Spooky stories, scary cupboards, and inspiring strangers – Bernadette Russell in conversation

White Rabbit is an alternative performance group which uses the stage, installation, films, music and sound to create exciting storytelling events. They will be spooking Spitalfields at their upcoming Are you sitting comfortably? event at our Winter Festival. We chatted with Bernadette Russell, co-founder of White Rabbit to discuss scary cupboards, the importance of stories and how talking to strangers can be inspiring! 

Niharika Jain: First of all, Are you sitting comfortably?

Bernadette Russell: Quite, sitting on my vintage Chesterfield, drinking eye-wateringly strong coffee. Thanks for asking.

NJ: The image of the White Rabbit is strongly linked with the rabbit who is always in a rush in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. It evokes a sense of curiosity, and wonder. Any chance you were inspired by Carroll in naming your group?

BR: Yes! I am interested in nurturing and creating as much wonder and magic in our live shows as possible, and I love the topsy-turvy world that Alice discovers, it’s dark and light, funny and frightening, confusing and illuminating. All the things that theatre and stories can be.

NJ: So what is the story behind your White Rabbit?

BR: I was sitting in the North Laines in Brighton waiting to meet a friend and I heard a woman say “curiouser and curiouser.” Strange but true. Ironically, I am never late, and I once got my foot stuck in a rabbit hole. Rabbits have loomed large in my life, as I was in the now legendary anarcho-vaudeville double act ‘WonderHorse’ and spent much of my life dressed as a rabbit. Our White Rabbit is enigmatic and cheeky, and invites you to follow him wherever he goes…..

NJ: What is unique about White Rabbit’s style of storytelling?

BR: Gareth and I wanted to create a supportive atmosphere and an exciting platform for writers to showcase their work: having your work read out means you can sit back and enjoy the experience, whilst observing how the audience reacts. The writers are often pleasantly surprised: characters speaking in ways they never thought of, laughter where they didn’t expect it! The audience has an immersive experience as we include them in the creative process by running literary competitions throughout the night, and we make it as friendly and relaxed as possible. Plus we feed everyone when we’re allowed to. A lot.

Bernadette Russell - White Rabbit

NJ: Stories are the basis of your performance, and indeed theatre, why are stories important?

BR: They are what make us human. Although I suspect animals tell their own stories, when we’re not looking.

NJ: What is the best story you’ve ever seen performed?

BR: A totally impromptu performance by a man who called himself ‘Billy The Poet’ who told us raggle-taggle crowd of tourists and drunks a meandering tale by a fire in Galway. I have never forgotten it. Can’t remember what it was called, but that doesn’t matter.

NJ: What are you and Gareth working on at the moment? [Gareth Brierley is the co-founder of White Rabbit]

BR: Gareth  and I are just about to read the next lot of submissions for the next two shows: there’s always some in the mix that are exciting and some that are a challenge! We are lucky because there’s always something great to perform.

Gareth Brierley - White Rabbit

NJ: Where are the best places to find stories?

BR: Inspiration for stories is everywhere; I like talking to strangers, the opposite of my mum’s advice! Also London is full of stories, so it’s good to go for a walk somewhere you’ve never been before and keep your eyes open. And ears.

NJ: A lot of your performances are based on submissions from budding writers and members of the public – is involving the community something you believe strongly in?

BR: I think it’s important for live shows to include and involve the community they are in. For every show Gareth and I write something new, and whenever possible we include local writers in the shows.

NJ: What do you enjoy more – writing or performing? And how important is each for you?

BR: Both, can’t choose. In the same way I can’t choose when people ask if I prefer dogs or cats. Writing – I do that every day; it would obviously be inappropriate and annoying to perform every day uninvited. Writing and performing feed each other, so I need both for inspiration. I would add that performing, especially cabaret means you meet some truly extraordinary people, which is priceless.

NJ: Did anyone tell you stories when you were young or did your own imagination and creative story writing skills suffice?

BR: My grandparents told stories, my Nana wrote poems and I always got a birthday poem; my mum read stories to me; and my sister Natalie wrote brilliant stories usually involving Vikings! I wrote a book about a vegetarian dinosaur when I was five or six called The Adventures of Thathilegthornjessie.

NJ: Do you still have a copy of The Adventures Of Thathilegthornjessie?

BR: Good question. I think so, in the cupboard under the stairs I refer to as ‘HELL CUPBOARD’ because when I open it the contents attack me! You know, one of those cupboards. [NJ: We recently tamed our stationery cupboard here at Spitalfields Music HQ, so no attacks as yet!]

NJ: Where do ideas for your performances come from?

BR: Firstly, from stories. Then I usually create a character, a narrator, and think about them, and their story informs the performance. I collect bits and pieces that become shows: snatches of overheard conversations, things I have seen, stories people have told me, urban myths.

White Rabbit Are You Sitting Comfortably?

NJ: Your theme for the Winter Festival is ‘Ghosts’ – are you looking forward to ‘Are you sitting comfortably?’ at the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival? What can the audience expect?

BR: I am very excited about working with the musicians; we have wanted to do this for a long time. The audience can expect to be chilled, in a Georgian coffee house, in Spitalfields, in London, in December! They can expect a great night, and the hairs on the back of their necks to rise, and beautiful music. They can expect to enjoy being a little bit afraid, like they were when they were children tucked up listening to scary stories.

NJ: What plans does White Rabbit have for the future?

BR: We are planning a show of my year long project #actsofrandomkindness (I have been doing something kind for a stranger every day since 18^th August 2011 and recording the results. I’m doing it for a year) and we are planning a big project HOTEL for the Brighton Festival 2012, working with Marcella Puppini. We would like to continue to work with live music and musicians, as music is a big influence on our work. [NJ:And we certainly hope you will!]

White Rabbit are also currently looking for story submissions. If you have a spine-tingling tale brewing away in your head, put pen to paper, make sure it is around 1000 words and send it to areyousittingcomfortably@live.com by midnight 26th November 2011. Your name and the title of your spooky story should appear on every page. You can read more about the White Rabbit here. White Rabbit will be performing at our Winter Festival on  Sunday 18 December at The English Restaurant from 8.00pm-10.00pm. In the beautiful Georgian interior of The English Restaurant, White Rabbit will bring you an evening of ghost stories written by Londoners, accompanied by haunting live music – book your tickets here.

Intern Diary: Niharika says ‘Hello’

Hello – Niharika here, the new Marketing and Communications Intern at Spitalfields Music.

It has been four weeks since my first day and am really enjoying it. Spitalfields Music is in a wonderful location – in case the name didn’t give it away already – its HQ resides on the always busy Brushfield Street. It is lovely to work at my desk because I am able to hear live music from the market, and since a lot of restaurants and cafes crowd Spitalfields, the aromas from busy kitchens always waft in.

What we’ve been up to:

We have had the first recruitment session for Women sing East. If you want to join, or are interested in joining our other community choir Spitalfields Singers click here to find out more.

We are also currently working on our Winter Festival, and I wanted to share the new brochure with you:

Spitalfields Music Winter Festival 2011 Brochure

The brochure has been illustrated by Joanna Moore. You can read more about Joanna, and see some of her unique work here.

Currently, I am working on the Winter Festival 2011 programme book – compiling and collating artists’ information. I love reading about the performers and their work. The line up this year is excellent and I am really looking forward to the festival!

Some more news:

• Booking for the Spitalfields Music Winter Festival 2011 is now open!

• Our Twitter has hit the 2000 mark and is growing – if you are not following us already – here is a link to the page http://twitter.com/SpitsMusic

Niharika Jain
Marketing and Communications Intern

Artist Focus: Caius College Choir & Consort

One of the most renowned collegiate choirs in the country, Caius College Choir, returns to Spitalfields with their take on Monteverdi’s madrigals. With arrangements of Monteverdi’s works by his own contemporaries they present a programme of often racy madrigals transformed into sacred works in Madrigals Transformed.

During University of Cambridge term time, they sing for regular services in the college chapel (the oldest purpose-built college chapel in the university still in use!) However, they also enjoy a large extra-curricular programme with regular concert performances and have recently been on tour to China.

The Caius Consort made their debut in last year’s Summer Festival in a programme of baroque music for Lutheran vespers. Comprising of recent Cambridge graduates, they have appeared on Radio 3’s In Tune.

Madrigals Transformed sheds a different light on Monteverdi’s madrigals and offers a rare opportunity to experience their alternative existence as sacred motets. These new motets helped bring some of Monteverdi’s finest music to a wider audience – very appropriate for Spitalfields Music!

Madrigals Transformed
Tuesday 14 December, 6.30pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Tickets: £5 – £22
Book now!

Artist Focus: EXAUDI

Former Associate Artist James Weeks returns to Spitalfields this winter, this time with his extraordinary ensemble, EXAUDI. Co-founded with the fantastic soprano Juliet Fraser, this group are whipping up a storm in Britain’s contemporary music scene, showcasing exciting talent in both upcoming performers and composers.

EXAUDI draws inspiration for its sound from early music ensembles, and so styles itself as a consort rather than a choir. They have developed strong links with us at Spitalfields Music and other prestigious organisations including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Aldeburgh Music. Over the past year they have been very busy performing with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and French contemporary ensemble L’Instant Donné.

In their Winter Festival concert, EXAUDI will be performing a selection of songs from Monteverdi’s  Book Three of Madrigals, many of which musically exploit the sumptuous texts and subtle eroticism in Guarini’s poetry, and the dramatic lyrics of the legendary Torquato Tasso. Full of grief, anguish, uncharacteristically chromatic lines and falling sixths, the whole book ends with a painful question: “Ah, my dear, who is taking you away from me?” You can be sure that their performance will be nothing less than heart-wrenchingly spectacular!

Third Book of Madrigals
Friday 7 January, 6.30pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Tickets: £5 – £22
Book now!

Winter Festival Preview!

Our Winter Festival returns in December with a mix of old and new interpretations of Monteverdi’s nine books of madrigals, polyphonic singing from all around Europe and Fables - a new collaboration with Streetwise Opera.

EXAUDI

We are pleased to welcome back La Nuova Musica who will open the festival and previous Associate Artist, James Weeks with leading contemporary choir EXAUDI to give a modern-day take on Book Three of Monteverdi’s Madrigals. World class interpreters of Monteverdi’s works –  LaVenexiana –make their Spitalfields debut and leading British tenor Paul Agnew makes a rare London appearance in a programme showcasing the birth of opera.

We are also excited to present a fantastic joint commission with Streetwise Opera, thanks to our support New Music Commission Fund. Fables – A Film Opera is Streetwise Opera’s second venture into film following the incredible success of the multi-award winning My Secret Heart. Fables is a collection of short film operas, each created by Streetwise performers from across the UK, working with film-makers, visual artists and composers. The teams have created four striking seven-minute films spanning across  the genres of opera, folk, electronica and film and each based on fables from the classic to the folkloric and the literary to the contemporary.

Spitalfields Soundings, our outdoor stage, will be returning to Spitalfields market featuring the best young talent from Tower Hamlets and our superb community choir Women sing East will also close the first part of the festival with a medley of contemporary, jazz and popular folk music sprinkled with festive songs to celebrate the season.

We hope to see you there!

Spitalfields Music Winter Festival
13-18 Dec 2010 & 5-7 Jan 2011
General booking opens Tuesday 28 September
020 7377 1362
www.spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

[Photo credits:  Winter Berries cr. Alys Tomlinson; Fables Nightingale cr. David Caines]