The Wonder of the Other - Sofia Labyrinth 2008

The Expensive Habit

The blog for the project Foreign Rituals to Familiar Habits and Back! is now pulic and can be seen here - The Expensive Habit

In Between...Villany, Hungary

Thank you Miryana for making this memoir of our time together on the Sensory Labyrinth Youth Exchange...our first in Hungary.

Ariadne's Thread Training in Milan 22 - 28 September 2008

The labyrinth is a metaphor for life and the thread a metaphor for the breath, or perhaps for the sense of being alive. This was the suggestion made to 28 participants from Italy, Romania, Germany, Wales, Turkey, Bulgaria and Portugal who gathered at the Vila Affori in Milan Nord for a training in COIAPA (Context Oriented Inter-Cultural Applied Participative Arts). Over 5 days a Sensory Labyrinth Theatre performance was created. As now seems natural, the process led to a very heartfelt performance which had a profound impact on visitors and inhabitants.

Many thanks to all who took part and to Robert, Katja and Lorenzo from Arci Varieazioni for hosting and to Bistra Choleva from Biveda, Bulgaria for assisting with the training. Bistra has worked with Cynefin for 5 years as actress and organizer of several projects in Bulgaria and is bringing her experience with Michael Checkov's actor training to strengthen the presence of actors when performing in the Labyrinth.

Porto Revisited

As part of the Tikktika: Playing Beyond Space and Time project, funded by the EU Grundtvig 2 fund, artists Jane Fox and Tomos Barton helped create a Labyrinth in the city of Matosinios, near Porto, Portugal last week. Co-devised with artists from Bucharest, Porto and Paris this was the second of four small Labyrinths that are being created for the project. The first in Paris worked with children in a primary school to transform their school in the last week of term to a 'Republic of the Imagination' and as a setting to tell the story of the lost child. The one last week in Portugalwas designed to launch a new second chance school and the audience were the pupils of the school enetering it for the first time through the Labyrinth!

Thank you to Luis Mesquita Isabel Leal and Isabel Moreira for hosting such an innovative application of the Labyrinth and thank you to Tomos and Jane for representing Cynefin.

The next Labyrinth will be in Bucharest with grandparents and the next in Wales with young parents. The hope is that the materials generated by these Labyrinths will come together to create a children's book an accompanying website and a workshop outline which can be used in schools to look at the issue of playing, lost childhood and the urban environment.

The Wonder of the Other - Sofia Labyrinth 2008

"In time, everything you hear will fade into silence.
Everything you see will perish.
Everything you smell and taste will rot,
and everything you touch will break.

But there is that which never breaks, never dies
and can be found in the place from where you are hearing these words
the place where you are looking from
the place where you smell, taste, think, feel, touch from.

Go to the heart of this place.
Find that which never dies."

These are the words that frame the journey of visitors to our current Labyrinth production in Sofia, Bulgaria. A co-production between Biveda and Cynefin made possible by the European Foundation for Culture. Co-devised with ten young local volunteers, twelve Bulgarian actors and six Serbian actors this is one of the most populated Labyrinths Cynefin has made so the large space available to us at the "Chitaliste" or Cultural House in downtown Sofia has been utalized.

There's been a lot of coverage on national TV and we were sold out quite soon. With 7 performances to go the audience reaction is getting stronger...which seems to be a pattern to longer runs.

Labyrinth of Work Done, Carinthia, Austria

On the 7th June the first Sensory Labyrinth Theatre in the new permanent Labyrinth in Carinthia was performed as part of the A-Zone arts festival in the Lepen Valley Six actors from Vienna and Iwan Brioc worked together over a week to realize the performance, of which more will be written later. The performance was made possible through a grant by Welsh Arts International.

Festivities in the Forest!

The Gwydyr forest is set to become filled with vibrant colours, tantalising tastes and enticing aromas at the end of this month, as Cynefin Theatre Company return to stage their new production.

'Alban Hefin' (The Light of Summer) is a performance which is celebrating the people, produce, and environment of the Llanrwst area, set within the context of a fantasy festival. It is being held in June, as this is the time of year traditionally viewed as a time of celebration.

Jacqui Banks of Cynefin explains; 'Midsummer is a time when flowers are at their brightest, the days are long and the weather mild, the perfect time to spend time enjoying festivities'.


The performance, to be held at the Caerdroia Labyrinth will be created through collaboration with local arts practioners and businesses, in a new interpretation of the traditional summer fair. The artists are being asked to create unique ‘stalls’, in response to the local businesses goods. These ‘stalls’ are places where you will discover exclusive performances and the opportunity to buy a range of products.


This will be Cynefin's fifth production at the site and they are returning due to popular demand. The labyrinth has a keen audience following, it's unique location and engaging performances make it something people remember for months afterwards.

Ceri Rimmer, one of the Cynefin's directors explains that 'We are really excited by the concept of this years performance, we wanted to celebrate the Labyrinth and the local area. We feel that everyone will be surprised to discover how much creative talent, and high quality produce can be found in such a small area, and hope that this relaxed and fun labyrinth event will be as enjoyable as our previous productions. Another of our aims is that this performance will encourage the audience to support the local producers, after the event.'


The event is presented by Golygfa Gwydyr community group who manage the Caerdroia site. Wyn Roberts, their development officer says…. 'The tradition of performing in hilltop labyrinths was 200 years an annual event. Alban Hefin and other recent performances at the Caerdroia is re embedding this lost heritage in a relevant and popular way for modern audiences’.


Audience members can expect the unexpected as they wander the mile long path of the labyrinth, and everything they will encounter will be interactive which is sure to make it a fun day out for the family.

'Alban Hefin' is running for two days only, the 28th and 29th of June from 1pm-7pm, and costs £8 for adults and £6 for children.

There will be a bus provided to take visitors up to the labyrinth; but you may also enjoy the invigorating walk through the forest.

Booking is recommended, contact: 01492 642 357.

Alban Hefin is funded by Awards for All Wales, Conwy County Borough Council and Arts Council Wales

Alban Hefin - 28th and 29th June 2008

Megan Broadmeadow, Ceri Rimmer and Jacqui Banks direct their second Cynefin Labyrinth production at Caerdroia, and in collaboration with local artists and small producers create a market fair the likes of which have never been seen before.

Alban Hefin 21st - 22nd June

The next event at Caerdroia, near Llanrwst is Alban Hefin.

Artists Megan Broadmeadow and Ceri Rimmer are creating the performance of a Solstice fair - called Alban Hefin in Welsh. Along the path visitors will find local produce available alongside artists instillations. It promises to be a market like none other. Further news to follow.

Carinthia Bullitin

Iwan is currently in Carinthia (Karnten), Austria creating another outdoor Labyrinth. Commissioned by A-Zone, an art space in the Leppen Valley, the Labyrinth is following a North American Indian design commonly found in woven baskets and called "The Man in the Maze."

The materials for creating the Labyrinth are wooden farming implements which have been used to farm in the valley over the last 200 years by the Haderlap family. These have a very poigniant symbolism, since several of the Haderlap family, being Slovene Austrians, were transported to death camps during the 2nd World War.

The Labyrinth is therefore a monument to peace and Zdravko Haderlap, the current farm owner, choreographer and journalist who has been working with Iwan to realize the project has called it Gernika #2. No pressure there then!