I have been interviewed or discussed in the following publications:
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Street Theatre and other outdoor performance Bim Mason
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L’Autre Cirque Bernard Begadi, Jean-Pierre Estournet, Sylvie Meunier
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The Best of British Women (1993) Best of British publications
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Coming of Age, celebrating 21 years of Mela in the UK Irna Qureshi
My own book, Aerialist which has been published in time to celebrate the 250th anniversary of circus in 2018 and launched at the Bradford literature festival in the same year, has been about ten years in the writing and discusses and describes the following relevant themes:
Artistic process – what makes an artist/why? Creating art, making a show, running a show, making costumes, describing inspirational sources and thought processes. Artistic development enabling moving on post physical performance peak.
Physical journey of a performing artist – the development from childhood through gymnastics and theatre to a professional performer, reaching a peak and then decline through ageing, stress and injury.
Cultural/social/political/economic climate which allowed/encourages Skinning the Cat to emerge. A special time in the artistic community in Bradford, certain groups, artists, events coming together. A historic period in the history of circus as contemporary circus emerges and Skinning the Cat leads the way for aerial shows with a narrative.
Technical/practical explanations for circus – explaining circus terms, equipment and skills.
Emotional and mental health journey of artist – Specifically around the dangerous life of an aerialist and the falls that happened in Skinning the Cat. Trying to explain the background to the development of mental health problems, how it subtly develops and how it takes effect.
Circus industry/community/performers reaction – inclusion of interviews with relevant artists, audience and members of the circus community; remembering, discussing and reacting to the themes that I write about.
