This was just the most interesting and exciting workshop with Areti Manataki of Edinburgh University in which we explored some of the basics of coding using the MIT block editor programme Scratch. Over the course of one afternoon 22 women were introduced to coding and to the Scratch Platform and then they proceeded to create … Continue reading Coding Demystified

We had the most splendid of times delivering the Visual Theatre Workshop at the Audacious Women Festival at City Arts Centre Edinburgh this weekend! The work was focussed on getting to know each other through theatre games and exercises with the emphasis on fun, mutual support and curiosity. Participants learnt about visual performance by working … Continue reading No Drama No Text, Just Fun!

Over the past week I have been working on the puppet protagonist of The Keeper. She is a wee tabletop specimen made of plastic tubing, foam and clay. I’ve especially enjoyed making her tiny tiny clothes. Elspeth Chapman

There be dragons! We have been working with staff and P1 pupils at Castleview and Karin Chipulina of Carr Gomm, on growing vegetables, planting apple trees, recycling and meeting and talking with puppets. Tomorrow we will be bringing Burlap, our baby dragon along to meet the children. Burlap hopes that they will make more baby … Continue reading Castleview Primary School

We had a very enjoyable evening at Edinburgh Hacklab with Rikki Guy wrangling our raspberry pi, pi camera and an adafruit TFT screen into to submission. The task was to get the screen to display and the the pi camera to capture an image. Success meant that a pizza was in order so we left … Continue reading Trumpets for Raspberries

So there we were, Emma, Ella and I, waiting to go on for Snapshots 4 at Manipulate 2018. We had spent the day together, more or less, doing tech and run throughs and cheering each other on. Pete Searle and Euan Jackson were standing by to weave their magic for Rendition, Traverse staff were being … Continue reading The moments before…

This week I'm feeling a little more settled at St Margaret's House. We've painted the studio floor in preparation for Doors Open Day, and got everything we should have PAT tested. Next up is a supply of coffee and biscuits in the hopes a pal or two will drop by. Thanks due to ScotPat (organised … Continue reading Painting The Floor for Doors Open Day

We have been looking for a home for some time and suddenly, last week, we got the keys to studio 2.34 at Edinburgh Palette, St Margaret's House. Gradually various items and pieces of furniture are making their way up in the lift and along the corridor to our new door. Pretty exciting!

What is Hidden Door? A festival? Well yes, but a lot more. Visiting Leith Theatre today, I saw imagination, creativity, skills, insight, tradeskills, technical skills, digital skills, administration skills, people skills, so many different talents brought to bear to bring a sleeping theatre to life. Whichever day you choose to visit this amazing event you … Continue reading What is Hidden Door?

I was surprised recently to find that one of the toughest things about the material I am making for Rendition is the letting go of it. The getting it out of my head once it has installed itself. Sometimes it just has to go - in the bin or the 'later' folder - it just doesn't work, it … Continue reading Letting Go

Today I was working on teasing out a way of capturing the story of Fatima Bouchar who was arrested by the CIA with her husband Abdul Hakim Belhaj and rendered to Libya. She was four months pregnant at the time.I couldn't get the idea out of my head that that tiny foetus, held within its terrified … Continue reading What is it about chairs?

This week we were hosted by NEA for the research and development week. Monday saw me packing the van with all the stuff I thought might be needed and setting off to Pilton. Work began with untangling the events in America that resulted in the SERE torture resistance training programme becoming reverse engineered and tried out on Abu Zubaydah … Continue reading Designing a Torture Programme

Today we set up our DMX lights and played around with colours. (They are actually owned by ScatterboxFilms and Livedrama but we share!) The dmx lights have their limitations but, in a small space, they work quite well. Some favourites blends on the day were Wimbledon Purple 102:0:102, Pink Aberrations 160:0:160 and Emerald Lime 68:182:7 We got very excited … Continue reading Shadow – the meeting of light and darkness

Today I met with Carolyne from Edinburgh Creative Salon at the Festival Theatre for a coffee (very nice!) and a chat about the Critical Response Process on offer as part of the support that Hidden Door offers its contributors. Carolyne asked me to explain, from the perspective of someone attending the show, what it was … Continue reading Critical Response Process