"A change of perception is the start
to a change in direction."
Deborah Claire Procter
to a change in direction."
Deborah Claire Procter
Deborah's Message
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In Wales where I am from there is a word "Hiraeth" which roughly translates as "longing" or "homesickness" - I think of it as a yearning for that which does not yet exist but should!
I love to experiment and find new perspectives. One step on this journey was setting up Clear Insight Productions. I'm not always either clear, insightful or productive, yet I am 100% dedicated to finding a way. |
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My passion for the fields of culture, personal development and life-long learning has put me in touch with some of the best teachers in theatre, music, dance, NLP, martial arts and so on. I love sharing that knowledge and I am passionate about finding life hacks and new ways towards inner game mastery because when we move out of bewilderment, past disappointment, and arrive at clarity and insightfulness it's a kind of magic.
The mission is to create bridges using contemporary culture as a catalyst for our diversity, sustainability and united future - that means working from the premise that #ittakesavillage. Our approach develops day by day, through all the possible ups and downs yet with a quirkiness and sincerity that drives us forward. A change of perception is the start to a change in direction - culture and creativity give us that option. Let's see around corners together. 
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BIOGRAPHY
Deborah Claire Procter is a multi-media artist from Wales who makes performances for theatres, galleries and site-specific spaces. She gained her degree in theatre at the University of Exeter and afterwards her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Wales, Cardiff. Her performances have been shown in numerous prestigious theatres and galleries such as The Ferens (Hull), Spacex (Exeter), Hemsley Theatre (Madison, EEUU), and the Museum Theatre (Madras, India).
On first gradating she was invited to work with Theatre Alibi (U.K.) on "Dawnchorus" and as part of the rehearsal process received training with Gardzienice Theatre Association in Poland. The theatre critic David Adams (U.K.) described her solo show ‘Don’t Know’ as both “lyrical and quirky.” In 2003, with the support of a commission from Welsh Independent Dance, she began making videos with dancers and performers, after being paired up with video director Matthew J Humphreys. The short ‘Am I This?’ was chosen for The Dance on Screen Festival at The Place, London. Since then she has made over twenty videos, shooting in locations in Wales, Argentina and Austria. In 2005 she received the Creative Wales Award which allowed her to continue working with video and experimental dance. She received the first of two awards from Wales Arts International in 2003 that allowed her to visit Argentina and to begin training musically with Oscar Edelstein (composer) to make the voice-work of difference pieces of musical theatre such as ‘Insanas’ (directed by Silvia Pritz), as well as video for ‘Rivers and Mirrors’ (where she worked with Sandra Grinberg of the Trisha Brown Dance Company), and for the operas, ‘El Caballo Fantasma’, and ‘La Carta Imaginaria’ (for the Latin American Contemporary Opera Cycle) by Edelstein. Procter continues to work vocally as an actor-singer and is a guest vocalist for the Argentinean avantgarde ensemble, Ensamble Nacional del Sur. She has performed with them in a wide range of important venues in Argentina such as La Trastienda, Casa de la Cultura, Café Vinilo (Buenos Aires); Teatro Argentina (La Plata); Teatro Tres de Febrero (Parana); Auditorio Nicolás Cassullo (Quilmes); Auditorio del CePIA (Cordoba), and also in solo concerts of Oscar Edelstein in Bolivar Hall (London) / The Tabernacle (Machynlleth), Corbett Road Concert Hall (Cardiff), and more recently in the cult sound studio Spectrum (NYC). |
...the formidable Welsh singer Procter (her voice acting as an instrument)...the ensemble accompanies an incredible intervention of Procter, a singer that is a kind of cross between Cathy Berberian and the free jazz vocalist Lauren Newton. “To the singer Deborah Claire Procter it is only necessary to be grateful to her for the opportunity that welcomed the audience to be able to re-discover the incomparable and inimitable singularity of the beauty of the human voice. Her intervention (perhaps for coming closer to something that might unite scat or the onomatopoeic phonetics of certain African traditions) was simply dazzling for the technical solvency in the range, and her versatility in intervening in a work that demands superlative competences in order to translate the complex interior world that it expresses.” |
Interviewed by Aekta Kapoor of eShe which serves as a platform for women's leadership and as an advocate for peace in South Asia.
Deborah has studied with the following organisations:
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Teaching
Procter has been a part-time lecturer in many institutions, including teaching performance at University of Glamorgan, and voice for broadcast journalists at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and and guest lecturer in many institutions like the University of Glamorgan, University of Wales, Cardiff, University of Londrina, Brazil, and University of Baroda (India). She also has taught theatre and voice to many youth and community groups such as Sherman Theatre (Cardiff), Welsh College of Music & Drama (Cardiff), Coleg Glan Hafren, Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum and Caerleon Museum.
In 1995 Procter began training intensively in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnosis, including with leading practitioners Stephen Gilligan, and co-founder John Grinder, and has received the qualification of Master Practitioner and Coach. She coaches individuals and has led workshops for actors with stage-fright and co-written two articles on the uses of both martial arts and NLP for actors.
In 1995 Procter began training intensively in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnosis, including with leading practitioners Stephen Gilligan, and co-founder John Grinder, and has received the qualification of Master Practitioner and Coach. She coaches individuals and has led workshops for actors with stage-fright and co-written two articles on the uses of both martial arts and NLP for actors.
Some of the many organisations where Deborah has given training:
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Artistic Journey
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I began a new journey working with video that started in 2003 when I was selected by Welsh Independent Dance for the training scheme “Dance Bytes for Camera.” I was one of four choreographers selected to work with four video directors resulting in two weeks of experimentation.
Through out my life consistently taken classes in various movement techniques including contemporary dance as an adolescent and then as an adult extensive physical theatre training with Gardzienice Theatre Association, long term training with Gaby Agis (Skinner Release), Stuart Lynch (“Body Weather” - Butoh), and Phillip Zarrilli (Kalaripayattu); one month intensive with Ruth Zaporah (Improv); and Short movement courses with David Zambrano, Laurie Booth, Rosemary Butcher, Stephanie Skura, Miranda Tufnelll, Geraldine Pilgrim, and Mohammed Sherif (Kalaripayattu). For "Dance Bytes for Camera" I was teamed up with Matthew J. Humphreys, a graduate of Newport Film School whose biographical video “Lost Reels” had won many prizes, and whose interest in low tech, Super 8 and “amateur aesthetic” combined fantastically with my fascination between trained and non-trained movement wherein my approach to “choreography” was influenced by my study of live art and theatre giving me tools to play with use of space, image, and physicality. My theatre roots gave me a curiosity about the sense of the on and off stage as is used so often in Greek Theatre. Then from fine art I enjoyed the idea of view points e.g. Birds Eye View, P.O.V., vanishing points and so on. Playing with perspective was important as is the Latin root of perspective being, perspire, to see through. Our team was mentored by Dan O’Neill, founder member of the award-winning Featherstonehaughs, who performed with many other leading dance companies, including DV8, Second Stride, and Toronto Dance Theatre, and who is a choreographer and film-maker. I chose to work with performance artist Fergus Byrne (Dublin) with whom I was part of a performance project at Chisenhale Dance Centre led by director and choreographer Stuart Lynch. Byrne is a fascinating fine artist with a strong background in the movement technique “Body Weather”, developed by Japanese dance Min Tanaka. Then it was Carole Blade, the producer for WID who suggested dancer-performer Hannah Morris (Cardiff) who has a varied hybrid background in contemporary dance, theatre and circus. This team was perfect as my approach to dance is strongly influenced by my background in theatre mixed with my involvement with physical theatre, new and post-modern dance. The result of the two weeks of experimentation was a short film called "Somewhere There" and a second film "Am I This?" which was selected for "One Minute Wanders" at The Place Dance Film Festival (London) in 2004. Later more footage was edited to become the short film "Together?" - a duet where no-one meets and no-one touches, yet they are acutely together and obviously aware of each other. They are for me like the man and the woman of a weather clock - infinitely connected but forever separated. Thus began a journey into video and photographic visual imagery that I have continued ever since. Being from rugged South Wales I cannot escape a sense of landscape in my work, and that feeling of having been forever conditioned by the strong landscape by which we are surrounded - that sense of the sacred in the land that comes from the roots of Celtic spirituality - and so for me, the human and the landscape is a source of constant inspiration. In this direction I am drawn to the painter Casper David Frederich - following a long line of others such as René Magritte, Max Ernst, and including Samuel Beckett for whom Frederich’s Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon, was the source of Waiting for Godot. I am always excited by how one art form fires of other responses creating new magic and mystery. Deborah Claire Procter |
"You had to be there to see how ingeniously certain sequences were performed…If you have a school kid around the house, he or she will no doubt love “The Odyssey.” Do him or her a favour and take it in this weekend." "The performers re-enact Athena’s appeal to Zeus to rescue Odysseus from the enchanting Calypso’s Island using a toy Statue of Liberty and a playing card King as puppets. The whole audience was just roaring with laughter…For one and a half-hours the acting ensemble entertained us with their wild interpretation of Homer’s poetry…The presentation was fun for all ages. I would encourage those who have not had a chance to see it,…it is a mirthful explosion of fun ideas.” "It’s inventive & entertaining…the evening was constantly charming & captivating." DIRECTOR OF MADISON UNIVERSITY THEATRE STUDENTS MODULE FOR EDUCATION & PRODUCTION OF "THE ODYSSEY" (DEVISED ADAPTATION OF WORK BY HOMER) FOR SCHOOLS
Vocalist & video maker for "Rivers and Mirrors: Part I" by Oscar Edelstein 2007 © Alun Owen
"Don't Know: solo described by theatre critic David Adams (U.K.) as both “lyrical and quirky.” Commissioned by Welsh Independent Dance 2004. Directed by Silvia Pritz
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Deborah has studied with the following organisations:
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Video Direction
- 2014 La Carta Imaginaria - seven short videos for a live opera by Oscar Edelstein, commissioned by Centro Cultural de la Música, Buenos Aires
- 2010 A Horse Bleeding Shakespeare - video for new opera by Oscar Edelstein with dancer Sean Feldman and dressage rider and horse from Carreg Dressage [15’]
- 2008 Piano Impossible - for life piano performance of Edelstein shot in Buenos Aires & Boesendorfer piano factory, Vienna. Shown at Centro de Estudios en Música Contemporanea, B.A. [20’]
- 2007 Rastras - Documentation of Live out-door dance, Buenos Aires. Camera / Edition [6’]
- 2007 Together - Dance Duet - Choreographer / Co-director / Editor [6’]
- 2007 Rivers & Mirrors: I - Dance solo for live piano work- Sandra Grinberg of Trisha Brown Dance, N.Y.C. Choreography [23’]
- 2006 Los Monstruito’ - Co-director 5 camera shoot, Oscar Edelstein’s opera [1hr 40’ ]
- 2004 Am I This? - Dance short - Choreographer / Co-director. Produced by Wales Independent Dance (Selected for Place Dance Film Festival, London) [1’]
- 2003 Somewhere There - Dance short - Choreographer. Produced by Wales Independent Dance [3’]
Solos (Performer / Creator)
- 2004 Don’t Know - Aberystwyth Arts Centre Studio commissioned by WID Dance Bytes. Directed by Siliva Pritz
- 1997 Illuminata - Museum Theatre, Madras (India) / Hemsley, Madison (U.S.A.) / Venue 13, Edinburgh. Directed by Philip Zarrilli
- 1995 Scene to be Seen - Oriel Gallery, Cardiff / Ferens Gallery, Hull - commissioned by Oriel - based on exhibition of the painting of Harry Holland
- 1994 Trying to Hold My Breaths - Howard Gardens, UWIC, Cardiff for M.A finals
- 1994 P.O.V - Howard Gardens, UWIC, Cardiff for M.A
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
Together? (2007)
Duration: 10”
Choreography: Fergus Byrne, Hannah Morris & Deborah Claire Procter
Director: Matthew J Humphreys & Deborah Claire Procter
Performers: Fergus Byrne, Hannah Morris & Deborah Claire Procter
Camera: Matthew J Humphreys
Editor: Deborah Claire Procter
Soundtrack: Oscar Edelstein “Piano Impossible”
Producer: Carole Blade
"Together?" it's a duet where no-one meets and no-one touches, yet there is an evident connection between the two performers. They seem like the man and the woman of a weather clock - infinitely connected but forever separated. The music comes from a piece for piano called "Piano Impossible" by Oscar Edelstein (Buenos Aires). It runs around, racing over the movements of the performers, somehow emphasising the space between them and their attempts to connect. It is as if they - each of the two performers and the music - are together, yet at the same time struggling with the impossibility of really joining. Once again the frame of the camera, at times, fails to capture the whole story and seems to reflect the implausibility of their really meeting. There is frustration, un-spoken that breaks into the dynamic of the movement.
Am I This? (2003)
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Duration: 1” Choreography: Fergus Byrne & Deborah C Procter Director: Matthew J Humphreys & Deborah C Procter Performer: Fergus Byrne Producer: Carole Blade - Dance Bytes for Film 2003 Lighting Camera: Matthew J Humphreys Editor: Phil Moran Screenings: Selected for “One Minute Wanders”, Dance Film Festival, The Place (London) 2004 |
Somewhere There (2003)
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Duration: 4” 21’ Choreography: Fergus Byrne & Deborah Claire Procter Director: Matthew J Humphreys Co- Director: Deborah C Procter Performer: Fergus Byrne Camera & Editor: Matthew J Humphreys Soundtrack: Mike Tosha Producer: Carole Blade - Dance Bytes for Film 2003 Screenings: Dance Bytes for Film 2003 Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff |
Where the Sky Begins (2003)
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Concept & Direction: Ailsa Richardson
Co-devisers & performers: Fergus Byrne, Ian Morgan, Deborah C Procter & Mel Shearsmith Original Soundtrack: Peter Pavli & Nick Jones Production manager: Cathi Piquemal A site specific performance at LA SCALA, for the opening of the newly commissioned public sculpture by Mark Pimlott outside the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. |
..the dancers play out an archetypal but strong objective, yearning for what is out of reach but not out of sight…a beautiful, creative and well executed performance. Western Mail |
Actor
- 2005 Where the Sky Begins - Aberystwyth Arts, directed by Ailsa Richardson
- 2004 Untitled - Podium, Oslo, work in progress directed by Stuart Lynch
- 2003 The Knowledge - Film short directed by Chris Forster
- 2002 That’s Entertainment - Dancescen, Copenhagen directed by Stuart Lynch
- 1998 Superstructure - Univ. of Milikin (U.S.A.) - Site Specific Performance performed / created with Michael Peterson
- 1997 To Whom it Might Concern - Spacex, Exeter - performed / created with Steve Hodge
- 1996 A Small Country - BBC Radio Wales directed by Alison Hindle
- 1995 Ship’s That Pass - Film short directed by Catrin Clark
- 1993 Linoleum Suite - Film short directed by Jane Hubbard
- 1993 Watching me, Watching Me - Channel View, Cardiff - Duet performed / created with Catherine Waller
- 1991 Bitch Tribe - Chapter Arts, Cardiff directed by Nancy Reilly of Wooster Group
- 1990 Dawnchorus - Towngate, Basildon directed by Ali Hodge & Tim Spice, Theatre Alibi
2^6 - To Whom it Might Concern (1997)
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2^6 was a homage to John Cage (1912-1992) one of the leading composers of the American avant garde, credited for staging the first 'Happening' in 1953 at Black Mountain College. Cage was concerned with by-passing the ego. He said, "I came to the intention of making my work non-intentional, because I had no desire to express my ideas or my feelings. I wanted rather to open my mind to what was outside of my mind, and so I had to become free of my likes and dislikes."
In typical Cage-ian tradition the piece was structured through a process of consulting the I Ching, the ancient Chinese oracle (a binary system with 64 permutations). It draws material from Cage's quasi-diary, 'Diary: How to Improve the World (You will only make Matters worse)'. There were five sections each based on a page chosen from Cage's diary with the I Ching used by Hodge as a random number generator which could choose any one of 64 pages.
Duration 64' |
Conception: Stephen Hodge (founder of Wrights and Sites)
Performed & created: Stephen Hodge & Deborah Claire Procter Assistant Director: Matt Fletcher • 5 days of live art inspired by John Cage’s diary Funded by National Lottery through Arts Council of England and Exeter Arts Council Hosted by Spacex Gallery, Exeter |
Archive of older solo performances by Deborah Claire Procter
Illuminata (1997)
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Based on original writing, texts and songs of Hildegard de Bingen, and texts of Oliver Sacks.
Solo show performed & written by Deborah Claire Procter Directed by Philip Zarrilli TOUR: Harry Younger Hall - Venue 13 (Edinburgh), Hemsley Theatre (Madison), Baroda Theatre (Baroda) & Museum Theatre (Madras) |
“A demanding and great performance. The use of everyday objects, simple actions, Bingen’s music and other texts is visionary in its artistic and religious vision. “Illuminata” is a first rate “illumination” in performance and creativity.” The Cardinal (Madison) “A touch of originality... All throughout Procter sang clearly and effortlessly.” The Hindu (Chennai) |
Scene to be Seen (1995)
Solo show performed & written by Deborah Claire Procter
Will you speak?
Will you sing?
Let me read your thoughts
A performance sketch inspired by the work of Harry Holland.
Shadow play, spoken word and song.
“Procter created some wonderful images. Our audience throughly enjoyed the performance.” Oriel Gallery staff
Made for Oriel Gallery (Cardiff).
Re-performed in Ferens Arts Gallery (Hull)
Will you speak?
Will you sing?
Let me read your thoughts
A performance sketch inspired by the work of Harry Holland.
Shadow play, spoken word and song.
“Procter created some wonderful images. Our audience throughly enjoyed the performance.” Oriel Gallery staff
Made for Oriel Gallery (Cardiff).
Re-performed in Ferens Arts Gallery (Hull)
Trying To Hold My Breaths (1994)
Solo show performed & written by Deborah Claire Procter
Devised as finals show of M.A. in Fine Art, the Time Based Department of the art school of University of Wales, Cardiff
Playing with illusion and reality, this show used three slide projectors to create the illusion of a swimming pool.
The piece was inspired by the lines on the bottom of the pool and by a fear of swimming.
Text and images mixed.
Devised as finals show of M.A. in Fine Art, the Time Based Department of the art school of University of Wales, Cardiff
Playing with illusion and reality, this show used three slide projectors to create the illusion of a swimming pool.
The piece was inspired by the lines on the bottom of the pool and by a fear of swimming.
Text and images mixed.
Dying for a Cup of Tea (1993)
Solo show performed & written by Deborah Claire Procter
Devised as part of first year on M.A. in Fine Art, at the Time Based Department of the art school of University of Wales, Cardiff
Devised as part of first year on M.A. in Fine Art, at the Time Based Department of the art school of University of Wales, Cardiff
