National Ensemble 2020 Part Two
November – December 2020
18-25 years
Series of live performances: watch below...
Episode 1: Drip Tuesday 8th December
Episode 2: Slick Thursday 10th December
Episode 3: Spill Saturday 12th December
Under national lockdown between April and July, this year's National Ensemble made and performed a live, site-specific performance on Zoom called Once You See the Smoke which investigated climate justice. Performed over three nights, audiences tuned in from all over the world watching twenty performers located across Scotland. Building on that success, the Ensemble are back with a new production directed by Melanie Jordan, continuing with their inquiries into climate justice, focusing this time on the devastating displacement of people.
The final production – titled Drip//Slick//Spill – is a digital mini-series of live performances that premiered online throughout the week of the 7th December. Each episode took place on a futuristic social media platform called Under/Current, specifically designed for the production. Audiences are now able to rewatch the full performances as they unfolded live by going to our YouTube channel.
For a sneak preview, watch the series trailer below...
The brilliant team of Young Directors and performers behind Drip//Slick//Spill included:
Abby Ferguson
Ava Hickey
Calum Philp
Christina Craven
Gemma Legan
Gregor Kennedy
Hannah Nimmo
Leon Ellis
Rebecca Tierney
Victoria Kennedy
Creative Team
Melanie Jordan is a director, actor and theatre maker based in Glasgow, creating performance in theatres and on the streets which is visually driven, physically dynamic and exposes our shared humanity with curiosity. As co-Artistic Director of multi award-winning theatre company Jordan & Skinner she is a Fellow with Barbican, London and Associate Artist with Platform, Easterhouse. Melanie is also Physical Theatre Practitioner with Surge where she directs outdoor performance with community groups and professionals.
Further directing credits include Slug by Visible Fictions, Imaginary Forests by Rowenbank Circus, and Scotland’s Clown Cabaret. Jordan & Skinner were awarded Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund for their new production The Time Machine - A Radical Feminist Retelling from the End of the World, touring when theatres reopen.
Zoë Bullock is a Glasgow-based writer and performer. Her online/digital writing credits include Granny Fenella (Imaginate), Little Spoon’s Big Adventure (Visible Fictions), and Island Chains (Yellow Earth). Her performing credits include Gulp! (The Bone Ensemble) and Comet (Pleasance Theatre).
Zoë is interested in digital work that embraces its format, interactivity, VR, and the line between immersive theatre and gaming. She joins the creative team of National Ensemble 2020 Part Two as digital creative consultant.
Chaya Gupta is an actor, musician, composer and sound designer. She was a member of Scottish Youth Theatre's National Ensemble 2019, where she worked closely with the cast and creative team as an actor and musician to devise Act of Repair, a touring production concerning surveillance capitalism. Some of her other recent projects include working with Skelf Theatre Co as sound designer on their production of The Effect by Lucy Prebble, and touring as the drummer for new Glasgow-based band 'ALF'.
She is the sound composer for National Ensemble 2020 Part Two.
Adam Bowers is a technician, stage manager and production manager. Combining his interest in problem-solving with his love for storytelling, he works to create immersive, engaging experiences by adding a layer of polish to every show.
He was the production manager for Once You See the Smoke, and returns for National Ensemble 2020 Part Two.
Fergus Dunnet is a visual artist, designer and maker for indoor and outdoor performance. Fergus has designed large scale street parades, promenade performances, puppets, walkabout acts, cabaret performances and stage shows for companies including Grid Iron, Tenterhooks, Paragon, Modo, Mischief La-Bas, Edinburgh International Science Festival, Surge and Walk the Plank.
He is joining Scottish Youth Theatre as designer for National Ensemble 2020 Part Two.
National Ensemble 2020 was supported by The Nimar Trust and Creative Scotland.
