FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : STRONG & DISTINCTIVE POLISH THEATRE

On Saturday, Polish company, Teatr KTO, return to Bell Square with their latest show, Arcadia.

The theatre company was set up in Krakow in 1977 by Jerzy Zon, who is still their director to this day. Over four decades, they have toured the world with an astonishing repertoire of both indoor and outdoor shows. In addition, every summer, they organise an excellent festival of outdoor performance called Ulica – or ‘Street’ in English. And since 2021, they have had their own ‘home’ venue in the Podgórze district of the city. This is a busy and very respected theatre company.

In Poland, there are public, repertory theatre companies in almost every big city – with a fixed group of actors and directors working full-time for the company, and accompanied by permanent technicians and set designers. The stability this brings to the companies leads to outstanding artistic achievement and also the time to experiment with new ideas. Typically, these companies have a very distinct artistic vision and a strong theatrical style.

This permanent cast of employed actors also enables them to maintain a repertory of dozens of shows which they present throughout the year – and generally, these shows are kept in repertory for many years. But they are also committed to creating new shows to add to their repertoire, usually developed by the company’s director with input from the actors during rehearsals.

This is all very different from the theatre sector in the UK and most of the Western world. Here, a company will recruit a group of actors for a specific show, paying them for the exact number of rehearsals and performances that they will be needed for. So for each new show that a UK theatre company creates, they will probably have a completely different group of people working together.

There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. And both of these approaches are actually under pressure. Many years of static funding in the UK has eaten into the value of investment into the country’s theatre. And in Poland, since the political transformation and the introduction of capitalism in 1989, economic pressures have also affected the model of permanently-employed actors.

But Teatr KTO and many other companies have successfully navigated these changes and maintain their core group of performers and their large repertoire of touring shows. Teatr KTO regularly perform four outdoor shows (in addition to many more indoor productions). I have seen all four, and they all display this fundamental quality and distinctiveness. Regular audiences at Bell Square will remember their visit in 2022 with Peregrinus, an extraordinary depiction of a single day in the life of the contemporary ‘everyman’ in which it is so easy to become subsumed in capitalist and corporate cultures.

The show on Saturday, Arcadia, is equally distinctive but very different to Peregrinus. It is a look at the big moments of life – new arrivals, starting school, leaving home, weddings, having children (new arrivals again), getting old, and funerals – and how we reflect on them. It’s a strong show, very poignant at times, but also with lots of humour.

These comments from a review of Arcadia by Piotr Gaszczyński describe beautifully the strengths of the show and how they come directly from this strong tradition of Polish theatre making:

The strength of KTO’s latest premiere is the group. The team creating “Arcadia” works like a well-oiled machine.

“Arcadia” is a short, intense spectacle that breaks the viewers out of the traditional reception of a theatrical performance.

Come and see for yourself at Bell Square on Saturday. The performance is at 2.00 pm. As always, it’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

Hope to see you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : Pelat

Every year, the international programme of outdoor arts at Bell Square includes shows from Catalonia in north-east Spain. This Saturday, Joan Catala comes to Hounslow for the first time with his performance, Pelat.

Catalonia is one of the world’s most established regions for outdoor arts and produces generation after generation of extraordinary artists. It has a strong regional identity and culture is a huge part of this. Even though this identity has been built over thousands of years, just think of some of the more recent cultural icons from this region. The art and design from Joan Miro and Salvador Dali. The highly distinctive architecture of Antoni Gaudi which makes Barcelona the city it is.

It's also about outdoor arts and performance, ancient and modern. The famous La Patum, the grand festival of fire during which mythical and symbolic animals dance and jump to a constant rhythm, surrounded by smoke and fire, sweat and heat, music and shouting. Or the ‘castells’ - the human towers - where people stand on each others’ shoulders, up to 10 people high. With this heritage, it is unsurprising that Catalonia is host to some of the most interesting outdoor arts festivals in Europe – Fira Tarrega is renowned, others such as Sismograf and Trapezi are world-leaders in their fields of outdoor dance and circus, respectively. These festivals continue local traditions but also support new artists to develop and present their work.

Joan Catala, performing at Bell Square this Saturday, is a typical example of this supportive, outdoor arts environment. He was born and grew up in Barcelona, the region’s capital city. From the age of 16, he attended specialist art school and college there, before subsequently undertaking further training in Madrid and Moscow. He has studied dance, physical theatre, acrobatics and clown and his work now is a complex and satisfying mix of all these artforms.

Having then performed with many high-profile companies in Catalonia and further afield, he started to develop his own work in 2012. He was especially interested in the street and urban landscapes and his first work was Pelat. It was supported in his home region and had its premiere performance at Fira Tarrega, the festival I mentioned earlier. I saw that performance and I was completely taken by how supportive and appreciative that local audience was, too.

The show has now been touring for 10 years, which is a sign of a very strong show. This year alone, it has already toured around Spain and visited France, Italy, Portugal and Lithuania before it comes to Bell Square this weekend.

Importantly and perhaps unsurprisingly, heritage and cultural identity plays a strong role in Joan Catala’s work, including Pelat. In a review by Dance Art Journal (1 October 2023), he discusses ‘his relationship to the lineage of craftsmanship in his family and how it informs his work’. He also shared: ‘My great-grandfather, my father and my brother are blacksmiths. I learnt the trade out of obligation and without much enthusiasm. When I started with the performing arts, I realised that my way of understanding physical dialogue and my relationship to everything that appeared on stage (objects, people, environment) was always with a curious and artisanal look. Craftsmanship is the layer that colours my work.’

Indeed, with each new location he visits to perform Pelat, he asks for a long piece of wood to be ready for him the day before the performance. He then spends hours carefully, meticulously, carving and shaping the wood into the handcrafted pole which you will see is the central object in the show.

Come and see Pelat at Bell Square on Saturday. The performance is at 2.00 pm. As always, it’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

Hope to see you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : MOVING POLES

On Saturday, Belgian company Cirq’ulation Locale will perform their show, Moving Poles, at Bell Square.  The show uses sway poles which probably aren’t familiar to many people. So what is a sway pole?

 Essentially, it is a very long pole, standing high in the air.  A performer, at the top of the pole, makes the pole sway in all directions, high and low, swooping above the audience. There is no machinery here, no clever hydraulics or helping hands controlling it. All the movement is down to the performer. Meshing aerial theatre, dance and circus, the extreme strength and flexibility of the pole allows the performer to sway back and forth, bowing down low to the audience and soaring up high into the sky.

 It's been said that sway poles are based on the image of a field of wheat moving gently in the breeze. I was reminded of that this summer, watching a beautiful show called RoZeO by the legendary company Gratte Ciel in France. Performed on grassy fields by the river in Chalon-sur-Saone, it was easy to get lost in the rhythm of the swaying poles.

 Sway poles are also often used in large-scale events to provide a real wow-factor – and they do. Remember the London Paralympic Opening Ceremony in 2012? Or Australia’s entry for the Eurovision contest accompanying Kate Miller Heidke’s Zero Gravity in 2019?

 But for me, they are at their most mesmerising when you can be up close to them. The suspension and the slow oscillations invite a real contemplation.

 Cirq’ulation Locale do both. They definitely have the wow-factor but their performance is also a living installation to be observed and appreciated.

 A recent review of a sway pole show in France last year described it as being ‘like living statues soaring between heaven and earth’ (Nord Éclair).

 Come to Bell Square on Saturday and relax and reflect. There are two performances – at 1.00 pm and again at 3.00 pm. As always, it’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

 Hope to see you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR – AUTUMN SEASON PREVIEW

We may be heading towards autumn but we still have a whole host of exciting, world-class outdoor shows coming to Bell Square.

We’ve got fabulous artists bringing dance, aerial performance, thought-provoking theatre and spectacular circus – from Warwick in the UK and from Belgium, Catalonia and Poland.

Come and join us! We’re at Bell Square every other Saturday through to the winter. Here’s a taste of what’s to come during the autumn.

September

In September, Motionhouse return with WILD, an extraordinary show mixing dance, acrobatics and circus. Performed on a forest of tall poles, the show is about our relationship with nature, especially in the urban environment. In our modern lives, is the wild still shaping our behaviour?

Next up are some more tall poles - but these are Moving Poles by Belgian circus company, Cirq’ulation Locale! Two graceful performers sway high in the air, creating an enchanting and romantic spectacle.

October

Pelat is the first solo show by Catalan artist, Joan Catala, created in 2013. Still touring the world 10 years later, it blurs the lines between dance, circus and theatre and also between the show and the audience. It’s funny and engaging, and every performance is different because of the interaction with the audience. The last time I saw this show was in Krakow, and I nearly cried laughing at the interaction between the artist and a dog in the audience! What will happen in Hounslow?

Staying with Krakow, at the end of the month, one of Poland’s legendary outdoor theatre companies, Teatr KTO, return to Bell Square with their latest show, Arcadia. The show looks back at life, its big moments, its memories. It is a simple, innocent, poignant reflection of everything that is most cruel and beautiful in earthly life.

There will be more to follow, through into the winter!

Come and see us at Bell Square on Saturday – Motionhouse will be performing Wild at 1pm, and then again at 4pm. As always, it’s free and everyone’s welcome. See you there!

A CONVERSATION WITH MIRA KAUSHIK ABOUT ANHAD 2023

My Tiger Janu by Chila Kumari Singh Burman

On Saturday 12 August, Hounslow High Street will once again buzz with the sounds and colour of Anhad. This exciting festival of South Asian outdoor arts will burst onto the scene, showcasing a wonderful mix of music, dance, installations and theatre for everyone to enjoy.

Anhad means ‘limitless’ in English and reflects the broad range of arts presented in the festival. The idea for Anhad was developed by Bell Square London in partnership with local arts curator, Mira Kaushik. Mira has a longstanding love of outdoor arts and brings that passion to the festival’s programme.

Recently, I caught up with Mira to chat about what brought her to working on Anhad.

Jan:

Mira, you’ve told me before that outdoor arts have really always been part of your life.

Mira:

Yes, some of my earliest memories are of unconventional performances going right back to when I was just 3 years of age. I was besotted by the ballerina on the swing and a performing bear at a circus in Belgrade where I was born. Later on, I moved to a remote town in Madhya Pradesh in India, where I grew up seeing folk theatre like Nautanki and street performers like Bahurupias, the quick-change impressionist artists so widespread at the time. There were so many vivid, tribal performance traditions rooted in the State and they all instilled a love of outdoor performance in me.

Jan:

And was it this that made you decide to go in to drama?

Well, I moved to Delhi in the seventies and this just opened a new world for me. I found myself performing in the large-scale, Russian-style theatre shows being presented by my school at the city's National Stadium. Then in my late teens, I went to college, still in Delhi, and became aware of the hugely influential theatre director and writer, Guru Badal Sircar - he was the champion of modern political and intellectual physical theatre in India. He also took theatre out into the public arena and pioneered contemporary theatre in courtyards, parks and in the streets with the audience sitting all around.

Jan:

And how did all these experiences influence your own work?

Mira:

It was many years later. I’d moved to the UK and, by this time, was Director of Akademi, the South Asian Dance organisation based in North London. It was Akademi’s 21st birthday which gave us the opportunity to work with 100 dancers to create a stunning outdoor dance performance on the terraces of the Southbank Centre. It was called Coming of Age, because of Akademi’s 21st, but it was also a celebration of where the South Asian dance scene had got to by then. It was seen by 1000s of people and, politically, it gave visibility and a whole new confidence to the Indian dance sector.

Having had such a success, our ambition grew, and a couple of years later, we ended up creating Escapade, which was even bigger than Coming of Age. Akademi has continued producing outdoor arts shows ever since which has taken dance to thousands of people. Bell Square was our partner and collaborator for many of these creative endeavours and audiences here may remember Akademi shows like Sufi:Zen and Paradiso in years gone by.

Jan:

And in fact, back in 2009, Akademi’s Initium was the very first outdoor arts show we did on Hounslow High Street. It was the first of a series of pop-up events that, by 2014, led to the development of Bell Square!

But back to Anhad! Mira, maybe you could tell us why this festival is so important for Outdoor Arts in the UK.

Mira:

After leaving Akademi in 2020, I realised that there were very few South Asian artists and companies, across all the different artforms, presenting their work outdoors. Many of the outdoor arts festivals didn’t really include many South Asian artists, either. Dance was definitely ahead of the game but other sectors like theatre or visual arts were not represented actively. I talked about this with Bell Square and we agreed to do something about it.

And so in 2022, we did Anhad. It’s a festival of outdoor contemporary arts at Bell Square, which is not a Mela. Hounslow Council and the National Lottery Community Fund supported it and it was hailed as one of the top ten festivals of outdoor arts in 2022. This year, we have additional funding from Arts Council England, so it will be bigger! I am so pleased that this collaboration is already doing so much for South Asian arts.

Jan:

I’m also really looking forward to seeing where Anhad gets to in another few years’ time. In the meantime, though, it’s also such a great day in Hounslow – it has such a lovely festival feel with performances of all different types going on through the day, wrapping up late in the evening with star DJ, Indian Man. And looking on throughout the day will be Chila Burman’s famous My Tiger Janu.

It will be a really amazing day – please come and join us. It starts at 3.00 pm and goes on through to 10.00 pm. As always at Bell Square, every performance is free and everyone is welcome!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : FREERUNNING AT BELL SQUARE

This Saturday at Bell Square, Compagnie Yann Lheureux from France bring us their show, Flagrant Delire. In English, this translates as something like ‘audacious frenzy’. It’s a freerunning show on a large scaffolding structure, based on the story of Icarus. In Greek mythology, the story goes that Icarus was imprisoned with his father in a labyrinth on the island of Crete. His father was a skilled craftsman and built wings made of feathers and wax so that the two of them could try to escape from the labyrinth by flying out of it. Warning his son Icarus not to fly too high and close to the sun, they took flight. But overwhelmed by the exhilaration of flying, Icarus ignored his father’s warning, soaring ever higher. When the sun melted the wax in his wings, he fell into the sea and drowned. The story serves as a cautionary reminder of the dangers of arrogance and audacity.

Flagrant Delire is based on this idea of trying to fly. The performer makes repeated attempts to fly but gravity always pulls him back down to the ground again. The effort is intense. In the end, he attaches his wings and makes one final attempt.

The story is told through freerunning, an athletic and acrobatic discipline that combines elements of both sport and artistic performance. Freerunning evolved from parkour, a system for efficiently and practically moving past a series of obstacles. Parkour has its roots in South East Asian martial arts and influenced the French military forces in the First Indochina War in the 1940s and ‘50s. It was then used widely for military training. It gained public popularity, though, when it was heavily featured by Jackie Chan in his Hong Kong action movies and was also evident in the films of Bruce Lee.

Freerunning, though, places greater emphasis on artistic expression and creativity, allowing performers to move more fluidly in their environment. It was developed by Sebastian Foucan who wanted to create a discipline that was more personal and adaptable, that allowed for more individual expression and creativity in movement.

Freerunning can incorporate stylish flips, tricks and acrobatics, setting it apart from parkour's focus on practical and efficient movement. Performers draw inspiration from sports like gymnastics, tricking, and breakdancing, enabling them to create their own unique moves and flows in different environments. Freerunning quickly became a dynamic blend of athleticism, artistry and personal expression. Its emphasis on creativity made it a compelling and visually stunning discipline which gained popularity through founder Sébastien Foucan’s appearances in films such as Casino Royale and Madonna’s Confessions Tour.

In Yann Lheureux’s Flagrant Delire show, the large scaffolding structure simulates the challenging urban environment where freerunning usually takes place. As the performer jumps and runs effortlessly on and around the structure, it creates the audacious frenzy leading to the moment when Icarus attempts to fly.

Come and see this acrobat of urban space on Saturday 29 July at Bell Square! The performance is at 2.00 pm. As always, it’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR MARKETING DIRECTOR : Streets Alive! Street Games Saturday 15 July 2023

This week, Bell Square is packed with performances and activities throughout the day from 10am – 5pm. We have a bit of a Catalan theme as two of the three artists come from Catalunya and overall, their performances create a sense that working together, playing together and being kind to each other is the best approach to life. This is your chance to get hands on with some truly interactive performances. Contemporary culture loves stories about objects that have perhaps been abandoned but with a bit of imagination are repurposed to find a new lease of life.

There are three very different sets of artists contributing to the day:

DIANA GADISH comes from Catalunya and her performance HANDLE WITH CARE performs a street show with a tender message - that we should all take care of each other. Artist Diana Gadish brings her charming show to Hounslow for everyone to enjoy. Prepare to be surprised and delighted as you help an enchanting yet unconfident character to face her fears and start a party that everyone is invited to.

Along the High Street, A Bird in the Hand theatre from the UK are presenting THE BEWONDERMENT MACHINE. A wooden structure, The Bewonderment Machine Is an artist-built cycle-powered carousel, a kinetic public sculpture and also a magical journey for small children - 2-6 years. Visually, this is a quirky dreamscape, combining found objects, puppetry, machinery and music. Up to ten people can ride the carousel at one time - a miniature theatrical flight of the imagination, empowering the very young to care, to be curious and to believe in their own strength. Don’t just stand there help to power it and as you drive the turning carousel enjoy the delight on the riders faces.

Throughout the day, in two sessions with a break between 1pm and 2pm GUIXOT DE 8 from Catalunya present their STREET GAMES. These are fun, interactive games for everyone that have delighted audiences at in streets and squares in 40 countries across the world for over twenty-five years. Created in Catalunya, the weird and wonderful kit for the games is made from everyday objects, recycled through sheer imagination to create this unique series of interactive treats. You never know, their use of everyday objects may inspire you. Their collection of makeshift games is made from recyclable pieces of metal, plastic and wood to create innovative and exciting toys, 

As they say: “We are the ones who think that imagination is one of the few things that differentiates us from the rest of living beings and that, at the same time, is the motor that makes us move forward. That’s why this collection of street games is made the way it is. To pay tribute to all those people who throughout history have stood out for their imagination and have left their mark on the history of art, literature, cinema, science or gastronomy. Many of the games in this collection have a human form and are dedicated to people without whom the world would be a little worse. See who you can spot!”

Because the performances take place in an open space they allow anyone to join in and experience the fun first hand, free of charge. The programme actively encourages everyone to participate.

Streets Alive! goes beyond the conventional notion of a performance by actively involving the audience in the performances. The interactive nature of the program creates a dynamic and immersive experience, where visitors become an integral part of the art. 

Come and see Streets Alive! on Saturday 15 July at Bell Square! There are performances and activities happening throughout the day, from 10am – 5pm.

Diana Gadish (Catalan) - 1pm & 3.30pm

A Bird in the Hand Theatre (UK) 12pm, 1.45pm & 4.15pm

Guixot 8 (Catalan) - 10am - 1pm, 2pm - 5pm

Everybody’s welcome.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : MOROCCAN CIRCUS COMES TO BELL SQUARE

This week, Bell Square takes part in Shubbak, London’s festival of contemporary Arab culture. Shubbak, which means ‘window’ in Arabic, celebrates the diversity of new and established Arab artists at venues across London. 

This year, the festival asked itself, ‘Why do we do art?’ Their answer is that in this post-Covid world, art can help us engage with seismic issues such as the climate emergency, misogyny, racism and other topics that are of global concern. 

The underlying theme of all the shows at Bell Square is ‘stories that affect us all’ – and what the Shubbak festival offers us is the chance to look at these stories through an Arab lens.

Taroo

This year, the Shubbak festival brings us Taroo, a show telling stories from the streets. The show combines circus, acrobatics, magic and urban street dance. Through stunts and comedy, it celebrates the bin workers and refuse collectors, often from immigrant backgrounds, who were on the frontline, on streets all over the world, during Covid.

The show also includes what is generally called ‘object manipulation’ at theatre and circus school. This involves controlling and manipulating objects with skill and precision – things like hula hopping, juggling and plate spinning. Taroo, though, involves the manipulation of one object: a wheelie bin, or ‘taroo’ as it’s called in colloquial Moroccan! 

Said Mouhssine & Company Zid

Taroo is performed and created by Said Mouhssine, a Moroccan circus artist, free runner, actor and stunt man. He set up his company, Company Zid, in 2020. In the Moroccan Arabic language, darija, ‘zid’ means ‘move’.

Said grew up in Casablanca on Morocco’s western Atlantic coast. He began with acrobatics on the beach as do many young people there. When he was shown videos of parkour, he initially gave it a go in his room, largely out of boredom. The sport fascinated him, though, and he quickly progressed to free-running the streets of Casablanca. After three years at Morocco’s national circus school, he and some friends set up the country’s first Moroccan Association for Parkour in 2007. 

His show, Taroo, is now touring regularly but this special London version has been developed in partnership with the Babylon Migrants Project who run creative activities with young people from refugee, asylum seeking and migrant backgrounds. The activities aim to boost young people’s confidence and sense of belonging. Working with the artist Said Mouhssine over the last few weeks, the group has created a rather special role for itself in the show.

Come and see Taroo on Saturday 1 July at Bell Square! There are 2 performances : the first is at 1.00 pm, and then it is performed again at 4.00 pm.  As always, it’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : THE ARTISTIC FRUITS OF MARSEILLE

This Saturday, we welcome Compagnie Accrorap to Bell Square for their first visit to Hounslow.

The company will be performing Prelude, a beautiful dance production rooted in hip-hop. Like most of their shows, the hip-hop comes with the precision and control of contemporary dance, especially in the way the dancers move together so perfectly. It’s set to intense, haunting music and takes hip- hop to an entirely new place.

Cie Accrorap began in 1989 when a group of circus students created a new collective driven by the energy of hip-hop, mixed with contemporary dance, circus and martial arts. One of these founders was Kader Attou who still leads the company to this day. His work has always been characterised by openness – to different artforms, to different locations and cultures, to exchanges, encounters and sharing.

In 2022, he moved the company to Marseille. Here, they work with other artists, offer a wide range of educational activities and have become part of the vibrant artistic life of Marseille. Marseille is a real hot-spot for outdoor arts. Cie Accrorap is the 5 th company from France that we have presented at Bell Square in the last 2 years – and it’s no surprise that they are the 3 rd from Marseilles. Regular Bell Square fans will remember Rara Woulib and their joyous procession around the town centre last summer, and Cie Galmae, who created an extraordinary experience about how we take part in protests.

But Marseille is home to a whole host of amazing outdoor theatre, dance and circus companies. Wherever I go to festivals, looking for future shows for Bell Square, the companies from Marseille are always the big draw. Whether it’s giant puppets, mechanical structures, their incredible energy or pounding music, they have a real connection with the urban environment, with the communities on the city’s streets.

So why are there so many world-leading artists in this buzzy, diverse city on the Southern French coast? Well, it’s because they get so much support there. In addition to government funding, the local cultural organisations support them and recognise the value of street theatre in this vibrant and culturally rich city. There are several street theatre festivals throughout the year, providing many opportunities for the artists to perform.

Most of these companies also work very collaboratively with local communities, strengthening the relationship between the artists and the public, and making street theatre a shared experience. Unsurprisingly, the interest and enthusiasm of the public then contributes to the growth and sustainability of outdoor arts in the city.

Marseilles truly believes in public space as a democratic place where art brings new perspectives to be discussed by all. Where encounters between all the city’s communities cultivate human value.

And where amazing artistic experiences are not confined to venues and institutions but happen on the streets for everyone.

It’s an inspiring place for outdoor performance. And Cie Accrorap is a perfect example of what is created there.

Come and see the artistic fruits of Marseilles for yourself on Saturday 17 June at Bell Square! The performance of Prelude is at 2.00 pm. It’s free, no need to book, and everybody’s welcome.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : THE AMAZING TRAMPOLINE SHOW STILL TOURING AFTER 12 YEARS!

On Saturday 3 June, we welcome Max Calaf to Bell Square with his extraordinarily popular trampoline show, Anyday. This show has been everywhere and it’s high time that it makes its appearance in Hounslow! I talked to Max recently about why he thinks it has been in demand for such a long time.

Anyday

Anyday is comic, absurd and surreal. It’s the charming tale of Max who lives the ‘same day’ everyday on his trampoline, with only his little pet bird for company. As the two friends travel from town to town, we witness the strange events that happen in their chaotic world. They bounce together between life and death, catapulting into the stratosphere, and ultimately lifting our spirits. I’ve seen many trampoline shows over the past few years and this one sticks in my mind more than any other.

First and foremost, Max Calaf is a circus artist. He trained at circus school in his native Barcelona and then at Circus Space, the national centre for circus arts, in London. Having lived here in London for many years, he now lives in Paris. He has done juggling, aerial skills and skating, but is really best known for his trampolining and his eccentric acrobatics. He performs indoors in theatres and also outdoors, always obliterating the boundaries of what any normal person would think is possible on a trampoline!

Max has created many shows over the years but Anyday, which we see at Bell Square, was created back in 2011. He tells me a little anecdote about the title.

            ‘Up until then, I always had very long titles for my shows. I was trying with this to find a title that could catch the essence of the piece in one word…. well, I liked it, so I shortened ‘any day’ into a single word. Aren’t we allowed to make artistic choices!’

I asked him why he thought the show had remained so popular all these years and continued to tour all over the world.

            ‘Wow, it’s been a while since that first early version! The show has mutated several times, it has a life of its own. It’s changed quite naturally as I’ve performed it in front of so many people, in so many different contexts. The show has had an open dialogue with its spectators.

            ‘I also created it to be a show with an open story – it’s a bit autobiographical but it’s also relatable to people (I hope, lol!). The show is based on a state of mind rather than a fixed story.

            ‘I think the show has stayed more time-based - in the present – rather than being timeless. It’s a show that can give audiences a clear example of how circus can communicate in narrative and poetic ways. I like to think that I’m portraying a character that could really be any one of us, any member of the audience, as at the end of the day, we all have stories to tell’.

One of the reasons I have loved this show since I first saw it 10 years ago, is its ability to tell this lovely, quirky story. Add to that, the breath-taking trampoline skills and hilarious clowning, and it’s just a brilliant, unique show. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Come and see for yourself on Saturday 3 June at Bell Square! There are 2 performances – at 1.00 pm and again at 3.00 pm. As always, it’s free and there’s no need to book.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : VANHULLE DANCE THEATRE

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

VANHULLE DANCE THEATRE BRING DANCE & MARTIAL ARTS TO BELL SQUARE

Bell Square’s outdoor arts programme bounced back into Hounslow last week and is now with you every other Saturday through the rest of the year. There’s a different show each time but it’s always free and everybody’s welcome.

Next up on Saturday 20 May is Vanhulle Dance Theatre with their first visit to Bell Square. They will be performing their new show, Dovetail.

Vanhulle Dance Theatre

Vanhulle Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company based in Cambridgeshire. The company was set up in 2014 by Laura Vanhulle, a Belgian dancer who had come to the UK to study and then stayed, performing in many well-known dance companies before starting her own. In 2020, she was joined by co-director, Oliver Russell, a similarly established professional dancer and together, they have developed the company to be a respected and influential presence in the UK dance sector.

But this company is not just dance. They combine it with other movement styles, especially martial arts, resulting in a very powerful physicality and athleticism. They also tell strong stories, making their shows exciting and unique.

When they perform at Bell Square, you will see clearly the influence of martial arts in their dance movement. They are driven by a deep and philosophical understanding of the body, the connection to breath, and the balance and relationship between performers.

Both Laura and Oliver study the classical Korean martial art, Tang Soo Do. Both represent Great Britain and have won an array of medals in national and World Championships. Between them, they also bring highly developed skills in Capoeira, Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo into their dance performance. When away from the stage, Oliver also works as an action performer and in screen combat!

Dovetail

It’s not surprising, then, that this stripped back, all-powerful dance packs quite a punch. From its quiet, controlled start through to its high-octane finale, martial arts is fused with dance throughout.

But as ever, that magnum force also tells a story.  It looks at human resolve and the strength that allows us to bend and not break. At a time when the world and people are trying to reset, resilience and strength have maybe never been more important.

Dovetail is an expose of two people thrown together by fate and uncertainties, but can they form an unbreakable bond? These two skilled performers go to the edge of what’s possible to explore their connection, alliance and renewal. Ultimately, it’s a highly physical and emotive duet that showcases the human resolve to rebuild and rediscover oneself with the help of another.

Come and see Dovetail on Saturday 20 May at Bell Square! There are 2 performances – at 1.00 pm and again at 3.00 pm. It’s free, no need to book.

Look forward to seeing you there!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : SUMMER SEASON PREVIEW

Hello Hounslow! It’s May and it’s starting to feel a bit like summer, isn’t it? And that can only mean one thing - it’s time to head down to Bell Square again!

We have a great programme of outdoor performance lined up for you, right through to the end of the year.  As usual, there’s a mix of dance, theatre, acrobatics and circus. Some of these artists have wowed audiences at Bell Square before and return with their latest shows; others will be joining us for the first time. As ever, some are from the UK and some are international - this year, we will see some extraordinary performers from France, Catalunya and Poland, and further afield from Kenya and Morocco.

Most important of all, though, is you! We love being down at Bell Square, setting up for the show, having chats with so many of you as you pass by during the day.  Being with you as the crowd gathers, ready for the start of the show. And then the bell rings out – as it does before the start of every show – and the anticipation is huge.  Watching the show, all together.  Chats afterwards about what we’ve just seen. It’s all about bringing us together to watch something special and making our High Street social.

So let me tell you a little bit about the first few shows of the season.

May

The Black Blues Brothers kick off our season with the most fantastic acrobatics. They’re fun, they’re fast, they’re irresistible. They’ve got totally infectious energy, jaw-dropping routines, amazing human pyramids and they just guarantee to make you smile.

Later in May, we welcome Vanhulle Dance Theatre to Bell Square for the first time. Vanhulle are a young company from Cambridge doing great outdoor dance shows. Bringing together hip hop and contemporary dance, their new show Dovetail delves into how we rebuild and rediscover ourselves with the help of another.

June

Catalan circus artist, Max Calaf, arrives with his trampoline in June.  His quirky show, Anyday, is set entirely on the trampoline and it’s quite unbelievable just how high this guy can jump! The show has been touring all over the world for over 10 years and is stunning. One not to miss!

Then come Compagnie Accrorap, one of the biggest hip-hop companies in France. Their show, Prelude, mixes dance and electro acoustic music, gradually bringing all the dancers together in a beautiful energy which has audiences on the edge of their seats.

July

July starts with an exciting new partnership for Bell Square with Shubbak, London’s biennial festival that opens a ‘window’ on contemporary Arab cultures. Moroccan circus artist, Said Mouhssine, with his Company Zid, brings a distinctive brand of circus, comedy and parkour to Bell Square, telling stories from the streets all over the world.

Later in July, we bring back Rara Woulib from Marseilles. They’re a long-established street theatre company who led us all round the back streets of Hounslow last summer, ending up with a community dance at Bell Square.  What a night that was. The air was filled with music and laughter. My favourite audience quote of the night was, ‘Thank you for making Hounslow beautiful’ – and it really was. Well, they’re back again this summer with their new show Vertige(s) – and they’ll be asking us what we care about and why it’s important to be out on the street!

Come and celebrate the start of the summer with us this Saturday, 6 May!  Don’t miss the amazing Black Blues Brothers at 3pm or again at 7pm.

From our Artistic Director – Stunning Tango & Fire at Bell Square

Bell Square is back for 2022! And to kick off the new season, we have a stunner of a show for you from Compagnie Bilbobasso - phenomenal dance with lots of fire!

If you’ve been around in Hounslow for a long time, you’ll remember that the town centre had quite a makeover back in 2014. And part of this development was the creation of Bell Square as a new outdoor arts space which could present the best outdoor performers from all over the world. 

On a beautiful summer evening in 2014, Bell Square launched with a spectacular show by this same company, Bilbobasso. The 2 main performers, Herve Perrin and Delphine Dartus, started the company in 2006 to develop their love of Argentinian tango, music and fire. With dance, sparks and explosions, they bring the emotions of everyday life to the streets.

Instead of a stage, they perform on a large area of sand, allowing them to create patterns of fire on the ground and to dance amidst showers of sparks. They have taken these shows all over the world, from Romania to the Caribbean, Hungary to Australia, Korea to Lithuania. And this Saturday, they will be back with us in Hounslow with their show, Amor.

Amor is about a couple who have been together a long time. Time has done its work and from their romantic beginnings, nerves have become raw and tensions taken root. The smallest things can set sparks flying. The show is crazy, playful, wild and tenacious. 

It is also a rather special occasion at Bell Square on Saturday as this performance is the official launch of Hounslow’s Summer of Culture – an amazing 3-month festival bringing an extraordinary array of events to every corner of the borough. We’re delighted that Bell Square will be hosting some great events for the festival right through the summer.

So come and see some world-class outdoor performance at Bell Square – it’s always free and everybody’s welcome. 

Come along this Saturday at 9.30 pm (when it’s dark enough for the fire). Bilbobasso will bring you a stunning, giant, firecracker of a show!

You can follow us @BellSquareLDN on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up to our email newsletter here!

From our Artistic Director: Summer Preview 2022

Exciting, world-class outdoor performance landed in Hounslow in 2014. The brand new Bell Square was the first of its kind in London, hosting extraordinary artists and performers from across the globe, every other weekend. Hounslow came together to watch amazing shows – spectacles, entertainment, theatre, circus and dance.

The last 2 years, we’ve brought you as many shows as we could, but Covid has meant that the events have been lower key than they would normally be. Well this year, we’re back! 

We’ve got fabulous international shows for you, daytime and night-time, tango, hip-hop and Bharatnatyam, festivals and parades, superb theatre and spectacular fire.

Hounslow this year will have an amazing Summer of Culture, a 3-month festival of arts and culture all over the borough – and Bell Square will host the opening and closing events. 

For me, the most wonderful thing about Bell Square is that it brings everyone together. And after the last 2 years we’ve all had, we can’t wait to be back with you!

Come and join us! We start on Saturday 4 June and will be there every other Saturday through to December. Here’s a taste of what’s to come during the summer.

June

We start the season – and launch Hounslow’s Summer of Culture – with Compagnie Bilbobasso from France. This was the company, back in 2014, that performed the very first show in Bell Square. You all loved them – so they’re coming back with another show, Amor. It’s a couple’s relationship told through feisty tango, quite a few sparks and a lot of fire!

Next up is Seeta Patel Dance with Rite of Spring. This is a vibrant, contemporary interpretation of a classical dance piece which shocked the world at its premiere in 1913. Not so shocking now probably but a powerfully energetic dance show nevertheless!

July

In July, we welcome 3 companies to Bell Square performing with us for the first time. 

London-based Alleyne Dance are twin sisters, Kristina and Sade Alleyne, who bring us an athletic show about the changing connections between siblings – all performed on a giant, rotating glass house.

Then we have Just Us Dance Theatre with Born to Protest. Their choreographer, Joseph Toonga, is an up and coming star of the dance world, creating powerful hip-hop theatre with a strong political message.

At the end of the month, one of Poland’s legendary outdoor theatre companies, Teatr Ad Spectatores, bring their show, Aliens from Mons. This is funny, clever, physical theatre, all projected on a big screen, telling the story of how Europe came together at the end of World War Two. 

August

In August, the events go large - not just at Bell Square but all over the town centre!

We launch a brand new festival of South Asian Outdoor Arts, showcasing music, theatre, dance, poetry and more in a celebratory atmosphere all along the High Street. It’s called Anhad – which means ‘limitless’. The High Street will come alive with the sights and sounds of local and national artists throughout the afternoon and evening.

Then on the last weekend of August, on the bank holiday, Rara Woulib come from Marseilles. Providing the closing event of the Summer of Culture festival, they will take the town centre by storm with their show, Deblozay. It’s a celebration of our town, of our residents past and present, in a grand Caribbean tradition. In Haitian-Creole, Deblozay means ‘bedlam’. Hounslow, let’s party!

Come and see us at Bell Square on Saturday 4 June – we can’t wait to be back with you!

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : A BURST OF COLOUR FROM CADIZ

On Saturday, we welcome Teatro El Carromato to Bell Square. These wonderful, contemporary street artists come all the way from Cadiz in Southern Spain to bring a burst of warmth and colour to our grey winter days!

In June this year, I was invited by the regional government of Andalucia to attend a 2-day event for programmers from around Europe to meet the outdoor arts companies based in their region. It was a great opportunity to meet around 30 companies, see their shows, and also attend the fabulous Circada Festival in Seville.

Andalucia is the southern-most region of Spain and includes many important cities - Cordoba, Granada, Malaga and Cadiz, in addition to Seville.

Cadiz is an important coastal city in this region. It dates back 3000 years and is considered to be the oldest city in Europe. This is where Columbus set sail for the Americas in 1493!

The long history of Cadiz can be seen wherever you go. It seems that almost every narrow street reveals another fabulous square or plaza. Beautiful monuments and bustling cafes attract locals and visitors alike.

Is it any wonder that street arts are an important part of the culture of this city! Their Carnival is a huge, 11-day street party with parades, fun and mass participation – and second only to Rio in its fame!

When I was in Andalucia, I met several companies from Cadiz. Teatro El Carromato is a long established street theatre company who have created 20 different shows since 2000. Some of these shows have been performed over 300 times across Spain and around Europe.

One of these shows is Big Dancers and it is easy to see the cultural influences of Cadiz in the 4-metre high dancing puppets, the joyful music and the magical atmosphere. These dancing, almost human sculptures, with their illuminated colourful costumes, will flood the High Street with music and colour. You certainly won't miss them!

Come and join the spectacle - and dance, if you want, with these amazing giant puppets! Let's welcome a little Spanish warmth into our November day.

Teatro El Carromato are our first guests from Andalucia - but I promise there will be more!

If you speak Spanish, you can follow the company on twitter @El_Carromato - and on Facebook @elcarromatoteatrodecalle

Their website is http://elcarromato.com/home/ - English, Spanish and French.

And you can follow us @BellSquareLDN on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up to our email newsletter here.

from our artistic director: marking mental health awareness month at bell square

October is mental health awareness month at Bell Square. We have two very different shows that look at issues affecting our mental health and encouraging us to reflect on the things that influence our wellbeing.

World Mental Health Day is celebrated every year on 10 October and aims to encourage education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. Many activities take place across the world throughout October.

Last year, Company Chameleon performed their show, Witness This, at Bell Square. It told the story of the choreographer’s diagnosis of bipolar, his recovery and the effects of his illness on those close to him in a viscerally moving dance performance.

Mental health problems can affect anyone at any time so it’s very likely that it will affect each of us directly or someone close to us. Maybe it’s not surprising that Witness This drew such a phenomenal response from the Bell Square audience last year - and many, many people asked us to do more events around mental health.

So this October, we have a large, spectacular show about insomnia and its effect on our wellbeing, and another show which is small, intimate and considers the mental health of the young people in our community. We also have two open, public talks and discussions, and a series of workshops with young people in Hounslow.

Insomnio by Teatro do Mar

The NHS describes insomnia as ‘difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning’. Almost everyone experiences insomnia from time to time, maybe for just a few days or weeks, but the NHS says ‘it’s a common problem thought to regularly affect around 1 in 3 people in the UK’.

Teatro do Mar: Insomnio

It’s widely acknowledged that most adults need 7-8 hours sleep a night. But the Mental Health Foundation says that, ‘with increasingly busy lives, it’s estimated that we now sleep around 90 minutes less each night than we did in the 1920s’ and that ‘it’s obvious that many people are now functioning in a permanently sleep-deprived state’.

Probably all of us have had nights tossing and turning and felt tired, irritable and out of sorts the next day. But research shows that the long term effects of sleep deprivation are much more serious and present significant risks to our emotional wellbeing, our mental and physical health.

On 12 October, Teatro do Mar visit Bell Square for the first time. The company was founded over 30 years ago in Sines, in Portugal, and are well-established and well-respected throughout Europe.

Their latest show, Insomnio, looks at the rhythm of contemporary life – fast, noisy and immediate. We absorb the ever-increasing amounts of information thrown at us, and have less and less hours of sleep to process it all. Dreams allow us to retain the experiences that have future meaning for us. If we don’t sleep and dream enough, are we creating a culture of forgetting what is important?

This large-scale show with theatre, acrobatics, music and video projection, deals with insomnia, human fragility, forgetting and remembering.

Unkindest Cut by Sadhana Dance

Our second show in October is Unkindest Cut. Sadhana Dance perform in a large shipping container and will take up residence at Bell Square from Wednesday 23 – Saturday 26 October. Watching the performance inside the container is an intimate experience and totally different from Insomnio. With this show, there are several performances each day for a smaller audience.

Unkindest Cut is about the mental health and wellbeing of the young people in our community. According to MQ – Transforming Mental Health Through Research, 1 in 10 children and young people have mental health problems, and 70% of those children and young people have not had appropriate help.

The title of the show, Unkindest Cut, refers both to damaging cuts in government spending and to self-harm. The company notes that cases of self-harm in girls aged 13-16 have risen by 68% since 2011.

Sadhana Dance: Unkindest Cut

Sadhana Dance is led by dancer and choreographer Subathra Subramaniam, and incorporates extensive medical and scientific research into its dance productions. Unkindest Cut was made in response to the growing crisis in young people’s mental health. It was developed by Suba during a period as artist-in-residence at the Maudsley Hospital in London, with the active involvement of their Consultant Adolescent Psychiatrist, Dr Partha Banerjea.

The performance explores how our minds cope – and sometimes don’t – with modern life. It includes dance, spoken word and film, and integrates the voices of young people into the heart of the piece. It represents the experience of living through psychological pain, while life goes on outside. Inside the shipping container, watching the show, we experience what is going on in the young people’s minds, but we also hear the day-to-day noises of the street outside. It’s a subtle reminder that it’s what’s on the inside that matters.

We have probably all heard the statistics that 1 in 4 of us is living with a mental health condition. That’s nearly 15 million people in the UK with an illness. Bringing that figure home, it’s 67,000 people in our borough.

And that figure of 1 in 10 children and young people living with a mental health condition means 3 children in an average classroom - in our classrooms in Hounslow, like everywhere else. And 2 of them are probably not getting help.

As so many of you said last year, we need to talk about this. I hope these 2 very different shows encourage us all to talk about mental health with friends, family and colleagues – and to think about our own wellbeing, too. I’m going to end this post, though, with a thought from Subathra Subramaniam from Sadhana Dance:

‘I believe that the essence of human beings can be revealed through art. I want my multi-disciplinary work to instil a curiosity, pose questions, open up debate and discussion. Mental health is such an important issue facing young people today. Unkindest Cut – you could call it a head trip. It’s about reflection, rather than a reaction, a thinking space that can help us think differently about mental health’.

For full details of the shows and talks, please see the What’s On page.

You can follow Teatro Do Mar on Twitter and Facebook @TeatroDoMar

You can follow Sadhana Dance on Twitter and Facebook @sadhanadance

And finally, huge thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for making this programme possible.

From our Artistic Director: Beautiful Old Street Games all the way from Poland

Last year, I spent a few days in July at the Ulica festival in Krakow.  Ulica means ‘street’ in Polish and the festival is dedicated to theatre and performance in the street.

Krakow is a beautiful city with a medieval, and still vibrant, old town. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with historic cathedrals and churches, towers and cobbled pathways dating back to the 13th century.  It offers a picturesque, and very special, backdrop for outdoor performances.

Rynek Glowny – or the Grand Square – is huge, maybe 40 times the size of Bell Square, and is split across its centre with an indoor market building and cloisters. Rynek Glowny was the largest plaza of medieval Europe, one of the greatest trading hubs and now, it is the central focus of the festival, attracting thousands of people to see the many performances.

 The nearby Maly Rynek – or small market square - served the crucial function of a meat market for centuries.  It is one of the city’s most scenic places, with its large stone cobbles, old town houses and church buildings, and it still happily frames contemporary Krakow life.  It was in this picturesque square that I first saw the collection of street games which we will welcome to Bell Square this weekend.

The games are all lovingly hand-made by Teatr Wagabunda with wood, iron and natural materials – rope, canvas, sacking and willow.  They are inspired by the household games and utensils that would have been used by previous generations.  There are rocking horses, flying animals whose wings flap when they are pushed around the square, a see-saw – and there is everything needed to play boules or hoops or have a pillow fight.  All the games are quite beautiful and special, and have the nostalgic appeal of a lost era.  

Many of the games require great skill – in balance or throwing, for example, and are actually very difficult, even for adults.  But Teatr Wagabunda also bring a playful engagement to the experience – mischievous and clown-like at times, slightly wicked at others!  People join in and do the weekly washing with an old wringer, so there is plenty of water around – what could possibly go wrong?

When I saw these games in Krakow, they were a magnet for everyone who passed by.  Children, of course.  Families, yes.  But adults, too, were drawn in to play – with friends, and with others who happened to be there at the same moment.  It is so easy to just start playing these games with people you don’t know.  They are so much larger than the games you probably have at home, so they contain an implicit invitation to play with them as a community.

Even though I can speak no more than a few words of Polish, I had such fun playing these games with people in the Square in Krakow.  It is lovely for anyone, and perhaps especially an adult, to stop and play in the street with other people.  I saw two people, strangers a few minutes earlier, having a pillow fight, laughing together and loving every minute of it.  These were strangers made friendly by the invitation to play.

These games bring people together – to be friendly, engaged, and together in public space.

I can’t wait to play the games again on Saturday with you all at Bell Square!

If you speak Polish, you can follow the company on Facebook @teatrwagabunda and their website is http://www.teatrwagabunda.pl/

And you can follow us @BellSquareLDN on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  And sign up to our email newsletter here.

From Our Artistic Director: Just back from Fira Terrega

The second weekend in September can only mean one thing for me – the annual pilgrimage to Fira Tarrega!  For 4 days each year, an unimaginable number of artists, audiences and programmers descend on this small Catalan town for an amazing festival of outdoor arts.

The whole experience is like a ritual.  Plane to Barcelona airport.  A shuttle bus for artists and programmers from Barcelona to Tarrega.  The work has now begun.  Conversations, mini-meetings on the bus, catch-ups, artists ‘selling’ their shows, programmers looking for partnerships and shared projects.

Ninety minutes later, we’re in Tarrega.  Register, collect your tickets for shows, get the address of where you’re staying.  Drop your bag off.  In 30 minutes, you’re straight out to see the first show. 

Over 4 days, I expect to see about 30 shows, anytime from 10.00 in the morning until 1.00 the next morning.  I have pored over the brochure in advance, selecting the shows that from the basic description look like they may be possible choices for Bell Square next year.  In the gaps, there are meetings with artists, other programmers from around the world, and presentations to attend.  Maybe a quick snack on the way to the next show.  Sleep? Not much.  It’s a whirlwind: exhausting and exhilarating! 

The shows are mainly from Catalunya, the region in which Tarrega is located, and other parts of Spain, but also from France, Portugal and further afield outside Europe.  There’s dance, theatre, music, circus - large scale and small.  Shows that have been touring for a while and are very polished.  But also a huge number of brand new shows, performing for the first time, and hoping to get booked by programmers from everywhere you can think of. 

Many of the most interesting shows were concerned with the stories of our time and our world. Reflections about our cities and urban spaces.  About social change.  About resistance and protest.  About individuality within a community or society – how do we find our place in the crowd?  Shows about violence and vigil.  Some of these are serious, others are entertaining or observational.  But a glance at the news from around the world, including our own country, makes it obvious where the inspiration for these shows is coming from. 

One of the most affecting shows I saw this year was Cie Galmae’s C’est pas là, c’est par là.  It is inspired by the artist’s experience of being in the protests against the government in Seoul on the first anniversary of the Sewol ferry tragedy in which over 300 people, most of them children and young people, died. The show captures the experience of the protest - and the police response which attracted international condemnation. 

Cie Galmae - C’est pas là, c’est par là. Fira Tarrega, 2019

Having been to Tarrega for several years, I have seen the small changes typical of any small town over time.  But over the last couple of years, the struggle for independence in Catalunya, which many of us will have read about in the news, has been palpable.  There is a real tension between those who want independence for Catalunya and those who want to remain part of Spain.  The yellow ribbon which has become a symbol for Catalan independence is everywhere.  Yellow ribbons hanging from the trees in the town squares could have been mistaken by a foreign visitor as bunting for the festival.  Instead, it is a highly visible symbol of the demand for a free vote on independence.  The yellow ribbon is on council buildings not surprisingly, but it is also illuminated on churches at night.  It was on the key-ring I was given to the apartment where I was staying.  The ribbons are on lamp-posts, painted onto the roads and pavements.  Graffiti demands the release of the jailed politicians on every street corner.  New street art demands the right to decide their own future.

In this context, it is unsurprising that many Catalan artists are also making work which is more overtly political, talking about freedom, oppression and democracy.  One company told me that they had always worked indoors, in theatres, but that they had now made their first outdoor work as they felt they had to take to the streets to make their voice heard. 

Personally, I believe that outdoor arts, or street art, is always political.  It makes a statement in public space.  It makes people’s voices heard.  It brings different stories of our different communities into our shared space.  A regular programme, like we have at Bell Square, allows us to come together to reflect on the issues that affect us, that are important to us, to talk about the things we want to challenge, and to celebrate the things that make our world good.

So, on Monday, as I stood at the bus station in Tarrega with a strong black coffee and waiting to start the journey home, I was exhausted, but much more importantly, I was exhilarated.  The audiences at Bell Square tell us over and over again that we need to talk about these stories.  And there are so many stories for us to talk about next year.

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FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : LET’S GET TOGETHER AND TALK

I believe passionately in the power of outdoor arts to bring communities together and to get people talking.  As we head into the autumn and winter season at Bell Square, there are opportunities to see shows about things that affect us all - things like our mental health and the environment - and there are also opportunities to just get together and have a good time!

Through a regular programme of outdoor arts like we have at Bell Square, many artists give their perspective on the things that matter to them.  We hear many different voices.  About many different topics.  We talk about the stories that affect us, and those close to us, and the places where we live.   Migration.  The environment.  Mental health.  Relationships.  The big stuff. 

An audience member a few months ago said to me, ‘This is great.  We need to talk about this stuff in public.’  Many people read about these stories, these topics, every day on their phones, watch them on TV, listen to them on the radio.  But do they talk about them?  Share their own views with their friends, their families, their neighbours?  Maybe not enough. 

At an outdoor arts space, there is an openness.  Outdoor arts is democratic – anyone can come.  There are no tickets, entry charges, rules and regulations about how you watch these shows.  You just turn up and enjoy it - or leave if you don’t like it.  You can hang around afterwards.  You’ve all just witnessed something together.  Hopefully it made you think.  Challenged your assumptions or ideas, maybe.  Somehow this makes it easier to talk to strangers about what you’ve just watched.  Many people are really keen at this moment to share their thoughts and ideas with someone else who has just had the same experience.  I love it when I see people talking to each other at the end of the show, and I love it when people come and talk to me about what they’ve just seen.

Outdoor arts also create great experiences when people gather and just do something different together – whether it’s deciding to join in a performance, playing giant street games together or taking part in the lantern procession at the annual Winter Lights event.

As ever, we have a mix of UK and international shows through the autumn and winter.  We have artists from the North, from Manchester and Yorkshire, and from the South, from Buckinghamshire and Brighton.  We have 3 companies from Europe, all renowned on the continent but new to Bell Square, from Portugal, Poland and Spain. 

Here’s what we have coming up for you – I really hope you enjoy the shows through the autumn and winter.

September

This Saturday, Avanti Display return to Bell Square with their hugely popular Full Circle.  I don’t want to give too much away on this one but I do promise that it’s mischievous, ends up being quite hilarious, and uses hundreds of silver buckets!  If you want a laugh this weekend, this should do it for you!

On 28 September, we welcome Teatr Wagabunda with the UK premiere of their show, The Old Homestead.  The whole Square will be laid out all day with dozens of large-scale games.  When I saw this in Krakow last year, I nearly cried laughing at 2 middle-aged men essentially having a pillow-fight!

October

October is Mental Health Awareness Month.  Last year, we did a dance show (Company Chameleon’s moving performance about recovery from Bipolar) and your comments after the performance, and on the feedback cards so many of you complete for us, described a very emotional response and a desire for more events about mental health. 

So we are marking Mental Health Awareness Month with 2 very different shows.  First, on the evening of 12 October, we have Teatro do Mar from Portugal, with their show Insomnio.  The show is visually spectacular and looks at the effects of insufficient sleep on our mental health.  Set on a giant bed, the show incorporates theatre, acrobatics and video.

Later in the month, Sadhana Dance move their shipping container onto Bell Square for a short residency.  Inside the container, there will be a show about what affects the mental health of the young people in our community, influenced by workshops leading up to the event.  There will also be an audio-visual installation in the container between performances, and some talks and discussions if you’d like to join in.

November

On 9 November, El Carromato come from Cadiz with Big Dancers.  The ‘big dancers’ are 4-metre high ‘human’ puppets who, with synchronised music and lighting, create an atmosphere like a street party.  If you want to dance, you can!  

23 November brings the annual Winter Lights event, a ritual celebration of light in the cold, dark nights of winter.  Every year, in the weeks leading up to the event, hundreds of people all over the borough take part in workshops to create their own lantern.  On the night of the event, they come together to take part in a beautiful lantern procession through the town centre, leading to a sparkly and fiery finale at Bell Square!

December

And to end the season in December, Thingumajig Theatre bring their gorgeous caribou to the High Street.  With music, song and the illuminated puppets, Ghost Caribou tells of lost habitat, impossible migrations and the seeds of hope before the beautiful caribou continue their journey into the night.  

So, I hope you can join us at Bell Square this autumn to have some fun and some good conversations.  Come and talk to us after the show – we love to know what you think.  And you can always start a conversation on social media @BellSquareLDN

Finally, thanks as ever to our funder, Arts Council England.  And to the National Lottery for funding the shows and talks during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Do follow us @BellSquareLDN on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up to our email newsletter here.

FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: CARMEN FUNEBRE RETURNS TO LONDON

Carmen Funebre is known as one of the most legendary pieces of outdoor arts ever made.  It is a show about the impact of war on civilians as the former Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s.  It is a mighty piece of theatre, uncompromising and searing in its impact.  The show is 26 years old, has toured the world, and returns to London for the first time in 10 years.

Teatr Biuro Podróży

Teatr Biuro Podróży is a famed Polish outdoor theatre company set up by Paweł Szkotak with a group of young and passionate actors in Poznan in 1988.  Since then, they have created 15 different theatre productions, and performed over a thousand times for audiences in 50 different countries. 

 They have always been determined to make theatre in a different way to accepted traditions, and to make that theatre for people who don’t normally go to well-known theatre institutions.  They care about people and the stories of their lives.  Teatr Biuro Podróży’s shows are social, political and powerful.

 The company emerged onto the scene as civil resistance in Poland demonstrated the people’s demand for change and led to the end of communist rule in the summer of 1989.  The new company came up with the name Biuro Podróży, which means Travel Agency in Polish.  In a country behind the Iron Curtain, very few people were able to obtain passports.  As the rest could travel only in their imagination, the ironically-named Teatr Biuro Podróży offered an ‘escape’ through theatre.

Carmen Funebre

Carmen Funebre, or Funeral Song, is the group’s most famous piece, and was made in 1993-94.  As the Balkans Wars raged, just south of Poland, and the former Yugoslavia broke up, 4 million people were displaced in the 10 years from 1991-2001.   

The show specifically explores the impact on civilians and focuses on the story of refugees and migrants caught up in the spiral of war.  It is based on interviews with victims of the wars.   

Directed by its founder, Paweł Szkotak, the show uses physical theatre, overwhelming music, the highly visual effects of fire, and tyrants towering on stilts, to tell the story of people trapped in the turmoil of war. 

This seminal theatre production continues to tour the world today.  In the context of recent carnage and cleansing in the Middle East, the show is as relevant now as it was 26 years ago. It can be seen just as much as a comment on the fate of refugees caught up in the mass exodus to Europe, looking for a safer place, as it was on the Balkans in the 1990s.

Teatr Biuro Podróży present Carmen Funebre at Bell Square on Saturday 31 August at 8.00 pm.  The show lasts 50 minutes.  Age guidance 14+

You can follow Teatr Biuro Podróży on Facebook @ Teatr-Biuro-Podróży

And on Instagram @teatr_biuro_podrozy