#hat fair

[chellquin]

Winchester hat fair, Gosport Steampunk society and CHAPS Canford Heath and Poole Speampunks in mono

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Final words from 2018...

2018's Hat Fair was fundamentally one of change - with Sunday's events being based in North Walls recreation ground for the first time, it was always going to be a different experience than years before. The new, larger site allowed for a shift in schedule for the majority of major performances to take place on the festival's final day, rather than a heavier Friday night as it had been previously. On Friday, I was lucky enough to have a relatively leisurely beginning to my weekend of reporting, due to the aforementioned timetable shuffling. We attended the performance of the night's headliner, Block, the company’s brilliance signifying the excitement of the events to come. Their integrated use of huge foam bricks in the performance, coloured grey to evoke a brustalist aesthetic, both fitting and in contrast to the dancers - sometimes alien, sometimes beautiful. A video response was produced immediately after this performance by the Young Critics team, utterly in public; we were thrown headfirst into the skills which would be required of us in the days to come, of thinking on our feet, evaluating performances across multiple levels, and being willing to question forms we may have previously been unfamiliar with. This introduction boded well for a weekend of hard work and excellent fun. The following day’s events were based around the city, in which many of Winchester's already iconic sites and landmarks gained a bohemian edge, with artists and performers intertwined into the spaces. Among all attendees there was the hum of anticipation, as the next exciting venture was to be found round the corner - who knew which space would be transformed next? I adored my time spent on Saturday, as I was able to experience pleasures brought both by the Hat Fair and the wonderful local businesses already sported by the city. As I wandered, often without any particular aim, iced coffee in hand - truly living the life - I was able to constantly stumble into any kind of surprising environment. From the charm and magic of Able Mable to the incredible ability of Company Chameleon, in each nook and cranny was to be found a unique experience. The final day began early, as I wanted to have a poke around the reinvented festival field, and what a difference the changed setting made! North Walls is a much larger site than Oram’s Arbour, used prior, as well as being more out of the way; as a result the day was reminiscent of a music festival. Stalls were positioned on all sides, with two stages for dance and local musicians, allowing for a wide variety of acts in a fully immersive experience. Under the sun's vaguely oppressive heat, there was nothing I desired more on Sunday than a place to escape, to get some shade. North Walls’ only option for this lies along the shaded sides of river, which were fully packed by midday - in future hopefully some more allowances can exist to avoid the risk of sun damage. Overall however, the flatter ground allowed for large scale performances - including such spectacles as The Forgotten Crafts of Paris - alongside providing sufficient tumbling room for George Orange and his slackline moon. All in all, I had a wonderful weekend, both as a guest of the Hat Fair and as a young person with the opportunity to report on such an event, surrounded by excellent people. Thanks, all. 

by Flora Pick

Image: Hat Fair, depicts George Orange

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Reflections on the weekend...

I have lived in Winchester for almost thirteen of the twenty one years of my life. I love this city. It's small, but rich with history and beauty everywhere about it. I have never been to another city or town like it or, at least, one that gives me the feeling Winchester does.

The Hat Fair festival is something this city offers that other places don’t. Not in the way Winchester does at least. This year, the Hat Fair ran from Friday 29th June to Sunday 1stJuly. The Sunday marked the first time the Hat Fair was held in North Walls recreation ground.

I attended my first act at the Hat Fair on Friday, in the evening. Although I shouldn't have been, I was surprised at how many people were still in town at this time and how many acts were still going on. While I have been to the Hat Fair many times during my time in Winchester, I have never actually sought out acts to see before. Usually I'm with my family, and they prefer to look at the market stalls than visit the acts, so this was new for me. I only saw one act that day (Block) but it was a good show and was thought-provoking throughout. That seems to be the general sentiment I had for the other shows I saw.

Saturday was my busiest day at the Hat Fair. With five acts that day, I had to walk all over the city to find them all. I like that though, as it made me feel more connected to the city by having to walk around and it gave me the chance to observe more acts in passing as I walked around. As long as I had enough suncream on my skin, a hat on my head and water in my bottle, I could thoroughly enjoy the Hat Fair on that incredibly hot day. Walking to different locations across the city also helped me to appreciate just how varied the acts are, and to see how the performers were responding to their individual environments.

Having the Hat Fair at North Walls on Sunday was an interesting change. For the first time, most of the acts (if not all, at least for some part of the day) were all in one large space. From an organisation point of view, this makes a lot of sense. People with young children don't have to worry about them being bored as they are taken from place to place to see acts as they would have the previous day. At North Walls, everything is right there.

For me personally, I think that this takes away part of the Hat Fair's charm. While I understand that parents may prefer this easier access to all the Hat Fair, I loved experiencing the city alongside the acts. It was interesting to see how many people were willing to walk to a certain place in town to see a specific show. With North Walls, it felt to me like people sort of fell into seeing acts because they were nearby. That may have gained the experience of seeing a show they hadn't planned to this way however, which is a positive effect.

The 2018 Hat Fair allowed me to experience for the first time just how much this annual event has to offer. I saw a strongman from Canada, an evolving turtle puppet show, a hip-hop battle between a biker and a dancer, a giant inflatable slug and more. I think the experience you have with it depends on the day you visit and how you respond to that. I now know which parts of this event make me happy, and I looking forward to seeing how they are handled next year.

by Caitlin Sanderson

Image: NoFit State & Motionhouse

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Wrapping it up...

2018's Hat Fair has been a unique experience for me. It's been an eventful weekend during which I've seen a number of weird and wonderful acts. With the summer sunshine and welcoming atmosphere, I have found myself whisked into the world of live theatre. There's been comedy, acrobatics, dance, parades and so much more. It is hard to put it all into perspective.

My main highlight has to have been the Living Portraits exhibition. The display of life stories given by our local elders was so moving that its been playing on my mind ever since. Then, of course, Barada Street, whose act was so uplifting and enjoyable that I just had to see it twice!

There were other acts too, ones I didn't find the time to write about but that inspired me nonetheless. We'll call them my honorable mentions. Pina Polar's 'Into The Wild' was one, the seemingly effortless wit and humour mingled together to create an all around pleasurable performance that left me gasping for air. The Street Party on Parchment Street was another highlight; the live music and entertainment really added to the community feel that was so very present throughout 2018's Hat Fair.

Unfortunately, some acts failed to resonate with me on the same level as those I've just mentioned. I found Masca Theatre's 'The Forgotten Crafts of Paris' a little underwhelming and a bit too one on one for my liking. Though I can see the effort put into the act. Yet, as always, these performances are so out there that they're bound to strike a chord with somebody - even if it didn't work for me.

It has been a delight to experience this with you all, and I thank everyone involved for giving me the opportunity and platform to air these thoughts of mine. It's been a learning curve but an enjoyable one. 

by Lauren Thornton-Grimes

Image: Pina Polar

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Eco-puppetry anyone?

Both Seed and The Whale – Plastic Jellyfish Show are children's shows linked to environmental themes. Both shows use bright colours and delightful puppets to tell their stories in a way that allows interaction with child audience members. Pif-Paf Theatre present Seed, the story of Wilford (played by Pete Gunson), who lives with his beloved chicken Napoleon. Together they try to grow trees, and beat away the horrible slugs that disturb this. The Whale - Plastic Jellyfish Show is brought to us by Circo Rum Ba Ba, a production in which we climb inside a giant inflatable sperm whale to learn about the underwater life of a leatherback turtle as it grows.

The Whale is an educational production, while Seed is a play, but both use interaction to their advantage in affecting their young audience. Inside the titular whale of the former, we are transported into the sea with green lights, hanging seaweed, ocean noises with musical accompaniment and a narrator. Unfortunately, the audio when I attend jumps throughout the entire show, so parts of the recorded dialogue are missed out on. Luckily, it doesn't feel like this audio is needed too much, as we have the guidance of a scuba diver character to help us along as we follow a beautiful baby turtle puppet. The turtle grows up and later turns into man in a very well done costume which allows him to be almost invisible. Seed also uses puppetry (all managed by Gunson alone), notably for the character of Napoleon - a bright blue chicken - and the spongey looking slugs, which increase in size throughout the production. The puppet characters in both shows come out to meet the audience, who are encouraged to engage with them, and they act as great tools in leading us through the story. While The Whale is directly educational, Seed goes about educating its audience in a much subtler way. Wilford, played with great enthusiasm, is an enjoyable children's character. He is loud and uses simple language as he shouts his dialogue for his audience to hear. If Aardman Animations ever choose to base a character on a live action figure, this one would easily fit into the mould. Like The Farmer in the stop motion series Shaun the Sheep, Wilford may not always be entirely aware of what is going on, but this works in a way that endears his audience to him - just as we are endeared to the whole show. The set of Seed is simply Wilford's house on wheels, but the compact size of it allows for more quirks to be gathered together and jump out to surprise us as the story unfolds.  

We care about the turtle in The Whale because it's a cute creature, rather than a character, who we get to watch and help grow older. We are told about the dangers turtles face in the ocean throughout their lives, and we want to protect it or save it in any ways we can. It's just such a lovely puppet! It allows us to empathise with it as if it were the real animal and - as I am reminded - everyone loves turtles. Both shows are aimed at young children, with The Whale notably limiting families who wanted to go inside to all of the children but one adult only. Only the children are invited to join in with the interactive parts of this show, but I don't think the adults mind too much because we are happy seeing them learn. I am learning too. I never knew that turtles ate jellyfish until I attended this.

For Seed, I have to move seats at one point and eventually stand to see the show, simply because so many children are excitedly standing around Wilford's house set. While all of the children around me seem to be entirely caught up with Wilford and his world, I notice that the adults are not quite so caught up. Wilford's language and slapstick based humour is very playfully childlike, which I think is why the children around me react so well to him, but I can see why some of the grownups look a bit bewildered by it at points. I know I am, especially with the amount of yelling Wilford does. Yet, Wilford seems like a live action Aardman Animations character to me, due to the slapstick and simple language so, whether or not you find him funny, I think you will find him endearing.

In The Whale, we have the jumping audio track telling us about the leatherback turtle as it progresses through life. In Seed, we have Wilford showing us how much he is willing to fight against the slugs with Napoleon, to protect his planted acorn which he hopes to grow into a beautiful tree. They are different ways of sharing their message, but the two shows are successful in delivering it. Both have wonderful visual features that pop up and surprise us throughout the show, I won't reveal any of them here in case you are lucky enough to see either of the shows - athough the sets for both of them are already impressive on their own. If you want to take your child to see either of these shows due to the eco-friendly themes, then know that they will also have a wonderful time experiencing the entire show itself.

by Caitlin Sanderson

Images: Circo Rum Ba Ba and PifPaf

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Mighty Mike

Mighty Mike (Mike Johns) is a strongman with a self-deprecating sense of humour and high appreciation for the 1920's, as shown by his curly ended moustache and striped one piece swimsuit from the era.

We are told from the very beginning that the highlight of this show will be juggling two lighted torches and a sledgehammer, something Mike builds up to for the entire show as he saves the best for last. Until then, Mike shows other feats of strength that build up as the show goes on. Of course, this is only when he isn't breaking into 'spontaneous' dances alongside the well-timed tracks he plays, or flirting with the female audience participant he has chosen for the performance I am seeing.

Mighty Mike is a Canadian from Toronto, something he proudly mentions throughout his act: "You can tell from my accent that I am not from around here, and no, I am no American. I am a Canadian, which tells you two things. One, I am not armed. Two, I didn't vote for Trump!" Quips like this are constant throughout the act. Many of them are cheesy, yet are delivered with a charisma that allows most of them to work. Unfortunately, Mighty Mike doesn't seem quite so confident in this. He has a very strong self-deprecating humour, and although that's a sense of humour I personally enjoy, he uses it far too much for me here. The more that he seems to doubt himself, the more I can see others around him beginning to doubt too. The recurring spontaneous dance routines that form part of his act also wear thin for me by the fourth or fifth time.

When Mike's jokes work - whether they are delivered with a straight face or whether he plays into them - they work well. A couple of them, however, aren't as well received in this predominantly child based audience. These are two jokes Mighty Mike claims to be for "a niche audience": one about Tinder and one about masturbation. They are discreet enough to go over the heads of children, but many of the adults don't laugh either, maybe because they don't find it funny in this settinig or because they don't want to try and explain the jokes to their children. However, Mike’s outrageous flirting with the female audience member is received with great laughter and enthusiastic applause because it is over the top ridiculous enough for him to get away with. It's the sort of extravagance I expect more of in a street performer. Although he talks more than he actually performs physical feats, all of his speech is a performance in itself and I am entertained.

Mighty Mike seems to have everyone on his side by the end of the show, myself included. He thanks everyone at the end of the show for being a good audience and makes a short speech before offering his hat for anyone who wishes to put money into it. I believe he is truly sincere when he says he’s grateful and happy to receive whatever people are willing to give, if they choose to give at all. In the end, I do choose to.

It's a long act at forty-five minutes but, with magic, shows of strength, dance routines and jokes throughout that are all sprinkled with cheesiness and charisma, it's one worth seeing.

by Caitlin Sanderson

Image: Mighty Mike

[youngcritics-hatfair]

The Hum

The Hum is a mobile phone app designed by Nic Sandiland to engage the senses, as you stroll along and pause at the suggested spots in Winchester city. The app is also available to download in other cities including Bournemouth and Lancaster. 

The Hum is customised for each place, and the script I am about to listen to is for the Cathedral Grounds, written by Wendy Houston. The app relies on your phone's internet service, as well as you being in a particular pinpointed area on its map. As I walk towards the cathedral with the app open on my phone in my hand, I wait for it to confirm that I am close enough to access this particular soundtrack.

I sit on the flat part of a stone banister at the top of the steps by the entrance to Winchester Cathedral's cafeteria. The app is telling me to stand but, after a long day of walking around the Hat Fair, I think I'll appreciate the pleasures this app has to offer a lot more by sitting down.

I read the rest of the brief information provided by the app on my phone screen. It tells me who wrote the script I'm about to hear, but provides no credit for any narrator or sound effects. It also tells me that it's best that I use this app while there are no festival performances on nearby. I have done this app proud already. Not only are there no performances happening around me, but no performers at all. I am on the Cathedral grounds on the Sunday of the Hat Fair weekend, where the acts only took place on Saturday. Today, the acts are at North Walls, so I should have all the peace I need to appreciate this space.

Okay, here we go.

It starts with an instrumental track by James Keane, who provides all of the app's music. It sounds sad somehow, yet peaceful. It's a good way to get me into my thoughts and ready to focus on whatever is about to come next.

'Look at him,' the narration from a young girl suddenly declares.

I look around me. There are a lot of "him"'s. Do I just pick out any man? Okay, that one carrying the shopping bags and chatting with a blonde woman I decide is his wife. Oh no, I can't use him anymore, the pair have just turned around the corner and vanished from view. Hmm, who looks like they're going to be around for a while?

Let's try that older gentleman, the one in the blue tartan shirt. He has dark grey hair, but a very white beard. He wears sunglasses and is eating. He sits with two women, one either side of him and another man. Okay, now what?

'He doesn't look anything special, does he?' The girl says to me.

I think that's a bit harsh. A lot of effort must have gone into keeping that beard as white as it is, and I appreciate it when people take pride in their appearance like that. One of the women - clearly his partner - is fussing his head now. She obviously thinks he is something special.

'He is a professional. He has done this before, many times.' The girl continues.

He's gone out to have a picnic with his romantic partner and their friends before? It's nice, but I don't think it's something you can be a professional in.

'Look at how they walk.' I'm told.

But they're sitting?

The little girl now tells me how those people like to move with such precision. It's interesting how there are suddenly "those people" and not just "that man" anymore. I wonder how she knew?

'What about her, behind you?'

I quickly turn around, because it seems creepy that a lady may have been just standing behind me for a while, but there's no one there. There are just some people in the Cathedral shop, and the one closest to being behind me is a man, so that doesn't really work.

'To your right, sitting on the bench.' The girl adds.

There is no one sitting to the right hand side of me. That is possibly because there also isn't a bench. There is a stone ledge at the top of the stairs that is part of the banister opposite me, like the one I'm sitting on, but I wouldn't call it a bench.

The girl now tells me about the science of the knee joints and hip joints in the apparently invisible woman to the right of me. She goes on to apply this to other people around me, including the man from earlier.

I look around for the man with the white beard, but sadly he and his group have gone. I hope they didn't leave because they were disturbed at the sight of me, a sunburnt young woman occasionally staring at them while writing in a bright gold notebook that I record my review notes in. Anyway, I hope I don't need the man with the white beard to come back, I didn't see which way he went.

After talking about the practise and precision these people put into their movements, the girl goes off on what seems to be a rather bizarre tangent. She talks about all of these people being actors, who started out in minor roles, perhaps on CCTV shows (and actual shows are listed). This then progresses into the people apparently building their careers to eventually have parts in other people's films.

'So now you see them,' the girl tells me. 'Performing their skilful main focus and you realise all of the work that has gone into it.'

So now I see them. Except I don't, and now that the audio has ended, I won't either. This wasn't at all what I had expected, and possibly that is part of the disappointment. When I chose the cathedral as my location, I thought I would be listening to a commentary of information about the history of the building. I probably shouldn't have kept this expectation up when I saw that the automatic doors of the local Sainsbury's were also a listed option for location.

I'm also wondering why they specified that no Hat Fair performances should be happening, because this text is so clearly about performers. However it doesn't really apply to the festival artists either - out of the acts I have seen, I do not believe there was a single 'aspiring actor' there. Acting wasn't a part of their performances at all, or they had given a speech at the end of their show announcing how street performance was all they wanted to do, nothing else. It's their dream job. Why the focus on acting then? It seems too specific. If the listener had been encouraged to think about people in a broader sense, and asked to consider how they might be feeling in their personal lives for example, that would have been more effective to me. Not everyone aspires to be an actor. I don't. Perhaps that's part of the reason why I struggled to connect to this.

I also tried to go to another location to see how well it does with this app in comparison to the cathedral. However, there is no internet outside the Sainsbury's automatic doors, and even if there had been, I think it would take a person a lot less self-aware than I am to stand in the middle of the carless road and stare at the unwitting people as I'm being told to.

My only remaining thought is that the music was nice and the child speaker has a lovely, clear voice. It's a shame they weren't credited specifically on the The Hum's credits page. For me, this was a frustrating listen, especially as I tried to take note of dialogue to quote back later on in here; there is no rewind option, you can only pause or completely stop the audio you are listening to, the latter making it so that you have to listen to the entire piece of audio again. One listen is bewildering enough.

by Caitlin Sanderson

Image: The Hum 

[youngcritics-hatfair]

Roadworks

I sit in the front row on a bale of hay and look up at the stage, awaiting Etta Ermini dance theatre company's production of Roadworks. A young black man, Yinka Thomas, comes on to the stage on a BMX bike, with a middle aged white woman beside him. Not a traditional pair, but I think that if they're good, this could be very good.

The woman tells us different tricks Yinka can perform on his two wheels, which he presents as soon as she has announced them. The quiet, polite claps from the audience I'm in reflect how I'm feeling also: that his stunts are impressive, but being presented this way isn't very fun. Yinka then stands on the stage, holding his bike beside him, and reminds us all to wear a helmet whenever we ride a bike - especially if we attempt stunts like this.

The woman leaves the stage. It turns out, she's actually more of a behind the scenes person. Now the act is going to begin.

Once Yinka has the stage to himself, he gets into his act properly. He drops a backpack at the front of the stage, leaving it there as his act goes on. Another young man, Gavin Vincent, appears on stage in a black hoodie and tracksuit bottoms. He attempts to steal the backpack, only to have the biker rightfully try and take it back. The pair engage in a hip-hop battle of the bodies, as Gavin reveals himself to be a dancer: when Gavin breaks into an impressive sequence of moves, then Yinka has to copy it back to him with his BMX. And vice versa. 

The pair pause from this back-and-forth to invite audience members to participate with them. Here, we see the two working together but, oddly, they then choose to go back and continue to do the street battle-esque performance. This is confusing now that we have seen the pair get on and work together, and harder for little ones, I think, to engage with these two acting like they dislike each other. It also doesn't help that some of the small audience now seem irritated with the biker - during that break from their first part of the dance off, Yinka makes a move that goes against what he promises his audience. The moment works well and I find it quite funny, but a group of children in the front clearly feel conned, and yell "cheater" at him for at least half a minute.

This also brings up another problem. Yinka seems genuinely uncomfortable with this reaction and, out of the two performers, he is not as responsive to his audience as his partner is; Yinka looks like he would be perfectly happy doing these stunts for no one but himself, whereas Gavin is better at playing things up for the watching crowd. I can tell he is cheeky, playful and passionate about his dance, but can't see personality traits like these in Yinka so easily.

Overall, however, the pair work well together and are a good act to watch as they are clearly very talented. They are also the only street act I have seen who feel very 'street' in the pop cultural sense. I would have liked to see more of a sense of banter between the pair though. If their chemistry together is strong, hopefully they can share a connection to their audience that is less one sided.

by Caitlin Sanderson

Image: Etta Ermini