She and Her Here and There is a journey through words, emotion and abstraction; tracking the forgotten histories and secret alleyways of London's Isle of Dogs. In a Subterranean Homesick Blues fashion, "She" flipped over pages of words a large pad, indicating bits of history in a very personal, colloquial voice; whilst the audience followed "She" through new residential developments, along the water facing Canary Wharf and through the vestiges of an old ghetto to arrive at the converted-church theatre/bar The Space.
"Her" punctuated the piece with symbolism and sound, popping up in the most unexpected of places - in an outside cupboard holding up a small wooden windmill, or dragging a rolled ball of vinyl with an old travelling man's suitcase. A small scratch of modern brick buildings revealed a courtyard with wooden sheds and allotments where a wide-faced Asian woman tended to her lettuce patch. This while "She" offered us an annotated tea break with real biscuits and a marble game to play while "Her" played the screams and cheers of children playing in her stereo-fitted suitcase. Home for anyone who's ever known a real community, leaves the afternoon streaked with children's voices until dinner time, and this poignant, emotional tome to the dock's history was beautifully captured in this symphonic tea break.
The inevitable interaction with the piece from passersby, many of which presumably local, added a rich layer of present-day community to what was for the most part being performed as an homage to community in the historical sense. Neighborhood girls dressed in the latest streetwear contrasted with a photo held up by "Her" of two young girls in fluffy bonnets from the McDougall's factory at the turn of the twenty-first century. In a dance between language and abstraction, "Her" told the physical story of the flour-shop's daily rhythms through the tossing of a white ball inside a clear plastic sphere, mirroring the famous mixing bowls in the experimental kitchens that gave the world self-rising flour.
For every blue plaque in London there is a wealth of socio-cultural information, and the objects, sounds and symbols that we conveniently dub 'history' are very much alive if one scratches just beneath the surface. She and Her Here and There delicately and powerfully conveys that to the audience in an abstract, participatory style. Go. This Saturday, if you're not working, go. And follow She and Her Here and There.
http://www.myvillage.com/docklands/arts-gallery-Dianna_Brinsden_and_Martina_Von_Holn%7C_She_and_Her_Here_and_There.htm
