Jez Colborne is anxiously watching the weather – at the end of this week Irresistible, the show he developed with Mind the Gap, finally reaches its Yorkshire peak - a symphony of sirens set within the rural beauty of Ilkley Moor.
It’s a large-scale musical experience that combines warning sirens and choral music with projections on rock faces and dramatic lighting to create a breathtaking and once-in-a-life-time experience. In some ways it doesn’t matter what the weather is like, it could only enhance the dramatic vista of the performance!
In the lead up to the shows, Fabric – an artists development agency in Bradford – have just published a great Q & A with Jez – asking him about what he loves to collect (model tractors, trucks and mining excavators), what he loves to eat (chicken korma, pillau rice and a big massive naan bread) and where his forthcoming show started from:
“I’ve also got a love of sirens and I was thinking of industrial workspaces, coal mines and quarries. That’s how the idea to do the show at the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor came about… I travelled around the world doing shows and while I was in China, America, Canada, Hong Kong, I found out more about sirens as well. That’s how I came up with the idea of being a traveller. I’m like Odysseus, the Greek classical hero.”
I reckon their best question to Jez was: What’s your favourite work, by you?
“I’ve got to say Irresistible – Call of the Sirens because it’s by me. My previous work was me working in Mind the Gap productions. So I was doing what they wanted me to do but this time it’s Jez Colborne in collaboration with Mind the Gap. With other people’s help, I’ve created a show that I’m bloody proud of and I will be proud of it for years and years to come! Irresistible is part of the Cultural Olympiad and also part of Unlimited, which really supports artists to push their boundaries and to try new things. And that’s why the show is on such a large scale. It’s a big show for me so it’s a big deal. It’s not theatrical in the traditional sense. It’s outside and it’s a massive space. There’s loads of things going on. You’ve got loads of different stages all over. You’ve got four sirens on top of this massive rock. Nobody else would have thought of that! The songs will move you from one emotion to the next. There’s proper gut wrenching sadness, and you’ve got rock, gospel, there’s even a country song.”
So sirens, quarries, rocks and a range of musical pieces to move you in all ways – whats not to like?
If you happen to be near West Yorkshire on Thurs 21st June, Friday 22nd June or Saturday 23rd June – better get your tickets quick. And then catch it all over again in London in September as part of the London 2012 Festival!