Scratch Night 2024
The Lowry’s Scratch Nights returns this Lunar New Year with a selection of performances from New Earth Academy Plus Alumni. Join us for an evening of new and experimental work from five British East and South East Asian artists.
This night offers an evening dedicated to the development of brand new work. A chance for artists to put early ideas in front of a live audience to see what sticks; it’s about now rather than never, it’s about the spit without the polish. You might be seeing the early beginnings of ideas that will one day turn into fully formed pieces.
These informal nights bring new live work to audiences and create a supportive platform for artists to experiment, take risks, test ideas on stage, and share new work with peers and wider public.
This event has been curated in collaboration The Lowry and Horizons Collective.
7pm, 16 February 2024
Aldridge Studio
The Lowry
Pier 8
The Quays
Salford
M50 3AZ
The pieces
SCATTERBRAIN by Matthew Bevan
Scatterbrain is an experimental project that aims to combine storytelling with gig-theatre. Written and performed by Matthew Bevan, Scatterbrain explores the life of a neurodivergent creative lost within expectations of modern society, and a difficult life event that spurs them to search for a solution. Scatterbrain invites you into its world through a 2nd-Person narrative style and is scored to live music and sounds.
YOU’RE ON MUTE by Louiseanne Wong
A person jumps and searches for connections, yet trapped in what is shaped like a synthetic scaffolding window.
A digital voice asks if you’ve eaten dinner, sprinkled with occasional sharp flavours of existential questions.
An urge to press the mute button – You can’t hear me but I love you Mum.
A live show using storytelling, physical theatre, circus and parkour. Commenting on human connection, digital age, and East Asian family culture – from the distinct dynamics to unsaid communications.
HOME TO HOME by Isabella So
Home to Home follows Jeong chasing a mischievous glowing orb through an interactive time warp. Fusing live theatre and video projection, with hints of typical Asian household objects, Jeong is immersed in nostalgic late 2000s memories. Blending real and virtual worlds using motion tracking technology, this multimedia dreamscape playfully explores cultural identity, childhood, and cultural heritage between Hong Kong and Korea.
NAIL DIVA by Sarah Murray
A mixed media performance consisting of spoken word, physical theatre and circus, following the journey of a Vietnamese family’s life transitioning from one culture to another.
Exploring how Vietnamese people have dominated the nail industry and how the professional term to describe these salons are NSS (non-standard salons). Touching on themes of culture, history, racism, toxic beauty standards and self-identity.
All told from the perspective of a mixed-race individual.
DRIFT by Pui-Ka Cheng
It’s a story about my homeland, a small island where people relied heavily on fishing for a livelihood. Our fate, like fish, swayed back and forth. We followed the water, wherever it went. We had no choice in the form of water, but we had a strong desire to survive.