Arts

Garrison commander visits Queen and Country exhibit

Colchester Garrison commander Colonel Tom Fleetwood was among the guests at the official opening of the Queen and Country exhibition at the University Gallery.

The exhibition, by Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen, commemorates British service personnel killed in Iraq.

From left: Gemma Long, Colonel Tom Fleetwood, Colchester Garrison Commander, and Captain Dan Staples of 156 Provost Company

Also at the special opening was Gemma Long, whose husband Corporal Paul Long died in June 2003, age 24. He is among 155 servicemen and women included in the exhibition.

Corporal Long was serving in Iraq with the Colchester-based 156 Provost Company of the Royal Military Police. He was one of six British soldiers gunned down in the town of Al Majar al-Kabir in, arguably, one of the bloodiest encounters in the Army’s recent history.

Queen and Country will be at the University until 14 November, including Remembrance Sunday on 8 November.

Award-winning play comes to Lakeside Theatre

Award-winning play The Idiot Colony is coming to the Lakeside Theatre on Colchester Campus this month.

Set in a mental asylum in the 1940s, the play is a tragicomic exposé of the forced incarceration of young women for crimes ranging from illegitimate pregnancy to lesbianism, to anti-social behaviour to even being considered ‘too promiscuous’ or ‘flirtatious’.

Detained, often on the orders of family members, some women would stay within the asylum for the rest of their lives.

Committed to telling the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, this debut piece by the RedCape Theatre Company is an uplifting experience despite its tragic subject matter.

Described as having ‘a sly sense of fun’ (The Guardian) The Idiot Colony begins in the asylum’s hair salon where, to the strains of Rick Astley and Glen Miller, three women come to talk openly of their wartime affairs, illicit trysts and childhood secrets.

Taking the Total Theatre Award for Best Visual Theatre in 2008, the play is as visually beautiful as it is moving and is the first touring production to be invited to perform for two nights on 26 and 27 November at the fully-refurbished Lakeside Theatre.

To book tickets telephone: 01206 573948 or book online at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk. For more information visit www.essex.ac.uk/artson5

Latin American art on the Squares

Expect to hear some rather unusual sounds on the Colchester Campus Squares in the next few weeks.

To coincide with her University Gallery exhibition Editions from an Encounter, Mexican artist Florencia Guillen will be installing Soundscape Stories, a collection of sound collages recorded during the first week of term which will emanate from speakers dotted about the University Squares.

Invited by UECLAA and the University Gallery to develop the two projects on campus, Guillen’s work reflects on her encounters with everyday people and situations as well as her own internal journeys. In the gallery, Editions from an Encounter uses printed video stills, drawings and a textual sound composition to document her enigmatic encounter with a Mongolian nomad and his horses during her journey from Moscow to Beijing.

Meanwhile, out on the squares, Soundscape Stories will provide complementary sound compositions combined with a specially commissioned piece by composer Armando Chong.

The pieces will run from 19 November to 19 December. For more information please visit the Arts on 5 website at www.essex.ac.uk/artson5.