Killing Rainbows

I had another performance of my play Killing Rainbows. It's my first a short play. It was performed as part of the first ever BristTALES on 25th May 2017. It was filmed at the White Bear in Bristol and made available by Robin Tucker. The actor is Tim Whitten. It was directed by Kris Hallett and produced by Samantha Coghlan and Aisling Coghlan.

I couldn't resist making some changes. The orginal version had explored the theme that we need a balance between technology and art. This time I explored the theme of what is art. Is something art if its not seen or experienced by the audience? If an artist creates art is that enough if no one sees it? I wanted to explore a line from harmless public expression, through vandalism and eventually to terrorism. For example, two lovers' padlock attached to a bridge is probably seen by most as charming. Yet part of a bridge in Paris collapsed under the weight of them and all the locks had to be removed.

We might take the example of graffitti or street art. Are they even the same? In the play I refer to Bristol Council's attempt to cover up the spray painted images. This led to the grey squares you can still find around the city. I coined my own term for this behaviour: killing rainbows - a government-sponsored action to remove or block out an unauthorised public work of art. 

The public reaction to street art is varied. Many people love Banksy but hate the more basic tagging. How much further can art reach into our public spaces before it feels threatenging?  If we move further and further could we move into vandalism and eventualy to terrorism? These are the themes I explored in Killing Rainbows.