Created and Directed by Lowri Evans and Renato Bolelli Rebouças
Produced by From The Other
Swinton Square Shopping Precinct
I grew up in a one street village where everyone knew each other and a trip to the local shops took ages as everyone stopped to chat or exchange greetings in shops and between them. When the nearest big town opened the first shopping precinct in the County there was huge excitement and people flocked to visit this new take on everyday shopping. Nowadays we see and read about the death of the High Street and huge shopping centres like The Trafford Centre are peppered with vacant units. Carousel of Us is a site specific production at Swinton Square Shopping Precinct created to reconnect all of us with reminders of the community spirit that existed on those streets and small local precincts. Long-term collaborators (Precarious Carnaval and the marvellous The Shrine Of Everyday Things), Lowri Evans and Renato Bocelli Rebouças have co-created this production after working with the local community over a six month period.
The result is an immersive stroll that takes the audience on a time travelling experience with visits to a range of shops, a flower stand and a cafe at various points in the sixty year history of the precinct. On a supposed local history tour each small group has a guide that they follow as they look for shops etc that match the “photographs” of bygone eras. The cast are clad in costumes from the local Oxfam and many of the props have been created in community hub events or in local schools. The overall feel of this production is charming as these vignettes are interspersed with singing from an ethereal young duo looking down on the precinct square or dance pieces from children from the local dance academy Marieka’s Dance Studio and ballroom dancing from dancers from The Grand Palais Swinton.
Each piece is very different in tone but all are memorable and relatable. An anxious bride sporting a disastrous perm is having second thoughts on her wedding morning while her hungover Mother is more focused on mislaid wedding carnations. The slightly dodgy looking fiancé with a bad mullet turns out to have a heart of gold and this pair of Swinton would be Charlene and Scott from Neighbours might just end up Together,Forever. Elsewhere in the precinct there is a cut price freezer shop where everything is 50 piece or 12 for a Fiver. Run by and for the local community this vignette tells a story of strength forged through grief and culminates in all of us dancing round the freezer units with a Cher lookalike singing along to Believe. For me this is the high point in the whole production as everything about this piece felt so vivid and full of life and energy. A clothes shop being packed up to close forever takes us on a journey back in time to the hopes and dreams of the young couple who opened it in The Sixties and lovingly built it into a flourishing business until the precinct started to fail. A trip to the local “cafe” where coffee is simply coffee and the hotpot is legendary introduces us to a family run business who maintain a cheery facade while waiting and yearning for a phone call from a missing daughter. There is also an amusing short film accompanied by bags of popcorn where local children re enact news footage from when the precinct first opened.
There is real heart and commitment in this production and it culminates in all the ensemble cast dancing in the square which is decorated with bunting, lighting and numerous bubble machines. For a moment the shabbiness is replaced with a feelgood lustre and the whole space ignites with hope and excitement as it probably did when it first opened and local people explored this new element in their community. Carousel Of Us writes a new chapter into this old space and hopefully makes some new and happy memories for all who participated or attended this community production.
Live Art Alive 