Farewell Action II

Images as part of the Craig Y Nos series. Photo Credit: Jo Sutton

Farewell Craig Y Nos

The simple farewell action at first takes place at Adelina’s fairytale summerhouse situated on the grounds. Vibrant green ribbon is wrapped across the main entrance and around the pillars. In my green dress I begin to make markings with chalk across the grey wooden shutters. Home sweet home. Home sweet home. This is Adelina’s summerhouse. This is Adelina’s summerhouse. ADELINA WAS HERE. ADELINA WAS HERE. The Nightingale. The Queen of Hearts.

By now the large grey shutters were covered in these declarations of Adelina’s presence. A reclamation of her space.

I gather the green ribbon and trail it behind me. My followers consist of Jo, a blonde lady and her beautiful small brunette child. The ribbon and the people trail behind me. Up the windy path towards the castle.

At the foot of the castle are two white billy goat statues. Weathered by time, these originals would have greeted Adelina’s guests on their arrival. One of these sad looking creatures would be my transport home. I mount the white animal, and create a makeshift rein with the green ribbon. With I click of my heel I hope to leap over the valley below and across the mountains. He doesn’t move. He is old and shabby and unloved. No wonder.

I wrap the ribbon around him. Decorate him. The green connects him with the luscious trees below. I then give him a huge farewell kiss.

Farewell Craig Y Nos.

The Patti Theatre

My audience applaud after my rendition of Calon Lân. I reluctantly sang on Adelina’s stage. For a moment as the strangers clapped and cheered I felt like the Victorian superstar.

The audience were invited to participate in a sound piece. Each person was asked to climb on stage with me, kneel by my side at the alter facing the painted stage curtain of Adelina in La Sonambula. A marriage takes place. A ceremony between myself, the stranger and Adelina.

I ask the stranger to quote Adelina, who on hearing her own voice recorded for the first time exclaimed that she now understood why she was loved.

Room AB35

The ornate closet in room AB35 has four doors and twenty drawers. Each closet door is embellished with wooden roses and has a pane of glass with lilac velvet plumes pressed beneath it. It’s a grand piece of furniture that dominates the room. It’s particularly the type of closet that belongs in a castle.

I begin work. Emerald green Indian ink, light green crayons, leafy green biro and rich green ribbon are my tools for the job. Paper at the ready I start to take a rubbing of Adelina Patti’s elaborate and swirling signature crest. Over the last few days I have spotted them on fireplaces, on walls, one on the bridge to the estate and this wooden one down the corridor from my room. Green crayon in hand the rubbing is a success. The rubbing is hung by coat hanger and hung on the closet. A portrait of Adelina in green biro is placed on the glass of the closet. More drawings all in vivid green are added to the exhibition.

Visitors arrive. The first couple to enter my room are American. “You remind me of my daughter. She loves to do art, and once you’re in the throws of it you’re like an artistic Einstein. I can see that in you.” Im embarrassed but offer them tea. They decline. The wife wants pictures of me. I play Adelina’s original recordings from my laptop. This is my way of reclaiming the castle for Madam Patti.

An hour or two later, two women and a girl arrive. They take my offer of tea as they have travelled far in the rain to get here. The blonde lady sits on my bed and relaxes. Betsy, a quiet brunette girl of about four sits on the floor. Her mother is wearing a beautiful Edwardian style jacket, which makes her seem like part of this place. We chat about Adelina and listen to her sing. We then set off on a tour of the castle. I take them to the theatre, the breakfast room and the drawing room each time retelling the history of the site.

As I begin to finish up and change there is a rat tat tat at the door. A couple from Cheshire who are searching their family history have come to hear my stories of Adelina. They are descendents of the Niccolini family. I show them my drawings and offer them a lend of my books so they can make notes. I play Mr. and Mrs McDonald some of Adelina’s songs. Earl grey and chats followed, and we arrange to meet up at the Patti bar in the evening before they leave.

The room is empty. My green dress is removed.

The door to Room AB35 is closed.

Polished Wishes

One by one I picked the shiny coins from the bottom of the murky wishing pond. I scooped the shrapnel in my green dress, which was now soaked through. Some coins had been there for such a long time that they had left perfect imprints. This made it hard to tell if Id collected them all. Once satisfied that I had done this I climbed out of the pond water and onto the small oriental bridge.

New British coins don’t weather well. They were less shiny than other people’s older wishes. They must have changed the metal. I began to scrub up each one. Make them shiny, in the hope that if they could catch the light better they would be brighter dreams.

£8.20 worth of wishes had been collected, scrubbed and put into groups of matching coinage. There was also one American Dollar and an African 5c.

As I threw each wish back into the water I thought of Adelina and of her home, and the wishes I have for that space. I wished for the blessing of this project. I wished that all the original dreams that sunk with these coins would come true.

Home Sweet Home

Sunday Morning: 5am

The drizzly rain softly hits my face and body as I embrace the clock tower. The drunk dancers have gone. The silence I had longed for last night is with me. I am free to play. My legs and arms cling to the stone surface. I kiss and caress the building. My velvety green dress is soaked and clings to me like a second skin. Like a moss covered stone I grip the castle.

The porter is watching me in the fountain. I climb the ornate, gold fishes to have a kiss with the embellished gold heron. We embrace. I kiss all four gold fishes on their cold gold lips.

Two stone lions flank the main entrance. I share a long embrace with both. A kiss on their stony mane follows the cwtch.

Finally, I kneel at the Castles main entrance. Arms sprawled so that they nearly reach both side of the doorway. My face rests on the cold, wet marble. I close my eyes and meditatively contemplate this building. Caressing the steps. I part the building with three extra kisses for each step.

The castle is now blessed.

Settling In

Arriving at the castle laden with bags, I was warmly welcomed by the reception staff. The area was buzzing with excitement as the bride and a swarm of bridesmaids made their way in. I hadn’t imagined there’d be a marriage taking place today. It had been my intentions to settle in and explore the castle. I now had to make sure I avoided this holly union. As I unpacked the guests gossiped below my window. Gazing at them I realise they are all from my hometown; they see me at my window and recognise me. Greeting each other with waves I then hang out of my window to congratulate the groom on his big day. Turns out he’s the boy I used to smoke on the back of the bus with when I was sweet sixteen.

Mid afternoon the receptionist brings a long lost friend up to my room. Bright, strong women surround me. My workmates, playmates, who over the next few days will watch me climb trees, sing and play. My room has two oddly tall single beds. Very Victorian. You genuinely have to climb into your bed. Once I’ve reached the mattress I feel small, mischievous and childlike.

At teatime we head to the grounds. By this point we have had a chance meeting with the writer on the project, and all head off to the rhododendrons. The bark is soft and wet underneath my bare feet, but I have a firm grip and feel safe. Perched in the tree I lean back and imagine tomorrow, when I will wear my special green velvet dress and reach out towards the ground. Bridging the gap between tree and ground.

There are now two days until the residency. I have packed and re-packed in anticipation for what will happen over the next week. There are so many uncertainties and it’s hard to rely on instinct as a creative tool. Nevertheless, I will be working with a brilliant creative team whilst there. The people involved in the project are:

Photographer: Jo Sutton

Filmmaker: Laura Kelly

Writer: Sue Griffiths

Artist Emma Pearce has created a dress for the performances.

I am very grateful to be working with a team of strong, talented artists and look forward to the outcomes of the project.

This project has been fully funded by the Arts Council of Wales.

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=14914

Only a week and a bit until my residency takes place at the Victorian castle at Craig Y Nos. Built by the great opera singer Adelina Patti in the mid 1800’s the site is a luxurious playground from which I hope to create five new performances. Patti was a great patron to the arts in South Wales. Born in Madrid, and raised in New York Patti chose to settle in the Tawe Valley to escape the controversy that surrounded her second marriage. The slate grey castle sits heavily in the centre of a luscious green valley.

As a child I spent most of my access visits with my Dad at Craig Y Nos. Id sneak into Adelina’s old ruined summerhouse to play. Id climb the rhododendrons and perch myself firmly in the hand like trunk of the tree.

I will playfully approach the history of the site. I will look to the early romantic past of the castle and respond to the objects, people, rooms, corridors, trees, and windows to make site specific performances.

Whilst I am living at the castle I will use this blog as a means of communicating my experiences of the site and performances to you.