Tea is an Evening Meal

Synopsis
Biography
Information

A solo performance that takes place around a table, a dining table and a dining table up North. The habits, the routines and characteristics of coming from above Birmingham are gently exposed and honestly shared.

The small audience gathers around to share in the rituals of too much sugar and even more gravy. The performer glides around the eating place giving all a chance to remember, share and laugh.

This new work has been made in Yorkshire in 2010 in collaboration with Third Angel’s Alex Kelly. Within the making process Faye and Alex have explored their experiences of the North, drawing together personal tales and true facts.

It is probably funny, Northerners are funny right? The performance addresses the preconceptions that a Northerner has to embrace or disgrace. Sharing personal experiences, gathered stories and a cuppa tea Faye gives the audience insight into the highs and lows of being a Lancashire lass.

Faye Draper was born in (‘four thousand holes’) Blackburn, Lancashire in 1982, where she spent time wondering if she was the only person who wasn’t racist. In 2000 she escaped to the green fields of Devon to study theatre at Dartington College of Art where she spent time making, enquiring and questioning. It was at this time she realised she had an irremovable north accent. After graduating Faye knew three things:

She wanted to be back up north (where you can get gravy with your chips, no problem),

She wanted to live in a city and

She wanted to make performances.

In August 2003 she arrived in Newcastle upon Tyne with a habit of saying what she means (even when she doesn’t mean too). Over the next three years she created performance projects that acknowledged and drew from the people who made them and the places they were made in.

Seeking out opportunities to collaborate and play allows Faye’s to work to be rich and varied. Whilst based in Newcastle (2003-2006) the majority of Faye’s performance practice was focused on her work with The FATHoM Project. Including Home Truth (2005) and Walking on Egg Shells (2006)

Much to her surprise, this Lancashire lass moved to Yorkshire in 2006. (Where skitting of her accent is rife!). Since living in Sheffield Faye has responded to the relative artist wilderness with a series of solos. (What Kinda Dancer Are Ya? July 2008 and Extreme Ways of Being Normal Dec 2008) Faye’s practice currently combines facilitating projects in education and community contexts as well as creating work for film, installation and live performance.

Faye’s work is often made in unconventional spaces (such as a railway museum, a white J reg polo and ladies toilets!). Her work entangles text and movement that shift between humour and truth. Often performing improvisational scores, Faye’s current passion is to create honest, playful work that allows her and her audience to smile and self reflect.