Ferment Fortnight Preview | A Little Death

Ferment Fortnight kicks off its biannual explosion of work-in-progress and scratch performances from 24 Jan. Here, performers Ed Patrick (Kid Carpet) and Vic Llewellyn give us a sneak peek at their upcoming performance A Little Death. Catch it at Loco Klub on Thu 1 Feb. 

Tell us a bit about yourself…
Hello, my name's Ed Patrick (AKA Kid Carpet) and I like to make sad happy songs with an electro punk rock attitude and I like to jump around when I perform them. I've made a few shows for families which tour on and off, I've worked a couple of times before with Mr Vic Llewellyn and I once had NME single of the week.

My name is Vic Llewellyn and I’m an Actor, Street Performer, Puppeteer and writer who lives in Bristol. Ed & I made The Castle Builder show together which started off with the support of Ferment and subsequently went on to appear at Mayfest, Edinburgh Fringe and a nationwide tour produced by Battersea Arts Centre. I have also worked with Bristol Old Vic, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, The Tobacco Factory theatres, The Royal Court (with Tim Crouch’s The Author.) I am currently appearing in Improbables’ Satyagraha, Philip Glass’ opera about Gandhi, at The E.N. O.

What are you presenting at Ferment Fortnight?
We’re presenting the beginnings of an idea. At the moment it might be a Folk Horror, a musical whodunnit in miniature, or a rave from the middle ages. Or maybe a strange mash-up of all these. We’ve been interested in hysteria and the mysterious switches the brain can trip when pushed way beyond the edges of normal reality.

What inspired/influenced your piece?
We've been inspired by bizarre mental phenomena and in areas where religion and psychiatry squabble uncomfortably. We've been looking at the paintings of the Bruegel's and Hieronymus Bosch, we've been watching Oliver Postgate films and Twin Peaks and we've been playing with dolls houses. We’ve also been exploring stories about dancing, chronic fatigue ,and forensic science.

What does the work that Ferment do mean to you?
Ferment gives us a deadline to get our work together, to sink or swim, to help us realise if we're winning or failing and to develop our work so that it might one day shine like a shiny thing or rust like a kicked bucket. It's a bit of space and time, an understanding and encouraging audience and the arm around the shoulder and kick in the arse we need to take a risk with something new.

What would you say the audience can expect in three words?
Fresh. Experimental. Ideas.

Ferment Fortnight takes place at Bristol Old Vic 24-25 Jan before moving across the city to Watershed and Loco Klu from 26 Jan-3 Feb.  For more info and to book tickets, click here.