Peter's Grand Tour

Two days in Liverpool before I started the next leg.

I’d been so relaxed in Dubrovnik that I needed some motivation to get me back on track. Sir Bob Scott, International Director at Liverpool Culture Company provided the inspiration I needed. Bob led the city to win the bid and I’ve a huge respect for him and his views.

The other inspiration was hearing what Hope Street had been up to in my absence: An acclaimed production, directed by Hilary Westlake, a plethora of activity managed by Annemarie Martin through our trading company, and preparations for "My Psychotic Heart", a sound installation at the Oratory by Andrea Earl and Kal Ross. Alan Richardson and Alison Jones have also been leading the Creation Centre Action Group meetings; the developments there are exciting, and spurred me on to find more centres in Europe to visit.

My final two hours in Liverpool were spent at Liverpool Airport. I still can’t bring myself to refer to it as Liverpool John Lennon Airport. It was a dreary experience. The transfer bus was full of litter. Two check-in desks were open, but only one was manned. The queue to get through security was long and slow. Two Spanish visitors, whose flight was boarding, tried to go to the front of the queue. They were greeted by a surly security man who asked them if they’d like to queue like everyone else. They managed to squeeze in half way down the line, but the security man’s beady eye followed them and he told the passengers in front of them not to let them get any further.

I try to treat myself to an 'essential' luxury item at the start of each leg of the Grand Tour. First leg was a snazzy digital camera; second leg Armani shades (check the photos taken by the first luxury item). This third leg was going to unite me with an iPod. But there’s no electrical department at Liverpool Airport, so no additional luxury item. I had a glass of Chardonnay to cheer me up and used up my loose change - £4.10p... Almost a luxury item itself!

Liverpool Airport has improved a lot in the last few years, but it has some way to go to achieve the standards of a world class airport. Polite staff and increased facilities would be a help.

And so to the living work of art that is Dubrovnik. It suffered extensive damage in the war that divided Yugoslavia in 1990. Thanks to Unesco funding the city has been restored to its former beauty and is a World Heritage Site.

I consider the War Photo Museum to be one of the most important museums in the world. Its photos tell stories of the futility and senselessness of war. Not just the war in Yugoslavia, but wars across the world in recent times. One picture I saw a year ago is etched in my memory and it moves me to tears whenever I think of it. Politicians, religious leaders and every member of society should visit this place. It might help to make the world a better place.

My 20 days in Dubrovnik were planned as holiday aimed at satisfying my mental and physical needs. I exercised daily, swam and sunbathed until I achieved a delicious shade of brown - the return of Peter Tan, Wendy!

I also took advantage of the fact that it was the Dubrovnik Summer Festival www.dubrovnik-festival.hr - Croatia’s largest festival of theatre, dance, music and culture. It was coincidence that I’d planned my holiday to coincide with the festival, but fortuitous that I was able to see some excellent theatre and meet with artists and arts managers.

"Adieu Europa" produced by the Miskolc National Theatre of Hungary was performed in the historical Minceta Tower and told the story of Hungary’s history since 1956. Visually, it was exciting and the ensemble of 14 were fantastic; their complicity was a masterclass to all acting students of this style of work. The movement and slick choreography had depth, precision and beauty. The play was moving and amusing. The production reminded me of Complicite’s "Lucy Cabrol" and the physical movement and anarchic clowning of "Science Friction", a piece I saw in Edinburgh in 1987 by French company, Théâtre de la Mie de Pain. At one point, blocks of wood shot down two industrial chutes - a dramatic moment in the show, spoiled by my mind drifting back to UK risk assessments and health & safety issues. When will I return to enjoying moments like these without thinking of how ridiculous our laws have become?

The premiere of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" produced by the Festival Drama Ensemble in co-operation with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb was sold out weeks ahead, but thanks to Tomislav Grgic, I managed to see this production on the island of Lokrum. The first scene was played on one of the boats that took us to the island. We moved to a stage in the centre of the island for the next scene, performed on rollerblades - I’m not sure why, and the actors made me nervous because they looked so unsteady. We then traversed to the rocks where the rest of the play was presented. The design incorporated the rocks and pools.

I met with Slaven Tolj, director of Lazareti www.lazareti.du-hr.net, an organisation described to me as similar to Hope Street in its vision to push the boundaries of arts practise, to work with international artists, and to encourage cross art form collaboration. The building is a converted hospital and houses a 100 seat studio, outdoor performance space, making space, bar and accommodation for artists in residence - a sort of Creation Centre. It generates income from a beach bar adjacent to the centre. We’re both keen to maintain links, possibly through a piece that Hope Street is producing in 2008...

The project is a collaboration between artist Dusko Sibl www.duskosibl.com, Momentum Theatre www.momentumtheatre.com, film maker Robin Rice and a Liverpool band. It is one of our five projects and was conceived after I saw the beauty, the movement and dynamism of Mr. Sibl’s work. The project will be a live art multi-media improvised performance that encourages the collision of different art forms. On stage, Sibl will create three new paintings inspired by the movement of the actors, under the direction of Momentum. Live film editing and improvised music will also inform the piece. No-one will be sure who is leading - neither the audience, nor the artists. It will be presented in Liverpool in October 2008. We hope then to develop the piece and present it in Zagreb and possibly Dubrovnik... Advert over!

Thanks to Dusko, I also attended the opening ceremony of the festival and the first night party. Lobster, octopus, Champagne... Heaven! There I met with the festival director, actors, TV presenters and others working in the arts. Great food, too much wine and plenty of networking.

Enough of work stuff...

Holiday news: The temperature hit 40 degrees. The UVA level reached its maximum of 11. I was in ecstasy. The island of Lokrum has a section where swimming costumes aren't allowed, so NO TAN LINES! The beach is very friendly and I networked with many people working in the arts - a literary agent from Helsinki, theatre director from Vienna, opera singer from Germany and others from across Europe. Aside from the networking, swimming and sunbathing, I got into the habit of having a beer in the afternoon. That, combined with the heat and a little intentional dehydration led to a euphoric state of well-being. Highly recommended. Sometimes I drank alone, other times with Neil, director of a contemporary jewellery gallery in Glasgow. On one occasion the waiter brought us the local fennel brandy, Travarica. It knocked my head off. Terrific!

I felt that I should’ve got bored of walking through the city, getting the boat to Lokrum, swimming, sunbathing, dehydrating myself, and the routine. But I didn’t and I look forward to going back!

The EurøKaz Festival in Zagreb is an ambitious, respected and groundbreaking festival of new theatre www.eurokaz.hr

This year the festival encouraged and commissioned artistic collaboration using as its theme the life and legacy of Tito. It brought together companies from Egypt, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Italy and Russia.

At the stunning National Theatre I saw a 'total theatre' production directed by three young directors from Macedonia and a Russian choreographer. It was performed by 40 actors from Italy, Slovenia and Macedonia and featured a dead pig (representing Tito). Can you imagine a real pig on stage in England? There’d be an outcry from animal rights campaigners, risk assessments as long as a communist manifesto and health and safety meetings demanding more time than rehearsals. And if the dead pig actually made it onto the stage, there’d no doubt be a series of compensation claims from the public who'd got sick due to contamination at close proximity. My mind drifted briefly to Liverpool and I wondered why there isn’t a production so ambitious in 2008. Maybe there is, but it’s not yet been announced.

On another night I saw three productions. First, a contemporary dance piece by dancers of Indian origin at 8pm. I couldn’t get on with this production. It communicated nothing to me, no emotion and narrative. If the music was intended to convey the pain of living through communism, it succeeded.

The second piece at 10pm was completely bonkers and I loved it. It was a collision between IOU and Inspector Gadget on acid. It comprised every sort of multi media device and gadgetry - puppets, fish tanks, laser beams, lights, sound, music, video, pulleys, ropes, bubble machines, a paper shredding machine, guns, exploding beer cans and more. And it had content, was amusing and moving. There was no acting as such, but it was a theatrical delight.

Finally at midnight, an intense physical theatre, wordy political drama, its style emulating Berkoff.

I saw a further three shows during the festival, all of which were ambitious, innovative and well attended. By the end of the week and having spent the last three weeks in busy cities in temperatures of between 25 and 38 degrees, I was ready for some serious sunbathing and swimming on the coast. Actually as I write this, the temperature has plummeted to 14 degrees and it's pouring it down. So double the reason to head for the coast.

My journey to Zagreb took me via Gyékényes, a place forgotten by the latter half of the 20th Century. The train stopped at every station. In between each station there was more greenery and trees - wet this time and equally dull. Some stations were located in the middle of nowhere, not a road or house in sight. Who got off there? Why?

I had a three hour wait for my connection so I caught up with my notes and blog. It was odd sitting in this forlorn place at a table with my laptop. As it was my birthday I decided to have a Pálinka. It turned out to be a treble and cost me around 40p. I might just come back to Gyékényes...