Dear Friends
the police have captured Peachy because of his flamboyance. I receive a call from the police in the night and go to their place, positioned between a good part of town and a bad part of town. “It doesn’t look good,” says an Officer, “We suspect that he is a nutjob.” As I enter the interrogation room, with its stables full of lowing cattle and quiet young pigs, I see immediately the problem. It is his outfit. Peachy, a text and image entertainment taking hold currently in the cities, is wearing his satin running shorts again. The trouble is that he has pulled them up very high so that the waistband is just beneath his chin. This has the effect of showing the policemen and the animals just exactly what is not generally deemed appropriate unless you are among close, forgiving friends and acquaintances. I noticed the police’s hands.
Their hands were like hands, yes, but hands taken from much bigger men with much bigger hands. A petulant cry fractured my reverie.
“I want to be known as Pierre!”
It was Peachy. He was not content with his name. The one I had given him. He wanted something that little bit more continental.
“Officer,” I began. “He is only an entertainment. To treat him otherwise is to enflesh him and this is what you have done.”
“It is certainly true, sir,” began the Officer, “that the longer we detain him the more odious he becomes. In our opinion.”
“Let me take him to a place where his requirement to fulfil that which is expected of him is of a magnitude to make him buckle down. In a non-human way,” I ended.
“Would that be one of your Nites, sir? If you don’t mind me asking,” he enquired.
“Yes, Dan,” I said.
By the time we arrived at Toynbee Studios next week Peachy Coochy was a framework again.
This is what you get:
David Gale’s Peachy Coochy Nites
The projector projects 20 images for precisely 20 seconds each. The Coocheur (or Presenter) speaks for precisely twenty seconds per image. Randomness is discouraged but narrative linearity is not automatically esteemed.
David Gale, having launched a nationwide performance must-have, continues to curate this series of Peachy Coochy events at ArtsAdmin’s new, stylish yet reassuring Bar. Each event features six Coocheurs, or Presenters, drawn from many walks of life. Each Coocheur will compose a verbal response to 20 images of their choice. Each presentation lasts 6 minutes and 40 seconds. There will be gaps between presentations for drinking and light conversation.
David, something of a Black Belt in these matters, will both compere and present the segments that, while full of flavour, should not be seen as constituting the pie.
This passerby was pleased in this way:
“Now I want to get up on that plinth beside Sir Antony Gormley.”
(Paul 27/03/09)
Peachy Coochy Nites subscribes to the the National Belief System and is therefore committed to the provision of a wide range of contributors such as the proselyte, the stylite, the nectarine, the avocet, the enthusiast, the fulsome person, the numbnuts.
The next Peachy Coochy Nite will be held, as usual, in the Bar at Toynbee Studios on Thursday April 30th at 7.30 pm. Tickets £5.00. Booking advised but walk up welcome.
more details here:
http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/projects/project.php?id=211
and a map here:
http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/contacts/
The Guardian catches some cooch:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/nov/17/theatre-peachy-coochy-performance-art
Some of you, pleased by the Nite, may wish to compose your own presentations. See me afterwards.
The Nites will run on the last Thursday of each month. You will be notified.
all the best
David