Widcombe Social Club, 31st May 2023
What matters in the end is the generous and celebratory message of the show - we are all artists and together we can make beautiful art.
If playful nonsense is your thing, you will love this show. If chucking in silly ideas from the audience then seeing them materialize on stage floats your boat – jump in! And if laughing til you think you might pop tickles your fancy, you’re in the right place. If you’re at the Widcombe Social Club in Bath on a Wednesday night on the last day of May, that is.
As befits a classic fringe festival show, the audience is small but perfectly formed. I think we all feel we have stumbled on something special that only a few select human beings will ever experience. And this is especially true of this show because every time you see it will be truly unique and like no other.
Alistair Aitcheson is the captain of this ship. It may feel chaotic and shambolic but there is logic and method in his madness. Because Alistair, as well as being a kind-hearted clown, is a maths whizz and a computer boffin. The guts of this show is clever technology and systems that allow the audience to log in with a QR code, input their ideas into their phones & watch as they appear on a giant screen, ready for Alistair to use to make art!
"you’ll leave with a big daft smile on your face."
This is good-humoured audience interaction with no obligation to get involved and absolutely no hint of humiliation, power play or putting anyone on the spot. Because it’s all done with a mobile you can remain entirely anonymous if you wish and still play along. Or just sit and observe the whole dada hullaballoo unfolding before you up on stage. I do challenge you not to get swept along by the whole thing though – at the very least you’ll leave with a big daft smile on your face.
The premise of the show is about collective creation of art. We have a go at poetry, swapping out the words of Wordsworth, TS Elliott, AA Milne. As we start to understand how to play the game Alistair reads through and repeats each poem - we get to see the text change and build until it becomes utterly surreal, helped by Alistair’s physical embodiment of it all.
Alistair is a jolly, good-natured performer who positively says YES to everything – the sillier the better. There are moderators on stand-by in case the contributions get a bit too wild, but Alistair tells them to stand down tonight - we are a small friendly crowd, about half-half grown-ups to children – the worse we see on screen are a few poos and wees. Adult-only shows might push the boundaries a little more…
"If art is gathering people and inspiring them to create something together with laughter, optimism and imagination, I’m in."
Later we create a wonderful painting of a capybara together, pinpointing where on our screens we want each suggestion to go – the bicycle in the bottom corner, the flying cow up in the sky, obviously. Alistair’s fast drawings, even upside down, are surprisingly legible, supplemented by random collage items – the audience represented by five cut out President Nixons and an Amanda Holden is a triumph.
There’s an auction - what do you want to sell? Coffins, belly button fluff or a cheeky wink? You’ve got it! Special offers on hopes, dreams and donuts? Someone will buy.
The grand finale is the dance – moves and choreography contributed by us. He must be exhausted by now, with all the moonwalking, breakdancing worms and spinning on his hands, but he doesn’t give up. The audience is invited on stage to join in – but only if they want to, of course.
What matters in the end is the generous and celebratory message of the show - we are all artists and together we can make beautiful art. If art is gathering people and inspiring them to create something together with laughter, optimism and imagination, I’m in.
★★★★
The Crowd Creativity Show was on at Widcombe Social Club on the 31st May.
Alistair will be returning to Bath on the 3rd & 4th June with Crowd Controlled Painting, part of Fringe Arts Bath. Catch it live at Newark Works, or online via Twitch. Find out more.
Beccy Golding is a Bristol-based poet, fool, writer and arts administrator. She is producer of Stone the Crones - supporting & celebrating the creative voices of older / aging / elder women though spoken word events & poetry workshops.
@stonethecrones on all the socials
Find Beccy's daily poems at @FridayIsPoetsDay