Bitter Sweet History Celebrated
Inverclyde’s historic links with the sugar and slave trades are the inspiration for a unique project involving young performers from Scotland, Africa and the Caribbean.
‘Vessels 2015’ brings together three young people plus one artist leader from Accra in Ghana and Kingston, Jamaica at Greenock’s Beacon Arts Centre.
Over the course of a week they will share a range of skills with twelve specially chosen young people from Inverclyde who are members of a variety of local performance groups.
Inverclyde’s Provost Robert Moran said: “They will work together on a number of performance techniques including African and contemporary dance, performance poetry and Ghanaian music using Inverclyde’s past as a major importer of sugar from the Caribbean as their influence.”
The results of the workshops will be brought together by the multi-national creative team – which includes Gail Sneddon and Laura Pearce from the Beacon Arts Centre - in a spectacular evening of devised performance at the Beacon Arts Centre on Saturday 15th August at 7pm.
Provost Moran added: “From Jamaica Street and Tobago Street to the giant sugar sheds, the influence of the Caribbean has left its mark on Inverclyde. But there was a darker side. A majority of the sugar that was imported was cut by either West Africans or people of African heritage, many as slaves. The bringing together of young people from Scotland, Ghana and Jamaica represents an extraordinary opportunity to explore what that relationship means now in the 21st Century.”
The name Vessels was suggested by Jamaican performance poet Randy McLaren. In the Ghanaian Ewe language, the word for drum and vessel is the same – ‘euu’, pronounced ‘ewhu’. It is the root for several words including a ship or boat – ‘tordziwhu’.
The project is funded by the Inverclyde Place Partnership – a partnership set up by Inverclyde Council and Creative Scotland - with additional support from the Maple Trust.
Tickets for the performance on Saturday 15 August 2015 will be free and all are invited to attend. Please reserve a ticket at the Box Office – 01475 723 723.