Theatre:

My Prosthetic Soul - A Medical Musical

This is the first seeds of a collaboration between Volcano Theatre Company and Mr and Mrs Clark based on a collection of songs set against what can appear to be the almost impossible promise of cosmetic surgery to for fill and sustain the human condition beyond any potential flaw. This first showing is the result of an intense one-week exploration of the possibilities the musical format holds in developing a new piece of theatre between two companies always eager to experiment.

There will be a free showing of the initial phase of the project at Chapter Arts Centre 2nd August 2009.
This has been supported by the Arts Council Of Wales and Volcano Theatre Company

Bezerkus - (Available for Booking)

Bezerkus is a satirical look at those left from a bygone era. In celebration of the enduring human spirit of those that refuse to stay out of the spotlight, despite their questionable talent – come on, we’ve all seen them – expect song and dance with a touch of the old washed-up-side-show-performer refusing to rot in faded sequined splendour.

Commisioned by the Weston Studio in collaboration with the Blysh Festival at the Wales Millennium Centre, Bezerkus is an examination of the changing world of entertainment and adds a slightly harder edge to the bizarre and wonderful world the Clarks often present. Here are characters that in a different era would have been game fully employed at Porthcawl and Barry Island sideshows to thrill and amuse hordes of holiday punters.

Cast: Mr & Mrs Clark, Harry Boast, Rosalind Brooks, Lara Ward

Walk The Dead Dog

If Walk The Dead Dog was a modern day marketing cliché it may pertain to the notion that the Dog, in it’s deceased state, is lifeless therefore complicit to exploitation. This, then, is the basis for an exploration of our perceived ideas about the role of outsiders and the judgement forced upon those attempting to enter a mainstream world under the spotlight of the many critics that regularly expose themselves in all walks of life.

Only a small percentage of an iceberg breaks the surface, what is beneath the surface is greater in size and infinitely more dangerous.

WALK THE DEAD DOG is a macabre cabaret that delves into the world of culture and entertainment, to see how the spotlight affects those who live in the shadow. Expect a musical freakshow with laughs, masks, dummies and real people who sing and dance.

Cast: Chloe Addiscott, Harry Boast, Katie Dean, Gordon Griffin, Stephanie Taylor
Set Design: Danielle Graves
Production Manager: Chris Hoyle
Unknown Pleasures is brought to you by Volcano Theatre Company, Taliesin Arts Centre and Swansea Metropolitan University. WEBSITE

Cabba Hey - (Available for Booking)

Cabba Hey is a surreal cabaret performance. Using contemporary dance, theatre, visual imagery and music and song to produce a show that blends a huge variety of influences from Martha Graham to Tom Waits. Cabba hey aims to condense the work of the Clarks thus far allowing them to develop and push their music, dance and visual practise to further tangents. The aim of the show was to utilise The Clarks creativity and performance skills to the maximum. A multi textured blend of imagery to emote feelings from hilarity to disturbance. A cabaret that can be picked up and placed anywhere. During the development of the project Mr and Mrs Clark have performed exerts and ideas at Night Clubs, Pubs and at various festival sites throughout Wales during the summer. The finished work will be premiered at Chapter Arts Centre as part of the Expermentica Season 2007 and at the Swansea Fringe Festival.

Length:50 minutes (although the piece can be broken down to any length) Music: Mr and Mrs Clark

Cabba Hey has been supported by the Arts Council for Wales, Chapter Arts Centre and Welsh Independent Dance. Mr and Mrs Clark would also like to thank Tom Raybould at Acoustic Wallpaper, Paul Clarke at Meltdown, Christopher Nurse at Black Engine Films, Jason at Tantrum and all at Blue Lagoon and Small Nations Festivals.

Adventures in the Sitting Room
Developed for theatre “Adventures” was initially an installation piece that grew into a physical theatre/dance show. The show follows the Clarks through a typical evening of TV and popcorn that starts slowly and intently and grows into a full musical finale after a plethora of physical movement, live music and surreal imagery. There is a very definite element of humour and satire in this show and the movement is a mixture of jerky vaudeville and contemporary dance to a pre-recorded and live score. One critique suggested, “Mr and Mrs Clark are like Terry and June on crack” after observing this piece.
The show can be performed by the two central characters alone or introduce a wider cast that involves a version with two more dancers as “The Children” or the extra dancers plus an actor as the lady next door.

The set comprises of a sofa, TV, three chairs.
Length: 40mins – Cast 2, 50mins – Cast 4, 65mins – Cast 5
Music: Mr and Mrs Clark composed and performed all of the music except 2 tracks by G.F. Narholz.

The Agony and The Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show

“The Agony and The Tragedy” can be best described as a menagerie of images pieced together to extenuate the bizarre nature of power and relationships between man and woman. This show starts with a nun and a priest and morphs into a dysfunctional family divided by what had once united them. However this is no typical examination of the subject, instead the viewer will witness the surreal and strikingly dark references via a very unsubtle and yet moving work of modern dance theatre.
The show features live music and improvised movement and a scintillating flamenco cow scene that demonstrates a humour that runs through the show. However it may well be the techno-dancing nun on a dog chain that stays with the viewer.

Minimal Set – large picture frame
Length 40mins – Cast 2
Music: Mr and Mrs Clark, Moby and Rufus Wainwright.

Ex-Chroma Part 1 and 2
A first endeavour in a theatre space “Ex-chroma” offered the Clarks their first opportunity to develop a piece specifically for a dance audience. This work began as a series of visual sketches and improvisations to live music and was inspired by the book Chroma by Derek Jarman and the writings of Welsh writer and artist Alun Osbourne.

No set
Length: Part 1 20mins, Part 2 30mins – Cast 2
Music: Mr Clark

Installation:

NINE (Available for Booking)
Reflecting on nine years of collaboration, marriage and rummaging around this performance is a look back at some of the work delivered through a series of mediums. NINE gives the audience the opportunity to select from a menu, that includes installation, theatre and musical pieces, and then watch the scene take shape openly and offers the performers the opportunity to revisit and re-envision past ideas. As a visual jukebox the order and number of times any one scene is delivered is up to the audience creating an interaction that empowers the viewer beyond the realms of voyeur.

Lullaby Part 1 and 2 (Available for Booking)
Lullaby is an intimate installation piece that challenges the nerve of the audience, as it is a private show for one, and the endurance of the performer. Part 1 is a single heart felt message delivered in a disturbing yet moving manner by two masked performers. One dances and edges ever closer to the single audience member and the other picks a tune on the guitar and rocks gently. The single member audience experiences anything from hilarity to fear and each leaves with a truly unique memory presented to them and only them. There have been screams, chuckles and some uncomfortable moments so far but as the piece continues throughout the evening it is clear people want to see it. Originally performed in the site specific show "What Am I Doing Here?" produced by Volcano Theatre Company.

Part 2 is an adaptation of a popular uplifting pop song toned down to a simple ballad. The performers for this part include three dancers who repeat their movements over and over in different areas of a confined space. As the audience are able to move around the performance they engage with the space and try to make sense of the repetition on show. Ever engaging and compulsive the show goes on and on, over the same words and moves as if these performers must exercise the demon that possesses them.

Pants Committee
Pants Committee is a board that assesses the under garment you are wearing with an official stamp of approval or failure. Pants Committee consists of two people; a male pants expert and a female pants expert.
Participants are encouraged to attend a private location where their pants will be inspected and judgement passed. Inspection involves a questionnaire and any part of the pants the candidate is prepared to show.
The participants make the piece. What are you willing to reveal, how far are you willing to go to seek approval or get a thrill?

Pants Committee propose to provide a humorous insight in to human nature concerning the region of the under garment and the bureaucratic process of approval.

Technical Requirements: One Desk, Three Chairs, One Angle Poise Lamp.

Noodling in the Bath
Two people in a bath full of noodles listening to the sound of music create a surreal image for the viewer. “Noodling” provides a fantastic opportunity for the observer to question the artist and observe, what may be considered, a simple domestic scene distorted with the inclusion of forty packets of supermarket noodles. The Clarks propose to inform everyone that attends that they are “in the bath” and absolutely nothing else. The spectacle provides much hilarity, a deep sense of the absurd and a moving image that can provide the observer with some company in a lonely world of conceptual art.
There are no explanations just a simple statement of the obvious, reiterated time and time again.

Technical Requirements: Bath, Small table, Access to water preferably warm.

Box
The box is a mini performance space at just 1 metre squared. Inside are two characters armed with a selection of acoustic musical instruments prepared to play the barer of a small fee a stripped down short version of a contemporary classic. However the musicians are also performing a ritual before each song that has included drinking a shot of tequila or slurping on a beer before belting out a number at high speed. The event becomes more compulsive as the performers become blearier. Box can be best described as a mini riot suitable for any gallery space, festival or street performance.
Technical Requirements-None

Spiritual Enlightenment
As a priest and a nun promoting the message of Enjoy Life and Have Fun.
Described as a Gilbert and George scenario where the couple appear in unsuspecting settings promoting a positive message in a surreal manner. Performed in Cardiff City centre last year and at St. Donats Crafts in Action this year, the performance captures the imagination of the passer by and leads to much hilarity and a fabulous photo opportunity.

Technical Requirements: None.

A Night Off Crime
On a sofa, with a beer and a television tuned to the next soap opera sits Mr and Mrs Clark dressed as Superman and Wonder Woman. This is a night off and nothing will get in the way of a well deserved opportunity to rest and recuperate in this classic domestic setting. Observers can join the performers and watch TV, eat some comfort food and while away the evening in a relaxed and easy fashion. The performance breaks any displacement between artist and observer and encourages everyone to take a night off.

Technical Requirements: A sofa, A TV.

Film:

Flicker

Film Project directed and edited by Christopher Nurse. Click here to view.

"From Shirley Temple and Bill Robinson to Chris Cunningham, and from Gene Nelson, June Haver & Hermes Pan to contemporary Japanese horror; dance and choreographed movement, have always had a distinct marriage with moving image and film." Flicker intends to synthesise the highly visual directorial approach of filmmaker Christopher Nurse with the surreal performance choreography of Mr and Mrs Clark. The project was born of many a collaborative past project, but most recently the 10 minute film ‘Queer Filmic Moments’ a project born of the Mr and Mrs Clark ‘adventures in the sitting room’ live show. The film included strange tableaux and vignettes of cow masked dancers in a windswept field, the horrific writhing of a masked woman with an asylum backdrop, and a Monty python-esque flower dance set to a baroque soundscape.

Mr and Mrs Clark work to 2006:

October 2006 - “Adventures in the Sitting Room”
Kultrafabrik, Esch, Luxembourg.

August 2006 - Dance Visions Workshop – Daniel Belasco Rogers
Berlin

August 2006 - “Cardiff”
Composition of Short Film and Music

July 2006 - “Un-natural Performance”
The Proud Gallery, Camden, London.

July 2006 - “Adventures in the Sitting Room”
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Cardiff.

May 2006 - “Queer Filmic Moments”
Series of short films with Christopher Nurse

April 2006 - Composition of Music for Film Forge Project
12 animated films.

February 2006 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Cardiff.

February 2006 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
Theatre D’Esch, Esch, Luxembourg

January 2006 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
Ljubjana, Slovenia

January 2006 - “Bed”
Artist Flat, Sophienstrasse, Berlin

January 2006 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
Tangiente, Montreal, Canada

December 2005 - “Superboy is Missing”
Winter Wonderland, Cardiff

October 2005- “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
Diversions Dance House, Millennium Centre, Cardiff

October 2005 - “A Night Off Crime”
Tactile Bosch, Llandaff North, Cardiff.

July 2005 - “Flamenco Cow”, “Nun and Priest”
Cardiff Street Theatre Festival, Cardiff.

July 2005 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
EDF Harbour Festival, Bristol.

July 2005 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show”
The Clore Studio, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

June 2005 - “Dancing Nun”
Meltdown, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

June 2005 - “Exerts and Tangents from The Agony and The Tragedy”
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Cardiff.

June 2005 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show” Part 2, Dance Bytes
Galeri, Caernafon.

May 2005- “The Box”, “Musical Spiritual” and “Flamenco Cow”
St Donats Arts Centre Craft Fare, Vale of Glamorgan.

May 2005 - “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show” Part 2, Dance Bytes
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Cardiff.

March 2005 – “The Agony and the Tragedy of Enjoying Life and Having Fun Show” Part 1 – Work in Progress, Dance Bytes
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Road, Cardiff.

March 2005 – “Noodling in the Bath”
Arts Academy, Union Street, South Bank, London.

November 2004 – “Noodling in the Bath”
University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd.

October 2004 – “Noodling in The Bath”
Chapter Arts Centre

July 2004 – “Enjoy Life/Have Fun”
Cardiff Cultural Festival of Arts and Music

May 2004 – “Serenade”
Journeys Bar, Newport Road, Cardiff.

August 2003 – “Rock n’ Roll Show”
Journeys Bar

June 2003 – “Banana Tours”
Tactile Bosch, Andrews Road, Cardiff.

October 2002 - “Box”
Chapter Arts Centre Bar

September 2002 - “Bog”
Siberia 42nd and 9th, Hells Kitchen, New York, USA

September 2002 – “A Day at the Seaside”
Coney Island, New York, USA

June 2002 - “Box”
Morefront Studio, Pontcanna, Cardiff

May 2002 - “Ex-Chroma 2”
Chapter Arts Centre

February 2002 - “Ex-Chroma”
Chapter Arts Centre