributing a visually compelling interaction with the city through our promenade.
The Performance
During our performance our characters will display a series of consecutive movements whilst in constant physical contact with the architecture of Prague. They will attempt to traverse the space, square, street while maintaining this connection with at least one aspect of their costume. The movements must be constantly altering and active. These interactions will create the rhythm and music of our tribes relationship to the city through scraping and tapping etc. The characters movements will feed from this rhythm and build and develop. Though not in unison, the movements will lead into each other in a wave like relationship. The characters respective qualities of breadth, height, and blindness will influence how they move and how they respond to the movements of the other two. The performance will eb and flow and gradually slow to a close.