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BOX STORY

a performance by

Bobby Baker

created particularly for churches in collaboration with composer Jocelyn Pook and many local singers

Saturday 9 November 2002

The Minster Church of St Mary The Virgin, St. Mary's Butts, Reading

Context

As part of Artists in the City, City Stages events, Bobby Baker was invited to re-stage Box Story using local singers and incorporating film with the performance for the first time. The public performances were presented in association with South Street arts centre, Reading and The Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin.

 

Project

Originally commissioned by the London International Festival of Theatre Box Story was devised and performed by Bobby Baker. Inspired by the myth of Pandora the performance is an exploration of misfortune and accountability. Baker delves into a selection of boxes symbolically unleashing the ills of the world and attempting to conquer them with hope and humour. The work is accompanied by an especially composed choral requiem by Jocelyn Pook, providing an ironic commentary on Baker's valiant but vain effort. The musical director was Harvey Brough. He directed the rehearsals for local singers in Reading during the six week preparation for the performance.

 

Artist

Since the 1970's Bobby Baker has been making live work for audiences around the world. She has performed in people's kitchens, at international festivals, in large-scale theatres, and in art galleries, often in collaboration with artists and professionals from other disciplines. She has made work for film, television and the radio. Essays and articles on her practice have appeared in many publications. She has recently received a major award from the Wellcome Foundation to develop a project in collaboration with psychologist Richard Hallam.

Jocelyn Pook is an internationally acclaimed musician and composer. She has written scores for her own ensemble, for recordings and for live performance, and for film, dance, theatre and television - most notably the film score for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut which won her many accolades. Pook creates an individual sound world that draws on elements as diverse as a Yemenite chant, popular folk song and requiem mass.

Harvey Brough is a versatile composer, arranger and performer and was the lead singer of Harvey and the Wallbangers. Brough has worked as a composer for TV, radio and stage. In 1999 he won the first Andrew Milne Award for jazz composition and in 2000 he conducted the Taverner Choir in a programme of Arvo Part and John Taverner. As a musical director he works regularly with Jocelyn Pook and with the singer Jacqueline Dankworth with whom he performs in the band Field of Blue.

 

 

Further Information

www.artsadmin.co.uk

www.bobbybakersdailylife.com

 
 
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Bobby Baker
 
Box Story 2002
photo Andrew Whittuck
 
 

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