I’m an Outsider

Introducing my friend Louise Ashcroft.

I first met Louise coming out of a train station a couple of years ago. All she knew was that someone was picking her up and all I knew was that this person would be staying at my home for a retreat weekend. I scanned the faces of the weary commuters searching for…

…And then I saw the biggest, warmest smile I’ve ever seen in my life, bursting with radiance. There was no need to doubt that she was the one!! We hugged like long lost sisters, slid into my car and dived head long into easy conversation.

Over that weekend we learnt so much about each other and her friendship has become a rich part of my life. Over the lock-down months especially, Louise has been a constant and measured heart-beat for me, providing a place to bring my whole self to, when I felt adrift, or needing a wise soul-buddy.

Louise is an Opera singer extraordinaire. Her voice is at home in a myriad of different settings – from concert recitals to musical-theatre, ground breaking avant-garde projects, to conventional opera locations. She’s worked in film, radio and TV and is so often to be found collaborating with frontier-creatives, in exciting, mind-boggling projects that I’d never have dreamed possible. With these partners she imagines and redefines expressions of creativity that awaken the senses, provoke thought and escort us into a more expansive inner world.

The lock-down has been a super-tough time for Louise. It’s called for her to become more creative than ever, to overcome the immense challenges that losing work and halting performance has brought to so many in creative careers. I asked her some questions about her relationship to her own creativity and what has sustained her in these difficult months. Over to you Louise….

Why is your creativity important to you?

It’s a lifeline. An expression of the soul. And at a very practical level, it’s how I make my way in the world. My creativity is both a navigator, a translator and the focus of my self-expression.  

What do you want to say through your art form?

I’m an outsider. Perhaps that’s why my art form is hybrid: A blend of song, theatre, contemporary music, poetry, audio-visual, immersive, new futures. 

My creative practice is about building a space where we can play and be equal. A space where we’re not tied down by the convention of form. Instead, conventions are lovingly bent and styles blended to find a new reality. In this new space, we can try on ideas, perspectives, and dwell awhile. 

I find that I am often asking the question, ‘what would happen if people weren’t undervalued?’ Although the pieces I have created and co-created do not answer this question directly, its influence can be found. So, in the future pieces The Algae Opera and New Organs of Creation, the protagonist is transformed from a person once undervalued, to someone who is a vital solution to our future needs. And in the most recent piece, Time was a way and somewhere else, about the work of artist and botanist, Margery Knight, the song recital genre was bent and fused with the shadow box work of Joseph Cornell to help the audience experience her work and the culture of the Isle of Man. One precious outcome of this piece was the ripple effect of it inspiring an audience member to create a Wikipedia page for Margery Knight to acknowledge her outstanding scientific contributions. 

What do you want people to feel or remember when they encounter you as a performer?

That we are equal.

There is no fourth wall for us to hide behind – we’re companions and in this together.

That there’s been some sort of call to adventure: They’ve either stepped into the future and tried it on for size, or there’s a reframing of the past that helps us walk more sweetly in the present. 

Where does your greatest source of inspiration come from?

Stories are all around us and that’s where I find inspiration. From the people around me, making it through the glory, the ordinary and the chaos of the every day. 

I hear the world first – my empathy and intuition responding to a cadence, key, motif, rhythm. Then my other senses gather around to help me understand. Sometimes the response is in written form, spoken form, via a character, or sung.

In terms of vision for a project, sometimes that comes from above. It’s as if something floats down and for one brief moment I can see and feel what the project is going to be like, sense it’s impact, and then it dissipates. 

What makes you angry?

Injustice. Manipulation. The two go hand in hand.   

What makes you laugh?

Surreal moments that punch, or tickle their way through the fabric of our every day. 

Thanks so much Louise.

New piece, inspired by Strathconon Glenn, Scotland – collage and mixed media