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

Yesterday we visited Leith Theatre and, more importantly, the Male Instrumentalists Room. For it is there that Rendition will be performed during the Hidden Door Festival on the 30th May 2017. Our space is perfect, evocative, and lit with a gentle glow of daylight from the time dusted windows. Our wee fella came along, too, … Continue reading A Time For Thinking

The Tragic Carpet team dropped by the fabulous Leith Theatre today for a site visit in preparation for Hidden Door Festival 2017. The space, as you enter, is breathtaking. I never tire of looking at the graceful lines of the balcony as it arches out from the wall, seemingly unsupported. The soft light from the … Continue reading Leith Theatre Today

The numbers were the first thing that struck me: 19 individuals known to have been held as CIA prisoners in one of the black sites, 12 other prisoners known to have been rendered by the CIA to US military bases or foreign governments for detention and torture. Of these 131 people, 17 were designated by … Continue reading The Numbers