The Stephenson Works was Robert Stephenson's palace of invention, where he designed the original locomotives. Inspired by this, a group of some of the North East's most inventive performers created their own palaces in response.
Audiences took an unforgettable journey around these palaces made out of songs, gongs, suitcases, masks, secrets and cups of tea. They were then invited to think about their own palaces before a spectacular musical celebration brought the evening to a close.
 |
| Photographer: Alex Elliott |
30 July 2010
"In my palace you can have a cup of tea"
As part of the creative process of making
Building Palaces we set ourselves the challenge of getting 100 different people to design their own palace. We’re nearly half way through, and so far we’ve had diamond chandeliers, ghosts that live in the sink, grass that grows up to the sky, and a cup of tea.
A curious mixture of the everyday and the extraordinary keeps reoccurring.
Megan’s palace has a fence around it so that the cat can’t escape. Danielle says you can have a cup of tea if you come to her palace. Fatoum has musicians who play such good music it makes her housework go by quickly.
Certain constants in life pervade even our wildest fantasies, it seems.
But then there are still surprises. Adele kept telling me, “My palace isn’t anything like I thought it would be.” It was as if her imagination had surprised her, by choosing modernist glass over her usual preference for stone and wood.
Andy (designer), Carina (writer) and I have started thinking about how details from these people’s palaces can be presented in The Stephenson Works. It’s such a fabulously big and empty space that it’s a real pleasure to make work within its walls.
My secret pleasure at the moment is being at The Stephenson Works after the rest of the creative team have left. Being on my own in this amazing industrial palace makes me feel like an adventurer, quietly exploring a place that is both iconic and undiscovered.
Of course, a different pleasure beckons, when the performers join us in only a few weeks’ time.
18 Aug 2010
Magic numbers
Our mission to get 100 people to design their own palace continues.
This week we’ve been working with groups of young people. They’ve been getting me up to date with celebrity palace news. Apparently Paris Hilton has built a palace for her dogs. Lucky dogs?
What has struck me this week is the importance of numbers in people’s palaces.
7 people are allowed in Kia’s bedroom in her palace, because she has 7 chairs. Lucus’s palace has 9 floors and a basement, and is not to be confused with a palace with 10 floors. Courtney’s palace has 50 horses and 50 stables, 12 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.
I’ve always been fascinated by the symbolism of numbers. Fairytales love 3s. 10 years make for a good odyssey. 1001 nights have stood the test of time too.
Numbers have the power to make things special, grand, epic or magical.
Perhaps, when building palaces, numbers make things purposeful as well. Kia chooses 7 chairs, not 6 or 8. She’s definitely in charge.
Mind you, Andrea’s palace has just 1 room. Each day it changes inside. On the day of our workshop it was filled with a massive bed.
So I’ll be keeping my eye on numbers. Talking of which - 5 days until rehearsals begin.
 |
| Pady O'Connor thinking about his palace at The Stephenson Works |
30 Aug 2010
Dreaming of Stephenson
We’re a week and a day into rehearsals at The Stephenson Works and Robert Stephenson has made his presence felt.
He was 19 years old when he founded Robert Stephenson and Company – a company that would go on to change the world. The image of him as a young man, dreaming as he looked out of the windows of the drawing office, has seeped into all of our imaginations.
So far he’s making a good ambassador for dreaming. He dreamed big, locomotive-sized dreams for us – surely we owe him some dreaming in return.
But of course, dreaming has a cost. Alongside building their palaces, the performers have also been creating a space for palace laments – the bills that never get paid, the to-do list that never ends, the people with palace envy who never go away.
Even Stephenson had to escape from the palace of imagination that he built at South Street. In his early twenties he took off to Colombia for three years to work as an engineer in the gold mines. Beccy has written a lovely song about this. But of course you’ll have to wait for the show to open to hear it!
 |
| The creative team amongst Brendan's palace of percussion |
4 Sept 2010
Building our palaces
It’s been a busy week with furniture, teacups, lights and musical instruments arriving at The Stephenson Works by the van load. Each time we go into one of the many performance spaces, there’s something new. Palaces are taking shape.
Each performer’s palace is completely unique. A space built out of their particular imagination, talents and collections. But, at the same time, connections between the palaces keep arising.
Legacy comes up again and again. Pady’s collected objects had a life before him, and he wants to make them live again. Brendan is looking after the collection of percussion that he inherited, and after he’s gone it’ll be passed on to someone else.
Friendship and play is a recurrent theme too. None of the performers’ palaces are places of exclusion. Without other people’s enjoyment the palaces become derelict.
The fun and individuality of each performers’ palace has made me feel increasingly sure of the instinct that brought Building Palaces into life. I feel that there’s too little space for daydreaming and imagination in our lives. We believe that our houses need to look the same. That nicely decorated spare rooms are more important than making space for idiosyncratic obsessions.
So, go on! Turn your shed into a palace! Fill it with the things you love. Make it into a place nothing like anywhere else in the world. Your palace!
 |
| Pady O'Connor thinking about his palace at The Stephenson Works |
13 Sept 2010
Palace secrets
It’s 2 days until we open to the public, and are our palaces ready? Almost.
All the palaces look and sound amazing. The production team and performers have done a great job in building surprising, individual and enchanting palaces within The Stephenson Works. The doors might look ordinary, but what lies behind them certainly isn’t.
The production team have also done great work setting up secret signals and systems that will keep the audience’s journey through the palaces running smoothly. I’ve got my fingers crossed!
Secrets have become a bit of a theme this week and we’ve been building a room full of them. Secrets lurk in palaces. They are hidden away, but they can’t be ignored. So in our secrets room we get an insight into the dark side of having a palace.
It’s an exciting, if nerve-wracking, few days that lie ahead. We’re fascinated to see how audiences respond to what we have created. None of our palaces can exist without visitors. Indeed, that’s what brings them to life. So we hope you can join us when we open the doors on Wednesday!
