Idle Motion go to Edinburgh (From The Oxford Times)

Idle Motion go to Edinburgh

9:17am Thursday 22nd July 2010 in

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“We need fifty suitcases for this show,” says Kate Stanley, associate producer of the Oxford-based physical theatre company Idle Motion, “and I’m not sure how we can get them to Edinburgh.”

An everyday story of potentially panicking Fringe performers, then?

No, for this company is preparing to go to Scotland for the third August in a row and Kate and her colleagues don’t panic.

Last year, they presented Borges and I (self-evident subject matter); this time they take to the air with an extraordinarily-conceived 50 minutes of drama highlighting the historic achievements of early women fliers together with the tale of one specific modern-day woman travelling to scatter the ashes of her grandmother.

Idle Motion’s members are all former students at The Cherwell School who were taught by its head of drama, Paul Slater.

It was Mr Slater, Kate told me, who first took them up to Edinburgh to see various shows — “and we came back and thought, ‘let’s give it a try’. We wanted to make a piece similar to the one we did at A-levels, but better and something we could share with more people than just our parents.”

I asked Grace Chapman, company manager, if, by calling themselves a ‘physical theatre’ group, that meant action and movement in their productions are more important than the spoken word.

“I don’t think that would be totally fair. Narrative and movement are equally important: the narrative must be accessible.

“It’s about punctuating the narrative with visuals,” Kate chips in. “I can go and see a dance and it may be amazing, but I need to walk away and know what it was about.”

So how does a devised piece — that’s the jargon — such as The Vanishing Horizon first come about?

“We normally start the process by just workshopping and playing,” says Kate, “and Paul Slater is very instrumental in the process as the facilitator for the show.

“He’s got so much experience from teaching and being able to stand back and watch. We’re creative as a company, but he then says, ‘why don’t you try this?’. The ensemble needs an outside eye.”

The other members are Ellie Simpson, Sophie Cullen, Nick Pitt and Iggy Jeffrey. And this year they’re joined by two technicians.

“The tech is quite heavy,” explains Grace, sliding smoothly into the professional jargon. “There’s quite a big soundscape and the lighting side is instrumental to the show. There’s music as well, of course. By the way, it’s still a work in progress, and although it’ll be finished by the 28th, it’ll continue to evolve because that’s the beauty of theatre.”

Kate described the piece to me as “an exploration of the revolution that flight has brought about, contrasting both modern movement and migration with the early female aviators and their daring aspirations”. Just the sort of thing, I hazarded, for a knowing Fringe audience.

“I think they’re just so mixed — there are people there who would normally never come and see your show and there are people who are bound to love it, and it’s worth a risk at £7 or £8 to come and see us. Our best publicity up there is usually word of mouth; usually, ticket sales tail off for companies in the third week of Edinburgh, but, last year, our numbers just kept going up.”

There’s a lot going for Kate, Grace and the others at the moment: they’re becoming ever more professional in their approach and have recently become artists in residence at the Oxford Playhouse — meaning that, although no cash is available, Playhouse staff are always available to give advice on publicity or fundraising or dealing with contracts.

More practically, they’re collaborating with the company to set up a ten-venue tour around the UK early next year.

The word ‘Idle’ may have to be dropped from their name soon.