Canterbury Fringe Festival approached Accidental Collective to creative a new piece of work for the 2008 festival fringe, following the success of InBetween in 2007. The performance space proposed was Bramley’s Bar, in Orange Street, Canterbury. The company had already gone into the studio to ‘play’; the idea being to work toward a performance that would investigate notions of the collective unconscious and be more image-based than their previous work. It was as yet, not Postscript. When Canterbury Fringe Festival approached them, Accidental Collective felt that the Fringe would be a good platform to stage a work-in-progress, and were intrigued by working in and responding to Bramley’s Bar. The bar is a low-ceiling environment filled with reclaimed furniture and items from junk yards – an old green velvet sofa, chunky pine tables, a pedal operated sewing machine and towering standing lamps with ancient fringed lampshades. (www.bramleysbar.com) is not a blank canvas and it would be impossible to make it one. The decision was made to ‘go with the grain’ of the venue, even to the point where the company felt it would be best to keep the audience seating around the bar tables and chairs (and of course allow drinks). The performance took place in the space between the tables and also at the tables, when the performers sat amongst the audience. This meant that people at different tables had differing experiences of the work, and in some cases even had different performances (privately performed to ‘mini audiences’). Postscript was entirely lit by lamps and bulbs, operated by the performers; there were periods of total blackout punctuated by bulbs clicking on and off, indicating where the next place of focus was for the audience. The result was an incredibly intimate, highly charged, kaleidoscope of a performance. Accidental Collective was eager to have the opportunity to return to rehearsals to continue to question and develop the concept and material, and applied to the Arts Council of England to research and develop the work... (See Postscript v.2) You can read more about the rehearsal process for Postscript v.2 at www.theworldofaccidentalcollective.blogspot.com under 2008.
“A quirky and charming oddment of theatre”
Tom Wilton, Education Officer (artsdepot)
“I enjoyed Postscript. It felt immediate and vital. I really liked the language of the piece, the lights going on and off, and the performers constantly revolving between tables. I liked the contrast between sections which had snatches of narrative, and the sections which were more raw, where the action had been pared down into nothing more than a disconnected emotion like a laugh, or a scream. I liked the disjuncture between the formal set-up (the evening dress, the lack of actual interaction with the audience) and the informality (the breakdown of performer – audience relationship
Sue Jones, Director Whitstable Biennale
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