Tales of Two Cities: Artists Making Connections between Bristol and Cork
For the second consecutive year, we have joined forces with the excellent folks at Cork Midsummer Festival, Everyman Theatre in Cork, and Bristol Old Vic for the Tales of Two Cities artist development program.
Tales of Two Cities is for emerging theatre artists in the early stages of their careers, with a cap of three years of professional experience. This initiative is designed for individuals or collectives of artists who are enthusiastic about creating theatre and expanding their skills beyond traditional playwriting. It's an ideal platform for those seeking to define their artistic voice, refine their expression, and concentrate their creative vision.
Central to this programme lies the chance to experience international work, establish global networks, and benefit from insights provided by experienced practitioners. During May, when Rachel Mars’ FORGE was presented at Unit 15, we welcomed the Cork artists here in Bristol. This encounter allowed them to connect with artists based here, experience FORGE, and get to know each other. The same exchange occurred during the Cork Midsummer Festival in June. The programme continues with a bespoke package of support for the artists between the four organisations.
Every cycle of the programme welcomes three artists from Cork and three from Bristol. In this year's selection, the Cork group includes multidisciplinary artist Andrea Williams, one of Ireland’s leading drag acts Candy Warhol, and creative producer Isabella Dogliani. The Bristol-based artists selected are theatre producer and drag performer Dylan Suttcliffe, dancer and choreographer Mengling Li, and poet and curator Iman Sultan-West. To learn more about the Bristol artists, read on.
Dylan Sutcliffe
Image: Charley Williams Photography
Dylan is a multidisciplinary artist with work stretching the breadth of live performance. In their third year of Theatre and Performance studies in 2018, they began writing reviews of shows in the city for Epigram, the University of Bristol’s independent student newspaper.
Following graduation, Dylan created their drag persona YuGiHoe – a vivacious and gender-bending character that explores comedy and pop culture through performance. As YuGi, Dylan was a Runner up at Bath Drag Performer of the Year 2022 and won Jessica Jungle’s I’m Gonna Be a Star in 2022. YuGiHoe has since graced stages across the south west including at Green Man festival and Bath’s Komedia.
As well as the Tales of Two Cities residency, Dylan took part in Blueprint earlier this year, a producer programme at Tobacco Factory that develops the skills of emerging talent. They hope to develop their practice through collaboration, working with artists to programme and produce work with meaning and material impact.
Mengling Li
Mengling is a dancer and choreographer pursuing postgraduate studies in Dance at Bath Spa University. She has 19 years of dance experience under her belt with 6 years of professional ballet training and a history of teaching dance. In February of this year, Mengling presented her show Loving My Insecurities at Spark, an annual festival at Tobacco Factory that platforms early career artists. The work uses dance to explore how social norms have led to the manifestation of insecurities, and how we can stop the cycle of repeatedly putting ourselves down.
Passionate about the art form of combining film and dance, Mengling is currently exploring this area of knowledge. Through playing with this form, she hopes to offer a new perspective on the movement and emotion of performers, allowing the audience to see the story told by the artist up close and personal.
Iman Sultan-West
Iman Sultan West is an artist, poet and curator based in St. Paul’s, Bristol. She began studying Fine Art and Art History at Kingston University before moving on to a Masters in Curating from the University of the West of England. She is co-founder and director of the Shiiku Collective, a grassroots arts organisation based in Bristol that programme events around the city, and has experience performing poetry across the UK.
Iman’s poetry uses humour and rhythm; weaving a path to understanding heritage, neurodiversity, mental health and relationships. The artist wants to explore in her work and words how community can be brought together through creativity and the understanding of heritage.