Producer’s Notes: Glas(s) Performance
As a company we share a love of people, of communities and stories and we attempt to explore these things through theatre and performance.
In our work we collaborate with real people in the place of fictional characters to tell stories and explore relationships. Over the past eight years we have made over 20 performances in various places with different combinations of people; with teenagers and their parents (From Where I’m Standing, 2008), with a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary (Life Long, 2010), with a father and a daughter (Chip, 2009), with a family of different generations of women (Hand Me Down, 2010) and with one whole town on a football pitch (One All, 2009).
We are interested in the everyday stories that remind us of what it means to be human. We hope that by looking at the personal we may manage to look a little closer at the things that are universal in all of us and through doing this understand each other a little better.
The idea for ALBERT DRIVE came during a time when we had been making a series of works about the relationships within families. As a result we became interested in the other relationships we have in communities and those who live closest to us – our neighbours - and what they mean to us in contemporary Scotland.
Whilst working on this project many people have asked us ‘Why Albert Drive?’ and for us there are many reasons. It’s a place where a lot happens. It is home to lots of different people, families, businesses, residences, places of religious worship, schools and community groups. Due to this diversity both in terms of people, history and architecture we felt that Albert Drive would be a rich and relevant place in which to work and explore our interest in our neighbours.
We also chose Albert Drive because we ourselves are local and living in Pollokshields. This meant that the project resonated with us on a personal level and offered us the unique opportunity to get to know our own neighbours and to work creatively alongside them. It has been an amazing journey and we loved the experience of meeting so many people and learning so many new things about the area we live in.
We are delighted now to be sharing our experience on Albert Drive with you through the project website.
Jess Thorpe, Tashi Gore and Rachel O’Neill
Lead Artists
Glas(s) Performance
Producer’s Notes: Tramway
Tramway is an international art space which commissions, produces and presents contemporary arts projects. Our vision is to inspire and add to our understanding of today's world by connecting audiences and artists. Tramway is a space where you are welcomed to witness, engage, experience, participate, to be challenged and to learn...
Since 1988 Tramway, situated in Glasgow’s Southside on Albert Drive, has been home to exciting and challenging work across both visual and performing arts. The venue consists of two theatre spaces, two visual arts exhibition spaces, participation studio, upper foyer exhibition space, and Café Bar. Tramway is also closely connected to a number of partner organisations. It adjoins the Hidden Gardens to the south of the building and Scottish Ballet Headquarters to the east. Upstairs we host the Visual Arts Studio and The Work Room, Scotland's independent dance atelier.
Our collaboration with Glas(s) Performance, through the ALBERT DRIVE Project, has offered the venue new opportunities to connect to our local area and audiences, building new relationships and deepening existing ones. The project has opened up a dialogue about the role Tramway can play in the area, as a public and social space for creative and cultural exchange. We believe contemporary art is a vital part of how we represent, make sense of and explore the world around us, and the ALBERT DRIVE Project is a fantastic example of how art can be locally relevant and globally resonant.
Tramway is programmed and managed by Glasgow Life and is the recipient of foundation organisation funding from Creative Scotland
Rosemary James
Audience Engagement Manager
Tramway