Hat - a knitting performance explained, by Simon Thackray

Half Angel, Cork and The Shed present,
the award winning woolly spectacular:

Simon Thackray © Richard Doughty

From the W.I. to the avant garde,
a performance of words, music and knitting..

Simon says... a few words about HAT (see a few more photos)

Hat isn't easy to describe but it's not theatre in the normal sense. It's a music gig, a poetry reading and performance art all rolled into one. One thing is certain, it's a gathering of the open minded!

Working backwards from HAT (which is the second half of the show) the performance is a telling of four new stories (legends, fairy tales if you like) about wool and knitting that move from surreal to funny to sad to out and out bonkers in the space of an hour. Ian McMillan will stun you into silence (apart from clicking) and make you laugh out loud. The stories are linked and dusted with new music composed by Billy Jenkins.

The first part of the evening (which is a bit shorter) is different! We're still on the theme of wool and knitting but we decided to add this part so that you'd be able to get to know the players a bit better before going into HAT. There's a good chance that most of you won't be familiar with our performers and we think you'll enjoy seeing more of what they do (when they're wearing their other hats - so to speak). Ian is hilarious and serious in equal measure - Billy is 30 years and over 30 albums into a feted career that has creased the face of contemporary jazz, freed up free improvisation and poured fresh pigment into the blues. Andy came out of school brass bands to work with some of the worlds most original artists - from the avant-rock legend David Thomas to Nico and James. His own band Spaceheads works in the dance music scene. Angie spent twenty years touring the world with the Hallé orchestra and now works as a music therapist in North Yorkshire. She's our one good knitter!
I met all these good people through running The Shed, my tiny venue in North Yorkshire and they've taken a seed of an idea (Read Dominic Cavendish's feature in the Daily Telegraph) and brought it to life. It IS extra-ordinary. It is quite unlike anything you have ever seen and along the way it has helped trigger the resurgence of interest in the art of knitting. I recommend you see HAT. My sincere thanks go to the wonderfully supportive people at Sirdar who had the faith in the first instance to support this adventure and have continued to help us bring this good experience to you, our audience. Without Sirdar it would not happen. Finally, here are a few comments from people who have seen the show in the past few years.

Simon,

Sorry it has taken me so long to congratulate you on the "hat". A magical evening of words, music and wool. We were a little pensive as, due to our poor planning, had no babysitter and had our 2.5 year old with us. We need not have worried, she was as captivated as we were. Entwined by the evenings twisted yarns (sorry!). Mr McMillan was at his very best and we were treated to a new side of the clearly multitalented Mr Jenkins.

Thanks

Andrew

Simon!

'When I was six, my Granny taught me how to knit. She says I was the worst knitter she'd ever encountered. Nineteen years later, I was lucky enough to get tickets for Hat. Now my Granny is the proud owner of a scarf, a bag and a (slightly misshapen) hat made with my own fair hands.
Let's face it, this is a miracle of modern performance...'

x Jude

Dear Simon,

Thanks for a wonderful production of the Hat. I enclose copy of letter I sent to Mr Verity Chairman of Sirdar and a report I posted to UK Hand Knitters.

Best wishes

Sasha

Dear Mr Verity,

Congratulations on the inspired decision to sponsor a piece of theatre, Hat, with knitting as the theme. Sirdar's reputation took a tremendous leap forward and the spin off for knitting as a whole will, I hope, repay you tenfold. I enjoyed the performance of Hat and sent a report to UK Hand Knitters, a knitting group online.

I enclose a copy for your information and records.

I hope Sirdar continue this form of sponsorship.

Yours sincerely

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 17:53:51 -0000
From: "Sasha Kagan"
Subject: Knitting as Performance Art /Digest 318

In response to Rosie's letter last week....
"... It sounds wonderful: is there anyone on the list who's able to go along? I'd love to hear more and think that it should be featured in "SlipKnot" and "Crafts". ..."

.....I did go along to see Hat in York on Saturday. Thanks Rosie for drawing it to my attention. It was brilliant. Played to nearly packed audiences. What I liked about it most was the average age of the audience...I would say 20ish years younger than the average age of those attending Knitting and Stitches in Harrogate on the same day. All hats off to Sirdar for sponsoring such a show. This is just the sort of thing that knitting needs...a fresh, young, slightly zany image with just as much input and enthusiasm from the older generation such as myself and Jean Moss. Chunky wool, of the sort you tie boats up with, and a set of telegraph poles were given out to the audience who were encouraged to knit during the performance. I totally forgot my scathing views on rope and telegraph poles because during a two hour performance many of the audience were able to complete a sizable piece of knitting, in some cases..a hat. The pride in achievement was obvious. Oh, they were so pleased with themselves at the end when the audience were invited to show-off their work!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the yarn companies competed in sponsoring the most fun or most spectacular or most avant garde theatre productions? Soon word of this would get onto the more regular media. Soon they would be asking on TV why staid Yorkshire companies, quoted on the stock market, were the most dynamic sponsors of theatre in the country. "What is happening?" they would ask. "KNITTING IS HAPPENING" would be the answer and the spin-off for our noble craft would be obvious. Young people would be keen to scramble on board this bandwagon. And once on the bandwagon, the great roller coaster of the knitting boom, they would be buying wool like crazy and so swell the profits of the yarn companies that their investment in theatre would have been rewarded. Perhaps I have been seeing too much of Trollope's "The Way We Live Now" on Television. But bandwagons can happen. Knitting just needs a push-start.

Sasha Kagan

Simon

Union Chapel - 11 October.
So you got it together then - excellent news. Can you add me to the email list to advise when tickets go on sale, so the Oxford Shed fan club and hangers-on can book.

Thanks

Tony

(Tony won't mind me telling you this - he booked 14 tickets and a mini bus and he's an accountant!)

Since all these warm words were written we took part in Craft Rocks at the famous V&A in London in 2004 which was both an honour and a thrill. We also staged a special performance last Autumn in North Yorkshire to raise money to help further the excellent work of North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre (run by Angie).

We are all looking forward to Cork and hope to see you there!

Yours sincerely,

Simon

22 August 2005

A few photos...

I took these photos in London on Friday 27 September 2002. Tony Bartholomew took professional ones (Tony's caught in some of these with Ian and Wendy).

Wendy, Ian and Tony

Wendy Moorby and Ian McMillan and the London Eye (of the Needle)

Ian McMillan

Ian experiences a spot of technical difficulty - how to knit and look at the camera at the same time.

Ian and Wendy - Threadneedle Street EC2

Threadneedle Street 1

Ian McMillan

Ian McMillan on Millennium Bridge

HAT:

Conceived and produced by Simon Thackray.