Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
Octopuses & other Sea Creatures is a large-scale immersive audio-visual installation, theatre performance, community workshops and creative maker activities running through 2022 in Portsmouth on the south coast of the UK.
Inspired by the ‘Octopus Medicine’ poems by Becci Louise. Taking the Octopus as our medicine animal will encourage audiences to develop a connection with the ocean, both as an otherworld and an eco-system upon which our own, terrestrial lives, thoroughly rely. Sited in Portsmouth Cathedral in November 2022 over three nights the event will be co-created by local artists and community members guided by experts in the field of immersive audio-visual, scenographic and theatrical production.
Portsmouth has a symbiotic relationship with the sea, it simply would not exist without it. Generations of local people owe their livelihoods to the sea, having served in or helped to service the Royal Navy, fished in local waters, or worked in our tourism industry. The project aims to: provide a cultural opportunity to help local people to revisit their relationship with the waterfront that they have long taken for granted at a time when its power threatens the city and the harm we have done to it threatens the planet, have a wide impact on the creative and cultural economy by staging a ground-breaking mile-stone event and contribute to the cities transformation to a sustainable future.
Through participation in activities ranging from writing, acting, prop making and audiovisual arts, audiences will acquire a connection with the ocean, both as an otherworld and an eco-system upon which our own lives rely. Originally staged by John Sackett as a small-scale production in 2019, it was commissioned as part of the New Theatre Royal’s Sea Festival at the Square Tower. In 2022, Octopuses & Other Sea Creatures will be re-envisioned for a new location, with increased community participation, co-creation, skill-sharing and a new story.
Everything will start in February 2022 during Portsmouth Bookfest when Becci Louise will be running young people’s writing workshops in the city’s libraries. At the same time, story consultant Alison Norrington will be working with a group of experienced local writers to generate a new storyline for the project which will then be further developed over the coming months through a series of creative workshops.
The project will officially launch on Wednesday 23rd February at The Front Room, a popular spoken word event at The Loft above The King’s public house in Albert Road. You can join us for a reading by Becci Louise from Octopus Medicine along with other spoken word artists performers. Sign up for our newsletter via the website, follow our socials and stay in touch for more information coming to you in the new year.
Octopuses & Other Sea Creatures is supported by public funding from the Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants scheme.
