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Cirque du ArtSwarm: Fishing
Wistaston Memorial Hall, Wistaston
28 September 2019

About this event

One of a series of experimental art performance, music and poetry nights at Wistaston Memorial Hall, curated and organised by Mark Sheeky and Deborah Edgeley. The theme of the evening was Fishing. Mark Sheeky opened the night with a piece called 'Here Little Fishy' in which Mark sang a child-like song and passed a hook around the audience. Those with the hook could suggest things that have been caught, which were incorporated into the song. In an experiment, the subsequent acts were chosen from a hat, the 'Hat of Destiny', with performer's names written paper fish and drawn at random.

The next act was Helen Kay, reading two poems with an environmental theme. Debbie Breeze and Claire Bassi performed a flash play about the phrase 'Plenty More Fish in the Sea', then Nick Ferenczy read a short story about his fishing experiences in front of a projected backdrop. Claire Bassi then performed 'Fish/Trash', which involved reading a poem about our environmental impact on the world, and asked the audience to select a random object from a net, either a fish or a piece of litter. Mark Sheeky then sang a simple song called 'The Fish Are Singing', with an environmental theme.

Carol Finch then read a short story with a horrific twist. Alice Smith then performed a poetic, acted piece with an approximate theme of coping with trauma and addiction. Alice left the stage to perform among the audience in a confrontational, but also very personal, style of performance that involved props and a range of moods. Maggie Shaw was drawn next and sang two songs on the theme of fishing, and her husband Alan sang 'Pedro the Fisherman', a song from the 1946 film, 'Lisbon Story'.

Deborah Edgeley then read a blackout poem, a poem made from a mix of random lines from Moby Dick. Moragh Carter recounted her memories of her first fishing trip, and sang a gentle song, and finally Deborah Edgeley as mermaid Thalassa, and Mark Sheeky as Poseidon conducted as simple, television-style interview about their mythical lives.