Urban Minefields

‘Rarely do collaboration work with as much cohesion as between the writer/performer Oscar McLennan and the multimedia artist Anne Seagrave. Urban Minefields charts McLennan’s tantalising perspective of four cities in which he has lived – Glasgow, London, New York and Belfast.

Seagrave’s evocative hand- drawn slides are projected large over the stage, enhancing the images conjured up by the performer’s dreamlike stories. The imagination is given free rein: we move into a world of coughing trees, vicious Santas and a longing for the gleaming teeth of the rich. Inanimate objects come to life and we are woken from the humdrum. This is a world where the normal becomes abnormal, where reality is revealed in all its absurdity. Questioning ideas of home and allegiance, this intimate and enticing piece refuses all the easy answers, yet its pervasive humour makes us laugh at the ridiculousness of our petty and territorial instincts. Surreally, but brilliantly, it tackles small-mindedness and opens up a world of possibilities.’ Mark Waddell, The Scotsman, 13/8/1997.

 

It was commissioned by the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, and appeared as part of the 1996 Dublin Theatre Festival’s Experimental Theatre season. It was premiered at the Irish Days Festival in Ustka, Poland, and among many other venues has appeared at the ICA, London, PS122, New York, WAVES 3, Vordinborg, Denmark, and the Nou lvanov Gallery, Barcelona. The New York section has also been translated into Spanish (see script), and a version of this section was shortlisted for The Tribune/ Hennessey Literary Award (see published work).