SARTORIUS

 

I  called this performance Sartorius because…….

Sartor, from the Latin,

Means

Someone who patches and mends

Who makes good.

The Universal Tailor

A migrant artisan

A story in every carefully crafted garment

Patching and mending

Our fractured lives

Making good our sense

Of self,

Who we are

And how we’d like to be  seen.  

Drawing and expanding on extracts from last year's 'The Benefit', I really wanted to highlight the often troubled diasporas of Jewish Tailors and Irish Construction Workers. These respective and often unconsidered journeys coalesce when  Michael, an Irish labourer, purchases a bespoke  overcoat  in a second-hand menswear shop in Camden; a garment originally created by a master craftsman tailor decades earlier in war-torn Europe. 

I was very grateful to DIVERSE ARTISTS NETWORK https://www.diverseartistsnetwork.com/  for affording me the opportunity to perform as part of DIASPORA 2026 and as one of 'Five Women one Show', A Love Letter to Broadmead: Five Women, One Show - Diverse Artists Network Thanks also to Compass Presents Compass Presents – Expanded Cinema, Interactive Encounters who converted a large, empty shop unit into a fantastic theatre - lights and a bar as well!  In fact it was the same shop unit that Andreea Brown and I performed as 'Artivists in a Box' 4 years ago.  

I loved my fellow performers:  Comedian Cosmopolitan Seychellois, Dancer Ceci Opal,  Poet Muneera Pilgrim and Actor / Writer Rene Katiisa. Also they helped attract a warm and responsive audience.  These images were taken by Laura Crouchley.

AM I 'ELDERLY' OR WHAT?

 Autumn 2025 I engaged for the first time with age-dedicated groups.  In the first instance with an Older Women and Health project set up by Bristol Women's Voice Bristol Women's Voice  and supported by Bristol Older People's Forum. Main home - Bristol Older People's Forum The focus here being the ageist way older women are often treated in health care settings.   I was apprehensive at first because the composition of the group was very different from the often arts orientated older women I was used to mixing and identifying with. At an initial meeting I gave a presentation which began with the title of this blog and which drew on negative stereotyping and positive appreciation of diversity in later life. I felt that some of the group could not relate to my critique.  For example no one  knew of the  campaigning organisation Advantages of Age. Advantages of Age | Substack 

Secondly I signed up for a contemporary dance class for older people at my local Trinity Centre, Gerry's Attic Dance.  Gerry's Attic Dance Company — Trinity Community Arts Totally loved it and plan to go on if possible.  A great crowd of dancers but largely in the comfortably retired bracket so whilst enjoying their company can't help but feel different as a working arts professional (who hasn't had a holiday for 4 years!). 

For the immediate future in May 2026 I will be performing extracts from 'The Benefit' under the title of 'Sartorius'.  A twenty minute slot focussing again on tailoring and on the Jewish and Irish migrations  to London over the decades.  This fits with the theme of the Diaspora Festival  organised by Diverse Artists' Network which I have been affiliated with for the last decade or so.  

Despite my near non-existent Italian I have just started helping dear friend Yasha Maccanico with his script:  'The Art of Translation'.  This has the potential to be a powerful political piece of theatre charting the inhumane system of deportation of migrants resident in Rome.  This awful state of affairs is filtered through the character of Vera who works for a translation service that supplies the EU Parliament and who has a moral commitment to re-present their intentions. The image below is of myself and Yasha's partner, the incredible theatre maker Rebecca Braccialarghe from a few years back working on a piece as part of a fundraiser for Bristol Refugee Rights

Back to 'Am I'Elderly' or What? ' It occurred to me that it would be better to make a short film here in Bristol and post it on social media.  It will include the problematic relationship we in the U.K. still have with the language of ageing, how stultifying and ageist it is, how it does not reflect my generation and what we can we do to create a better environment for generations to follow. Hope to complete this summer 2026.