Artist Spotlight with Perhaps Contraption

4 July 2024

Christo Squier is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and creative director with a focus on the intersection of science, art and performance. He recently completed an artist residency at King’s College London Department of Physics, creating generative installations and concerts based on cosmic rays. He is founder and creative director of multi-award winning ensemble Perhaps Contraption.

In this blog, Christo talks about Perhaps Contraption’s new promenade storytelling experience, ‘The Journey.’

The seedlings that would eventually sprout into our 2nd theatrical experience (the first being 2019’s Nearly Human which premiered at Edinburgh Festival) were planted over a year ago.

Perhaps Contraption is our ensemble; a 9 piece experimental brass band formed in 2011. We are somewhat a musical oddity in the brass world, as we write and perform all our own music, and have a collective passion for singing, often infusing compositions with huge choral sections. We also love to make theatrical works, collaborate and improvise. While we often perform amplified and on stage, we primarily thrive as an acoustic, mobile entity; loving the freedom and immediacy of parades and pop up street shows.

So I thought it would be interesting to construct a narrative driven performance that can be mapped to suit various environments. Some sort of psychogeographical, explorative, connective, musical adventure if you will! I loved the idea of making it semi-bespoke; collaborating with local producers and communities to help pick an interesting route around their cities or festival sites. As we processed, these places would become our playground, stages and sets – seeking out tunnels, natural amphitheatres, platforms and beautiful vistas on the way. I wanted this perambulating concept to sweep up startled passersby in the throng, to bring the show to as many people as possible, whether they had planned to see it or not.

Surprise, intrigue and joy were our incentives.

Instilling a sense of connection to the present moment was the aim. I also wanted to embed access into this piece from the ground up, striving to use it as a crucible for a deep collaboration with another artist. And so we reached out to Zoë Mcwhinney, an incredible Deaf actor.

When we began rehearsals (at the brilliant 101 – the National centre for arts in public space), it immediately became clear that this collaboration was powerful and dynamic…something completely new and interesting was brewing.

The 9 piece band are involved in executing fairly taxing music, this left space for Zoë to bring dynamism, physicality and urgency to the performance. She had a knack for driving forth the narrative in unexpected ways.

Zoë incorporates British Sign Language and visual vernacular (a unique blend of physical theatre, signed poetry and mime) into the entire flow of the piece.

Our aim was to create a sense of community, jubilation and expression by the final act, resulting in the audience singing and/or signing the words “We are here, now, breathing air, together” with the entire cast.

As the piece travels through the various locations, we try to build a sense of community and cohesion, of travelling and searching together. A collection of unlikely individuals swept up in colourful melodies and play. We wanted to transform people’s days, if only for an hour. Striving for this felt good.

‘I was relieved and delighted after the first sharing that we managed to accomplish this, resulting in a mass finale of movement and voice, a beautiful connection between the cast and audience’.

We also consulted with Without Wall’s access advisor, Karina Jones, an actor and aerialist who is visually impaired. Karina really helped us to embed access for visually impaired people into the performance by advising on the creation of an integrated touch tour as a pre-show. This can dovetail into the main piece to create a seamless experience.

We also adjusted the script to include some key audio cues, to help define the purely visual narrative moments.

This helped us realise how access in performing arts need not be a dry addendum, it can imbue and creatively enrich an idea, adding dynamics and intrigue in unanticipated ways.

After a (rather tight!) 4 day rehearsal stint at 101 Outdoor Arts and a highly positive sharing, we brought the premiere of The Journey to Brighton Festival on May 18th and 19th. Thankfully, all our envisioning and hard work appeared to have paid off – the inaugural performances of The Journey were met with love and enthusiasm.

Amazingly, some people were tearful after the melodies of the final fanfare had died away, showing sincere thanks for the adventure the troupe had taken them on.

Some people, not knowing that such a happening was happening, simply caught a glimpse of us on the horizon, a flash of yellow and brass and burgundy…the melodies enticed them to dive into the curious procession. One lady told me, breathlessly, that she “really really needed to feel those things today.”

‘This is the power of free, public performance. Harnessing collective energy in shared spaces in order to feel present, to build friendships and bring joy in such difficult times.’

I’m happy to say that I feel this new performance and collaboration shows much promise in delivering this.

We are due to record an album to accompany the show this Winter, and hope to continue to wrap this journey around many other cities and gatherings for years to come.

With huge thanks to all of the organisations who helped bring this into being:

Supported by Without Walls and commissioned by Stockton International Riverside Festival, Timber Festival and Brighton Festival. With additional thanks to 101 Outdoor Arts and Premises Studios and our costume designer Amy Day.