Art of Attachment
2018
Everyone has a story to tell. Some demand to be heard.
Brighton Oasis Project is a unique substance misuse treatment service in the heart of Brighton. Throughout 2018, choreographer/director Charlotte Vincent worked with Brighton Oasis Project to explore the complex emotional bonds that exist between women in recovery from substance misuse and their children, partners, family and friends.
In this hard-hitting, uplifting and insightful production, real-life testimonies combined with visual metaphor and movement to reveal the physical, emotional and psychological impact of drug and alcohol use on relationships and a feeling of belonging.
Art of attachment celebrated the everyday resilience of women and children overcoming adversity, whose stories demand to be seen and heard.
Art of attachment was commissioned by Brighton Oasis Project, supported by Wellcome Trust and premiered at Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts, Brighton.
See VDT’s YouTube channel in 2019 for short films featuring the performers, and insights into Charlotte Vincent’s creative process.
Director's Note
Directors Note, Art of Attachment, Live Production
The performance you see tonight is the result of many hours of talking, sharing, writing, recording, questioning, listening, moving, crying, retracting, redacting, translating, thinking, improvising, trying out, walking out and walking back in again in order to carry on.
After a nine month period of working together, Vikki, Leah, Louise and Annette are carrying themselves and their life stories differently. Well established defence mechanisms, well-worn scripts and high degrees of distrust have been usurped – for the time being at least – by a shared sense of purpose, empathy and self-worth, alongside a visible lengthening of bodies and strengthening of resolve.
Art of Attachment is an extraordinarily honest piece of work – a litany of trauma that no child or adult should endure. Yet what shines through the vulnerability, the violence and the hurt is sheer female strength: the ability to stand up, become visible, carry it all and carry on.
Annette, Louise, Leah, Vikki, Toni, Rob, Anna, Sherryn, Niamh, Alison, Jo: a heartfelt thank you for trusting my process and for your care, peer support, humour, insight, skill, intelligence and sheer bloody hard work to make this happen. Thanks also to the Art of Attachment Project Advisory Group; their interviews with me helped to shape the work.
Whatever happens on the stage tonight, I am deeply proud of everything this group has achieved and thankful to Oasis and VDT for the opportunity to work on such an extraordinary project, with such extraordinary women.
Charlotte Vincent, Artistic Director, 18 October 2018
PHOTOS
Who's Who
- Directed by
- Performed by
- Antonia Grove
- Robert Clark
- Annette
- Leah
- Louise
- Vikki
- Understudy
- Composer
- Production Manager
- Sound Design by
- Additional text by
- Lighting Design by
- Nigel Edwards