Breeze blockbuster: one woman’s Viewpoint tour from Bute to Campbeltown

Viewpoint, an innovative drama using performance to focus communities on their people and their lives in their places, commissioned by Fyne Futures (a subsidiary of Fyne Homes) will be on tour im Argyll from the end of June 2010.

The story of one woman’s travels from Bute to Kintyre, it is indeed a one-woman show – a multimedia event using film – and it will tour venues along that journey: Rothesay in Bute, Kilmun in Cowal, Furnace in Mid Argyll and Campbeltown in Kintyre.

Viewpoint is written and presented by actor/writer Naomi Breeze and film-maker Brian Barr of Breeze Productions, commissioned to produce the show.

Naomi has presented some of her other works in Argyll in the past including Jackie’s Story and H is for….

Fyne Futures is a social enterprise delivering a range of community and environmental projects. It won financial support for the Viewpoint project from the Scottish Government’s Wider Role fund, to develop the presentation to involve the arts as a method of working with rural communities to identify issues and aspirations.

The event will include a short film showing how the drama presentation was developed and covering some of the research work Naomi did as part of the preparation for the piece.

Breeze Productions worked closely with Fyne Homes on the brief, engaging with a number of groups and individuals in the communities in researching the material for the piece.

The production’s aims to include local people’s own artwork in the event by involving young musicians for the introduction and having a photography competition on the three associated themes of People, Place and Buildings.

This gives people the opportunity to present photographic images of how they see their community and its people.  This element of the event was, in part, inspired by the work in Furnace for their year of homecoming event where they had local people submit their own photographs.

This show has been in development over the past eighteen months, exploring the theme of rural people and places. Naomi Breeze has spent time in South Kintyre, interviewing people in the community and pulling together her research for the presentation. Brian Barr has captured some great images and sound for the film element of the project. The production is intended to give a real sense of the character of the places and the people.

It will be launched at the end of June in the four venues across Argyll identified above.

Performance dates and details for the Viewpoint Tour are:

• Thursday 24th June: Cowal Event, Kilmun Village Hall, 7.30pm
• Friday 25th JuneL Lochfyneside Event, Furnace Village Hall, 7.30pm
• Saturday 26th June: Campbeltown Event, Kirk St Hall, 7.30pm.
• Sunday 27th June: Bute Event, Winter Gardens, 7.30pm.

All events are by ticket at the door – entry by donation to support future arts projects.