The Colour of Nonsense
At the studios of Splash, Line & Scuro, Cutting Edge Conceptualists, things haven’t been looking too hot of late. Splash is paralyzed by indecision and all the bright young turks are queueing up eager to knock him off his perch. Then, out of the blue, comes a salivatingly mysterious multi-million pound commission. The Colour of Nonsense was an exuberant satire on an art and theatre world always in search of the New…. a hilarious cartoon journey through the shifting borderlands between sense and nonsense. As mutinous drawings threw the studios into animated confusion, only Edward Lear’s “Dong with a Luminous Nose” seemed able to shed any light into the chiaroscuro of chaos.
Splash, Line and Scuro operate all the sound and projections from their desks. Most of the films are stored on memory cards, in digital media players, connected to digital projectors. These projections are triggered instantly, at the press of a button, by the performers, spot cues they can decide for themselves. The digital projectors are built into the performer’s desks or disguised in cigar boxes in the set. This technology is a wonderful new departure for FF live shows, dispensing with numerous tape or DVD decks, cables and computers. Its also ideal for our interactive museum & gallery exhibits. But Forkbeard can never desert old stuff entirely. There are two Overhead projectors, sources of coloured light and transparent drawings; and the scratchy, splashy opening titles are 16mm film.
An item from an early Forkbeard Exhibition. The original shoestring has since been lost.
Cinemagic – Bradford National Media Museum
We made “Cinemagic” to demonstrate Animation and Special Effects in film. It was performed hundreds of times throughout 2011/12 by Museum ‘Explainers’, trained up by Forkbeard in interaction techniques and presented to young audiences.
Animated Exeter
Run by Susannah Shaw this was another regular annual event for Forkbeard across several years. The shows and exhibitions were held at The Phoenix in Exeter, always centred around animation and arcane Forkbeard Filmic Phanasmagoria.
The last was “Evolumental” , a spectacular 8 digital projector animation splurged across the exterior of Exeter Cathedral – most nights in the pouring rain. Apart from the Cathedral projection it featured a revolving animation of Evolution galloping across the shops and pubs all around the Cathedral Square. Alongside Penny’s animated Rose Window, the piece featured a ‘pixillated’ (stop-frame animated) Tim as the Decorator bored with painting the inside ceiling. He comes outside (all this on film) and gets to work painting the outside. Ambition gets the better of him as he works his way up right up to the very top of the Cathedral Tower, where he’s brought back down to Earth by The Green Man.
Battle for the Winds
The Wind Machine was Chris’s, built along with Mike Pattison, Jane Jobling and Philip Moore. It was part of a parade through Exeter to celebrate the 2012 Olympics Torch Relay, involving nearly 500 people from all over Devon. It then travelled to Weymouth to celebrate the opening of The Sailing Olympics, meeting up with six other South Western contingents and culminating in a circus style nocturnal event on the beach produced by Desperate Men & Cirque Bijou.
2013 -14: Edward Snowden leaks info about NSA’s security internet & cellphone data gathering program. Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa kills 11,300 people.
The Quest Torbay
The Quest Torbay was organised by Play Torbay; a collaboration with Forkbeard, Barbican in Plymouth and The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath. There were 3 shows involving youngsters from the Torbay area. Forkbeard’s Chris and Ed devised and directed the final show, which took place at Torquay Museum.
Whiteball Tunnel Show
A collaboration with Action Track & Take Art 2014, involving local schools and the local community. The Foley Band played live throughout the performance.
Telescopes & Microscopes
Installations by Chris and Ed to commemorate the year-long Play Torbay Quest Project (2013), involving young people from the Torbay area.
The Mechanical Flowers
Installed on The Clock Golf Lawn at Greenways House, Agatha Christie’s holiday home near Paignton. Chris celebrates the coming of Spring 2017. Coming in four different colours and named after murderesses. Designed and built with the help of Steve Swan, a creative engineer and inventor.
Britton & Moore
Researches into residual energies captured in the walls of Wiveliscombe Town Hall. A special event for 10 Parishes Festival 2015. Now working on new material exploring, amongst other things, disappearance trickery. Research continues to this day.
Castle Drogo
Along with Phil and Cath Moore and Jane Jobling we created “NOTHING IS NORMAL”, animated installations, films and sculptures in rooms and corridors around the interior and exterior of Castle Drogo on the edge of Dartmoor, during the National Trust’s long multi-million pound battle with water ingress and repairing roofs. There’s some pieces you can still see there, including Tim’s film “Castle Drogo: A Potted Intro” in the Library and Phil’s Turbine Room installations.
The Outside In Room – our environment in The Night Nursery, showing what might happen if Nature leaked in and took its course. A Homage to Decay.
The Restless Temple
Penny was finally able to realize this huge life-size temple sculpture after 15 years in research and experimentation, the last 3 with engineer and sculptor Rob Higgs. It was finally erected in 2015 at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens outside Penzance in Cornwall, where it still sways in the wind, looking out across St Michaels Mount. It was voted one of the Top Ten Best Outdoor Art Installations in the World in The Guardian. Live Link »
Films & Animations
Starting with “The Jurassic Coast: A Mighty Tale” 2012 Tim has now produced a long line of commissioned ‘Mighty Tale’-style animation films for numerous clients in the UK and abroad – 12 in all to date since 2012. You can find links on the Film & Animation ‘Animations and Cartoons’ section or go to FORKBEARD ANIMATIONS on Youtube »
You can also find them on VIMEO »
Meanwhile, all things Forkbeard Old and New –and even the old crusties themselves – can still be found at The MUSEUM of FORKBEARD at special openings. Or at live Brittonioni Bros performances – see ABOUT US for updates.
2020s onwards Since those last pages on the 2010s, Forkbeard finally shut up shop in 2023 after 50 Years, winding down both the Company and the Charity. We left everything, as in one charity to another, to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection – archives, films, studios etc. – enabling two full-time archivists to be employed on the Forkbeard collection, leaving a sizeable sum for an Endowment Fund to support a yearly Forkbeard Fantasy Award to help struggling UK artists like we were in the early 1970s. The Award will be dedicated to the memory of Forkbeard’s Company Manager and dear friend Janice May (1953 – 2024).
Penny, Chris, Tim and Ed still create stuff independently but are also very involved in the Theatre Collection Archive and the forthcoming awards. Watch this space »
