First there’s a visit to the cloakroom where all coats and bags – yes, even the small ones – are surrendered.
Clutching my phone with the precious QR code ticket, I move on to the next stage where I am guided into a dimly-lit waiting area, with an array of tables, each with six chairs.
I sit down with my companion and the other chairs are slowly taken by strangers.
We exchange the odd nervous smile or titter while we are told a little about the experience.
Shoes and socks must be removed, there will be no speaking to each other but also no jump scares.
We then progress to the final stage where shoes are removed and headphones donned and our party waits nervously for the red light to turn on – an invitation to enter the experience.
Through the door we enter a small room with six chairs gathered around a pendant light.
We sit and a voice in my headphones tells me there will be periods of total darkness as we make our way through Viola’s Room.
Audiences explore Viola’s Room on foot
To test our resilience, the light goes out. It’s pitch black and my body’s reaction is primal as my other senses and imagination attempt to fill the void.
The hairs on the back of the neck stand up, confirming the stereotype.
The bulb comes back on and we’re told to make our way into the experience, to follow the light.
What happens next is like stepping into a fairytale.
The story – narrated by Helena Bonham Carter – plays out in front me as I wander through a series of different scenes.
The world is surreal and wondrous and while the plot isn’t complicated, it’s interesting enough emotionally to engage me.
This lack of complexity is especially welcome on the occasions when I’m awed by what’s happening around me and miss a couple of sentences.
The set itself is huge. I find myself at the head of our group, wandering through the labyrinth of walls made of sheets, waiting for lights to appear and guide me to the next location.
Sometimes I am too quick and hover at a crossroads in darkness, waiting for illumination.
At one point, I imagine this is how Lucy must have felt, pushing her way through fur coats in a wardrobe, then fir trees beyond as she entered the land of Narnia.
The darkness provides both a slightly unnerving atmosphere and serves to exaggerate the tingling feelings and emotions created by the story and the startling sets.
The lack of shoes, similarly, creates a certain vulnerability while giving another dimension to the experience.
When, even in the context of immersive theatre, do you ever reach down and touch the floor?
What’s fun about Viola’s Room is that while I know, logically that I am in a warehouse in Woolwich, part of my brain thinks I really have stepped into another world. I know I’m basically enjoying theatre performance, but it feels like I’m in a ghost story.
The experience lasts about an hour but feels much shorter time. I emerge, blinking, back into normal life and grinning at my companions.
It’s been a bonding experience, though no-one has said a word. Conveniently, Punchdrunk’s bar – The Prop Room – is right there for debriefs and cocktails.
It’s a halfway point to linger just a little longer in the fantasy before rejoining the real world. Who wouldn’t want that?
5/5
Viola’s Room: A Christmas Tale is booking now until December 23
key details: Viola’s Room
Viola’s Room: A Christmas Tale, which features an updated festive soundtrack alongside the original plot and narration, is set to run from until December 23, 2024.
Tickets for either show at Woolwich Works start at £28.50 per person.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
“I really want us to do a dog show – the Royal Arsenal is a very dog-friendly place and we are as a venue,” said Nick Williams, director at Woolwich Works.
“My own dog comes in regularly and she has very strong views on these things.”
It’s a new year and, having taken the helm at the venue only four months ago, there’s a sense of anticipation and possibility from the man at the top.
“It would be so easy to reel off lots of things I want to do, but actually part of the fun of this is finding out,” he said.
“I’m quite keen for us not to be just another arts centre.
vFor one thing, we’re too big for that – our main space is 1,500sq m and it can take 1,800 people.
“It’s enormous and that’s only one of seven spaces.
“That’s why I’m talking about Woolwich Works as an events space.
“If you take the word ‘arts’ out of it, the door is open to all sorts of things.
“There’s been an array of different sorts of stuff in its short life so far and I’m pushing us to experiment with more of that.”
He’s serious about the dog show, of course, with an ambition to build on last summer’s Woolwich Woofs event – but to do it at scale with exhibitors, stalls, events and categories that go far beyond the narrow pedigree world of The Kennel Club.
He says he wants it to be the antidote to Cruft’s, with space to celebrate waggy tails and grey muzzles.
But that’s very much the wet nose of the Great Dane, with plenty of plans and opportunity coming over the next 12 months.
DIARY DATESFamily Folk Show
Jan 28, 11am, £12.10
Folk duo Megson present a concert of ditties for those aged 0-8.
Ruby Rushton
Feb 9, 6.30pm, £15.50
The jazz quartet offer an anniversary performance of their album Two For Joy.
Rotations
Mar 7, 7.30pm, £13
An evening of classical accordion music and dance plus a Q+A.
“This year, I would like to be hosting profile events, where people will say the venue looks really great and that they’re going to come to us,” said Nick, whose career has taken in roles at Arts Council England as well as running venues in Notting Hill and Perth.
“It’s really easy to get to Woolwich on the Elizabeth Line – we’re six minutes from Canary Wharf, 15 minutes from Tottenham Court Road and an hour from Reading.
“I really want us to host stuff that couldn’t happen anywhere else because we have so much space and so much flexibility within it.
“We don’t have a single fixed seat anywhere – everything can all come out be moved around and put back in a different configuration.
“We started to experiment with a bit of that in the autumn and there’s a lot more of that to come in 2024, in various different guises.
“We have a fabulous courtyard at the centre of the venue and it’s our most underused space, even though it’s enormous.
“Last summer, we put a beach bar out there, which was nice, although the weather wasn’t that great and we’ve had a bandstand this Christmas with various different groups and performers, which has been great fun, and drew a lot of people with a bar and some mulled wine.
“This coming summer, we’re going to put something out there with a bit of shade – a bit more of a garden feel.
“We’ll have a stage for those months so we can programme a range of performances.
“People will just be able to drop in – it might be a DJ night or a community group.
“We’ll mix and match to connect with lots of different types of audiences.
“The idea is that people will just come by and hang out.
“Hopefully there’ll be lovely weather and we’ll have a wonderful time.”
The Fireworks Factory at Woolwich Works
While there are some big dates on the calendar but currently under wraps, Nick was keen to stress that staff at the venue were very much open to ideas – especially creative ones.
“There’s so much I can’t actually tell you at the moment,” he said.
“We have a very big wellness and fitness event coming up in early spring.
“We’re also going to have an all-day Eurovision festival at the beginning of May, before the main event, and that will be great fun, with some big-name performers.
“The beauty of this place is that we can do what we like with it.
“I had a festival director come down who really wanted to do a show with us because it suited the vibe to put in the round.
“He wanted it for about 450, but here he found he could get 650, which was brilliant. It’s that versatility that’s fantastic.
“One of my key aims is getting as many people as possible in to see what we can do here.
“My attitude is that, if you’ve got a project that might be worth doing with us, then approach us – we’ll have a wander round, a coffee and a chat and see where it leads.
“I’m really keen on exploring crossover events which mix food, performance, creativity and wellness.
“We can do that here – it doesn’t have to be one thing or another.
“But you can’t run a place like this in isolation – you have to be open, interested in other people’s ideas.
“We’ve got too much space to fill just to rely on our own thoughts.
“We need people to come forward with their ideas.
“Word is getting out and that is entirely what we’re after.
“More and more people are coming forward with all sorts of things, and it’s all really exciting.
“In many ways we’re still a startup – still evolving and working out what works at Woolwich Works.”
Visitors and local residents can expect this spirit of openness to continue in 2024 – Nick’s overriding message being one of welcome.
He said: “I think we want people to realise there’s something for everyone here, and it really is for them.
“We encourage people to wander into the building and say: ‘Hi’.
“One of the first things I did when I came was to change the cafe opening hours.
“It used not to open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it would open at lunchtime from Wednesday onwards.
Woolwich Works boasts seven spaces that can be used together
“Every time I was in there in the morning, someone would try to get in – I thought there was clearly an untapped market here – so from October we started opening at 8am on Monday mornings.
“We noticed quite a few people came and worked from the cafe, so we launched the Workers Club, and people take advantage of that because it’s a good deal.”
For £6, people can work from the cafe from 8am-6pm on weekdays with unlimited tea, coffee or juice. Times vary at weekends
There are also options to upgrade to lunch for £12 per day or to lunch and an after work drink for £15 per day.
“There isn’t anywhere like it near here,” said Nick.
“These are people often running small independent businesses or sole traders who want to support us and we’re making it easy for them to do that.
“We’re also very keen for our resident creative companies to perform here.
“Chineke! and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra have both been in our Christmas programme and one of the things we’re talking about with all the organisations is how we can collaborate more effectively.
“It’s a great conversation to have because everyone’s up for it.
“The Acosta Dance Foundation is a relatively recent arrival and Carlos is full of ideas.
“He really loves the main space and wants to do stuff in it, which is an exciting prospect.
“Having a global superstar say that they want to do something in our space is thrilling, so we hope that will come this year.
“I’d like people to think Woolwich Works is a place where really great things happen – somewhere they have a great time when they come and that always has something interesting happening.
“I have a sort of mantra – I want everyone coming away from an event to say that they had a really amazing time here, that they felt comfortable in the venue, that they were really welcome and that it was an easy, fun experience for them.
“I’d like people to think fondly of us, so that they want to see what’s on next time.”
Woolwich Works offers a regular newsletter with full details of forthcoming shows and ways to help support the venue.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Display boards packed with vibrant work, gallerists, creatives and art enthusiasts all mix together under one roof.
There’s even a little smearing of ink and the smooth gearing of presses thrown in for good measure as new prints are made on-site.
While the physical event at Woolwich Works‘ expansive Fireworks Factory venue closed on October 29, 2023, the online version of the fair remains live until November 5, 2023, before it goes into hibernation to get ready for next year’s iteration.
Readers do not, however, need to wait 12 months before exploring print locally. In addition to showcasing work by big names such as David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Eileen Cooper and Gavin Turk, one of the event’s joys is the depth of its offering, which includes nearby businesses.
Director, Carolyn Nicoll, and artist and technician, J Yuen Ling Chiu, literally walked a collection of framed works along the path beside the river to hang on the organisation’s stand at the event.
But the studio is no simple gallery or dealer.
It’s located at the heart of a facility on the river close to the southern end of the Thames Barrier that provides space for hundreds of artists and makers.
Thames-Side Studios is the largest provider of its kind in the UK with a sculpture workshop, darkroom, galleries, cafes and an education space on-site.
For its part, the print studio is very much a working resource both for those artists or visiting creatives to make use of.
It offers a wealth of equipment including etching, litho and relief presses as well as digital printing, screen print beds, spaces for etching, aquatints and drying or finishing prints.
Technician and artist J Yuen Ling Chiu, of Thames-Side Print Studio
“We’re the local print studios to the fair and we’ve been open for nearly 13 years now,” said Ling.
“You can walk to us from Woolwich Works.
“We run short courses and offer various membership options – in some ways, the studio runs like a gym.
“People can dip in and out as they want to, or they can become regular users of the facilities.
“We also offer training for businesses, schools – so many different things.
“We’ve been exhibiting at the fair since it started and we were very happy to be at its eighth event this year.
“It’s a great way to showcase what our members have been doing.
“We have a huge and varied membership, with people who have just come out of school and are looking to be part of their first exhibition, to established artists with 40, 50 or 60 years of printmaking behind them.
“With people trying print for the first time, we can nudge them in the right direction.
“We get to see what they’re doing every day behind the scenes and how their work is progressing.
“This means that the selection we’re able to show is different to other galleries.
“We have a very strong working relationship with all the artists and know exactly how every single work we have has been made, who has made it and where.”
Thames-Side Print Studio director Carolyn Nicoll
Having moved down from Glasgow, Carolyn established the print studio after her artist husband found space at the creative hub.
“I had experience of working in studios and galleries in Scotland before I moved to London,” she said.
“There were things happening in west and east London at the time, but nothing south-east.
“My husband was at Thames Side Studios and they wanted to set up a print facility, so it evolved from there.
“The fair at Woolwich is fantastic. It’s somewhere we can showcase the different processes and work of artists – what we have is really quite diverse.”
That also includes work by Ling – who in addition to working as a technician at the print studio – is also a short course tutor there and an artist in her own right.
One of her works on display is a print titled Dockyard Diary April, part of a series of progressive etchings inspired by plants found at the former Woolwich Dockyard, which she passes regularly on her walk to Thames-Side Print Studio from her home at Royal Arsenal Riverside.
“The dockyard was founded by Henry VIII in the 1500s but it lies abandoned today,” said Ling.
“There are two big dockyards, but they’ve been left to become overgrown.
“I walk past it every day, so I’ve started foraging the plant life from those abandoned places and turning it into a series of etchings.
“It’s an amazing place because this wild, derelict site now has wild poppies and there are baby birds there too.
Detail from Ling’s Dockyard Diary April
“Something which was a vision of empire – of British maritime strength – has been reclaimed by nature.
“I started it in January and then, each month, I forage a bit more plant-life and add it to the steel plate etching.
“Then I produce prints from it, but in very small numbers because the plate changes each month and I can never go backwards.
“I’m now onto the 10th iteration and the image is getting busier and busier.
“The whole work has been made using low toxicity materials and methods.
“For example, I do not use any white spirits, any turpentine or any harmful spirits – things that can damage your lungs.
“I use a coconut ester, which is much better for the environment. It’s etched in a solution of saline sulphate, so it doesn’t produce any vapours.
“A sediment is created, which I neutralise and filter so no solid waste goes down the sink.
“I’m thinking about how nature has reclaimed the site, but also making work about that in as nature-friendly a way as possible.
“This historic site is a little gem, a hidden pocket within walking distance of the fair and the studio and that makes it really special for me.”
Perhaps, like Ling’s work, that’s part of the appeal of the fair itself.
Something that each year leaves a deeper, more complex impression on south-east London.
Thames-Side Print Studio offers a wide variety of courses in various methods of printmaking with specialist technicians and tutors available.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
A focus on affordability is the overall philosophy driving Fairview New Homes’ approach to its latest scheme in Woolwich.
Homes at Dock28 are set to become available at the south-east London site from August 19 and the developer has brought them forward with low price points and running costs very much in mind.
Comprising 216 apartments, split into studio, one, two and three-bedroom homes, the scheme is located on the banks of the disused Broadwater canal.
This once served the industrial operations of the Royal Arsenal and meets the Thames to the north.
Sited about 16 minutes’ walk to the east of both Woolwich Elizabeth Line station and Royal Arsenal DLR and rail station, future residents will benefit from the widespread regeneration of the area as well as the multitude of improvements to the historic town centre.
Such developments mean those buying at Dock28 will be within 15 minutes of numerous pubs, bars and restaurants as well as the extensive cultural space of Woolwich Works and the many shops of the High Street.
Fairview New Homes sales manager, Sohail Saiyed, said: “When you look at this development and the way we have approached it, it’s a very affordable option.
“It’s set within a really lovely area – when you look at what’s happened here over the past few years, I think the location massively benefits from the nearby regeneration.
“What we’re offering – when you look locally at how much apartments are being marketed for – is very good value with the guide price for a studio starting at £275,000, one-beds from £297,000, two-beds from £390,000 and three-beds from £475,000.”
Homes at Dock28 will be located beside the Broadwater canal
These prices are markedly lower than those in the likes of Royal Docks or the Isle Of Dogs, with buyers able to save tens of thousands of pounds on similar sized properties.
Prospective buyers can also look forward to lower service charges, with Fairview taking a pared down approach to on-site amenities in favour of lower bills for residents.
Sohail said: “There will be a communal residents’ garden as well as a roof terrace for people to use, but Fairview’s approach is to try to make the homes we build as affordable as possible both to buy and in terms of the service charge.
“Amenities like gyms and concierge services mean higher bills, but we still put security at the heart of our designs with a two-step entry system so packages and mail can be delivered safely to the blocks.”
The apartments themselves aren’t short on features either with private balconies and patio spaces offering outdoor space.
The three-bedroom duplexes at the scheme will extend to more than 1,000sq ft of internal space too.
Fairview is currently marketing one, two and three-bedroom homes
“You have large windows throughout the apartments, a white matte finish on the walls, with premium painted doors, chrome handles and sun-bleached oak Amtico flooring in the living areas and grey carpets in the bedrooms,” said Sohail.
“In the kitchens, there are quartz, salt-and-pepper, worktops with dove grey doors to the units, fully integrated appliances including fridge-freezers, induction hobs, electric ovens, wall-mounted microwaves and free standing washer dryers in the storage cupboards.”
Some properties feature views of the Thames, while others take in the Canary Wharf skyline to the west – a reminder perhaps that the estate can be reached in less than half an hour, door-to-door thanks to the arrival of Crossrail.
The DLR offers access to Royal Docks and London City Airport, while trains offer trips to Greenwich, Deptford and London Bridge – not to mention the nearby Uber Boat By Thames Clippers river bus.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Now all of that tiresome admin is out of the way, why don’t we have Felix (see Part One) tell us what impact he hopes the show will have on those who see it?
He said: “I would like people to feel that childlike awe and wonder that you get as kid when you go and explore your grandfather’s attic.
“You’re told you’re not allowed, but you know that serious wonders lie up there and you brave it anyway.
“You’re by yourself, you open the door, it’s very dark and full of clutter. There’s something in the far corner and you venture over there.
“It’s thrilling, terrifying, exhilarating and it’s full of magic. That’s our aim.
“As adults, much of the magic has been removed from life because of our responsibilities. We’re trying to give that back to our audiences.”
Read Part Three for a bit of history and a smattering of inspiration
Punchdrunk founder and artistic director Felix Barrett
START READING HERE
>> PART ONE <<
This isn’t exactly a typical article structure.
But then its subject matter isn’t a typical show.
Since it opened in March 2022, more than 200,000 people have seen theatre company Punchdrunk’s latest offering – its first at Woolwich Works, the organisation’s permanent global home.
The Burnt City is a sprawling creation.
Masked audience members are free to explore around 100,000sq ft of warehouse space, transformed for the production into an enormous, intricately detailed set in which the show’s multitude of performers appear and disappear.
Founder and artistic director of Punchdrunk, Felix Barrett said: “The show is based on the fable of the fall of Troy and the collapse of that mythical metropolis.
“It’s a future noir sci-fi thriller, told across 120 rooms, which audience members are free to explore in their own time.
“It’s part haunted museum, part real world living movie and part adult adventure playground.”
Audience members wear masks immediately marking them out from the performers who go about their business without acknowledging the watchers.
Audiences are free to explore the show in whatever order they choose
“Most of our performers are contemporary dancers and there’s a big soundtrack, so it’s like you’re inside a movie,” said Felix.
“It’s a gestural, physical language, rather than the intellectual side of your brain having to process it, so it transcends language.
“It takes at least 200 people to run a performance.
“There’s a big cast, a big group of front-of-house stewards, the stage management team, all the backstage departments – design, costume, lighting and sound.
“It takes a village, that’s for sure, but that’s what’s necessary to create single moments for the audience members.
“Different people in the same building will have different experiences.
“I want people to treat the show like a gallery or a museum but one where everything has come alive at night.
“It can have a clear story if you follow a single character but there are myriad narratives to uncover.
“We don’t want to prescribe a certain way to do it, and there’s no right or wrong way to watch the show.
“The reason why you enter through the bar is important, because that’s your safe space, so, if it all gets too much, you can go back, have a nice drink and watch the band.”
Read Part Two to find out why booking sooner rather than later would be wise
The Burnt City features an enormous cast of contemporary dancers
>> PART THREE <<
“At The Globe theatre in Elizabethan times, if you didn’t like the show, you could throw a cabbage at the performers and leave – I thought that was empowering,” said Felix.
“I created Punchdrunk in 2000 because although I’m a theatre buff and I love it, I was a bit disillusioned with the stuff I was seeing.
“So I asked how we might give the audience control and tried to set out to create something where they were the epicentre of the work.
“Ideally I wanted to create something which could bring the hairs up on the back of the neck.
“What I’m interested in is trying to flip audience expectations and to give audiences a night out which they wouldn’t easily get elsewhere.
“I always want to break the rules of conventional theatre – to try to make sure that there are secrets to unlock.”
For Felix, that process is rooted in the bricks and mortar of the places Punchdrunk performs.
“The company’s shows have called disused warehouses, private houses, an old school and tunnels underneath Waterloo Station home.
“It has made work in locations as far flung as Shanghai and New York.
“A theatre is a blank canvas, but a building is already quite detailed, so we look at all the architectural detail and how we can harness that power, accentuate it and make it stronger for the audience,” said Felix.
“First of all I walk the building, let myself be guided by it and then chalk out the safest place and the most threatening part.
“You’re left with a beautiful, existential tour of a space, and then we start to put a story across it, with the source material.
“Then you start to dream about the environments and the worlds.
“We definitely do world building before we do narrative arc – we’re closer to a video game than a play.
“The word ‘immersive’ came from that genre of entertainment originally.”
Read Part Five for a look into the future
The Burnt City is based on the fable of the fall of Troy
>> PART FIVE <<
“We’ve been nomadic for 23 years, and although we’ve got buildings we can settle into in New York and Shanghai, we’ve never had that in London, where we’re from,” said Felix.
“To have a home base is extraordinary, so I’m excited about us starting to break new ground, asking questions about the future of the theatre – how we surprise our audience so that we can create something nobody has seen before – that’s our main objective.
“We’re going to start playing with and experimenting with new projects. In a computer game, you can often take your character and go anywhere you want in a world.
“I think the future is taking that empowerment and applying it to real live shows.
“It took us six or seven years to get into our home in Woolwich and open our first show.
“Now it’s almost hard to imagine us not being in Woolwich – we absolutely love it.
“We’re hungry to make more work. This really is a new dawn for Punchdrunk”
No. There was no Part Four
Find out more about Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City via this link
Punchdrunk’s permanent home is at Woolwich Works in Woolwich
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Walk down the side of Woolwich’s Jobcentre Plus and you’ll find a recently installed mural decorating a once bare brick wall.
Ellen Strachan’s Work In Woolwich mural is one of five artworks commissioned by the council to brighten up the area and showcase its heritage.
“My piece looks at the past, present and future of work locally,” said Ellen, a former physics teacher who lives in Abbey Wood and decided to pursue art full time after the birth of her daughter three years ago.
“There are three large panels that have those themes and two others that were created based on the stories and creations of local residents who participated in workshops about that theme while I was developing the work.
“Some told me about their lives, while others created their own paper cut outs for inclusion in the piece.
“I hope my mural makes viewers think a little bit about the people around them – how we are reliant on each other and that everyone’s work helps us as a community.
“I’d like them to think a little bit about the past and all the people who have contributed to where we are now, the future and where we are going.
“It’s a time of such change, with more technology coming and jobs changing quite a lot and it was interesting to look into that.
“Environmental considerations are also very important – since we’re going to need to make a huge change in how our economy works with regard to everything from transport to heating.
“If people look at the mural, I hope they wonder why I’ve chosen the things that are featured and ask themselves what they would choose if they were creating a piece.”
Welcome To Woolwich by The Collective Makers on Powis Street
Ellen’s work in this instance comes as printed vinyl, although she usually works in lino cut or using cut-out paper collage, which was the basis for the mural before it was digitally scanned.
“I like those techniques – I’ve always used a pair of scissors,” she said.
“Both make you think about the positive and the negative – where something is either printed or it’s not.
“The artwork for this mural has been created using paper, which makes me simplify what I’m doing and create something quite bold.
“It feels really good to have the piece finally unveiled.”
The council commissioned the piece as part of its Woolwich Mural Trail – a series of works by local artists created with local residents, schools and community organisations.
It joins Welcome To Woolwich by The Collective Makers on Powis Street, Your Woolwich in Beresford Square by Paige Denham and Foxfield Primary School, Woolwich Scenes in Myrtle Alley by Marc Drostle and Area Of Prosperity in Barnards Close by Haffeera Cader Saul and Nightingale Primary School, to complete the trail.
Area Of Prosperity in Barnards Close by Haffeera Cader Saul and Nightingale Primary School
“These stunning murals tell the personal stories and aspirations of our community, bringing creativity and colour to Woolwich town centre,” said Greenwich Council cabinet member for equality, culture and communities, Cllr Adel Khaireh.
“It’s fantastic to see how proud the artists and the school pupils are of their artwork, and to see Woolwich’s rich history brought to life.
“On behalf of the council, I’d like to thank all the different artists, community groups, schools and people who got involved and shared their memories and ideas. I hope they will all be enjoyed for many years to come.”
“I actually found out about the mural trail through Made In Greenwich’s May Jane Baxter,” said Ellen.
“Working with them has been really great. Initially when I gave up teaching, I was very isolated as an artist until I went to Made In Greenwich – they’ve really made me feel like I’m part of a community.
“I started by doing surface pattern designs using lino cut prints.
“I’d take them and turn them into textile designs for products, which I’d sell through the shop.
“Then I got the chance to design the Christmas windows for Made In Greenwich, which turned out to be quite important.
Work In Woolwich by Ellen Strachan in Calderwood Street
“Greenwich Council held an open call for artists to do the Woolwich Mural Trail and so I had that as an example of working at a large scale.
“Since then, I’ve had a few more large pieces of work commissioned – I’ve just been working for the past couple of weeks on a mural in Walthamstow for Crate, which is going to open a new food hall in the central shopping centre there.
“My piece will be on the back of one of the kiosks where people enter the space and it will welcome them.
“Working with Made In Greenwich has allowed me to build up my portfolio to apply for this kind of project.
“For example, I have another temporary mural coming up in Woolwich for the Woolwich Stories Cultural Trail, which is going to be taking place in August with some art installations and performances.
“That mural, entitled Woolwich Treepreciation will be on a disused shop front and will focus on trees – it’s showing an appreciation of the street trees in the area with hand prints and thumb prints making up the leaves.
“Local people’s words about the trees will also feature – lettering being a common feature in a lot of my work.”
Woolwich Scenes in Myrtle Alley by Marc Drostle
THE COUNCIL SAYS
>> “I’m so impressed with these special artworks and how they have instantly brightened up empty spaces in the town centre,” said Cllr Aidan Smith.
“Alongside wider improvements, which will get under way this summer, they help make Woolwich a more attractive and vibrant place for residents, businesses and shoppers.
“The upcoming works will provide improved facilities for traders in Beresford Street market including fully accessible public toilets, as well as new planting, better seating, lighting and play spaces throughout Beresford Square and Powis Street.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Musician, sound designer, producer, curator and promoter Pouya Ehsaei wants his audience to join him on a journey and it’s called Parasang.
Talk to him about the project and it quickly becomes apparent that the British Iranian creative is more or less constantly in a state of flux himself – sands shift, ideas evolve and develop.
Parasang is a Farsi word for an ancient unit of measurement – specifically the distance it is possible to travel from one location to another in a single day.
“If you were to go from London to Reading, for example, that would be two parasangs,” said Pouya. “If you go today, then you’d get there tomorrow night.”
Parasang isn’t, however, about traversing great distances.
“It’s a live collaboration between Pouya and a series of other musicians, fusing his electronic music with their free improvisation.
Created initially as a club night, it ran for 30 performances between 2018 and 2020.
“The idea was to invite musicians from around the world with different backgrounds who would not normally play with electronic music to join me on stage in a club so we could improvise and play together,” said Pouya.
The project then went virtual during the pandemic and has now changed again.
“That was using streaming platforms and we were jamming online,” said Pouya.
“There was me in my room and musicians from all over the world – from Detroit, Berlin, South Korea and Brazil – we played together remotely, which was very complicated to set up, but we managed it.
Pouya’s system allows him to jam on stage with musicians – image Monika S Jakubowska/Kings Place
“Now we changed Parasang to be a bit more like a trio or duo that plays electronic dance music mixed with world music in a concert set-up.
“I developed a hardware system so I could improvise with the musicians on stage.
“I have a modular synthesizer, a sampler, a drum machine and a few effects pedals – I signal process all of the sound from the musicians I’m working with as well.
“Everything goes through my system. I mostly make the structure with simple beats, atmospheric sounds and modular generated patterns and then the musicians will freely improvise over the top of that.
“Each of our concerts is one of a kind – the music is made there on stage and it will never be the same again.”
Parasang is set to be one half of the double-bill event Arsenal Of Sounds, which is set to take over Woolwich Works’ Beanfeast venue at Royal Arsenal Riverside on October 7, 2022.
Also on the bill will be Addictive TV’s Orchestra Of Samples, which sees soundscapes created from a vast library of recordings from musicians all around the world.
For this iteration of Parasang, Pouya will be joined on stage by Kadialy Kouyate, a kora player and griot (storyteller and musician) from Senegal.
“Every time I’ve played with him – three times so far with Parasang – it’s magic,” said Pouya. “His sound, his voice and his kora go very well with the stuff that I do.
“I’m really looking forward to the performance at Woolwich.
“The main idea is the sense of journey in our music. We start with something very pure and we take that purity to many places and we like our audience to come with us.
“Our music is hypnotic, immersive and atmospheric.”
Addictive TV’s Orchestra Of Samples is also on the bill
Pouya has been on a journey himself, both physical and musical, to get to where he is.
“Originally I’m from Iran and I started as a musician when I was a teenager – I took flamenco guitar lessons before moving on to classical guitar,” he said.
“In my early 20s I was teaching classical guitar in a school in Iran and then I found out about the electric guitar and I got into metal, nu-metal and rock music.
“It was a big thing back then.
“This was all underground though, in people’s houses or very small venues because that kind of music was banned.
“It was very hard to have a band and to do concerts – really to keep everyone motivated – so I gravitated to electronic music because you could just do that on your own.
“I could sit in my bedroom and send it out into the world, just to have a voice. There was no need to find rehearsal space for a band.
“It’s hard to be committed as a group if you can’t play concerts or really get any kind of feedback on what you’re doing.
“So then I stopped playing guitar and applied to study music technology at York and then I did a PhD before moving to London 10 years ago.
“I’ve been playing music here for a decade now.”
In many ways, Pouya created Parasang in an effort to recapture the feeling he’d had playing music as part of a group, rather than creating it on his own.
“When I came to the UK, I was working on electronic music and that aspect of being in a band with others was missing,” he said.
“That’s why I thought I’d get rid of the laptop and arrange my instruments so I could just play with others intuitively and do that live if I wanted.
“I really like it, the state of flow you get into – the connection I feel with the musicians is completely different than if you just play alone.
Pouya will be joined by kora player and singer Kadialy Kouyate for Parasang in Woolwich – image Monika S Jakubowska/Kings Place
“Especially when you’re improvising, you have to be present in the moment – all your senses are at work – and with my setup there are so many cables, knobs and buttons, they demand a state of complete focus. That’s something I really enjoy.
“When you come to a city like London it’s so vast and so big that you’re a little bit confused in the beginning.
“Finding people you want to work with and feeling part of a community can take a long time.
“But I have that now and I really feel that this is just the beginning for me. I’m now in the process of turning Parasang into more of a band situation.
“We don’t want to be a club night any more.
“The plan is to have an album a year with, say, with two musicians I want to work with, and then to go on tour with that before changing the line-up.”
It’s also through collaboration that Pouya came to be aware of the work of Addictive TV, the group he’s now sharing a bill with for the second time.
“I have a band called Ariwo, which is me playing with three musicians from Cuba – mixing Cuban and electronic music,” said Pouya, who has performed at venues such as King’s Place, the Barbican, the Royal Albert Hall, the Southbank Centre and the Royal Academy of Arts.
“We were playing at the Womad festival and I saw Addictive TV’s Orchestra Of Samples there – I was totally blown away by what they’d done.
“They saw one of the Parasang club nights in London and we got in touch. I think it was in May that we did a similar thing to what we’re doing in Woolwich – getting together for a concert. That turned out really well – we’re a good combination.”
Arsenal Of Sounds – Orchestra Of Samples And Parasang takes place at 8pm on October 7, 2022. Standard tickets cost £10.50.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
It’s a matter of small consequence to most Londoners, but to the 53-year-old mudlarker, it’s from the rise and fall of the waters that life emerges.
The Woolwich resident remembers two very distinct desires from her childhood in Cornwall – to never, ever work as a boring secretary and to have her own shed where all her treasures could be displayed.
As a young girl, she avidly combed the beaches and land, collecting shells, driftwood, bits of rope, mushrooms, toadstools, seedpods and eggshells.
“It’s something I have always enjoyed doing – using things I’ve found in artworks,” said Nicola.
“Life happens and, when I became a teenager, I lost interest and went and lived in France and then had my first child pretty young at 22 – everything was on hold, because I had to work.
“I did a bilingual secretarial course because I speak fluent French and then worked as a PA for banks in Paris and London.”
Nicola uses her finds to make art – image James Perrin
For 25 years, Nicola found herself doing a job she had vowed to avoid. While it brought her a comfortable life, money to buy a flat, security for her son and later her daughter, she never loved it.
“I was at the mercy of my choices for quite a while,” she said. “I was very good at my job, but I had this feeling it wasn’t what life was all about.
“I had this burning desire to create and make art and just be outside. I couldn’t ignore this thing in me.
“That said, I wanted to share my passion with other people and make the most of my life. I tried to ignore it but I was getting more miserable.”
She already knew the answer lay outside her door on the banks of the Thames.
When Nicola moved to London in 1999 she was almost immediately attracted to the river because it reminded her of her childhood in Truro.
“One day I was in Greenwich and the tide was low and there were these steps leading down to this long stretch of beach,” she said.
“I was just drawn to go down there and found this really peaceful world away from all my worries and my job.”
She started finding pieces of broken pottery and glass and used them to create art, just like she did as a child. Eventually she spotted her first coin.
It was then she discovered what she was doing had a name – mudlarking – the practice of scavenging through river mud for lost items of value or historical significance – this was a pastime enjoyed by a handful of Londoners back then.
But it has grown in popularity thanks to a blossoming online community, in which Nicola plays a large part.
She works under the name Tideline Art and has a YouTube channel with 135,000 subscribers where she documents her finds, broadcasting to 30,000 followers on Twitter and Instagram.
“Mudlarking is such a part of my life I can’t imagine not doing it,” said Nicola. She took the plunge eight years ago, aged 45, quit her job and rented out her flat to embrace the mudlarking life full time.
“I had been doing it for about 15 years – making art in my spare time and I suddenly thought: ‘I want to see if I can do something I love with my life’.
“I was very nervous of leaving banking, but I was building up Tideline Art on social media and my website and things gradually came together.
“I think if you follow something you are really passionate about and put all your energies into it, then doors start to open up for you.”
Today she has a studio at her home in Woolwich filled with hundreds of treasures she has found over the years, including a silver half crown from Elizabeth I’s reign and a wax seal stamp that belonged to the Commodore Superintendant of Woolwich Dockyards .
“A while ago I was sitting in this room and thought – ‘Wow this is actually what I dreamed of as a child – it really fills me with joy’,” said Nicola.
Nicola also makes historic finds, including this 18th century onion bottle – image James Perrin
She can be found on the foreshore as early as 6am and as late as 11pm, up to four times a week, looking for treasure.
“It’s very hard not to go because you think you might miss out on something,” she said.
“That’s the thing about mudlarking – you simply don’t know what you are going to find and that’s what keeps you going back.”
Her love of naval and industrial history means Greenwich, Deptford and the Isle Of Dogs are her favourite areas to go, kitted out in sturdy boots and knee pads with her trowel and phone at the ready to document any finds.
“You need patience and persistence,” said Nicola. “People might think you just stroll down to the Thames and come back with lots of bounty without any effort.
“What people don’t see are the hours you go down and don’t come back with anything.
“I get people asking where to go to find clay pipes, but mudlarks don’t give locations away because that is part of it – you have to go down and find out for yourselves. There’s no quick fix.
“I have never met anyone who isn’t inspired by this idea that you can find and hold history in your hands. It’s accessible to everybody.”
There are negative aspects though. The mud can be dirty, smelly and full of rubbish – particularly plastic – and, more recently, face masks. It can be dangerous too.
“I got stuck in the mud once,” said Nicola. “Luckily someone was with me, but it really was quite scary and gave me a new respect for the mud.
“The tides can rush up and you have to make sure you know where your exits are, because there are pinch points where you can get cut off.”
Another of Nicola’s fish sculptures – image James Perrin
Nicola mostly mudlarks alone as she enjoys the meditative aspect of it, but she said there was a strong sense of camaraderie in the community.
“It can be competitive but also supportive – people will help you identify your finds and share information,” she said.
More important items do not get used in her art, but are researched and featured on her channels. Rarer items have to be reported to the authorities.
“You have to have a permit to mudlark from the Port Of London Authority,” said Nicola.
“One of the responsibilities we have is to report any find that is over 300 years old, or ones that are historically significant, to the Museum Of London and they put them into a database.
“It’s really not the financial value. If you are going into mudlarking for that, then forget it. It’s about the story behind the finds for any genuine mudlarker. I like to think of the Thames as a giant liquid storybook.”
So in all those hours on the foreshore has she ever let anything slip through her fingers?
“I don’t think I’ve ever lost anything but one day I would like to throw something in for someone to find in 300 years,” she said. “I wonder what they’d find out about me? It makes me think of my own story.”
And that’s the truth of mudlarking. Everything and everyone has a story to tell.
“Activity” is the word buzzing around the lips of James Heaton as we sit in Beanfeast – one of the magnificent exposed brick spaces that form part of the vast Woolwich Works complex.
For the CEO of the Woolwich Creative District Trust – set up to independently operate the site on a not-for-profit basis – it’s a welcome change, given the challenging stop-start conditions of two years of pandemic restrictions.
Now though, even largely empty on a sunny Wednesday morning in April, there’s a life about the place – the vibration of possibility in its walls.
That’s something James and his team intend to nurture and feed as the months roll by until its performance spaces, rehearsal studios, recording facilities, cafe, bar and offices are all humming with the industry and pulse of cultural creation.
what is Woolwich Works?
James confessed at the start of our interview that, despite having been in post for nearly three years, he’s yet to find a rapid way of answering this question – testament, perhaps to the sheer scale of the project he’s steering.
“Woolwich Works is physically five buildings on the Royal Arsenal Riverside development in south-east London,” he said.
“They’re all former military buildings and are Grade II or Grade II* listed. The site overall is about 20 years into its redevelopment by Berkeley Homes.
“With Woolwich Works, Greenwich Council wanted to achieve a number of things.
“Fundamentally the beginning of this project was looking at these historic buildings and their situation and taking the view that it was important to preserve these spaces in public use for the benefit of everyone in the borough and beyond.
“A decision was made to develop the focus of these buildings as being around an arts and culture offer. Ultimately that’s how we’ve got to where we are.
Woolwich Creative District Trust CEO James Heaton – image Jon Massey
“Three of the buildings, all joined together – The Cartridge Factory, The Laboratory and The Carriage Works – are home to phenomenal immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, which has just launched its first show at the site and is also resident at Woolwich Works.
“The spaces have been joined together and audiences walk into a whole world and navigate themselves around it.
“Then, on the other side of No. 1 Street, there’s our main building, which has four wings around a central courtyard. That houses a number of venues, rehearsal studios, a recording studio and offices. We also have space in The Academy building next door.”
Alongside the cafe, performances typically take place in either the 1,504sq m of the Fireworks Factory – a flexible auditorium that can be set up in any number of configurations – or Beanfeast, a smaller, narrower venue on the first floor with views over the Thames.
what’s the intention?
“Woolwich Works is a multi-arts venue with lots of different spaces so we can present a varied performance programme,” said James.
“We have the resident companies and they will contribute to that as well as running various creative and community initiatives that offer opportunities to people living locally.
“These might be in schools or, for example, in our recording studio which will be the last thing to open here.
“We have world-class facilities and resident companies, but we’re also community focused, so if you’re someone who lives nearby and who wants to dip their toe into music, film or design, then we’ll facilitate that with formal training alongside mentoring, coaching and the chance to work with professionals.
The Fireworks Factory at Woolwich Works in full swing – image Chris Morgan
“Underpinning everything we do is that we’re a catalyst for collaboration. The aim is to create an ecosystem and we’re already seeing people working together. Our role at the trust is partly to cultivate that.
“The aim is that the professional, the community and the emerging all come together – whether through work experience, jobs, volunteering or performance opportunities – to help build pathways and open up the arts to everybody. We want to bring those opportunities to people who may be under-represented or who think they can’t access them.”
what’s coming?
“The near future is rooted in the fact that we’re looking at a horizon where things are relatively stable,” said James.
“We’ve never had that before and, next month, the building starts to get really busy. Almost everything gets going in May and stays running.
“We have what was our festive cabaret – The Grotteaux – opening as a springtime show instead and that looks bonkers, fantastic and eclectic.
“Our comedy, music and family programmes will continue throughout, and we’re really looking forward to the whole site being animated at the same time.
The main venue can be used in multiple ways – image Timothy Soar
“Then, in July, we’re launching what I’m hoping will become an annual festival here called Woolwich Words And Sounds.
“For that we’ll be programming the whole building with all sorts of different live music, comedy, literature and spoken word performances.
“We’ll have singer Alice Russell and also an amazing jazz saxophonist called Bob Mintzer who’ll be playing some of his big band repertoire with NYJO covering the last 40 years.
“Part of the thing that’s exciting about Woolwich Works is that its layout really lends itself to a festival model – there’s a big area of outdoor space and we want to have some food, drink, deckchairs and free music out there for people to listen to.”
open for business?
“The trust is a true not-for-profit, which means it has to sustain itself and look after the buildings through earned income,” said James.
“That means we do commercial hire for events – dinners, conferences, private celebrations and meetings – all the things you’d expect a big venue to cater for.
“We’ve had a few weddings and, of course, we’d like a few more. But we’re also here for the creative community with lots of rehearsal space available.
“The sector as a whole needs these spaces and the aim is to be available to artistic companies that aren’t based here.
“The idea is that doing this will also contribute to the ecosystem because when we have companies in residence for four or five weeks, inevitably they will meet other, like-minded people in the cafe or around the building.
“Creative people become more creative when they’re in touch with other artists.
“In the end, our success will be seen in the people who have progressed through Woolwich Works and who have gone on to do great things.
“It will be the stories of those people who found their opportunities here and were supported to find their life within the arts.”
Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City is playing at Woolwich Works now
Immersive theatre company Punchdrunk has opened its show at Woolwich Works, with tickets now booking into December.
The Burnt City transports audiences to the Trojan War with two distinct, detailed worlds to explore packed with mysterious characters to meet.
Troy is reimagined as a dense sci-fi city with an aesthetic inspired by Fritz Lang’s Mertropolis, while Greece is a wasteland filled with jaded soldiers and eerie memories of ancient gods.
Presented as a promenade performance, ticketholders are free to wander these environments at will, interacting with the characters over 100,000sq ft of space
The production is the company’s first show in London since 2014 and its most ambitious to date, reuniting the team behind Sleep No More including original cast members from that show.
Performances last up to three hours, with six arrival times at 10-minute intervals.
Shows on Tuesdays-Fridays start at 6.30pm, Saturdays 1.30pm and 6.30pm and Sundays 4.30pm.
Taste and waste is what Tescha Joy is all about. Driven by a desire to create sustainable, eco-friendly, flavourful food, she created Joy’s Caribbean Fusion – a street food brand that had its debut at Bexley’s Wasteless Market two-and-a-half years ago.
Her food is vegan and contains only plant-based ingredients, cooked with Caribbean spices to create dishes that attract longer queues at the markets she serves than stalls selling meat. And it all started with some banana skins.
Scroll down for Tescha’s Banana Skin Curry recipe…
“I’m a public health nurse and work three days a week in the NHS,” said Tescha.
“My first dish was banana skin curry – I was at work one day and everyone was throwing away their banana skins and I asked them to give them to me instead.
“I hate waste so I took those skins and created a dish with them. There’s lots of iron, fibre and many other nutrients in them. The whole point of the dish was that I wanted to show people that you don’t have to throw away certain ingredients.
“I showed you can create a nice meal from them and that’s where I got the idea for the business – it’s the dish I took to the Wasteless Market and it’s the only recipe I’m happy to share because I want people to recreate it at home.
“I want to have it printed in this paper so readers can use it rather than throw away their banana skins.
“We’d normally throw them away in the Caribbean too – people over there are amazed when I tell them.
“I’d decided to go vegan for environmental reasons – I think we eat too much meat in this country. I’m not anti-meat, but I think it’s important to cut down.
“Climate change is important to me because I want a better future for my children – I want them to grow up in a world where we waste less food.
“I know what it’s like to be hungry. The majority of people in this country don’t know what that’s like and we need to cut the amount of food we throw away.
“I’ll literally make a dish from nothing – some potato peelings can be put in the oven with olive oil and you have some crisps.”
Tescha’s take on doubles with chickpea curry and pickles – image Matt Grayson
Tescha’s banana skin curry remains a firm favourite on the menu at Joy’s, joined by a host of core dishes intended to delight diners with both flavour and texture.
She said: “Cooking is also my passion and it’s in my blood. My parents owned a restaurant in the Caribbean. I would have to just get changed after school and go and help whether I wanted to or not.
“My brother owns a restaurant in Catford and I have another brother who is in America and has a restaurant there.
“There’s a long family tradition of cooking, but I’m the only one who does vegan.
“Normally you’d have jerk chicken and jerk pork – quite meaty dishes. I wanted to explore different types of food using Caribbean flavours.
“Also, I think it’s good for my children to see that vegetables can be really tasty and it’s better for the planet.
“On the classic menu, I have chickpea curry with flatbread – it’s really naughty because it’s deep fried – and that’s served with mango chutney, which I make from scratch before every market, tamarind sauce and pickled onion, red cabbage and cucumber.
“In the Caribbean we call it doubles because you get two smaller breads, but I do it as one large one, just to be a bit different.
“We also do rice bowls with toppings of barbecue jerk mushroom, jerk tofu and cauliflower bites.
“My best seller is the combination bowl where you get a bit of everything including the chickpea curry and the flatbread. It all comes with the same toppings – the chutney and the pickles.
“Then we do specials such as vegan fish, which is made from jackfruit or banana blossom with plant-based marine ingredients to give it that fishy flavour.
“People can be a bit hesitant to try vegan dishes, but once they do, they usually come back and say they don’t need the meat.
“I catered for a wedding in December and the bride told me some of the guests thought they’d need to go to the local burger shop after they’d eaten the food.
“But she called me back later and told me nobody had gone – they all were amazed at the texture of the dishes and the different flavours.
“I’ve built up a big following in the areas where I trade – at RARE in Woolwich I have a queue, which is longer than the meat queue and I think people are becoming more aware of veganism and meat-eaters are also cutting down and having plant-based food instead.”
New dishes undergo strict quality control from Tescha’s children who taste all of her dishes before they’re allowed to make it onto the stall.
Her ambition is to keep growing the business to the point where it can operate more widely and be her sole focus.
“I’m still working as a nurse, which is something I’ve been doing for 20 years,” she said. “I’d love to have Joy’s in multiple locations, to train people up to run those stalls and serve the food.
“At the moment my goal is to get a van so the business can be more mobile.
“This really is my passion – it’s something I want to develop. I now make and sell my own sauces too – called Island Drizzle.
“People kept coming and asking me for my recipes and my husband said: ‘Don’t tell them, just put it in a bottle’.
“It comes in medium, hot and extra hot. They’re all vegan too and are quite different to a lot of sauces out there because you can use them as a marinade, a dressing and as a condiment.
“It’s not the hottest sauce around because I’m more into the flavour than the heat – customers can come down and try it.”
Cook it: Banana Skin Curry
While most of Tescha’s recipes remain secret, she’s happy to help people cut down on waste by sharing this one – perfect for using up that unwanted peel…
Tescha’s Banana Skin Curry
Ingredients (serves three-four)
4-5 large ripe banana skins
1 cup peeled, diced potato
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seed
2 cardamom pods
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1/3 tsp chopped scotch bonnet
chilli pepper (optional)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion finely (chopped)
1 tbsp fresh thyme (chopped)
1 tbs curry leaves (optional)
2 tbsp fresh coriander (chopped)
1 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
Method
Thoroughly wash the banana skins, remove the rigid woody end at the top and dark spot at the end.
Add lemon juice to the skins to stop them going dark while chopping (they will still be edible, even if this happens, so don’t worry).
Use a spoon to scrape out the inner lining and discard the scrapings. Depending on your preference, finely or roughly chop the skins. Then add the diced potato to them and combine with salt, curry powder and turmeric.
In a pestle and mortar, place the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom pod, garlic, ground coriander and chilli. Grind into a paste. Add the paste to the banana skins and potatoes and mix in well. Add chilli here if preferred for a spicier dish.
Add the oil to a frying pan, heat and turn down. Add the chopped onion and stir until softened and then tip in the chopped banana skin mix. Increase the heat and sauté for 10 minutes.
Add the coconut milk, water, thyme, curry leaves and fresh coriander to the pan. Cover and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Add an extra 1/4 cup of water if you prefer a more moist curry. Remove from heat once the banana skins and potatoes are soft. Serve with rice of your choice, a flatbread or on a bed of salad.
