Day 6 KlangHaus :Alight Here

Today we fine tuned. Two shows under our belt, one was passable the other was great! Each show is different because of it's audience. The unique combination of enzymes in the room! We got the bus sound really wide and full, more mics feeding into the PA to spread the sound around the room beyond the bus. The bus sounds fucking great as a resonant room!! Then Mark and I choreographed our movements leading up to Ball in The Hole. It's getting there, getting better. The thrill for the audience is lessened by hesitant movement. We aim to walk with intention at all times. The first show tonight was moved to half an hour later so it was dark enough for the projections, it worked wonderfully. The vibe in show one was wonderful, exciting, electric. The bus ROCKED!! Show two was glorious but a little tamer, with the audience standing further back. Maddy Costa from The Guardian popped up at the hot rum table, lovely!My only fly in the ointment is me being slightly grumpy, getting pissed off at tiny details. So today I'm not going to be like that.

KlangHaus Alight Here Day 4 & 5

The days fly by and also lollop along in treacle at the same time. so much walking, up and down the depot and also around Colchester trying to find equipment, leads and asking favours, so many favours! I enjoyed my Day 4 morning, in the space on my own singing and making friends with the building. We work in a structured way, we check in with each other regularly and make lists and schedules, this stops us drifting aimlessly towards an immovable deadline of TODAY at 6.30pm. Show 1 at 6.30pm was in daylight... by the end the audience could see the projections in the dusk, lesson 1 learned. The first audience was huge, maybe 60 people... but when we got to the bus section,they piled on! They literally rocked the bus. Show one was odd because of it being so light. Show two was a corker. We tightened up some silent gaps, the projections were glorious. Blocked by stars a favourite moment and Go Have Fun. The bus rocked agin, we took our time and were present. Lesson 2, get a non paying 'false-audience' in as part of set up. You cannot know how an audience will feel just by imagining it...you need bodies. We were a bit of a h&S nightmare for the two Arts Centre owners present. the team did really well. I got all bossy and need to pipe down! We end the show under the bus.

Day 2 Colchester Klanging

Days seem to go on forever. Perhaps it's the single focus. It's great, I'm exhausted and I look and it's only 8.30pm, then we relax and it's only 11.30pm. Today is another day of being charming, what a delightful way to spend some hours, being helpful, sunny and buzzing along problem solving. Tomorrow I must do some singing! The pigeons are getting on our tits and we are playing the calls of hawks to piss them off, they are shitting on us in retaliation. We came home and ate wonderful food cooked by Lingford. Great day.

KlangHaus Alight Here : Day 1

It's not all about rushing and being stressed. It's not all about being early and knackering yourself. We took a realistic timescale and all arrived at Colchester from our triangulation of homesteads at 2pm. We went on a hunt for a cherry picker and used all our charms of reassurance to get what we needed. We looked at books in Firstsite Gallery that made us feel sick. We did a floor plan for electric power location needs. Tony George flung locks around and wrenched open doors so we have miraculously got gear safely locked away in anti-rooms. We food shopped, we snacked on mountains of cheese and salty olives. We planned for tomorrow and are soon to be sleeping in this amazing, ancient Georgian house, which feels like it's been modernised to the 1940s. The light switches snap on and off very loudly. A great day after weeks of anxious uncertainty.

KlangHaus: Alight Here, Colchester Old Bus Depot

Tomorrow morning we leave for a weeks KlangHausing at the old Colchester bus depot. The first KlangHaus in a semi derelict building since our early beginnings at Westlegate tower. That comes with it's own challenges, like no insurance possibilities. We are now liaising with over night security guards...interesting and expensive! We have had an amazing week. Funding for the project was confirmed..that was a nerve wracking wait! We confirmed accommodation on Tuesday, again, nerve wracking leaving it so late in the day, but I had a hunch it would work out, lesson learned...follow the hunch! Listen to intuition.We are all in varying states of exhaustion but looking forward to coming together and helping each other thrive. We are on the cusp of becoming full-time artists, thanks to the continuing support and arse-kicking from the Norwich Arts Centre. I hope to share our experience, share our determination and hard work and inspiration with others. Dream and make it real.