Residency 2: 19th - 30th January 2009

Jodee Mundy and Sam Davison – concept and performance
Ben Cobham and Andy Livingston - (Bluebottle) set/ lighting design
Kelly Ryall- sound design
Michelle Boyd- costume consultant
Christian Leavesley- Visiting Director

Polyglot hosted our second Tap Puppetry Residency in Jan 2009 – Pigeonhole by Jodee Mundy and Sam Davison, which started with the idea of two people living tiny lives in tiny spaces – literally in a pigeonhole. With their creative team, boxes and shelves, objects and lighting they pushed their exploration of physical space and relationships over a period of two weeks. Kelly Ryall’s evocative and emotional soundtrack developed alongside the images of the internal workings of two people’s minds, the stultifying proximity of the other person, the joy of finding a new way to behave and relate. 

The exploration culminated in a showing to friends and industry, asking the audience after they saw the piece to write the story of what they saw on stage.

Pigeonhole is an idea for a piece of visual theatre that explores notions of space and habitation.  It looks at how space defines us as people, our relationships to one another, and they way we form our thinking.  When our relationship changes to the space around us and to the people in our space, what does that mean for us?  In our urbanised world where space is at a premium how does this affect our social interaction?

The piece has the potential to function as a continuous performance installation in which the characters go about the routines/lives while being viewed as a kind of human gallery by audiences that are able to move around and view from different perspectives.

 For Polyglot, Tap offers a strong connection to independent artists working in visual and puppetry theatre. It’s a program that utilises the knowledge and experience of Polyglot’s staff as well as the creative teams around each residency. The residents get a budget of $3,000, the use of the venue, lights, workshop, props, puppets, the time of the Artistic Director, General Manager and Production Manager, a Critical Appraisal Panel, a professional photographer, video archival footage of the piece, an industry showing and admin support.

Polyglot gets the chance to be part of another team’s process, to witness different ways of working, to meet new artists and make new connections. Tap gives us all replenishment and inspiration. The audience who come to the showing are often walking into our space for the first time, and it is a chance for the industry players to see another side of the work that Polyglot does However, due to a cut in federal government funding, plans for future Tap programs have been put on the back burner. Tap is a program very close to our hearts and the two residencies we’ve managed to support have proven to us how valuable it is, not only to the artists but to the industry at large, and to our company.