| past projects |
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Page 2 of 3 ................................................................................................................................................... Double Helix
 Performed by four of Scotland's most gifted dancers and accompanied
by Andy Thorburn’s live music commissioned by the company, ‘Double Helix’
promised dance that was fresh and beautiful and serene.‘Double Helix’ explored plan B's fascination with the human condition and
investigated, with a mathematical precision, the need for people to be with
others. The piece was created during the Highland Festival in 2000, having been
developed in residence at Dance Base in Edinburgh.
In May of 2000 Frank McConnell was
awarded a Fellowship from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and
the Arts (NESTA). In awarding the Fellowship, Nesta acknowledged that in
allowing Frank the time and space to develop as an artist, plan B as a company
would also be given the opportunity to develop over the next five years. ................................................................................................................................................... Love and Pocket Money ‘Love and Pocket Money’ began to develop as
an idea shortly after the birth of Frank McConnell’s children and was an
exploration on the notion of fatherhood. It was a theme that was to stay with
Frank long after this show had finished and only found its true expression when
Frank had completed his solo show, ‘One Road’. The project, however, brought
together the prodigious talents of Michael Marra (songwriter and musician),
John Harvey (writer), Karen Tennent (design) as well as the company’s artistic
director Frank McConnell (choreographer/performer). ‘Love and Pocket Money’ toured
to venues throughout Scotland. ........................................................................................................................................................... Fagail Uibhist This project remains the only project undertaken by plan B that was a
co-production, with Feis Tir a’ Mhurain (the Festival of the Land of the Marrin
Grass). Over a three-week period Frank McConnell, Karen Tennent, Arthur Donald
and Tracey Smith worked with a group of vibrant young people, all from the Middle
District of South Uist. The result was the creation of an hilarious romp of a
play, told in the young people’s mother tongue, Gaelic, concerning the efforts
of Ailean Amadan to leave the island of his birth without success.
‘Fagail Uibhist’ had two performances (in Benbecula and Stoneybridge) but
attracted packed audiences on both nights. The material, which was devised by
the young people themselves, was counter pointed with slide photographs showing
the people of the island ‘Leaving Uist’ in the last set of mass emigrations in
1924 for a new life in Canada.
................................................................................................................................................... Chasing the Tale The Ullapool project ‘Chasing the Tale’ initially examined the
imaginary tale of how a woman from Ullapool, having fallen in love with a
Polish fisherman from the Klondyke fleet, emigrates to Gdansk where she begins
to organise the shipyard workers for strike action before setting up
Solidarity.
‘Chasing the Tale’ became a wonderful celebration of the different groups from
the village, including a String Quartet, young people rapping, Steve Kettley
reading the news and playing the sax, a moving wall of fish boxes and a sky full
of fish.
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