Open Access: Black Country Delights in Darlaston
About the project
The Orchestra of Chaos is a musical comedy act that has performed nationally and internationally. OOC specialises in engaging with new audiences of any age in unique and traditional locations.
The Orchestra of Chaos have been performing as a live musical and comedy-based act for the past decade. The duo consists of Mark Pressdee and Simon Walker, both specialise in performing to new and existing audiences often in unusual settings and locations. They have performed in living rooms, kitchens, gardens, shopping centres and music and comedy festivals from Glastonbury Festival to mainstream comedy festivals as well as recently performing internationally in Bavaria and Norway.
OOC offer a unique live act that can engage with any age group and audience through audience participation and the diversity of their act. Both practitioners are also multi-disciplined artists and work internationally in education offering art workshops and social media projects for young people. These skills are used in their performance to engage with different audiences and age groups. For the past two years they have worked with Ringerike International Film Festival to deliver a variety of projects as well as other festivals and agencies nationally and regionally.
What they will be doing
The Orchestra of Chaos want to address their cultural routes by performing in the small town of Darlaston in the borough of Walsall. This is the hometown of the OOC as the Black Country is often referenced in their work. The aim is to bring their unique act to a new and diverse audience that would not normally get the opportunity to see an act like this without travelling or attending a specialist festival or venue. Many of the residents of Darlaston are starting to engage with activities in the town since the growth of and the re-opening of Darlaston Town Hall along with Vicki Phipps who is currently hosting and collaborating with regional Artists on projects through her organisation Mindful Gifts, a Community Interest Company. Creative Producer Mark Pressdee collaborated with Vicki last year on a theme-based night that featured his award-winning comedy film Titanic Love.
This year with the support of CBC we aim to perform in the vintage shop to a new local audience in a participatory fashion whilst involving the audience with a Q&A afterwards. This will be a first for all involved in the project and performance wise for everyone involved.
“We are delighted to be working with Creative Black Country, the core of our act is rooted in the Black Country and we are very proud to have taken our act nationally and internationally to diverse audiences and venues on tour. Black Country Delights in Darlaston will be a first for us and a unique chance to bring our act back here for the very first time. We are looking to engage with local people & businesses who share our ethos. The venue we will be performing in will be a new audience, a first for everyone involved.” Mark Pressdee – aka Barry Bling – The Orchestra of Chaos.
“It’s gonna be bostin!” Simon Walker, aka Mr Velvet – The Orchestra of Chaos – he never says a lot.
“I am delighted to be working with The Orchestra of Chaos, I worked with Mark last year on a project in Walsall, a themed event that incorporated his comedy film, on both occasions we reached new audiences and had a full house, this will be a first for our shop with an actual performance inside.” Vicki – Mindful Gifts.
FOLLOW The Orchestra of Chaos online
Website: https://www.theorchestraofchaos.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orchestraofchaos/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/orchestrachaos