SharpWire

SHARPWIRE – A HISTORY

SharpWire was the creative partnership of singer, cellist and actor Matthew Sharp with composer, writer, guitarist, Pete M Wyer. Press this link to hear  a setting of Lora’s poem Adan by Pete, performed by SharpWire. This setting became a part of the first SharpWire show Adam’s Apple

In 2001 Pete began work on a modern ballet score for Imbalance, commissioned by Phrenic New Ballet, Philadelphia. As a part of the score he wrote the works ‘Spada Invisible’ and ‘Life Support’. The first required a baritone singer and the second needed an estimable cellist – thankfully Pete had recently met the unique performer Matthew Sharp at a ‘jam’ with members of the group Matthew had co-founded The Gogmagogs and his own group Cinnamon Skin (with Lisa Torun).

Matthew recorded both parts for the session with great aplomb and Pete was prompted to suggest forming a voice, cello, guitar ensemble – SharpWire.

After receiving a commission from PRSF in 2001, Pete wrote additional material, including a setting of Lorca’s poem Adan and Charles Simic’s Factory. SharpWire gave it’s first performance at the Poetry Cafe, Covent Garden, later that year, but it was following a performance of Adan at a ‘scratch night’ (showing fragments of work in progress) at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) that the direction of the duo was set:

Liking what they’d seen, BAC offered a week’s support to workshop and develop a theatre piece – Pete and Matthew spent the week, using everything from the original session material Spada Invisible and Life Support to material from the PRSF commission, as well as several new pieces such as a chase sequence Cat And Mouse. The end of the week heralded the work in progress Adam’s Apple, which had the simple premise of a life-journey – the main protagonist played by Matthew, accompanied by an ambiguous guiding spirit, played by Pete.

The show, which came to be described as a ‘multi-media song-cycle’, premiered in 2003, , it was popular and, after a further period of development adding set and film by Tobin Rothlein, it was selected for a This Way Up tour in 2004 (a development scheme run from Battersea Arts Centre)  and toured the UK and ending the year with performances in Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and New York Public Radio.

See video of she is sleeping from ‘Adam’s Apple’, 2004.

Several other shows were developed as SharpWire: in 2005, working with soprano Helen Withers and video artist Tobin Rothlein, they explored a new show at BAC, Saccades And Fixations. A much more ambitious show Cremenville was developed the next year, commissioned by Opera North and co-developed by Farnham Maltings with Pete writing a full length script and score  - it featured a four piece band (who all acted and sang) and an additional actor/soprano, Elizabeth Franklin Kitchen.

Cremenville was popular, but the additional cost of performers made it harder to fund. After the initial excitement, SharpWire became rather quiet, both Pete and Matthew became busy with other projects until, in 2007, while away in the south of France on a writing break, Pete came up with an idea for a one-man storytelling show Johnny’s Midnight Goggles. Crossing paths on his return Pete suggested it to Matthew and when, later the same week Bill Banks-Jones (Director of Tete a Tete Opera Company) called to ask if SharpWire had anything new that they’d like to show at a new festival Tete A Tete were hosting at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, it was a natural choice.

A work in progress performance of Johnny’s Midnight Goggles followed, Matthew was now alone on the stage, surrounded by piles of music, scripts, cello, microphones etc. Having worked together for so long by this time, the piece capitalised on the skill sets of both artists; highlighting Matthew’s unique capacity to multitask;  acting, singing and playing virtuoisic cello all in a single breath and Pete’s ability to create plot, characters, script and music that could take us on an extravagant journey and yet still be performed by a single actor/singer/musician. With development funding by Tete A Tete Opera and Brighton Festival, Pete spent a further 3 weeks writing script and music and Johnny’s Midnight Goggles finally premiered at the Pavillion Theatre, Brighton in May 2008 and began what was to be a long series of performances.

A sequel, Finkelstein’s Castle was written the following year, but, as often seems to be the case, the relative success of the company brought changes and strains. When, in 2008, producer Fiona O’Mahoney, began working with SharpWire the dynamic was inevitably altered, things soon became difficult and eventually, in April 2009, Pete ended his partnership with Matthew.

The company  had lasted for 8 years and if it produced only three shows that were seen by a wider public in that time, it still had a great deal to show for those years; for Pete it gave an opportunity to explore music-theatre in a first-hand way, acting and singing in Adam’s Apple and Cremenville and more importantly, an opportunity to create concepts, scripts and libretti and develop them with his own company, rather than to the demands of an outside commission. Similarly for Matthew it provided an opportunity to further explore his music theatre ideas, language and performance skills, furnishing him with two theatrical showpieces along the way that demonstrated his unique combination of skills, a platform for his ongoing theatrical adventures.

To learn about the ongoing performances and activities of Matthew Sharp, please visit his website: http://www.matthewsharp.net/