Some thoughts and feedback after our second week of Research and Development

Light Is Like Water is a very curious story. Each time we look at it, it feels as strange and mysterious as ever, whilst somehow revealing more each time, as if we could go on peeling back the layers forever.

During the second week of R & D we explored ideas around black holes, dark skies, crime scenes and much more. The young people who contributed to the process were perceptive and generous. They helped us to search out what is intriguing and moving in the material and how we might shape it. The process felt a bit like an archaeological dig, in which unexpected finds were made.

At the end of the week something surprising began to take shape. A family packing up their belongings and driving away from the sound of the sea. A mother and father papering over the cracks around the window frames. And two children, searching and determined, diving fearlessly to the bottom of the light.

Catherine Dyson – Performer

It was really great to have a second week of R&D after a break, allowing us to review what we’d done before and apply that to a further opportunity to invent freely, without the pressure of making a final performance. As a designer, I find it incredibly valuable to be part of a team in which the roles are fluid and open at R&D stage. It’s not an opportunity I often get. I find this approach valuable not only for the development of the project and its scenography as an integrated whole but also for my own personal artistic growth. So I appreciate it hugely.

Paul Burgess – Designer

It is fantastic to get the opportunity to further explore Light is Like… I really value the way the We Made This team works with everyone actively creating together and sharing work in the rehearsal room […]

The addition of having the young artists from Mess Up The Mess at R&D was very inspiring. They similarly created work in response to a sharing of ‘Light is Like…” and the original text by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Their viewpoints and opinions on the continuing creation of this work was enlightening and invaluable …

Morgan Thomas – Performer

It was great to work with the same team of creatives again for the second stage of this development. It’s a very open, gentle and honest collaborative process.

It was definitely worthwhile to travel the M4 everyday to Pontardawe Arts Centre – the staff were so welcoming and the space was ideal. Working with Mess up the Mess young people was brilliant- their feedback and ideas have been so valuable to our process and we look forward to show them the finished piece.

Nia Skyrme – Producer

It is imperative to give the work space to develop. I love the juxtaposition of the concept of reality and surrealism, of fiction and fact – so that when you hear that the children have drowned at the end you are shocked but of course expecting to hear the news. I think you are really achieving a good balance which is enabling people to be drawn into the story.

Angie Dickinson Pontardawe Arts Centre