Dear viewer,
Hello. My name's Sarah,
I am 35 years old,
and I'm in companionship with pain.
Welcome.
This graphic score is an original visual artwork designed by Rachel O’Neill and Michaela Pointon, created in response to the live and audio versions of Pain and I. The score documents the different elements of the performance - text, choreography, and music composition – to create a unique visual piece for anyone to experience. Existing both as this digital document (online) and a publication (physical), this graphic score aims less to represent or imitate the performance and more to creatively explore and share its qualities and intentions. The score can be a reflective document for those who have experienced the performance and/or audio piece, as well as a piece of artwork in its own right to be experienced by those who have not seen or heard the other versions of Pain and I.
You might be on your own or with others - perhaps you are with a support worker or care giver, or a human or animal companion. If you are inside, you can choose a room or space where you can relax. If you are outside, you can choose a place where you feel safe and at ease. You could be in your bed, on a mat, in a wheelchair, on a sofa, on a park bench, up a mountain, on the train, in a café, or somewhere else. Throughout this experience feel free to do what is most comfortable for you – you can sit, stand, lie down, stretch, lean, move around. You can stim, snack, drink, make noise, look away, close your eyes.
Take however long you need to settle in to where you are. Wherever you are, and however you are feeling, it is perfect.
If the content becomes too much, you can come back to it at another point. You can spend however much or little time with this document as you wish.
You do not need to be a polite viewer - you’re invited to do what is most caring for your body and mind.
This space does not merely accept you but needs you to be you for it to be itself. This space shakes its head at pressure and judgement. It wants another way. This is a space to rest into your body, to acknowledge yourself however you are, and to settle in to the richness of listening to pain.
Take your time. Breathe. Allow yourself to breathe with the images and words.
Pain and I
Graphic Score
Graphic Score Credits
Designed by Rachel O'Neill and Michaela Pointon. With Images by Brian Hartley.
Pain and I is created and performed by Sarah Hopfinger, with music and sound design by Alicia Jane Turner
Produced and presented with funding from Creative Scotland's Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance and Made in Scotland.
This digital graphic score is part of Pain and I: a diverse body of work by Sarah Hopfinger that includes a live performance, an audio experience, a graphic score with digital and printed versions, and an immersive installation.
Pain and I is currently on tour in Scotland with the immersive installation hosted by Dance Base.
Pain and I premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 at Summerhall as part of the Made In Scotland Showcase, and has also been shown at Take Me Somewhere, The Place, The Roundhouse, Festival Quartiers Danses (Montreal) and Dundee Rep.
The team of people working on Pain and I across all mediums are:
Created, choregraphed, written, performed by Sarah Hopfinger
Music & Sound Design by Alicia Jane Turner
Graphic Score design by Rachel O’Neill & Michaela Pointon, images by Brian Hartley
Dramaturgy by Laura Bradshaw and Jer Reid
Stage Managed by Lucy May Wilson (Fringe 2022)
Produced by Stories Untold (Scottish Tour 2023-24), Laura Fisher (Fringe 2022)
Film by Lucas Chih-Peng Kao
Installation Design by Rachel O'Neill
Production images by Tiu Makkonen
'Pain and I' is funded by Creative Scotland through The Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance & Made in Scotland. Supported by The Work Room, The Place, Battersea Arts Centre, Platform, Take Me Somewhere and Tramway.
