Tell me your story in this room / One-to-one (On-going)
Through poetic manipulation of languages, the intimate interaction between the performer and audience construct a novel and safe space, allowing us to fully recognise one as a unique individual.
This is a study to see what languages do to us. This is an investigation on how to be free from ourselves. This is an on-going trial to eliminate discrimination.
Radio Neighbourhood
Outdoor Dance + Radio Drama
Radio Broadcast over NTS Radio
In collaboration with Phambinho
Listen here
🕊 It's 2047, a time where aliens and humans live as neighbours and a big change may happen in the world - Two strangers met on the street, both tired of their jobs and looking for some new excitement.
🧯 Outdoor dance with a radio drama, Radio Neighbourhood transports you to the future while contemplating our lives here and now. Join the two characters as they venture into new stages while listening to the radio.
Social Innovation Project awarded Ideas and Pioneers Fund
by Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Radio Neighbourhood is a social innovation project transforming British open spaces into grounds for addressing migration and human rights issues through live art.
Conceived during the pandemic, when the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) community was under constant verbal and physical attack, a team of ESEA creatives initiated this public performance to tell stories about cross-cultural interactions and engage with post-humanist thinking.
The transdisciplinary project is a brave experiment on collisions of dance styles and audio drama incorporating storytelling with a taste of ESEA aesthetics.
Radio Neighbourhood is a placemaking idea using an artistic approach to reimagine public spaces. It builds strong bonds between people and places by paying attention to communities and integrating different opinions into a cohesive vision through storytelling. It explores the psychological impact of the pandemic and socio-political instabilities. Considering the rise of hate crimes against Asians, as is evidenced by Covid-19, the work in particular deals with issues of identity related to ethnicity and culture, and confronts the historical portrayal of those racialised and gendered bodies.
Not only the project creates jobs for ESEA freelance artists in the (post)-pandemic, but also brings people of different social classes and cultural backgrounds together as a public space performance. We see housewives and businessmen standing side by side watching the performers dancing to a dialogue between an alien and a migrant. The story engages with ancient East Asian mythology and conveys cultural significance relating to issues of belief and identity, transcending cultural backgrounds and different communities.
'When they approached me regarding Radio Neighbourhood, I was keen to support their return to Omnibus and again witnessed a rich, gritty and poetic piece which both moved and entertained me throughout. Radio Neighbourhood illustrates Ghost and John’s unique and intelligent approach to creating distinctive storytelling and engaging theatre.'
- Marie McCarthy, Artistic Director of Omnibus Theatre.
'Life is
the choices you make,
the steps that you plant,
the stories you pull from the air,
while freighted with wonder
you weave through an alien space.'
- a poem response from 26 Shining Light: Roger Morris
Radio Play on 19 April over NTS Radio in collaboration with Phambinho:
https://www.nts.live/shows/phambinho/episodes/phambinho-19th-april-2022
Fourth Edition:
16, 17 April 2022 - Canary Wharf, The Space, Omnibus Theatre, Clapham Common
Third Edition:
16, 17, 23 October 2021 - Bloomsbury Festival; British Library and Omnibus Theatre; Migration Museum
Second Edition:
13, 17 July 2021 - Evelyn Community Centre; Deptford X and Bow Arts Raw Lab
First Edition:
24 April 2021 - Cornmill Gardens
The events were
- funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation - Ideas and Pioneers fund
- commissioned by Bloomsbury Festival, Deptford X 2021 and Bow Arts
- supported by British Library, Migration Museum, Omnibus Theatre, Hidden Keileon, the Albany, Lewisham Council, ShapesLewisham, West Silvertown Foundation
- radio supported by NTS Radio, Bloomsbury Radio, AAJA Radio
Concept: Jennifer Lim, Ghost and John
Curator: Sandra Lam
Scriptwriter: John Chan
Sound and Music Designer: Ghost Chan
Audio Actors: Jennifer Lim, Heather Lai, Daniel York Loh
Devising Performers: Yun Cheng, Yik-Sau Chung
Voice Acting Director & Dramaturg: Kim Pearce
Banner Designer and Photographer: Jeffrey Choy
Illustration: Pui Yung Shum
Facilitation: Hidden Keileon
Presentation Partners: Omnibus Theatre, The Space, Canary Wharf Group
Rehearsal Space Partners: Lewisham Art House, NDT Broadgate
Previous cast members:
Voice actor: Siu-see Hung
Devising Performers: Shum Pui Yung, Wah-chi Vong, Sydney Robertson, Jason Yip
We are currently in conversations with different local councils, cultural units and funding bodies. Please contact us if you are interested in collaborating on this project focusing on tackling the current hurdles in the performing arts industry.
To know more about this performance, please do not hesitate to contact us through info@ghostandjohn.art
