community outreach

You might remember a previous post describing the four short plays that I need to complete for my course before the end of the Autumn Term. Well, I've begun work on two of them, and the experience of planning them has dove-tailed nicely with my desire to get to know London better.

On Friday, I spent more than an hour walking around Elephant & Castle:

Yes, that's a statue of the eponymous pachyderm. The area got its name, it seems, from a historic pub located on the site. The name "Elephant and Castle" seems to be an English bastardization of the name of a Spanish princess: La Infante de Castile.

Anyway, history aside, Elephant & Castle is now known (or avoided) by most Londoners as an overdeveloped area planned in the 1960's, which is comprised of two traffic roundabouts, a series of grotty pedestrian tunnels that can get you from one side of the street to the other, several housing projects, and a very tacky shopping mall.

To many, Elephant & Castle is a perfect example of bad 60's city planning that didn't take pedestrian life into consideration. There are calls for it to be torn down and many new design proposals for what can be put up in its place. It has struck me as an interesting spot to put on a site-specific outdoor performance (the platform in the picture above even looks a bit like a stage, no?)

Walking around the other day and mapping the area, I came across a number of interesting features: there's an old movie theater, a bingo parlor/bowling alley, a colorful area (below street level) of market stalls populated by a lively ethnic mix of vendors, and even a restaurant called La Bodeguita that seems to be frequented by most of London's Colombian community (which, to be honest, I hadn't even known existed). The network of pedestrian tunnels make for interesting staging opportunities and the mix of ethnic food stands can provide flavors and smells.

You can see from this shot that there's a conglomeration of bus stops (right near where that white tent is). My initial idea is to stage a night-time performance there for the assembled crowds of tired, drunk partiers who are waiting for London's night buses (the Tube shuts down around 12:30 AM). Perhaps involving distribution of empanadas from the Latin food stand next door? The fun thing about the project is that we have no budgetary or feasibility constraints since this is merely a proposal -- we don't actually have to stage it. I think my next step will be to hang around E & C a few more times and eavesdrop on people passing through in order to get some ideas for characters and stories...

Meanwhile, for my other assignment, I need to do research into a subject or a community that I have not had personal experience with. I immediately thought of the African community on Rye Lane in Peckham (near where we've been staying while we wait for the lease to start on our flat). You may remember my previous post about the African market along this road, which we pass through every time we go to the train. There are also a number of churches on the second stories of the buildings, from which one can hear incredible music emanating at different times.

I'm very interested in finding out more about the culture of these churches, most of which seem to be attended by African immigrants from Nigeria and Ghana. Below are some representative pictures (not my own) off of a website called Peckham Vision:

The research for the project can take on many forms. I've already been to the library to look into statistics about immigration from Nigeria to the UK, as well as the mixing of Christianity and traditional Yoruba religion. But the centerpiece of the work is supposed to be conducting interviews, so I'm hoping that I can meet some pastors and congregants of some of these churches and talk to them.

In a couple of hours, in fact, I'm planning to go down the street and see if I can sit in on a service...

All of this planning and research seems like a lot of work to do just for a 15-20 minute performance, but I'm truly curious to learn more. Being an outsider to London, I think I bring fewer pre-conceived notions to my investigations and everything that I discover has the appeal of being brand-new. I'll keep you posted on how these pieces are developing!