Tales of Two Cities: Q&A with Aish Humphreys

Image from Clara Potter-Sweet

Back in June, we had the pleasure of continuing our partnership with Cork Midsummer Festival, Everyman Theatre in Cork, and Bristol Old Vic for the Tales of Two Cities exchange programme. Tales of Two Cities caters to artists who are in the early stages of their careers in theatre, writing and performance. The initiative gives the artists an opportunity to experience international work, establish global networks, and benefit from insights provided by seasoned practitioners.

Every cycle of the programme welcomes three artists from Cork and three from Bristol. This year’s Bristol artists were curator and producer Marley Small (also known by their artist name "Medis"), poet, facilitator and curator Aish Humphreys, and multidisciplinary creative and performer Clara Potter-Sweet.

With MAYK’s co-director Matthew along for the ride, the three artists travelled to Ireland for the Cork Midsummer Festival, immersing themselves in the fun and connecting with their Irish counterparts who we welcomed at Mayfest a few months prior. Following the trip, Clara wrote a blogpost on their website about their time in Cork. There’s some wonderful pictures and interesting observations from Clara, so we recommend giving it a read here.

We also had a chance to catch up with Aish via a quick Q&A. Keep reading to know more about his favourite shows from the festival and what the artist has taken away from the Tales of Two Cities programme.

What performance inspired you the most and why?

My favourite show was Good Sex by Dead Centre and Emilie Pine, which we managed to see the dress rehearsal of on our last day. I thought it was so well done. I also enjoyed the show Kilter, Matter and Ghosts by Natasha Bourke. Although there were points I wasn't 100% sure what was happening, I loved the setting that was used (a swimming pool) and the use of sound and projection.

What shows do you wish you could have seen?

I would've loved to see Alter by Kamchàtka, which we heard really good things about! It's an outdoor immersive theater show set in a secret location. I've not seen anything like that before so it's a shame we missed it.

In what way did your experience in Cork add to how you view your own practice?

It was a really wonderful opportunity to see more theatre. As someone who isn't from a theatre background, I haven't had that much experience seeing work like this. It made me realise that theatre can be so many different things and has definitely given me ideas for the show I am currently working on.

Were there any shows that made you want to learn a new skill?

A lot of the shows we saw made me think about movement and physicality which is something I'd really like to work on in my own performance. We also got to see someone doing circus performance, which I always find impressive although I'm not sure it's something I'd take up myself.

How did the curation of the shows impact your understanding of theatre?

As I mentioned above I think it really expanded my idea of what theatre can be. We got to see an eclectic mix of performances that included various different disciplines: music, dance, circus etc. This made me feel more hopeful about my own practice, especially as someone who's trying to mix different performance types.

How will you use the grant to enable your practice?

I have a research project that I'd like to do, to inform writing a new poetry collection and the grant would give me some time to do this. I'm also thinking of using it for rehearsal space for a spoken word theatre show I've been writing with a friend.

What 3 key thoughts or words will you take away from your experience?

Nourishing, exciting and thought-provoking.