The Mill City Of Dreams

The Mill City Of Dreams is a site specific performance that is set in Drummonds Mill in Bradford. It is a Freedom Studios production. It connects the past stories of the Mill with the current times. We really wanted to see this performance when we went on a trip over the holidays. Unfortunatley it had sold out. I phoned the venue and kindly the Artistic director Madani Younis offered to show us around the same day. This actually gave us a greater insight into the thinking behind the piece, the team involved and the use of the space. As you walk onto the site you see a big banner advertising new flats that will be available soon, we actually thought this was real so it worked well. This sets the scene for the modern day function of most old Mills. Luxury apartments all aimed at an elite market that are worlds away from the working men and women that the Mills housed in their working lives. He went on to show us around the set which makes perfect use of the space. The audience are walked through various spaces and rooms where different stories are told. Most of the props were found in the Mill Itself which adds a real Authenticity to the piece. Even the sound was made from old pattern cards they found. Janek Schaefer wrote a score was created from the patterns used in the weaving machines, which was then turned in to a music box. Click on the link to listen. It was amazing to get a private guided tour of this beautiful production. It made me think about the Interdisciplinary nature of the performance too. There are many artistic discipline's involved in putting the piece together, it's a big collaboration on many levels. Madani said that the performance would be recorded and will be available to view on line soon i can't wait to see it.

Here are some pictures from the visit...