Floating Worlds

Playwright and theatre director Graham Eatough (Glasgow) and artist and writer Andre Dekker (Rotterdam) are developing a theatre play about the life changing choices facing a family experiencing death and grief while their home and history is about to be engulfed by the sea. The play draws on both artists’ exploration of the natural environment in their artworks, as well as their abiding interest in Japanese Noh-theatre and landscape architecture with its ideas about our relationship with nature drawn from Buddhism.

In March 2020 they planned a research trip to Japan to at last fulfill their dream of experiencing Japanese gardens and theatre first-hand. Cancelling the trip felt like a Zen-moment in which to review their own relationship with nature, instead of flying around the world. They self-isolated at Knockvologan to work for a longer uninterrupted time and to go for long walks. To their surprise they found clear similarities between the country they would have visited and this place of seclusion.

The initial plan was to present the results of the residency during a public event on The Narrows. Covid-19 forces us to find a different form. Instead we made a little booklet called Tidal Flat; a sneak preview of the play.

The distribution of the booklet with the poster (right) inside was a little bit of a challenge as we found out many houses around here don’t have a mail box or they are really hard to find.