Liz Clarke. Live Art & Performance

lizclarke.org

2011-01-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

lizclarke.org is still a bit of a work in progress. But have a look!

3 minutes of...

2010-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

Vivi Stamatatos has made this gorgeous film of a selection of my work this year. Have a look here

CH CH CH CHANGES!

2010-12-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

The wonderful Ed Rapley is working on making me a sparkly new website for 2011. It'll be lizclarke.org Until its ready I'll be sticking with this though ....

'The Last Trick (1)' at Beacons, Icons & Dykons

2010-11-24T01:58:00.000-08:00

Pictures by Jeremy Horwood

'The Last Trick' features a crash helmet, 50 metallic blue balloons and is an inflatable musing on promise & absence, leaving and loss, revealing and not revealing, all in electric blue... A kind of forboding reverse strip tease with no strip and definitely no tease.

Following on from the filthy evening celebrating John Waters earlier this yeat, this 'Beacons, Icons & Dykons' featured performances inspired by the equally iconic Dolly Parton. The evening included work from Paul Hurley, Tom Marshman and Curious. Dolly and her assets were the inspiration for the beginnings of this piece and I'm planning 'The Last Trick (2) & (3)' very soon...

2010-09-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Saint Judy

Liz Clarke presents
an hour long excerpt of performance as part of

Glorious Trauma Festival
Thursday 21st Oct. Seven Arts, Leeds, LS7 3PD

Well a diva a day
Keeps the boredom away
I love 'em when they throw up their arms

They may find me on a hotel floor
High heels in a pool of gore
Curtains closed
And a bolted door…

The piece is a transformative jaunt of a journey inspired by sailors’ shore leave, female drag, burial at sea, glitz and driftwood.
lizclarke.blogspot.com
To book tickets visit: http://glorioustrauma.eventbrite.com/

Made at …

Performance at Aeon

2010-09-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Photos by Carl Newland & Andy Council

St Judy (working title courtesy of Marc Almond until a new one presents itself!) was a 4 hour piece performed as part of Aeon

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Aeon 11/09/2010

2010-09-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

Aeon Performance

2010-08-31T01:17:00.001-07:00

Æon performance is a collaboration between 5 Bristol live artists and Tunnandine Fine Art. Following the success of 'Spotlight' earlier this year we invite you to this event which will feature durational performance.

Gareth Llyr,
H.Ren
Liz Clarke
Mike Jones
Paul Hurley
Phil Owen

Æon takes its name from a Greek word that originally meant “life” or “being”, but has now come to mean “an age”, “an eternity” or “an indefinite period of time”. Theorists Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari more recently proposed Æon as an alternative temporality to Chronos, the measured structural orthodox time of the clock.

The artists making work for Æon take this as their starting point, in the creation of performances that are durational, that will take throughout the four hours of the event. Some of these works may be static, some may be more sequential actions, others may be sporadic or repetitive interventions. They will be brought together through sound and through eo-existence in the shared space of Two Degrees, weaving visual and physical sculptures with actions transient and enduring. Something a bit like free jazz, but with paint and treacle rather than clarinets.

Spectators are welcome to come along at any time between 6pm and 10pm, to dip in and out, to watch one thing or watch many and to stay with the work for as much as time as they like. Each experience will unique. Refreshments will be available.

Visit the Aeon blog for more info

Beacons, Icons and Dykons in pictures

2010-08-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

An evening of performance inspired by the great John Waters
26.08.2010
Photos by Toaster in the Bath

Our glamorous host sets the stage in style.

Bathtime with Betty Bruiser

This messy little show was inspired by Eddie and her eggs, chanson & torch, the dulcit tones of Mr Waters and iconic drag

Remnants

Midnight Egg Disposal Mission

Beacons, Icons and Dykons

2010-08-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

I seem to like all the right people for all the wrong reasons- Palahniuk for the pathos, Marc Almond for the chanson, Nick Cave for the storytelling (not the moustache, definitely not the moustache). Okay, enough of the self deception they all exude some brand of forbidden sexuality that I find compelling, but hey, apart from that.. So when it comes to John Waters the undisputed 'King of Bad Taste'; why do I adore him? For his outrageous depictions of sordid depravity? For his shocking anti establishment stances? No, I love this man for his immaculate appearance (perhaps even the moustache), his gentle demeanour and his tenderness of character! (okay, ditto the sex thing above, yawwn) When he builds his misfit characters (take Pecker for instance with his unassuming and charming take on life or the unforgettable Fidget from Cecil B Demented) he does so with care, attention and a certain paternity. They are often devients,psycopaths or egomaniacs (sometimes all three) but like Palahniuk's characters we love them because of, not despite of these 'qualities'. Like Almond, Waters also has a love of torch; a forerunning genre also examining the underbelly darker sides of life. I discovered that Waters performed an evening of Jaques Brel songs in Brisbane earlier this year, how I would have loved to have been there. It all makes sense....

So when I was invited to devise a short performance inspired by the man himself for 'Beacons Icons & Dykons' (loving also the name and the poster image) my mind raced off in many directions. I quickly established that there would be no emmulating Divine in Pink Flamingoes, no sir, not in any way (although I wavered when my helpful collegue of schlock proffered Nutella as a tried and tested option...) It would have to be a show that reflected my personal admiration of this icon. Betty Bruiser, obviously wanted to get in on the act. So that, my friends is how I end up sitting in a bath tub, with 10 dozen eggs, a broken tiara, 50 menthols singing torch songs... I do hope you'll come along.

Beacons, Ikons & Dykons is at the Cube Microplex, Bristol on Thursday 26th August 2010

The Carny Kleinkunst 3

2010-08-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

These pictures came through the post of 'The Carny' show I performed at Kleinkunst 3 at the Roundhouse earlier this year. Obviously Sorrow was the star of the show....
Betty Bruiser is The Carny, a dark ethereal ringmaster who has only the skeleton of his horse named Sorrow and bitter memories for company. Join Betty for a dirge set to ‘The Carny’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. She conjours up a murder of crows (did circle round, first one, then the other swooping blackly down...) and some murderous intentions as she reveals her true self.
This show reflects our fascination with ‘Beauty’s Dark Double’. The flipside of the Beauty aesthetic; what happens when the Sexualised Body and the Body as Other meet in performance?
Photos by Patrick Baldwin

Senseless

2010-05-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I am performing a four minute version of this show for 'Live Art Speed Date' Bristol Old Vic, Sunday 9th May.

‘We are not free and the sky can still fall on our heads. And the theatre has been created to teach us that first of all.’
Antonin Artaud

Betty Bruiser invites you to abandon your senses and submit to her whims. A one on one performance in which Betty has you as her captive audience. It’s a dangerous ride, and you possibly won’t enjoy it.

This piece began life as an investigation into ‘immersive experience’. It is part inspired by my frustration as an audience at previous one on one performances, which have usually been sesuous, pleasent, safe experiences . Lovely, but to me it's not interesting theatre. This has posed some interesting questions for me in terms of boundaries, comfort zones and the contract between audience and performer; and my own expectations. Ontroerend Goed’s piece (May 09) was a warm affirming show but, strapped in the wheelchair; I always felt safe, my senses were pleased, no boundaries were pushed. Without delving too far into my masochistic tendencies; I was gagging to be compromised, abused, tampered with. I left, disappointed with only my hair ruffled.
Senseless is a one on one performance, performed in a ‘side show’ booth or very small room. The audience member is seated, still and blindfolded. Betty is present in the space. Is the audience member going to receive an erotic experience? The soundtrack and soft lighting would suggest so. The atmosphere changes, there is an air of uncertainty, the music changes key. It is intense, urgent.
Betty has a knife. The music is droning, desperate. She appears to be having some kind of internal battle, an existential crisis of sorts which unfortunately involves the audience member. She has moments of self loathing, and it becomes clear that she’s not that keen on the audience member either. Is anyone in danger? It gets uncomfortable, will she harm herself? Harm the viewer? Of course, this is theatre, and she probably uses the knife for a mundane, every day purpose. The piece is improvised according to each audience member.

Glitter Heart Documentation, Spotlight, Bristol

2010-04-08T08:29:00.001-07:00

Blood. Glitter. Tears.
A visceral and personal exploration into the universal yet unique experience of loss, survival and regeneration. The artist warmly invites you to create with her a sparkling symbol of love, a glittering, pulsing sacred heart.

Photographs by Toaster in the Bath

Glitter Heart Documentation. Arnolfini, Bristol. Mrch 2010

2010-04-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Photographs by Carl Newland

Glitter Heart. Arnolfini, Bristol March 2010

2010-04-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

Film by Vivi

Spotlight

2010-03-23T11:43:00.001-07:00

Untitled Performance Stills

2010-02-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

I took part in the Performance Reenactment Society's 'Untitled Performance Stills'. I recreated Ron Athey's 'Pleading in the Blood' (1997). Photograph by Hugo Glendinning

Kleinkunst 3

2010-02-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

I'm very pleased to be performing at Kleinkunst 3 at the Roundhouse on the 20th April.
Here's some previous Kleinkunst action....
I will be performing 'The Carny'. An 8 minute dirge of death, desire& deadliness, oh and a dead horse.

PERFORMANCE LIBRANIANISM

2010-01-28T02:23:00.000-08:00

Fleur and Cynthia managing a very tight ship at the Reading Room of 'The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorow', the launch of Marina Abramovic's Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art.

TRANSIT

2010-01-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

I've just finished collaboration/writing exchange project with Free Press. The anonomous exchange of text formed a story that I just can't shake. I may have to continue it in some other way!
Here's a link to Open Dialogues blog:

Death To Strip Tease OR Sorry Scottee, I lied.

2009-11-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

There is some shit burlesque out there. There really is. It’s been around for a while now (well, since the 1840's if you’re counting). It’s so old; it’s even got a ‘Neo’. Its had many guises and seen many resurgences over the years, so not surprising then that debates around its validity are still abound. And thankfully, I don’t just mean in fusty academia where ‘objectification’ and ‘intercontextualization’ win out over tits and arse. I have been involved in conversations up and down the country which question the ethics and power relationships of burlesque performance. Many are a rehash of the pornography debate and to be quite honest, I’m not really interested in the ins and outs.
The fabulous performer Scottee regales against it eloquently. And I totally agree with him. On most points. Yes, girls shaking their tits in clubs for £40 is grim (more like £25 here in the cheapskate South West) and young girls are being exploited by sweating club owners with a less than acute appreciation for ‘the art form’. And yes, these shows are usually lacking in intelligence, integrity and satire; which to me are the essential ingredients of good burlesque. As one promoter put it she is sick to death of seeing young performers on stage, dressed as a fairy tale character, drinking a magic potions and, oops, loosing all her ann summers attire. If this is burlesque kill it now! Kill me now!
Thankfully, I don’t believe that this is the extent of contemporary burly performance though. Like any underground art form that becomes popularised it looses its edge, becomes homogenised and appropriated. I think the essence is in who holds the power. Well, one of the essences, allow me to get onto a couple more in a minute. This is so going over old ground it almost bores me but it looks like its got to be said. Scottee again and I’m paraphrasing: ’Suffragettes died so that these girls could get up and shake their tits.’ Well, yes actually, they did. And fuck me what a great result. Did they suffer so that women could take high powered jobs and make a difference? Did they suffer so that women could have equal rights? So that we can choose who we fall in love with and not have to marry in order to survive financially? Why then when it comes to the female body as a symbol of power and sexuality must it still be covered up? Yes, I know that a lot of the performance in question completely bypasses the argument and is as if this liberation never happened, but fundamentally a woman has the right to express herself. And don’t even get me started on queer theory….
Back to those essences. Another one (and one of my favourites) is Context. As Maxie Szalwinska wrote in her article in 2007 on the performance artist Ursula Martinez '(Her) routine is witty, squirm-inducing and sexy in about equal measure, but watching it with a knowing performance-art crowd is an entirely different experience to watching it alongside a bunch of drunk, catcalling Hooray Henries, for whom it is clearly little more than a girly show.’ Context is all. I have been fascinated by the placement of lowbrow work in highbrow places and vice versa for a while now and explore this through my work. Using the body in this way and referencing burlesque as I do often raises questions around validity. As a female performer working primarily with the body it is almost impossible to escape sexual context.
Watching the wonderful Tom Marshman pole dance at Eat Your Heart Out as a crucified Christ I became frustrated. And not in a good way. His work was poignant, stark and confessional, and in the context of a noisy cabaret (dare I use that cringe worthy sound bite?) ‘Brave’. He cleaned the pole. He pole danced. I couldn’t help but imagine a female in his place and how this would read. A well known art establishment turned down a proposal of mine and a fellow female performer in which we cleaned poles and pole danced (a piece examining, funnily enough- women’s roles and status) deeming to be ‘too cabaret’ and not befitting to a Theatre audience. Sour grapes? Perhaps. Or perhaps, as my obsession with Marc Almond, Pierre et Gilles and Ron Athey may suggest, I should have been born a gay male. Then I could make art and get my kit off in peace. Anyway, watching Tom’s beautiful performance and lying to Scottee made me want to write this. The host of Eat Your Heart Out asked me over the crowd if I was A burlesque performer. I said no. (Do I look like one, even on my night off? Oh dear.) Just for a quite life, and not being good at witty comebacks I said no. I said no because I didn’t think I was, I didn’t think ‘the art form’ held any interest for me anymore. I thought I agreed with him. But it makes me a little sad and a little cross. What about Carnesky, Scottee? What about Martinez? What about Kira O’Reilly, Empress Stah? What about me? Where do we fit in if not in a neat little box like those tit shaking twentysomethings in the ann summers garb? All these performers have used burlesque signifiers and reference in their work to highlight the power and intensity of the female form and subvert the notions of the voyeuristic gaze.
Don’t kill us all.

Act Art

2009-11-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

'A disturbing Performance by Betty Bruiser' said Boyz Magazine

Photos by Naddy Sane and Natasha Xavier

Pink Roses for Love Documentation Process

2009-11-13T10:50:00.000-08:00

In collaboration with Michaela Dunne I am exploring the documention of process as a devising tool for our work. We are looking at how experience of a performance informs our process. For 'Pink Roses for Love' Michaela framed the work in several ways; through speech, through written word and through ritual. As part of the performance/ritual/exchange the audience were required to write on a constantly unfurling ribbon, guided by three words: 'Sister, breathe, release'.

Nightshift #4 'Pink Roses for Love' documentation

2009-11-10T03:35:00.000-08:00

Photographs & film by Toaster in the Bath
Emporium, Bristol. 28th Ocvtober 2009

Nightshift # 4 Documentation 'Organ Donor Betty'

2009-11-10T02:38:00.001-08:00

Photographs by Toaster in the Bath
Emporium, Bristol. 28th October 2009

Nightshift #4

2009-09-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 28th October from 7pm I will be presenting two very different pieces of work in progress at the Emporium Gallery,
Emporium Gallery, 37 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3PY.

Pink Roses for Love
A durational piece exploring grief, iconography and the vulnerable Body in performance. This piece will run for two hours during which the audience can come and go as they wish

Betty Bruiser in ‘Organ Donor Betty’
Needle lovin’ Betty invites you to join her at her bedside as she Gets Sick! This organ donor gets messy as Betty loses her heart to her audience and seeks Medical Attention.

The pieces will be shown later this year at separate events and exist in an as yet unfinished state. I have chosen to present them together as they represent an important duality in my performance investigations at the moment. Both pieces use piercing the skin as metaphor.

This is a free event but due to limited space please email me at lgclarke@hotmail.com
if you would like to come.

The Emporium is a not-for-profit organisation and an ongoing community based project.

www.emporium37.blogspot.com

PS: BYO!!

Nightshift at Emergency 09

2009-09-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Nightshift (Liz Clarke and Michaela Dunne) is presenting the next installment of The Betty Coltrane Project at Emergency 09 at Greenroom, Manchester next month. Really looking forward to this interactive and more time based one...
www.greenroomarts.org/archive/events/emergency-09/

The Carny- 15 Minute Factory 26th Sept

2009-09-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

A dark tale of desire, death and ... deadliness, The Carny involves crows, fire, and a dead horse…
Betty Bruiser is The Carny, a dark ethereal ringmaster who has only the skeleton of his horse named Sorrow for company. Betty tells the story of his loves,life and disapearance.
She conjures up ‘a murder of crows (did circle round)
First one, then the others flapping blackly down’.
This piece twists together notions of the Body Beautiful with an exploration of its 'dark double'.
Sorrow the horse obviously has the star part.
Check out 15 minute factory at the Rag Factory, Brick Lane, London...
http://15minutefactory.blogspot.com

Work in Progress, Bristol

2009-09-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

SO...
In light of my last arty rant post!- I am presenting two pieces of work in progress. They couldn't be more different, but really work together in terms of looking at the High Art/Low Art thing. I'm really happy that Emporium gallery, Bristol are allowing me to present my work in their space.
I'll be presenting Nightshift 4 and Organ Donor Betty in the gallery. Dates TBC. It's a free event (Emporium is a not for profit organisation, check out new exhibition :CO MUTINY featuring work by mr Andy Council on their blog....) http://emporium37.blogspot.com/ Due to the nature of the work it'll be names on the door, so contact me if you want to come along.

Musings on Straddling the High Art Low Art Dichotomy!

2009-09-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

A Performance Lecture by Betty Bruiser and Poppy Von Tarte.

The pairs’ creators Liz Clarke and Michaela Dunne have found themselves straddling the high art low art dichotomy of contemporary post modern performance culture for a bloody long time!Throughout our performance research we have been exploring themes that we feel are relevant to K:

Out of the Gutter Into the Gallery- Validating the Vulgar

· Are vernacular forms (including Neo Burlesque, Drag, Queer and Vaudeville) being appropriated and sanitized as they become validated by critical appraisal within spheres of Performance?

· In light of contemporary critical and popularised reading of performance how does this appropriation affect the audience/performer relationship and therefore the value and validity of these forms?

· With reference to the above are these forms losing their essence, ‘power’ and truth/s?

Our research questions various viewings of this particular style of cross genre work and its validity within different contexts.

Synopsis #1
Well, we only came here cause it’s Andrea’s hen do, and she likes a bit of a laugh, you know. So, three bottles of Lambrini later we decide to go to the Roundhouse. It’s some place where they have music and stuff. Jan said she wouldn’t come with us, cause it was sordid but you know she’s really gagging to see a bit of baby oil and a flash of cock.
Anyway, two girls, well, they’re getting on a bit actually get on stage and they look like they’re going to do a strip tease. Well, that’s not what I came to see, I’m not like that you know. Come on I say let’s leave. Anyway, we’re about to get up when this fit bloke comes on and starts getting his kit off. That’s more like it I say and Andrea’s already heading to the front. I get another round in and the bloke does these different strip teases. He’s got a great bod. The women are going on about him, doing the commentary. It kind of interrupts the view if you know what I mean. You wouldn’t believe what happens then. He only goes and takes all his clothes off, folds them up into a really neat pile and then walks off! Stark bollock naked! He didn’t even come into the audience, waving his willy about to ‘I believe in Miracles’ Well, it was disgusting. I’m asking for my money back on the way out. Yates’ have got a two 4 one offer on so when I can find Andrea, we’re bloody off. Now, where’s Jan, I’m sure I saw them heading to the loos together like fifteen minutes ago….

Synopsis #2
Betty and Poppy take the stage. They address the audience and introduce the lecture. They are dressed formally. One in a Lab Coat (a reference to the recent ‘Marina Abromovic Presents’) and the other in a Black Mac. From their attire and demeanour the audience have the impression that they are in for a ‘lecture’ that may involve a burlesque striptease (a la Martinez or Annie Sprinkle)

The performers physically divide the audience up into a ‘Live Art’ audience and a ‘Strip Club’ audience, with subsequent banter and audience interaction. Each audience is treated very differently by the performers. Poppy and Betty become narrators for what follows. A third performer is introduced - A male strip teaser. His performance is executed in different ways:

· As a Boylesque performer
· A male stripper (straight female audience)
· A drag artiste
· Studied removal of clothes as part of a Live Art performance

For the Live Art audience the narration is suitably highfaluting and intellectualised, discussing audience/performer relationship, the voyeuristic gaze, the Body as Site and Object etc. The strip club audience receive raucous and raunchy commentary discussing tits & arse, packages & pecs etc. Each describes the same show in real time.

Betty Bruiser and Poppy Von Tarte are the disturbed brain children of live artists Liz Clarke and Michaela Dunne. Together they curate ‘Burlesque Gorefest’ a multidiciplinery event which has in the past involved zombie wrestling, domestic appliances, games of ‘human operation’, giant body parts and many other wondrous happenings. ‘Imagine the bastard lovechild of Mae West & Franko B’ said Venue magazine 2006
The pair have performed together and separately in the UK and abroad. Shows included ‘Bone Me, It’s Poppy & Betty’, ‘Deep in the Wood’ , ‘Organ Donor Betty’ and ‘The Carny’ to name a few.

ACTART Children of the Damned

2009-08-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm very pleased that Betty Bruiser will be performing 'Organ Donor Betty' at ACTART this year. View event here
Here's the blurb
ORGAN DONOR BETTY BRUISER IS A SNAKE CHARMIN, GUN TOTIN, HARDCORE HAUS FRAU WITH A PECHANT FOR AMPUTATION, HYPERTENSION, CANNULAS AND ‘OPERATION’ NEEDLE LOVING BETTY INVITES YOU TO JOIN HER BY HER BEDSIDE AS SHE GETS SICK! A TWISTED TAKE ON STRIP TEASE AS BURLESQUE HATING BETTY REMOVES MORE THAN HER CLOTHES: THIS ORGAN DONER GETS MESSY AS BETTY LOSES HER HEART TO HER AUDIENCE AND SEEKS MEDICAL ATTENTION.
That reminds me:
I love this pic taken by Magdelane Freeman at 'Medical Attention' of an early version of this show. The plush organs were made by Tim Floyd and have been (un)fortunatley replaced by gory-er versions. I look horrified and quite scary!

2009-08-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks Boo at Ragdoll photography for these pics of an early work in progress version of The Ballad of Betty Coltrane. This was more walk about than intended due to sound problems, but I still got to marry 3 people and cover the audience in confetti and cauliflour!

The Ballad of Betty Coltrane- Hoochie Coochie May 09

The Betty Coltrane Project at Coachwerks

2009-07-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

I've just been sent these great pics by Javi at Coachwerks.

Last week we travelled to Brighton to take part in the Coachwerks Performance Festival.

This chapter of the project was a time based exploration investigating themes of transformation and mapping the physicality of relationships upon The Body.
Whilst one performer engages in a durational metamorphosis; the story of Betty Coltrane is played out around her by the other performer and ‘the audience’.

Betty married nine people, started some new romances, sang sea shanties. Here's some pics of the happy couples.

The Ballad of Betty Coltrane

2009-06-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

'Betty is a gun toting, gin swigging bigamist, Her unfortunate husbands want some answers; will they get what they deserve?

The Betty Coltrane Project began with a fascination with the Nick Cave song 'The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane ( Its first incarnation was a five minute piece, performed at Carnyville, Bristol in May 09.Four unfortunate audience members were plied with drink and forced under a table while the action went on above them.
Next came a performance at Hoocie Coochie which incorporated more audience coercion and the marrying of a few men.
The project has grown to explore the more universal themes delved into by the song. Here's some blurb ...
Why are we intrigued by women gone 'bad'? Why are we unnerved by the first Mrs Rochester? Do men really turn to stone in the presence of Medusa? Is bridal Betty capable of dastardly deeds? ...
This latest incarnation of the Betty Coltrane project is an intimate interactive journey steeped in urban legend, personal histories and wedding favours. A collaboration with Michaela Dunne.
The piece consists of several installation stations, each revealing part of the essence of the story. The audience journey around them or happen upon them. They may discover a personal history of a character, or unearth some love letters or leave a message for the happy couple in the Guestbook. They may stumble upon a wedding photographer, or have an encounter with Betty herself in one of her guises. The piece culminates in a live performance which can be viewed with several layers of involvement.
The piece plays with audience/performer relationship, encouraging gentle participation whilst posing subtle questions of implication and coercion.
The work will be shown at Coachwerks Performance Festival, Brighton later this month.

Nightshift Series

2009-06-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

Nightshift: 1 2 & 3

This works documents my personal journey through the process of the illness and death of my sister and the spiritual resonances which existed between us, manifested in her religious visions and my own relationship with piercing the Body.
The work then encompassed the existance of new life in the form of my pregnancy.

Spirit + Flesh UK
May 2007
‘The piercings in my own body have marked significant times in my life and are an external gesture of internal dialogue’.
‘I feel nervous, frightened and ecstatic’
(Application for Spirit+ Flesh Intensive Piercing Experience)

The beginning of my journey for this series of work began with the Spirit+ Flesh experience in which my chest was pierced with fleshhooks and a series of group energy pulls was performed over the course of a day. The event was a powerful and symbolic one. Struggle, loss and religious imagery were prevalent around me and the act of piercing the skin took on heightened meaning and symbolism.
A series of work began over the period of one year in which I explored a series of iconic gestures, the symbols of stripping clothes as metaphor for stripping away ‘the performer’ and piercing the skin, and later; new life.
Deep thanks to Justin

Nightshift 1
February 07

The performer gives a rose to each audience member. She begins to enact a classic strip tease, pausing to carry out slow, deliberate and out of kilter movements. Out of her clothes fall tens of metal hooks, her music changes from sensuous strains to ‘Fell in Love with a Meathook’. The skin is pierced, two small insertions to symbolise the larger, more powerful placement of the aforementioned fleshhooks.
The strip breaks the golden burlesque rule and goes to full nakedness. The Body is now Object, vulnerable.She lies naked before her audience. They are then invited to place their rose on her body and then to leave the space.

Pink roses for love
Hazel Hammond
(Audience Member, Nightshift 1)

I know two women who mourn
Need pink roses gifted in love
And quiet friendship to sustain them
I know two women who mourn
Rosa rosado transmuted by love

One woman precise in her understanding
But strong enough to say good bye very slowly
Each gut twisting word held by her fingertips
Every syllable sharp as the roses’ thorn
Her poems maybe burred leaves scratching the past
Or blooms scented with childhood
Oh rosa rosado transmuted by love
Her courage unpruned, vigorous, pricks my conscience
Half ready for the season of death
She pushes the roots of her experience
Straight into the Columbian memories
Feeding the sisters with connections
Far beyond the life of both
Stilled, going into the heart of the scented buds
Of rosa rosado, now transmuted by love.

I know two women who mourn
Pierced to the heart by a sisters death
Who need love expressed by a rose
Pink roses gifted in love.

Another woman just as precise in her planning
To perform her grief, her tribute
Sharing roses gifted in love
Acts, decorating her body with palest pink
Rose shades, silk ruffled and laced
Her grief as tight as a corset
Taking the breath away
Easing off the clothing, breasts like a petal’s curl

Exposed by this ,
Each garment releasing a tinkling of hooks
Intended for deep in the flesh
Nearer the heart than thorns
The ruffles lie around her, peturbations of her life
Discarded, as a covering emotion among friends
I see her skin pierced, the pain quilled through her flesh
Blushed as a rose near that piercing of sorrow
Death hooking and pulling the memories

Now laid out, her performance a bier
Supporting her sister
Sharing pink roses gifted in love.

I know two women who mourn
Pierced to the heart by a sisters death
Who need love expressed by a rose
Pink roses gifted in love.

Nightshift 2
May 08
The performer (in the first trimester of pregnancy) explores the physical motifs which resemble stock burlesque moves but also iconic religious poses. She is constrained by the ribbons of her corset, they tie her to objects so her trajectory is limited and defined. She cuts herself free and stands tall, unfurled. Her corset covers her whole body: skirt, waist and neck. A defiant strip follows. She frees herself. She stands, back to audience. Triumphant strains of Tchaikovsky boom. The piercer takes to the stage and pierces her back to form a corset in her skin and laces her.

Nightshift 3
Novemeber 08
The performer sits, back to audience on a large sphere (later evidently a birthing ball). Her breathing is amplified; it is ujjaji breath: in for four beats, out for six, the classic ‘birthing breath’.
She stands, in towering heels.
Bump & Grind music begins and the performer starts her strip tease. She turns and it is evident that she is heavily pregnant. Her stomach is covered by ribbons which form an oversize ‘corset’. The physical motifs are present in slow, precise gestures. Contrary to burlesque standards, the belly is the final reveal.
The ribbon unfurls and the audience are invited to take the end, and rewrap the naked body. Once covered the ribbon is secured to the skin by piercing; attaching it to the tattoo which remembers the deceased. The audience are led out of the space.

Nightshift 4
This is the closing piece for the Nightshift series. A closure of the chapter of grief and an entrance to new beginnings. It is a durational work of two hours.
This piece is in developement to be shown in the next few months.

Betty's Interests

2009-06-09T07:07:00.001-07:00

This is part of a monologue performed in May 09 where Betty reels off some of her passtimes and interests...
Amputation
Hypertension
Canulas and
Operation

Mucky Sex
Love rats
Launderettes and
Fancy Hats

Apparatus
Lockjaw
Gelatine and
Hardcore

Hard hats
Hardwear
Steeplechasing
Banger racing

Fairground Waltzers
Underwear
Underage and
Filthy hair

Danger money
Danger mouse
Syphilis and
Famous grous
Meat hooks
Fag butts
Donkey Kong and
Hiccups

Car jacks
Thumbtacks
Chocolate fountains
Hot wax

Bar room brawling
Pinafores
Carnivores and
Highest scores

Uniforms and latex
Setting fire to multiplex

Tyler Durden
Engine Oil
Hearing aids and
Tin foil

Fur coats
Credit notes
Alchemy and
Billy goats

Reptiles
Guttertrash
Nasty rash and
Backlash

Melted plastic
Toxins
Iodine and
Oddbins

Sailor boys
Sex toys
Adenoids and white noise

Strip teaze?
Oh please
Haven’t washed my…
Pasties

Private view
Free beer
Betty Bruiser’s out of here.

2009-06-09T02:24:00.000-07:00

‘Imagine the Sordid love child of Franko B and Mae West’ (Venue magazine 2007). High praise indeed for snake charmin’, gutter dwellin’ bar room brawlin’ high class gutter trash.

Betty Bruiser is the high-art low-life creation of Liz Clarke . She loves to jump out of giant teeth on stage, wielding oversized power tools. She adores dancing with snakes, both real and imaginary. She performs with her pet horse skeleton named Sorrow. Master of the strip teaze, when there’s no clothes left, she’ll strip out of her organs, leaving the audience bemused and blood spattered.

2009-06-09T02:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.

In my performance investigations I fuse live art and theatre traditions with what are considered to be more lowbrow performance genres for example vaudeville, queer, burlesque. I am interested in the spaces in between these forms. What happens when they are merged, unclassified, exploited? What happens when the unwritten rules of these genres are broken? My work seeks to explore accepted perceptions of value in contemporary performance and the integration of ‘trash’ forms into traditionally more high art forms and settings.

Through my performance I seek to question the audience/performer relationship by posing questions of coercion, voyeurism and implication. However, much of the work is underpinned by humour, tenderness and sometimes tease.

My work is often challenging and extreme in the way it addresses the Body. Piercing the skin has spiritual resonance for me which I investigate in the ‘Nightshift’ series. This is explored through iconography, metaphor and time based action.