August–September 2012
Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan present a solo performance based on a monologue that takes the form of a shaggy dog story: a long, rambling tale that, to some extent, follows the conventions of a narrative joke. Its sources are from within a context of performance that crosses the histories of stand-up comedy, vaudeville and Theatre of the Absurd.
Storytelling, pantomime and dry humour are interwoven with abstraction, conceptual art and contemporary, experimental performance producing an absurd, esoteric and multi-layered vocabulary of forms that teases the audience and plays with conventional rules of theatre and different art forms.
Performed by Gareth Brierley.
Joanne Tatham (b. 1971, West Yorkshire) and Tom O’Sullivan (b. 1967, Norfolk) live and work in Newcastle. Previous solo projects include Collective Gallery (offsite), Edinburgh (2011); Tramway, Glasgow (2011), CCA, Glasgow (2010), La Salle de Bains (2009) and Studio Voltaire (2005). The artists are represented by The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster, Glasgow; Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich and Campoli Presti, London/Paris.
Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan, THE STORY OF HOW WE CAME TO BE HERE, WHAT WE DID BEFORE WE GOT HERE, HOW YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHY YOU ASKED US HERE AND WHY WE CANNOT REMEMBER WHY WE CAME, OR: IS THIS WHAT BRINGS THINGS INTO FOCUS?, 2012, 49:26 mins. Performed by Gareth Brierley. Performance, Friday 31 August 2012 and Saturday 1 September 2012, Studio Voltaire, London. Courtesy of the artists, the performer and Studio Voltaire, London. Credit Andy Keate.
