Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Soak up my tears

With hands that have sponged

Every cut

Every bruise

Every fall.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Kiss my cheeks rosy

So they’ll know no thorns.

Kiss petals on my eyes

So all visions bloom

Kiss sap into my ears

To honey all I hear.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Play with my toes

Toes that will dance with your smiles

Toe that will flee from your frowns

Toes that will

Run to you

Run to you

Run to you

Every time you call.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Blow raspberries on my belly

Because our laughs

Suck darkness from night

Make colour from dry palettes

Find music where sounds have died.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Lace your fingers into mine

Weave your history into my hopes

Swaddle me in applause

And buffer me from boos.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Breathe a breathe we breathe together

Until our scents

Tingle on our tastebuds

Mingle in our lungs

Linger in our thoughts.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Squeeze all the water out of me

When tears fill me up

And make my eyes swim.

 

Lullaby me cuddle dry me

Place your hands on my head

Place your lips on my cheeks

Place your heart in my heart.

 

By Joseph Coelho

First Scratch day

We have been split in two groups (Apple and Cart) The group I am in will be performing to a group of babies and toddlers this thursday, I am joined by Oily Cart performers Nicole Worrica and Kathy Toy and easter Region artists (provided by Theatre is) Kathyrn Holt – Storytell, Sally Abbott – Writer and practitioner, Emma – Painter. After experimenting with initial ideas around bubbles and having me as a stylised ring leader we settle on a plan for our version of poolpiece around around a chest that I open to reveal an inspiration for our activities for instance when i first open it bubbles come out and we then lead the group through making bubble with silver bowls  under the water, popping bubbles in the air, placing bubbles on the body. One thing is very clear – making effective interactive beautiful theatre foe this age group in a pool is very hard to get right. Tim Webb (artistic director of Oily Cart) looks over our shoulders with the mantra – ‘less is more’ we find we must constantly re-assess what we are doing and why and that many compliations quickly slip into the design. I have five of my poems (Welcome to the pool, Low low low, Byron Laughs, Collective Pool Nouns, and Spit POP Spit) laminated by the side of the pool – note to self laminated does not mean water proof!- which i am drawing on to add poetry to the performance but it has become clear that I have to write as we go through the process in order to have poetry that is appropriate to what we are doing. Last night I wrote a new piece ‘ lullaby me cuddle dry me which i hope to include at the end where we give parents the opportunity to cuddle dry their children you can view this poem and the rest under poetry. I’m off to take my hayfever medication and get back to the pool!

Seeing the show for the first time

It was astounding to see the show in all its glory. Talking to the cast and crew it was clear that their first week of performance had been a very special, deeply moving, one for them. They talk of the joy of being resident in the school and having the opportunity to get to know the children and see them change as the days progressed.

I watched two shows on monday (Umbrella man’s day) The production has a real sense of peace and tranquility. The cast are obviously very experienced and skilled in what they do being sensitive to the children and responding to them and their needs. The production is calm and offers a lot of space as well as moments of high energy. The pool changes over forty minutes from a serene still pool to an undulating ocean and back again.

The production looks gorgeous – the costumes, the set pieces, the lighting all are beautifully executed, a chinese boat about a meter across is shored on one side of the pool. White sails sit around the edges, and umbrella trees of white and silver and light arc over the pool.

Tuesday 20th May – By Joseph

On the last day of festivities at each school the show will perform what is known as a ‘bus busk’. the bus busk is a musical sending off of the children as they go from the school to the bus that will take them home. A very important part of the busk is saying goodbye to the children as well as getting them a bit wet one last time. Today the cast are trying to find the best way to say goodbye and go from quite an upbeat…

‘Goodbye to him and him
nah nah nah nah nahhhhhh nah’

which inspired the following peotic response from me…

Goodbye to him and him and him
And her
And ‘er
And them
And Us
And We
And y’all
And pool and school
And pool and school
And pool and school
and getting Wet
Wet
Wet
Wet
Wet
WET!!!!!

The cast went on to try a more bayou flavour…

‘This is how bubbles says goodbye
She can do it all night
She can do it all day
but she’ll only ever do it this way’

With each character finding their own unique way of saying goodbye. Now at this point I should mention that there are some new toys, namely Ghostbuster style backpacks filled with water and attached to various squirting contraptions. Sponge has a squirting crown, and Umbrella man has… you guessed it, a squirting Umbrella! So as you can imagine the characters goodbyes involve lots of squirting and merry making. Bubbles says goodbye with some bubblerly exclamations and a string of Bubbles and Gong has the delightfully cute ‘Hel-lo Hel-lo Hel-lo’

Katie and I were kids again who were led past these wacky characters to an imaginary bus underneath Umbrella mans Umbrella (the clear plastic – dry one) to protect us from some of the more active squirters!

During this wet run there was musical accompaniment via drums, ‘Malcolm’s pipes’ (Pipes with whistles on the end that hoot when plunged in water) and water drumming.

When the weather is hot the Bus busk is going to be a real pleasure and I won’t be surprised to hear of the odd spontaneous water fight.

Low Low Low

I sunk down into depths
With the speed of delight
Water filling my ears
Lower and lower i went
depths getting darker
Sweeter and sharper
Bubbles escape from my mouth
Because the air is lighter
A light penetrates
Shining from below
Falling like a rock
I’m shooting-star towed
Flying like an arrow
From A tsunami bow
Shot with speed
From a whales blow hole
Sinking i’m sunk
No noise
No plonk
No twinkle
No shrill
No tiddle diddle
No dum
No dee
No hey riddle riddle
Just swooshing sea
Pressure is tighter
pressing on my skin
A watery embrace
Squeezing me thinner than a thin fin
Than a PSP slim
or Ipod nano
drawn out skinnier
the the strings on a piano
Lower than a descending baritone
Rolling in Earth’s belly
Where we hear her groans
Her moans
Her mobile ring tones
Her hidden
Her secret
Her hidden secret moans.

I’m going low
Low low low

I’m sinking low
Low low low

I’m falling low
Low low low

Low’s where I go
Low low low.

By Joseph Coelho

Don’t Jump Before You Can Swim!

Standing on the top board at Putney
Looking down!
Wahhhhhhhhh!
Stepping back
Phew!
Looking down
Wahhhhhhhhh!
Stepping back
Phew!
Looking down, stepping back
Looking dooooown, stepping back
Looking dooooooooooown, stepping back.

Look Down!
The pool’s a sheet of sleety undulating water
Blue – no green
No blue green
No white bright shiny twinkerly
Like stars in the sky
High!
High-up
I’m High-up!
Wahhhhhhhhhhh!
Step back
Phew!

Too scared
Stupid scared to jump
James Jumps
David Jumps
I don’t jump
Look down
Gulp!

Bodies underwater swimming
Bloated limbs
Drowned fish
Black eyed mermaids
Needle teeth
Foul fetid fishy flesh
Wahhhhhhhhhh!
Step back!
Can’t
Step back!
Can’t
Step back
Can’t
STEP BACK!!!!!
Phew!
Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!

Must jump
Must jump
Must jump
Must jump
Must Jump
Must Jump
Look down!
Life guard laughing in little shorts
Little brain
Big Muscles
Laughing ha ha ha ha titter titter
Grinning little lark.

Must jump
Must Jump
Must Jump
Must Jump

It’s cold
Goose pimpled
Skin drying
Knees knocking
People behind wanting to dive
Not jump
Not jump
Not jump
Dive!
Leap in air
On count of five
Roll, tuck extend
And Dive!
Hands, palms, forehead
Neck, Chest and hips
Legs, knees and toes
Disappear in water
Twelve feet deep
Double the depth of death
Death!
Splat! Belly flop
Tummy popped
Guts spilled
Flotsam, Jetsam of intestine!

Step-back!
Phew!

Queue behind longer
Faces longer
Laughter from little lifeguard louder
Not feeling bolder

Need to jump
Gotta jump
Have ta jump
Just got pushed!

YEEEEEEEEEEE YOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Body Hurling
Swirling
Turning
Arms flaying
Legs flopping
Breath stopping
Water coming
Body faliing
Fear of hitting
Pants are fillings
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Plop!
Splashhhhhhhhhh!

Calm
Soft
Cool calming depth
Sinking depths
Silent
No dead fish
No black eyed mermaids
No queue
No laughter
Just me
Heart beating in ears
Eyes blurred blue
Weightless
Spaceless.

Ooooooh!
Rising!
Quicker!
Faster!
Swifter
Depths getting darker
Surface getting lighter
Break through and
GASP!
Lungs full
Lungs grateful
Wipe eyes
Look up
Queue astonished
Lifeguard concerned
James speechless (which is rare)
David smacking leg with excitement (not rare)

David’s like…
‘Dude how you do that?’

I’m like ‘Do what?’

He’s like…

‘triple-double-reverse-spin-slip
you dived like a pro
on a superman trip
First twisted this way
Then went that
Got a bit hairy
You were gonna go splat
You did a roly poly
In mid-air flight
A front-forward-barrel-tuck
That gave the lifeguard a fright
You whooshed and you wowed
Like you were Iron man suit encased
We thought it was over
Then you turned with ease and grace
Skimmed the surface of the pool
With your belly
Then your bum cheeks
How did ya do it dude?
Ya must a practised for weeks’

Now James recovers from his period of non-speaking

He says…

‘Guy, thought you weren’t gonna jump
Thought you look scared
been standing there for ages
You just stared and stared
Thought you chickened it bruv
Thought you got the heebie jeebies’

I was like ‘no!’
‘I was just waiting for the ladies’

‘Seen, Seen’

‘Yeah I’ve been practising
Yeah I’m a pro
Had to stand up there and wait
building tension for the show
Gotta wait for air pressure
To be just right
Gotta plan my flight plan
To be truly outta sight
Gotta prepare each muscle
For every twist
Every spin
No room for a mistake
No room for second guessing
Gotta cream the skin
Gotta be aerodynamic
I’m a swimming pro
A diving addict
Didn’t tell you before
But I’m up for the Olympics!

‘The Olympics!’

‘Believe it’

‘Dude that’s great
When your rich yeah
Let a bro share your wealth’

‘Yeah seen, seen’

‘Dude one question
Why’s the water yellow
Did you wet yourself?’

By Joseph Coelho

Monday 19th May- By Joseph

Today I have he pleasure of being a child. We are at Casa Di Oily and there are some new toys in the room. Bubbles has a massive blue and white jug sculpture and a host of bubble making machines, Sponge has a table filled with… sponges, Gong has a metallic array strewn with bells and Umbrella man has a cloth parasol and a see thru umbrella and various squirters.

Each is asked to create a signature movement with their toys before engaging Katie, Tim and I. We stand and watch delighted as Bubbles looks for the source of her voice in her Jug, Umbrella man shuts his head in his umbrella like a vertical clam, Gong busies herself with the tinkering of the bells and Sponge is getting very messy with a can of shaving foam. These Toys all make up water features that will be the characters emblems of gushing. At the moment they are not gushing, but there are lots of well placed bowls and jugs dotted around the room so that water can be poured on to the sculptures. This set up is the plan for the first day of the show – introducing the characters without the pool. Here the characters will be somewhat aloof and the children drawn into their weird OCD worlds.

Carefully, gingerly we walk towards eh character, Tim has asked that we be very honest regarding our reactions to the sensations we are put through. We go through this process several times in the afternoon and I am struck by several things at each station. Gong Enthralls me with a game of bell and voice call and response. I tap a bell, she says something, I tap another bell she says something else. It only over too soon. At one point she gets me very interested by rubbing her stick up and down the ribbed sides of her bowl, she slaps the bowl when my head is near it, not hard, but enough to make me flinch due to a nasty memory – at school we would ask each other to listen to the table!? and once our victim lay their head upon the obscenity scarred surface we would slap it hard resulting in ear pain for them and detentions for us. I should make it clear that Gong has no such intention and is not at all brutal with the banging it is actually very low and pleasant – but instinct and memory are powerful things.

I recall being with Umbrella Man. He plays peeka Boo with me using the umbrella, starting outside of it and then snaking his head underneath – again I could be entertained by this for absolutely ages. He also creates a fantastic draft of air by wafting both parasol and umbrella up and down. With the wetness of my hands from his squirting mistifiers and super soaker! the drafts are very refreshing and quite pleasant.

Sponge fills my hands with foam and encourages me to slap them together – this is fun and feels especially naughty but I quickly want the towel to wipe my hands, trousers, face, hair, shirt etc down. Sponge proceeds to give me a comforting hand massage… well actually the first massage given is a bit uncomfortable because the sponges remind one of chewing cotton wool or the infamous nails down a black board. The second massage I have with him is very gentle with much softer sponges – it’s amazing the difference little details like this make.

Bubbles surrounds me with bubbles – tiny bubbles, small bubbles, big bubbles, strings of bubbles and even lets me use the bubble machines! The machines are great they are basically fans attached to bubble rings and once loaded with sugar solution can send many bubbles up into the rafters. once given the bubble makers I get to cover bubbles in bubbles which is a hoot and reminds one of the joys to be found in giving as well as receiving.

With all the wonders generated from the sculptures when dry – the mind boggles at what will be created once they’re in the pool.

Byron is laughing

Byron moved through water
Like he was treading on egg shells
Like the surface could crack
Like the tinkles laughed and pointed and stared

Byron Moved through waves
As if they bit
As if the ripples burned
As if submergence would consume his tiny frame
As if the lapping waters stung the palms of his hands

Through the saturation and drenching and soaking
Byron clamped his eyes against the spray
Twisted his hands into fists in the ebbs
Breathed in the mists
And screamed at the flows until his screams were drowned
And stopped

A light shone at his feet
and it was alright
Bubbles plinked by his ears
and they were alright
Rain pattered from above
and it was alright

Byron cupped water into his mouth
and found he could sing
Rubbed splashes into his eyes
and saw rhythms
Drizzled drips along the bend of his arms
and smiled.

Byron is dancing through deludes
In a sponge suit
With a starfish helmet

Byron is beaming

Byron is swaying in gushes
on a lido of pops
With an orange straw twixt his teeth

Byron is giggling

Byron is hurling arcs of water
at land locked sabre tooths
With mice balanced on his ears

Byron is laughing

Byron is diving off the high-board
with divers boots
and yesterdays Times open on the sports section.
Byron is floating under a squirting umbrella
in a yellow water ozzing mac
drinking from a rimless cup

Byron is laughing

Byron is blowing green smoke into opaque bubbles
with a song
Byron is fishing goggles from swimmers faces
Byron is splashing chalk masterpieces for the hell of it

Byron is laughing

Byron is splashing the tension
With bladed hands
With needled limbs
With a gnashing, grinning, guffawing mouth.

And Byron is laughing.

By Joseph Coelho

Pool Piece rehearsal – 5th May 2008 – by Joseph

 

Approaching Oily Towers I hear the operatic tones of Sjaak who plays Umbrella Man “Umbrella – ella – ella – Oh, umbrella – Oh” from the window I can see him twirling a massive white parasol that would not look amiss atop an albino Elephant.

Inside Kathy is busy as Gong on the Gamelan, whenever I see this pot-tastic instrument I’m reminded of Eddie Murphy in ‘The Golden Child’ when he first enters the Tibetan temple to claim the knife that will kill the demon imprisoning the re-incarnation of Buddha. I am yet to have a go on the Gamelan whilst proclaiming ‘I, I, I, I want the kniiiiife… Pleeeease’. The Gamelan consists of eight 45” sized metal pots. Their open ends sit on strings laced through a carved wooden frame. The pots are played with red-ended beaters that are used to strike a raised nipple in the centre of the pot. They sound instantly watery and temple-esque, hollow and full, warm and airy.

 

Being at HQ Cart means that there is a distinct lack of water however the actors are enchanting as they mime pouring from their silveren (sic) bowls and beautifully patterned colanders. These Colander really are something to be appreciated, the punched holes make brilliant patterns, from swirls to zig zags to diamonds – note to self – buy a proper metal colander and throw out the faded scuffed plastic thing I have indoors.

A treat awaits us in the afternoon in the form of carpenter and didgeridoo player Stephen Heath who will be operating on the Oily show in both guises. Being as musically gifted as a reality TV auditonee my musical knowledge is somewhat limited. I was surprised to discover that didgeridoos come in an array of shapes and sizes and notes and that any tube will do! Stephen lets on that he used to practice on a Hoover pipe! I consider the dusty pole I have at home and the things I have sucked up with it and conclude that I will invest in a new piece of plastic tubing.

The didgeridoo is played via a well-placed raspberry – as we practice on a selection of bamboo and hardwood (termite bored) diges we soon discover that the repeated vibrations cause out teeth to tingle and our mouths to dribble. It’s not long before we are all wiping spittle from our faces as the addictiveness of getting the deep base tones right sinks in. There are various techniques to playing the Didgeridoo all of which produce a variety of sounds. A bark down the tube will result in a dingo type yap, placing the tongue behind the teeth creates a staccato – Kookaburra effect, Vocalising in the back of the throat creates the wonderful rhythms that only the dige can create.

Ever heard of circular breathing? I had and I had long ago concluded that it is impossible to breathe in and out at the same time. Indeed it is impossible but circular breathing is not about doing this impossible act, it is about simulating it. Dige players circular breathe in order to keep a continuous drone coming through the pipe. It is achieved by storing air in the cheeks when a new breath is needed and then pushing that stored air out of the cheeks with the cheek muscles whilst breathing in through your nose. We look ridiculous as we exaggeratingly inflate out cheeks and hyper extend our eyebrows as our brains struggle with the dual action of inhaling and squeezing our cheeks together. It is very much like rubbing your belly and patting your head. It takes real concentration to do and once you achieve it the resulting pride means you forget to continue with the usual mode of playing – breathing out through the mouth.  A few of us manage to achieve some semblance of circular breathing but our weak cheek muscles are only capable of pushing the air out fast enough to create the flimsiest of sounds.

Oily Rehearsal – Monday 12th May – by Joseph

The pool is a lot cooler – as is the weather. A child with his hair in three striking plaits giggles as Sjaak leads him in the pool. The Child is making mince meat out of an orange straw that he has securely viced between his teeth. There is a lot more space in today’s performance and the whole thing feels calmer. I notice the use of a Jacuzzi pipe that bubbles up beneath a floating mat on which the children lie.  The characters also feel more defined Sjaaks ‘Oeey ooeey ooooh’ is the staple Umbrella man call whilst bubbles teases with ‘Pish – pop – shhhhhhhh’ and Gong has her adorable ‘Hel-lo’ whilst matching her syllables on a little baby floating Gamelino.

Another addition is the water flicking where the surface of the pool is attacked with the fingertips as if it were a giant Subuteo table. The dancing in the water song now has a ‘rapido’ section where it is speeded-up. All the additions are a hit and one child makes his feelings known with whoops and jumps. The jumps become pronounced as Umbrella man lifts the child high up into the air. There is definitely a clearer contrast between the high energy moments and more relaxed moments making the show a delightful varied landscape.

When the children get out of the pool they are wrapped in huge fluffy towels but it is clear that many of them do not want to get out – and who can blame them.