The Making
Of
Pinocchio -
Digital
The Making of Pinocchio was due to premiere as a live show at Take Me Somewhere Festival in May 2021. However, due to the Covid 19 pandemic Take Me Somewhere needed to be a digital festival, and they invited us to create a screen-based version of the project. We were initially hesitant to premiere this work in this format, but through discussions with our team we began to get excited by the creative possibilities it presented us with.
We had already been using a camera and live feed in the making process, experimenting with filmic techniques such as forced perspective, and drawing aesthetic inspiration from green screen and cgi processes. The conceptual framing of the work is loosely based on a ‘Making of’-style documentary, and this lends itself to the screen-based medium. We worked with a camera team headed up by cinematographer Kirstin McMahon, and filmed it all in one take in Tramway's cavernous T1 using multiple cameras and live-editing technology on 19th May 2021. Captions and audio-description were added and it was then streamed to an international audience at the opening of the Take Me Somewhere festival on 21st May 2021, where it received excellent audience feedback and critical acclaim.
The creation of this digital work allows us to broaden the reach of the project moving forward. We are creating a hybrid touring model where we will present the digital work online at the same time as the live version for people who are unable to access the theatres. We are also working with smaller venues - who may not have the capacity to present the large scale live show - to present screenings of the digital version for live audience groups, sometimes with discussions afterwards.
reviews
“Reality and fantasy rub up against each other as Cade and MacAskill wonder whether they have a responsibility in this show to confront the political reality of being trans in the UK today, or whether this can be a space instead to realise, however liminally, a new utopian fantasy-realness. That’s a difficult task, and throughout, theatre’s unstable relationship with truth seems to offer up a version of freedom, whilst at the same time concealing the same lines of power that they are trying to disrupt.” Exeunt
​
“The Making Of Pinocchio is a clever and absorbing film, full of reflection and self-revelation, powerful visual imagery and movement, and a profound sense of the force of Pinocchio as a story about a central character striving to be what he does not at first seem to be – a “real boy”. **** The Scotsman
​
“A funny, clever and thoughtful two-hander, rich in playful imagery and direct-to-camera asides, about identity, definition and acceptance." **** The Guardian
credits
Created and performed by Rosana Cade & Ivor MacAskill
Set, Prop & Costume Designer Tim Spooner
Sound Designer Yas Clarke
Lighting Designer & Production Manager Jo Palmer
Producer Mary Osborn for Artsadmin
Cinematographer Kirstin McMahon
Camera operator Alex Storey Gordon
Technician Samuel Martin-Randerson & Sam Burnley
Assistant Stage Manager Goose Masondo
Outside Eye Nic Green
Creative Coach Stacy Makishi
Video consultancy Mamoru Iriguchi
Audio description Juliana Capes
Captioning Collective Text; Emilia Beatriz, Daniel Hughes with Rosana Cade, Yas Clarke, Ivor MacAskill, and Jamie Rea
A Fierce Festival, Kampnagel, Tramway & Vooruit Co-Commission.
Produced by Artsadmin.
Funded by Creative Scotland and Rudolf Augstein Stiftung
With support from The Work Room/Diane Torr Bursary, Take Me Somewhere, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, National Theatre of Scotland, Live Art Development Agency, Gessnerallee, Mousonturm, Forest Fringe, West Kowloon Cultural District, LGBT Health & Wellbeing Scotland and Glasgow Zine Library.
Promotional Image/Video for Take Me Somewhere: Niall Walker
Production shots: Tiu Makkonen
​
If you are interested in booking The Making of Pinocchio - Digital Edition please contact our producer,
Nora Laraki on nora@artsadmin.co.uk
Cade & MacAskill have developed The Making of Pinocchio into a live production. Click on the image below to find out more.