Miniature Museum, and this audio wing Radio Droogdok, joined forces with poet, spoken word artist and lo-fi theatremaker Jonny Fluffypunk to launch a new experimental project: Radio Hut – Test Transmissions.
Part art installation celebrating and exploring the magic of radio communication, part interactive site-specific ‘recording station’, part alternative micro theatre. All packed into our little tin hut kitted out with the very latest in obsolete technology.
The Radio Hut took up residency in the courtyard of the Museum for a week of exploration and experimentation, kicking off with a bespoke theatre show from Jonny, performed in conjunction with Stroud Theatre Festival.
Since launching onto the theatrical scene in splendid style, both the Radio Hut and the ‘Test Transmissions’ show have gone on to exciting new iterations, including a residency at the SVA in Stroud.
This project is supported with thanks to Stroud Festival & The Museum in The Park
Please visit these websites for more information on…
Miniature Museum – the mother-ship of Radio Droogdok: www.miniaturemuseum.org.uk
Jonny Fluffypunk’s Theatre Show: www.jonnyfluffypunk.co.uk
Details of emergent experiments and related activities during that week – www.museuminthepark.org.uk
‘I love Jonny’s storytelling – it’s hard not to. Ukelele in hand, his bobble-hatted head wobbling along with the wonky lampshade next to him, he perches on top of a metal barstool at centre stage, yanks out a pile of papers from under one of the many clunky analogue radios on the table next to him, and launches into the charismatic and beautifully British storytelling satire at which he excells.
I won’t spoil too much – it’s too funny not to see for yourself – but the story outlines the coming-of-age of the extraordinary Radio Boy; a young man growing up in dead-end Essex in 1980-something, whose life and, crucially, voice, are irrevocably and beautifully changed by his love affair with good old fashioned radio.
Test Transmission from The Edge of The World is rife with Fluffypunk’s classic humour; there’s quite a few gags that elude me – I couldn’t have told you that Jenni Murray presents woman’s hour and I don’t know what Money Box Live is – I am a clueless teenager, you guessed it (!) But the pure soul, warmth and poignancy that Jonny pours into his stories don’t need translation – his voice echoes across the generation gap, transmitted and received, with unparalled clarity.’
