SAVED
SAVED, created by performer, composer, music director and instrument maker Graeme Leak (The Spaghetti Western Orchestra), is a meditative, musical journey through the mundanity of everyday life. Part of the 2021 Made in Scotland showcase, SAVED finds beauty in the little moments of life, elegantly crafted through instruments onto which Leak has lovingly bestowed a new lease of life.
This multi-layered, retro-mechanical performance is built around two rescued 1970s home organs turned inside out, their internal spinning speakers exposed for us to see as well as hear. Saved from the scrapheap, Leak invites us into the world of these instruments through his meticulous, balletic performance, where each movement, note and pause is considered.
In our highly digital world, SAVED reminds us that beauty is found within the analog moments, from the sound of a glass rolling against a plate, to simple, everyday conversations. Leak weaves moments of musical joy from nearly 20 rescued, found and lovingly crafted instruments: including a ‘string can’ bass guitar - made from reclaimed hardwood, an oil-can and a cello string; a musically modified kitchen whisk; and a collection of AM radios.
Scissor Kick presents
Creator and Performer - Graeme Leak
Melody lines in 'They are Moving' - Helen Gregg
Director of Photography - Hazel Palmer
Editors - Graeme Leak, Hazel Palmer
Sound Recordist and Mixer - Graeme Leak
Colourist - Gareth Gordon
Audio Description Consultant - Emma-Jane McHenry
REVIEWS
PAPERS
“If you expected a cosy tribute to the Yamaha organ, this isn’t it, it’s altogether stranger and perhaps rather more interesting.” - The Scotsman (★ ★ ★ ★)
SITES
“Leak taps into all this with an oddball comic charm, and can take the smallest musical or spoken phrase and imbue it with weighted meanings. Saved may not be for everyone, but it was definitely for me. Its tone is so distinctive, so deliberately dowdy, so utterly just-so. It knows exactly what it’s doing and it does it sublimely.” - Lyn Gardner at StageDoor
“The music produced is intricate but ambient and sounds great in isolation, but the process of creating it is fascinating to watch, and often amusing, if not laugh-out-loud funny.” - British Theatre Guide
“It is a complex beast, made to look so easy – and that is sheer genius right there.” - FringeReview
“Boldly inventive, quirky and challenging: Saved is a clever thought-piece, and in its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, deserves to find its moment.” - The Reviews Hub (★ ★ ★ ★)
“If there is anything to take at all, it is that where there is human creativity and willingness, there is always the potential to innovate; to generate new sources of entertainment by tapping into that human creativity which allows for us to reinvent the mundane over and over again.” - Ed Fringe Review (★ ★ ★ ★)
SOCIALS
“Saved from @ScissorKickCo was quirky and charming. I am in awe of the compositional prowess from Graeme Leak, creating and performing such an engaging soundscape from the wide array of instruments and objects.” – Callum W Madge
“An aural feast with so many surprising and delightful moments, celebrating the beauty of the mundane and domestic. A great example of how theatre can still feel immersive in the digital realm!” - Amy Conway