Mayfest and Theatre Bristol have joined forces for the fourth year to commission a new performance by an artist from the South West of England. Following an open call which received over 50 applications, the two organisations selected writer Nikesh Shukla’s The Time Machine as the successful commission.
Shukla will present the performance as part of Mayfest 2015, following a residency at this year’s festival. Alongside the commission, he will receive support from producers at both Mayfest and Theatre Bristol.
The Time Machine is an autobiographical work, originally written as a novella. It tells the story of a man who attempts to conjure the memory of his mother through recreation of her cooking. Shukla will spend the next year developing the novella into a live performance. For the final performances, Shukla will tell the story whilst putting together a traditional Gujurati meal for the audience.
Describing the story, Nikesh Shukla said “In 2010, when my mother died, I was clearing out the freezer to make room for dishes sent by well-wishers and I found some of her old curries. My sister and I ate them. They were the last things my mum ever made that we would taste. They resurrected her briefly, in our minds. I then realised that I never learnt to cook like her, because she wouldn’t write the recipes down. To resurrect my mum, I began learning to cook her dishes with my relatives, all burnt pans, sliced fingers and misshapen rotis. This is the story of that journey”
The Time Machine is the fourth co-commission by Mayfest and Theatre Bristol. In 2011, the two organisations commissioned Search Party’s Save Me, a 10-day semaphore soap opera which has since toured internationally. This was followed by Molly Naylor and Byron Vincent’s Made Up, a bespoke storytelling service, and in 2013 by Heidi Dorschler and Jeremiah Krage’s Hook, Skip, Repeat, which attracted international press coverage. This is the first year that the commission has spanned two editions of the festival.
Kate Yedigaroff and Matthew Austin, Co-Artistic Directors of Mayfest said “As ever, we were hugely impressed by the range and quality of the ideas coming from the South West. The quality of response to our call out is testament to the vibrancy of the theatre sector in the region. We’re delighted to be working with Nikesh – his idea is simple and touching and we are sure it will make a strong and lasting connection with the Mayfest audience”
Katie Keeler and Tanuja Amarasuriya, Executive Directors of Theatre Bristol said “It’s hugely inspiring to see the wealth of imagination, enquiry and ambition that came through these proposals. It’s no fluke that Bristol and the South West are drawing such national attention for the new theatre and performance its producing. With this commission, we’re always looking for the seed of something extraordinary – an idea that has the potential to move, delight, surprise audiences – and we could see that potential shining through Nikesh’s proposal. It’s also exciting to be working with an artist who we haven’t worked with before, and who is new to making theatre. We’re hugely looking forward to the journey we’ll be going on with Nikesh in creating this piece for Mayfest 2015.”
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