Rosie Kay talks to Diane Parkes ahead of her show, MK Ultra, which comes to Birmingham Hippodrome's Patrick Studio from Thursday 20 - Friday 21 September.
What is it like being an Associate Company at the Hippodrome?
We are absolutely delighted to be an Associate Company with Birmingham Hippodrome. I’ve had a long association with this building as I’ve done all sorts of bits and pieces of work. The relationship has grown from Fiona Allan seeing my work in the studio, on stage and in development and wanting to come on board to help us grow and develop. We have big aspirations and big ambitions. To have a partnership with an organisation as big as Birmingham Hippodrome is really exciting.
Tell us about MK Ultra?
Our show MK Ultra is going to open the Patrick Studio’s new season. MK Ultra is this really beautiful, glossy, slick show that has designer cat suits, a gold dance floor and this huge projection screen. It examines and dissects the idea of celebrity and pop culture. I collaborated with BBC filmmaker Adam Curtis and we look at the real brainwashing the CIA did in the 50s and 60s and merge that with today’s conspiracy theory. We premiered the work last year and people would often say it was ‘a bit out there.’ I think with what has happened in recent politics with things such as ‘fake news,’ it is now every day stuff and this show really pulls apart how subjective we are as audience members and how much we take on board through visual subliminal references.
You are well known for your wider work, in particular choreographing the Commonwealth Games handover ceremony here in Birmingham, what was that like?
It was such an intense experience choreographing the Commonwealth Games handover. I got a call about 8 weeks before the date asking if I’d be interested and I just came on board and started running like mad. It was intense, exciting and so inspiring. I had this amazing team led by Martin Green with all the production team from London 2012 and also working with the Hippodrome really closely to co-ordinate the whole thing. It was only in hindsight, that I realised just how thrilling it was. When we got to the actual live show and seeing those young people bursting through the doors with that energy – I was absolutely stunned. It went better than I could ever have imagined.
Tell us about your work with Birmingham Hippodrome on your piece 5 Soldiers and expanding it to create 10 Soldiers?
One of the most exciting things we are doing with Birmingham Hippodrome is turning our award-winning show 5 soldiers into 10 soldiers. 5 Soldiers has been about 10 years of my life as I joined an Infantry Battalion and saw how they trained and prepared the body for war. I also looked at the injury and rehabilitation of soldiers and at the time there was a lot of profound and complex injuries in Afghanistan and the resulting show was 5 soldiers.
What 10 soldiers gives me as an opportunity of a choreographer, is to widen who those characters are. Now that the Hippodrome are supporting us so we’ve been back to the army and asked them to support us. They’re offering me time to look at LGBTQ issues within the army, there have been huge developments in the past ten years there. I am also going to join an Infantry Battalion and see how attitudes have changed inside there now that women might not be on the front line, but they’re allowed to fight on the front line now. It is so exciting, as it is refreshing all of my ideas and research about the show but also getting onto the main stage at the Hippodrome which is really special and a complete dream come true.
Why do you think Birmingham’s arts scene is so important?
I love Birmingham and being involved in its arts scene for many reasons. One is the community work I get involved in like the Commonwealth Games and recently Woyzeck at the Birmingham Rep. It is about sharing these opportunities and the expertise I have and bringing on and nurturing young talent. This gives me a platform hopefully to reach out to even more people in this city. On the other side, we are a national touring company and we are starting to go international and having Birmingham as our base and our home will just leapfrog that. It is about saying to the world that Birmingham can be a world-class stage and we can make world-class work here.
Rosie Kay talks to Diane Parkes ahead of her show, MK Ultra, which comes to Birmingham Hippodrome's Patrick Studio from Thursday 20 - Friday 21 September.
What is it like being an Associate Company at the Hippodrome?
We are absolutely delighted to be an Associate Company with Birmingham Hippodrome. I’ve had a long association with this building as I’ve done all sorts of bits and pieces of work. The relationship has grown from Fiona Allan seeing my work in the studio, on stage and in development and wanting to come on board to help us grow and develop. We have big aspirations and big ambitions. To have a partnership with an organisation as big as Birmingham Hippodrome is really exciting.
Tell us about MK Ultra?
Our show MK Ultra is going to open the Patrick Studio’s new season. MK Ultra is this really beautiful, glossy, slick show that has designer cat suits, a gold dance floor and this huge projection screen. It examines and dissects the idea of celebrity and pop culture. I collaborated with BBC filmmaker Adam Curtis and we look at the real brainwashing the CIA did in the 50s and 60s and merge that with today’s conspiracy theory. We premiered the work last year and people would often say it was ‘a bit out there.’ I think with what has happened in recent politics with things such as ‘fake news,’ it is now every day stuff and this show really pulls apart how subjective we are as audience members and how much we take on board through visual subliminal references.
You are well known for your wider work, in particular choreographing the Commonwealth Games handover ceremony here in Birmingham, what was that like?
It was such an intense experience choreographing the Commonwealth Games handover. I got a call about 8 weeks before the date asking if I’d be interested and I just came on board and started running like mad. It was intense, exciting and so inspiring. I had this amazing team led by Martin Green with all the production team from London 2012 and also working with the Hippodrome really closely to co-ordinate the whole thing. It was only in hindsight, that I realised just how thrilling it was. When we got to the actual live show and seeing those young people bursting through the doors with that energy – I was absolutely stunned. It went better than I could ever have imagined.
Tell us about your work with Birmingham Hippodrome on your piece 5 Soldiers and expanding it to create 10 Soldiers?
One of the most exciting things we are doing with Birmingham Hippodrome is turning our award-winning show 5 soldiers into 10 soldiers. 5 Soldiers has been about 10 years of my life as I joined an Infantry Battalion and saw how they trained and prepared the body for war. I also looked at the injury and rehabilitation of soldiers and at the time there was a lot of profound and complex injuries in Afghanistan and the resulting show was 5 soldiers.
What 10 soldiers gives me as an opportunity of a choreographer, is to widen who those characters are. Now that the Hippodrome are supporting us so we’ve been back to the army and asked them to support us. They’re offering me time to look at LGBTQ issues within the army, there have been huge developments in the past ten years there. I am also going to join an Infantry Battalion and see how attitudes have changed inside there now that women might not be on the front line, but they’re allowed to fight on the front line now. It is so exciting, as it is refreshing all of my ideas and research about the show but also getting onto the main stage at the Hippodrome which is really special and a complete dream come true.
Why do you think Birmingham’s arts scene is so important?
I love Birmingham and being involved in its arts scene for many reasons. One is the community work I get involved in like the Commonwealth Games and recently Woyzeck at the Birmingham Rep. It is about sharing these opportunities and the expertise I have and bringing on and nurturing young talent. This gives me a platform hopefully to reach out to even more people in this city. On the other side, we are a national touring company and we are starting to go international and having Birmingham as our base and our home will just leapfrog that. It is about saying to the world that Birmingham can be a world-class stage and we can make world-class work here.