I was asked today ‘How has the Camino changed you?’ I replied ‘It’s subtle.’ And then later in the conversation when asked again, I said ‘It’s made me braver.’
In April I walked the Camino de Santiago, from Porto in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. This is a pilgrimage that began in the Middle Ages, and now is a popular hike with a spiritual theme. It has a lovely community and sociable element too. We walked 280km in 12 days. This was a relatively short route. The first 7 days were the hardest, and it rained hard the day we made the final climb to Santiago, but we got there. We made all of the mistakes that first timers on the Camino make. I’ve already made plans to walk at least one Camino (or part of one) a year, for the foreseeable.
I’d been mulling over whether I was going to do any performing this year. I’d also been thinking ‘What if I did both shows in the same night?’ There are a few fringe festivals happening in the Autumn that I could’ve applied to, there were a couple of theatre venues I thought I would contact, but in the end I decided to hire a community centre – with a kitchen – for an evening.
I needed it to be local, accessible and relaxed. I’m going to have to do a lot more work to set up the space how I want it, and I’m going to trust that the help will appear when I need it to. I put a post up on the socials, and the response was very positive. Jeu Jeu is going to reappear this year after all. But I’m going to need to do a lot of work. The Camino taught me that if I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and rest when I need to, and accept that it’s hard sometimes, and great other times, then I’ll get there in the end.
The performance will be on Saturday 4th October at the Edmund Kell Unitarian Church, downstairs in the community hall. Doors open at 6.30pm with a vegan help-yourself dinners, teas, beers, etc. ‘Jeu Jeu la Foille’s Frontal Lobotomy’ at 7.15, then ‘Jeu Jeu la Foille’s Testy Manifesto’ at 8.30ish. I’ve got the hall booked until 10pm, and I will have a lot to pack away afterwards. There’s so many thoughts I have about the task ahead.
To help me get to the ‘why’ of these shows, I’m going to write a bit about each one below. I know why I’ve decided to package myself a bit differently this time, but I don’t know what these shows still hold for me. It seems like I wrote them in another life time. Just before a cataclysmic event in my life, and just after. The third show I’m writing for Jeu Jeu is taking a painfully long time to take form. Maybe if I try to understand how far I’ve come, and why these past shows are still so important to me, then I can move forward. I’m hoping with some reflection, and performing them together for the first time, I can make sense of it somehow.
Pre-show Lecture Notes
Jeu Jeu la Foille’s Frontal lobotomy was first performed as a ‘whole’ in May of 2016. It was excruciating. But I persevered and took it to Edinburgh that year, and then on tour for half of 2017. Back in those pre-covid days, I used to put lipstick on audience members, I don’t do that anymore. Frontal Lobotomy is an anthology show about Tom Waits and experimental brain surgery. It’s all based around his well-known quote “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy” I’ve always operated my own sound for this show, one day I might add some slides. I also have a live ‘band’ for this show, who you’ll meet later.
Set up space
Unload food and drink
Set up props and get into costume
The Doctor
Is everyone comfortable? Welcome to this lecture demonstration. My name is Jeu Jeu la Foille, and this is my Frontal Lobotomy. I hope you’ve all read your pre-show lecture notes. Normally when I do this show, I mean lecture-demonstration, you come into my space and I’m already onstage doing something weird. So I’m going to need you all to close your eyes, count to 30, and then open your eyes. There will be music playing, so please be in no rush, leave the rushing around to me. 1,2,3
Do the show
Change set and costume
The French Revolutionary
Bonsoir, it is a beautiful evening for a Revolution, no? There has been a secret declaration of espionage delivered to you, do you understand our vision for liberte, egality, sororite, oui?
I will read it in my English voice
Dear audience, some of what you are about to see maybe a bit hard to watch. It’s called ‘Jeu Jeu la Foille’s Testy Manifesto’ I struggled very hard with making this show. Some of my poetry got better, but the subject matter got darker. I also wrote some of the show in French, which may or may not have been a good idea. The hardest thing about making this show was needing to distill a very difficult period of my life into something that wasn’t torture to watch, because you don’t deserve that either. In intimate relationships when conflict arises, we dance between victim, perpetrator and rescuer.
And then it ends, dot dot dot. I don’t understand it either. Ok, I press play, I go back there, you never saw me, ok?
Do the show
Pack up
The Camino taught me that sometimes it feels like you have walked 2 hours, but then google maps tells you its been 20 minutes. The Camino taught me that sometimes I need to have a minor freak out when things are going wrong. The Camino taught me that as the big sister it’s my duty to be the responsible one. The Camino taught me that my Spanish is better than my French. The Camino taught me that you take the best photos when you look behind at the path you’ve already walked. If you are open to it, the Camino can’t help but change you – imagine what will happen when I do a longer route next time, and I’m doing it alone.
Buen Camino,
JJlFxx
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