Lisle Turner is a writer, director, and producer, who currently spearheads Open Sky Productions with co-founder Claire Coaché.
He joins us on Close-Up Culture to tell us about his new film, The Last Show. Filmed over the course of the final festival in 2023, this is a documentary about the impact and legacy of the London International Mime Festival, featuring clips from shows and interviews with some of the festival’s artists and supporters .
Hi Lisle, it’s a pleasure to be speaking with you. To start us off, could you explain to us the premise behind The Last Show and what inspired you to tell this story?
When it was announced that the London International Mime Festival was to host its final iteration there was an outcry from artists and audiences alike. My company Open Sky is a theatre company and my first play (The Idiot Colony as Redcape Theatre) was given a London run as part of the festival. Twenty years later the company is now an NPO specialising in digital theatre i.e. filming theatrical performance. Our recent digital theatre feature film Cold debuted at the penultimate festival. We were asked by the festival organisers to capture some testimonial interviews for posterity. So many people wanted to speak and such were the stories told that the interviews morphed into a documentary film featuring industry shaping artists and five decades worth of archive material.
You also worked on the 2022 stage-film COLD, how did working on this documentary vary to working on COLD ?
We filmed COLD on set (on a theatre stage) where we had total control of lighting, sound and performance. For a dramatic narrative you prepare a lot so you can get it done in the time frame. We shortlisted and scheduled the shoot in huge detail. The Last Show was a run and gun documentary film situation where we just responded in the moment to the performances in front of us. However, there is definite crossover. Capturing theatrical performance on camera is a language of its own so once learnt you can apply it quickly. We were delighted with some of the footage. Particularly the footage of Peeping Tom’s show Triptych that we shot at the Barbican when we managed to pull off slow motion capture in very low light. Hats off to our cinematographer Kie Cummings for that.
Was the directing process much the same, or did you find it had stark contrasts?
Directing is very different in terms of preparation and process. There’s no script in documentary so you have to be more flexible in creating the narrative. Of course, you plan what you’re going to shoot and you have ideas that you’re following but what people say and do in the moment is hard to predict. It’s exciting and spontaneous. What is similar is trusting your gut in the edit about what should stay and what should go. Post-production is my favourite part of the process as its when you can really craft the story to completion.
You must have seen hours of footage to create this film. What was the process like working with the team to collate so much history into 30minutes?
We loved making this film! It was a tiny team who all worked really hard. It did mean some long days in the edit suite but it was a privilege to film the festivals final performances, to delve into five decades of archival footage, to interview some of theatre’s greatest talents and to edit all of this into a love poem to the medium.
Why do you think it is important to share the story of London’s International Mime Festival?
The London International Mime Festival was the UK’s longest running annual theatre festival. It ended, as it began, on its own terms. It was solvent, successful and wildly popular with artists and audiences alike. But now it’s gone.
Its absence deprives British audiences of groundbreaking, taste-forming work from emerging UK companies and some of Europe’s most exciting theatrical artists. It also deprives British artists of a much-needed platform from which to launch into the unknown.
The film posits a challenging question. In a post-Covid, post-Brexit environment of growing bureaucracy, reduced appetite for risk and funding stagnation who or what can replace it?
If you could collaborate with anyone in the theatre or film industry, who would be the top of your list?
We’re lucky to work with a lot of really talented people who share our passion for film and theatre. We’re currently working with the excellent playwright Charlie Josephine on a digital theatre piece, the amazing Yngvild Aspeli is hosting us in Norway in a few weeks to develop a major new live show and next year we’re filming another feature length project with producer Josh Hyams. There are so many talented people out there that we’d love to work with in the future that it’d take me days to write it down but, for now, we’re delighted with this slate of upcoming projects.
Thank you so much for your time, where can people find out more about the film and give you a follow?
From 7pm on Wednesday 15th January the film can be watched for free on MimeLondon’s YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@MimeLondon
If you want to follow my company Open Sky we’re @openskyahead on Insta, Facebook and YouTube. Or our website www.openskyahead.co.uk has lots of stuff to watch too.