Nonsense in the Chaos is a new weekly podcast where I let the universe lead and take a 'Fool's leap' plunge into the unknown.

Listen to the episodes here.

Each dark and full moon Jolie leads online ceremonies over Zoom. They’re free for anyone to attend and each fortnight she posts a list of items to bring with you to the ceremony and preps you with information on the energetics you’ll be working with.

To find out more and receive the fortnightly posts, including the Zoom link, join the La Luna Facebook Group.

Immersion Weekends

Samhain - 1st to 3rd November 2024

Imbolc - 31st to 2nd February 2025

I'm very excited to announce these dates for the next magical immersion weekend on Sark...

Are you seeking to deepen your relationship with nature, find new ways to take time out from the usual hullabaloo of the everyday, and get to know and love hard on a higher version of yourself?

Starting Friday evening with a meal and opening ceremony, the weekends will offer a host of experiences that includes...

- Ritual rune making OR wand making

- Circle casting

- Foraging and cooking

- Sea swimming

- Sensory herbalism

- Nature walking

- Cacao ceremony

- Divination

You will each come away with your own handmade runes or wand.

The immersions costs £375 including all materials, meals, and 2 nights accommodation at the cosy Chill Inn Homestay.

Numbers are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Discounted spaces and payment plans are available.

To book and for more information, email jolie@kriyaarts.co.uk

#ResidentialWeekend #Retreat #Sark #Imbolc

La Beltane Sark May Day Celebrations

"There are twelve months in all the year, As I hear many folks say. But the merriest month in all the year, Is the merry month of May!"

Join us in Sark for the Bank Holiday weekend as we welcome in the magical month of May, celebrating the blossom, and the bluebells, the birds and the bees.

Our festival is a modern day re-creation and celebration of an ancient Iron Age Celtic ritual and is the only of its kind to be found in the Channel Islands. Having been resurrected as a practice last year, it is quickly becoming a popular event for our community, bringing many people together to acknowledge and revel in the birth of the Summer and the beauty of our island at springtime. A team of enthusiasts put together a medley of traditional May Day celebration events to kick off the season.

Co-creator Jolie Booth says of the festival, "Last year we hosted our first La Beltane and it was a magical day. Those who attended commented on how the daytime felt like a traditional summer fete, and they were impressed it was so family friendly. Then as the event progressed people said how much it felt more like a ‘proper’ festival, with lots of different activities taking place, and things hidden away to discover. The daytime ended with a fire procession where we burnt a wickerman, before the ticketed evening part began and everyone 'had it large', stomping to local bands. Our next La Beltane is set to be bigger and better, with an amazing lineup and more fabulous activities throughout the day to enjoy. The dream is that in a few years from now tourists will imagine we've been holding these celebrations on Sark for hundreds of years.”

The Saturday fayre will include dressing the well, mummers players, maypole dancing, May Queens, and a host of crafts, workshops, and other entertainments. The daytime activities will be entrance by donation to make it as accessible as possible.

Then join us in the evening for a ticketed event that will include the burning of a wickerman, a ceilidh, and then a bedlam of brilliant bands:

Buffalo Huddleston - Guernsey

Le Beaubo - Guernsey

Perchard's Wall - Jersey

Gary Minto - Guernsey

Nick Hart, a folk singer deeply rooted in the English tradition, is coming from the UK to play in the daytime and is calling our ceilidh in the evening, and John Hinton, an award-winning performance artist from the UK, will be performing his Ensonglopedia of Plants.

The word is out, so we're expecting tickets to sell fast this year. Buy early to avoid disappointment.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/labeltane/1051789

Strolling Mummers: Pilgrimage for Re-pair

2nd Sep - 20th Oct

The Strolling Mummers are setting off again, this time walking from north to south, along the Spine of Albion, along the Belinus and Elen energy lines, starting at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and ending at Culver Down on the Isle of Wight.

Earlier in the year the Mummers met at Dragon Hill and had an incredible week developing a new mummers play, based on the legend of King Arthur. On the Spine of Albion are many sacred sites, associated with Arthurian legends, including a cave at Alderley Edge where he is said to reside, until such a time as when the land needs him once more, he shall rise to save his people.

At a time when events in the world mean that perhaps Arthur is beginning to stir, we will walk this land, putting one foot in front of the other, seeking to re-pair and re-imagine relations between the inner and outer worlds, re-membering and re-claiming our own Sovereignty, and our deep connection and marriage to the land.

As a collective we are breathing new life back into our indigenous culture, which used to deeply root us to the land. The common people of the UK were the first to be colonised and those who took our lands as their own have not taken the best care of them. The land, this planet, is all our birthright, and by remembering, reclaiming, and deepening our connection to Mumma Earth, we strengthen our resolve to protect her, as well as finding this ever deepening relationship enriches our lives in ways that are unimaginable.

The Strolling Mummers came together in 2021 when we walked from London to Glasgow, along the Spine of Albion, a vertical leyline, to the UN Climate Conference 'COP26' for Listening to the Land, Pilgrimage for Nature, creating a performance en route, which we presented to the delegates in the Green Zone. Then last year we walked a Pilgrimage for Unity, along a horizontal leyline known as the Michael Line that spans from Carn Les Boel, near Land’s End in Cornwall, all the way to Hopton-on-Sea on the Norfolk Coast. On this route we performed a traditional mummers play of Saint George and his Many Enemies, exploring how we create our own enemies through projections, and that really we are all one. This year we are walking a Pilgrimage for Re-Pair, with our own mummers play that we recently coined, that explores how we can reunite the inner and outer worlds, the head and the heart, finding our own High King, whilst hiking, and helping to bring us back home to and in flow with all parts of ourselves, each other, and the land.

Our route will take us through Edinburgh, Carlisle, Burnley, Stoke, Manchester, Birmingham, Stratford, Winchester, and the Isle of Wight. If you live along this route and would like to help by hosting a performance, or putting us up for the night (there's seven of us), then please get in touch. Follow our adventures @strollingmummers on Instagram and Facebook and come see a performance or spend a day walking with us if you're able.

Watch our video blog playlist.

In 2023, Boomtown Festival commissioned Kriya Arts to be the ‘end room’ of the Live Action Role Play game that's at the heart of the festival, which you can see here. Jolie took the La Luna Coven to the festival, which is now written into the narrative of the festival's storyline.

When the players reached the end room they had to come in pairs, having realised they needed to unite with the opposing side. The teams were the head and the heart. In pairs they were brought in, cleansed, and then Jolie talked to them about the power of uniting the inner and outer worlds, and how, through doing this, we can hope to create a better future, one in which we all can thrive. The priestesses then married the head and the heart together in a handfasting ceremony, and gave each of the players a timeglass containing black and white sand, telling them, as they mixed the sand together, that the game really began… Now.

In 2024 La Luna Coven walk to the festival on a pilgrimage from the Isle of Wight to just outside of Winchester in the land temple where Boomtown takes place, where they then opened the festival, with priestesses on both the main stages, blessing the partygoers, the land and the beautiful intentions of the festival makers, who are working hard to create something sacred, connected, and fuelled by imagination.

In September ten ordinary members of the public are setting off on an extraordinary journey walking the land to connect with and listen to the people they meet along the way.

This walk has no set schedule. This project is an experiment in Kairos.

Chronos time is chronological, which is outer world time, where things happen in a linear order. Kairos is 'perfect timing' and belongs to the inner world. This is the time in which magic happens; synchronicities, moments of wonder, miracles. With no set plan other than a 5 week window and a westerly direction, the pilgrims look forward to discovering what the universe has in store.

The pilgrims will be performing - quite literally singing for their supper - working with a traditional piece of folk theatre known as a mummers play. Performing the story of George and the Dragon, the tale of England’s patron saint, the group will be using this as a starting point for conversations, through which they hope to listen to what people have to say about their own connections to the land, what they think it means to be English, and how they feel about the future.

Through listening to what people are already creating, their ideas and enterprises, and by experiencing their hospitality and kindnesses, the intention is to collect and share an ever increasing accumulation of stories, many they anticipate depicting how amazing people are being, how kind, and all the incredible things they are doing. The project seeks to discover the myriad of ways that people are reconnecting with the natural world, rekindling community, cultural identities, folk traditions, climate resilience, generosity, hope and connection to source. The aim of this is to then develop a network along the route, joining up all the lights in the darkness to form a web of mutual suport.

Strolling Mummers Pilgrimage for Unity seeks to encourage a better, brighter, unified, kinder, and abundant future that’s lived closely with and in celebration of the land. Living lives that are meaningful, beautiful, hopeful, and sacred. It is an experiment in trusting the universe, because the pilgrims believe the universe has got their backs and are confident that people will feed them, house them, go out of their way to support them, and blow their minds and hearts with amazing acts of generosity.

Setting off from Dragon Hill near Ogbourne St George on Sunday 4th September, the Strolling Mummers will walk roughly 250 miles to Caern Les Boel near Land's End in Cornwall, following the St Micheal leyline through the west country. The pilgrims will walk for 5 weeks, strolling about 10 miles a day. If you happen to catch them or if they’re passing through your community then you can invite them to perform for you. They are also offering to hold workshops in performance and ‘moots’ which are informal discussions during which ideas and achievements are shared. The group of ten pilgrims are looking for places to stay and meals to share.

It is possible to follow and support their journey through social media and if you live along the route and can offer a place for them to stay, or to eat, or are involved in any exciting projects you think they’d be interested in, then drop them a message and they’ll arrange a way to connect.

You can follow them on Instagram and Facebook @strollingmummers

Watch the video blog playlist here.

In September 2021 a group of ordinary people set off on an extraordinary odyssey: walking 500 miles along the UK, reaching Glasgow exactly as delegates and world leaders arrive in the city for the UN Climate Change Conference.

At this time of unique peril for our planet and all its inhabitants we deeply connected with and listened to the land we travelled through, the species we encountered on the way and the communities we met living along the route. Our walk was a uniquely hopeful, creative and reverential kind of activism.

See the performance we created and performed at COP26, developed by wending our slow and careful way along the Spine of Albion and watch my video blog of the entire trip here.

Visit www.pilgrimagefornature.com for more information.

Watch the video blog playlist here.

If you are planning a hen do, birthday celebration or restful holiday over in Sark then I'm now offering tarot card or birthchart readings. I'm also able to create personalised celebration or healing ceremonies.

With over twenty year’s experience in divination, event organising, performing, holding sacred spaces and working archetypally I am able to create inspiring and bespoke experiences that can be theraputic in nature, glittery and magical or a bit of both!

You can either come to my grotto or I can come to you. For birthcharts and designing ceremonies I will need time to gather information from you in advance.

Tarot Reading is a 90-100 minute reading with MP3 recording £35

This is a 90-100 minute reading with beautiful hand-drawn birth chart and MP3 recording £85

Bespoke personalised ceremonies are on average 90-100 minute long, with initial consultation and preparation time £145

Healing consultations are £33 an hour which can be ongoing or result in a 90-100 minute long healing ceremony starting at £85

Email jolie@kriyaarts.co.uk to discuss or call me on 07843 560 139

The walk began as a planned project with a wonderfool woman Jolie trained with as a fool, who she had a HUGE falling out with ten years ago. As part of their fooling practice they learnt that we are all one, so this woman was part of Jolie even though she had become her enemy. Jolie had given her the mask of being my enemy, but she could no more banish her than the UK could banish Europe after it’s split from the EU. Just as both land masses are part of the same planet called Earth, this woman and Jolie are part of the same play called ‘Life’. In recent years their paths had brought them back together again and they had planned to do this walk together as an act of healing. Healing their friendship and also healing the ever growing divides between the left and the right, the rich and the poor, male and female, people of colour and white people, leave and remainers… The list goes on.

The walk hoped, in it’s intention, to sew some of this rift back together again. But the friend, who is ruled by the Eris the Goddess of Discord, accidentally booked some work right in the middle of the pilgrimage, so in the end Jolie went on her own.

But other people joined her for some parts of it and by the time she set off she was looking forward to going on her own. During lockdown she lost four people, of varying levels of closeness, and set off in a state of grief, looking to do some healing on herself. In the first week of the 5 week walk her husband of 13 years split up with her so the walk also became very much about processing this.

Jolie was walking the Michael and Mary energy lines, but she had no idea what these were, but as she walked and slowed down to listen, she discovered that she could feel the lines and that they both had a distinct feeling to them. Michael made her feel brave and supported, like a hand on her back saying “You’ve got this” and Mary felt like a calm stillness that held her and made her feel safe, like a hand on her heart saying “I’ve got you”. Jolie discovered she had learnt to listen to the land.

She also discovered that listening to the people she met too was also deeply important. The pilgrim archetype is like a travelling confessional and she found that if she listened and got past the ‘soap box’ rant that everyone had on their lips about politics, Brexit and the like, that people opened up further and shared their emotional worlds. Everyone was scared, in grief and many were lonely. She found that everyone was kind to her and people were just doing their best to muddle through. Her empathy and faith in humanity over spilled.

Now Jolie lives with a new partner whom she is deeply in love with, on a tiny beautiful island called Sark in the Channel Islands that has no cars or street lights and only 400 other people live there. It is untouched nature in all it’s beauty. This feels like a gift bequeathed to her by the land, by Michael and Mary. Which is why she then planned the pilgrimage to COP26 a year later; to give something back in gratitude.

Watch the video blog playlist here.

Moon ceremonies created and held by the La Luna Coven, directed by Jolie Booth and produced by Kriya Arts. Sponsored by Arts Council England. Originally programmed as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 2020, but since COVID-19 has moved online.

La Luna is a ritualistic celebration of the moon phases. The full moon welcomes in the festival, celebrating the power of creativity. With the waning moon we'll evaluate our dreams, looking at how to move forward. With the dark moon we go inwards and begin again, then re-emerge with fresh intentions for the waxing moon. Each is a stand alone ceremony or you can come to all four.

For the link to attend and details on what you need for each ceremony join the Facebook Group of the same name.

COMING SOON!

Sisterhood the Novel

Like Hand Maids Tale, but with more hope, Sisterhood is a gentle but fearless adventure into the dark heart of patriarchal rule. Six women, aged 20, 40 and 60 (But not a virgin, mother or hag in sight) stand on a precipice, the patriarchy standing over them – nooses in hand – threatening to silence them all.

Sisterhood introduces the reader to a sisterhood caught between two timelines: the witch trials of the 16^thC and modern-day women facing a world in political and environmental upheaval. Sisterhood transports the audience, in this extra-live performance, to a church cell in Wilmington, where three women await their trial in the morning. Soothing and passionate storytelling interweaves the stories of these three women with vestiges from the writer’s own life, to reveal an immediate and clear association.

The setting sun’s golden rays hit one of the last remaining stain glass windows and bathed the three women locked up inside, in such furious light, it was as if they were all on fire. They had not yet spoken to each other. They were still full of shock and disbelief at what had just happened. Alice could not stop wringing her hands, nor taking her eyes from the door, willing her good man to come to her aid, to stop this foolishness and take her home. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest, she felt she might be sick. For some time, she had forgotten to breath.

They were all silent as mice before a cat. Alice glanced over at Will’s daughter, the one who had been late to church this morn. She was sitting staring up at the plain window above the altar, which was blazing with golden light, framing the boughs of the large old yew tree outside. The cunning woman, Marjorie, sat on the other end of the bench to Alice, spinning with a drop spindle, as if she had not a care in the world.

Sisterhood is a call to dis-arm the patriarchy through community, through the world-wide women’s web, to treat our-selves and each other with the respect, grace and honour that Mumma Earth - the divine feminine - requires, because all feminine aspect are facets of SHE.  The divine feminine is in all of us and all those who identify as women or feel in touch with their feminine aspect, need to make it safe for each other, not by calling each other out and finger pointing, but by calling each other in.

In the 16th Century women were set against one another in the infamous European witch trials; daughters were set against mothers, younger women against older women, friends against friends, neighbours against neighbours… Is it any wonder that the idea of Sisterhood has been left in ashes?

Winner if the Brighton Fringe Visual Arts Award in Association with HOUSE and AOH.

MOOP is a new kind of museum that tells the stories of ordinary people, exploring and considering the magic and mundanity of ordinary life, chronicling hidden narratives and celebrating the ripples that we leave behind. It serves as an antidote to celebrity mania and the pervasive cultural construct of presenting picture-perfect versions of our lives. It is also a direct rebellion against an already well-established canon of museums celebrating the lives of the elite. MOOP is a temporary / pop-up museum running for one week during the Brighton Fringe Festival presenting collections created by and about ordinary people, as part of a wider programme of events that includes performances, talks and workshops. 

The Story of MOOP

In 2016 theatre practitioner and company director Jolie Booth developed her first and critically acclaimed one-woman-show HIP. Produced under her company name Kriya Arts - a cutting edge arts and production company, HIP explored the life of an ordinary woman named Anne Clarke, whom Jolie had discovered through found objects left behind in a flat she squatted in 2002. The flat had been left empty for over a decade and had become a magical time capsule back to the 1980's and 1970's.

A year later, based on further discoveries made about Anne's life and the  city of Brighton they had both inhabited at different times in history, Jolie created an interactive walking tour called the Hip Trip of Brighton: A Psychedelic Wander, which explored Anne's Brighton by sharing with participants the places where the beatniks, hippies and punks had hung out and a little about what they'd got up to. 

Lucy Malone came on one of these walking-tours and afterwards in the pub Jolie shared with her an idea she'd been mulling over for some time of creating a Museum of Ordinary People. A permanent space where people who had found or inherited an archive of documents or objects could explore and share that person's story.

This idea resonated with Lucy because she was also creating work along a similar theme. When Lucy's mother passed away suddenly in 2011 Lucy inherited all of her belongings. For five years these remained in boxes, until as her final project / dissertation on her BA in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College; Lucy opened the boxes and discovered what was in the notebooks, envelopes and lists, in order to assemble an archive of her mother's artistic practice, creating a research project and art piece which combined practice-based research methodologies to look at memory, loss, grief and materiality.

When speaking to each other in the pub after the walking tour, back in May 2017, Jolie and Lucy realised there were many parallels between their work and both became excited at the prospect of working together. They began to meet regularly and dream, over many hot chocolates, how to get this exciting project off the ground... Thus, this pop-up version of MOOP was born... With much bigger dreams to follow.

Sisterhood Autumn 2019 Tour

These performances were part of a “Healing Tour” that followed in the footsteps of Matthew Hopkins, self-proclaimed Witchfinder General. Starting on the full moon and ending at Halloween, Sisterhood performed in 10 of the main locations Hopkins reigned his terror. In just three years he was responsible for killing 60% of those executed for witchcraft in the UK.

GROUNDBREAKING WORK “One of the best play scripts I’ve seen at the Fringe… At its core Sisterhood is a superbly written, intelligent, and essential play, masterfully portrayed by its three actresses, exploring the role of male domination, misinformation, sexual abuse, and age discrimination through the lens of the past but contrasted with moments drawn from the modern day.” - Fringe Review

Like Hand Maids Tale, but with more hope, Sisterhood is a gentle but fearless adventure into the dark heart of patriarchal rule. Three women, aged 20, 40 and 60 (But not a virgin, mother or hag in sight) stand on a precipice, the patriarchy watching over them – flaming torches aloft – threatening to burn them all.

Sisterhood is a newly devised multimedia tale introducing you to a sisterhood caught between two timelines: the witch trials of the 16^thC and modern-day women facing a world in political and environmental upheaval. Sisterhood transports the audience, in this extra-live performance, to a church cell in Wilmington, where three women await their trial in the morning. Soothing and passionate storytelling interweaves the stories of these three women with vestiges from the performer’s own lives, to reveal an immediate and clear association.

EXCITING NEWS… Sisterhood the play is also becoming Sisterhood the novel. Supported by Arts Council England and best-selling author Lisa Lister. Sisterhood is due for publication with the King’s England Press in September this year.

by Kit Redstone (Vacuum Theatre)

Max wants to tell you a story. He’s not entirely sure why, or even who he is; savage, peacekeeper or critic?

Passengers, by award-winning UK trans writer Kit Redstone and highly acclaimed UK director Jessica Edwards, explores the epic battles within the psyche and the beautiful power of the mind to protect itself, using ensemble theatre to invite you to see the self in a whole new way.

Kit Redstone has a mild form of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This is a complex psychological condition, previously known as multiple personality disorder. Passengers is a semi-autobiographical dark comedy about the epic battles and alliances within the psyche and the power of the mind to protect itself from pain. Using Kit’s trademark blend of comedy, tragedy, playfulness and heart, Vacuum Theatre show us that by understanding we all have multiple, complex personalities, we can have more compassion and understanding for ourselves and each other.

Kit Redstone’s previous show TESTOSTERONE was shortlisted for The Samuel Beckett Award, The Peter Brook Award and The Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award and was winner of the Indies Best Theatre Show 2017.

★★★★★ “A dark circus of bodies, metal, and sensuality” Ed Fringe Review

Buy your copy of the book here.

Seven years on and Esmeralda has returned - perhaps a little wiser - but certainly not ruling the world... Yet.

This sade-sati, or seven year cycle, has been her toughest to date, facing the reality of an adulthood that didn't turn out to be all it had been cracked up to be; call-centres, depression and infertility had certainly not been part of the 'Grand Plan'. But perhaps planning had been the problem all along and that 'plans' are the problem, no use for anything other than being a good joke for God. As with the 'Fool' in the tarot deck, eternally stepping off of the cliff edge into the unknown, so too has our dear Esmeralda found herself falling into the abyss, discovering all her sense of control over the universe was nothing more than an illusion. But in doing so Esmeralda has also discovered that sometimes when you fall... You fly.

In her first book of the Saturn Returns series, The Girl Who’ll Rule The World, Jolie Booth introduced us to Esmeralda, although “introduced” is perhaps too polite and formal a term to apply to a process akin to being sucked into a howling vortex of hedonism, sex, drugs and partying, then being shot of out the other end like a cork in a wind tunnel.

In this book, however, Esmeralda is older, though not necessarily always wiser. Seven years have elapsed, during which time she has undergone experiences as varied as living in a famous (infamous) squat in Berlin, and touring Europe with a troupe of fools and mummers, struggling to make a living in the world of performing arts.

Once more, Jolie Booth has created a detailed and believable chronicle of a complicated character who you can’t help but love and feel for, infuriating though she often is. And in her unflinching confrontation of the physical and emotional pain of the difficulties of child-bearing, she has produced some of her finest writing yet.

“A richly detailed and relatable journey of hedonism and heartbreak, parties and penises and a growing maturity as the main character moves through her 30’s. When the heartache of infertility comes to the forefront, this becomes a touching and, at times, painful read which is hard to acknowledge, but raw and so important.” - Rebecca Fire

Click the HIP image on your right to watch the trailer & Click here to listen to the audio flyer

Based around found objects, this semi-autobiographical one woman show starts by introducing you to a flat caught between two timelines and personalities: the home of Anne Clarke during 70s bohemian Brighton, and a squat established by Jolie in 2002.

HIP transports the audience, in this extra-live performance, to a cosy living room with hypnotic OHP, cushions, incense, tequila and nibbles. Jolie’s soothing and passionate storytelling interweaves Annie's real letters and diaries with vestiges from her own life to reveal an immediate and clear association.

"An authentic and human exploration of inherently unstable modern tribalism." Sick of the Fringe

For more reviews click here.

An interactive theatre show by Jolie Booth, producer of the award-winning Backstage in Biscuit Land.

A squatter makes her way up to a long-forgotten flat above a shop, a flat full of someone else’s past. A woman’s hip bone lies on the side, amongst diaries, letters and clutter. In a tale of addiction, sexuality, mortality, choices and enlightenment, Jolie embarks on a journey to discover how one might avoid dying alone, and losing one’s hip bone in the process. This true story will take you on an evening of immersive theatre, as part of the UK's first ever EXTRA-LIVE tour. 

Dedicated to Bill Butler and the Unicorn Bookshop

Est. 1965-1975

"One of the good guys who died too young."

The Unicorn Bookshop was a cultural hub in Brighton during the 1960's and an important part of its hippie counterculture scene. Also home to Unicorn Press, the enterprise was run by infamous Bill Butler, a larger than life homesexual American, who was easily recognised due to his large stature and loud shirts, Bill loved nothing more than philosophical debate, pushing the status quo and supporting creativity.  

The bookshop gained notoriety when it became embroiled in an obscenity law suit brought against Bill for publishing J G Ballard's Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan in 1968. The bookshop was fined a hefty sum and as much as Bill tried to appeal the decision he eventually lost the fight and found himself in huge amounts of debt. Poets, friends and artists rallied to his aid, trying to help him, but the costs were too great. In the end the shop closed down and the printing press moved with Bill and some friends to a commune in Wales. 

Sadly, in October 1977, Bill Butler died of a drug overdose. Possibly it was suicide.

Originally the mural outside the shop was painted by John Upton, hailed to be the UK's first street artist. He painted several other murals around the city, including one outside the Brighton Combination, a new media and theatre collective which used to be housed in a premises off of West Street, and another at the University of Sussex. 

Sponsored by Brighton and Hove Council and the Arts Council England, the new mural has been re-imagined by Brighton's current John Upton - street artist Sinna One. Also responsible for the Prince Albert Pub's dead rock star mural and the various BT connection boxes around town, Sinna One has added a modern twist to the design with Adventure Time characters, whilst still keeping the essence of the original image. 

This mural is part of an ongoing project by Kriya Arts to uncover and celebrate the stories of ordinary people and forgotten heros. It featured as part of the HIP Trip of Brighton: A Psychedelic Wander - a part theatrical experience, part walking tour, part pub crawl - that ran throughout the Brighton Fringe Festival in May 2017.

The tour came about because in 2002 Jolie squatted a house by Brighton Clock Tower above what was then Anne Summers, but is now LEON. The house turned out to be full of a woman’s possessions. The woman was called Anne Clarke and she had been a hippie during the sixties and seventies. From exploring her letters and diaries Jolie discovered she had worked at Infinity foods for a long time and had also worked at the Unicorn Bookshop. There was a book in the house that had been printed by the Unicorn Press called ‘Leave of Grass; a compendium of marijuana’. Jolie tracked down Anne’s daughter and discovered what had happened to Anne. With her daughter’s permission Jolie turned the story into a theatre show called HIP, which performed at the Brighton Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals in 2015.

In 2018 Jolie and a local artist called Lucy Malone created the Museum of Ordinary People, a pop-up museum that celebrates the ripples ordinary people leave behind. It is the first and only archive in the world that solely collects ordinary people’s stories, a politically charged endeavour that flies in the face of established museums practice that historically has only been interested in the rich and famous. Anne’s collection of objects and ephemera became the first collection to be part of the archive.

Anne and Bill are remembered and celebrated as trail blazers, who paved the way for all the bright young things who live in Brighton today.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ from Latest TV "An engaging and exuberant host."

"Hip Trip of Brighton is a good example of a truly site-specific piece of work." - Total Theatre

"Your show and then the walk has been so illuminating, resonant and affirming." Toby Hawkes

"Sometimes festival performances are too much about performers performing to a passive audience, and this was so much not that." Chris Callard

"I had no idea what to expect but it couldn`t have been better." Ian Barnett

"It was absolutely amazing! So interesting and evocative of an exciting period of great change." Andrew Pierce

"Was such a cool afternoon, definitely something I would do again." Jo Pip Abram-Merchant

"Pottering in the lanes with you and the amazing people that joined us... Magical Sunday afternoon" Leona Offord

"Absolutely loved it, and so did my friends! You are brilliant." Daisy Fitzsimmons

"What a lovely way to spend a balmy May evening." Dorothy Max Prior

"Such a fantastic walking tour in lovely Brighton, taking a creative trip through a fascinating life, by the most wonderful storyteller. You'll be mesmerised!" Theresa Pierce

"It feels like you're channelling something." Emma Sola

"Took a random bunch of people along with me who didn't all know each other and the discussion after over a few drinks was open honest and giving." Pamela Roberts

"Would recommend to anyone interested in counter culture and the human experience." Spam Spammuel

Award-nominated sell-out hit HIP returned as an immersive journey through the streets of 1970s Brighton. HIP explores the true story of Brightonian Anne Clarke. The discovery of Anne's diaries and letters by squatter Jolie Booth, unearthed a huge archive about the city they've lived in and experiences they've shared. Visiting places Anne wrote about and learning how her life left an imprint on the city. "A hugely enjoyable, engaging and at times profound reflection on what we create and what we leave behind" (Total Theatre). "Hip is a must see show. Highly recommended" (Fringe Review). ***** (Broadway Baby).

Audience Interaction / Contains swearing / Relaxed Performances / Touch Tour/ Audio Described / 18+

Rich, idiosyncratic dialogue from the haphazard perspective of a girl on the cusp of womanhood - Ophelia Bitz

Esmeralda woke to the alarm on her mobile phone. It was 9.30am. She had been in the thick of a particularly vivid and prophetic dream, but the memory of it now slipped out of her mind like a well-spent member. She lay for a moment gathering her thoughts, watching the small black flies continually circling her lampshade, and tried to recall the reason for setting her alarm. Her room was dark. It always was.  Only a pathetic trickle of light ever made it through the window from the lofty heights of the courtyard that her room backed onto. Every surface in the courtyard was dripping in pigeon shit, and the pigeons themselves squatted ominously in their own faeces, winking at Esmeralda through the window panes with their yellow beady eyes.

She wondered if it was her name that had led her to a penchant for ugly but intriguing men?

She always found amusement in people’s inability to perceive parallel universes. “They’re everywhere you look,” she commented idly, watching a bird and a butterfly partaking in a dogfight, “and are as clear as the end of your nose.”

“But the end of your nose is a blur,” he replied.

“I was just telling everyone how you are the light of my life,” he told her as he answered the phone.

“Why, thank you,” she replied.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to write a book.”

“I remember asking my tutor when I was at secondary school if he could tell me where I was supposed to use a comma. He told me to use it wherever it felt right...” She looked introspective for a moment before concluding, “I didn’t go to a very good school.”

“I don’t like non-committal punctuation marks. Especially the semi-colon. ” She snuggled down into his armpit.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

She woke up in his arms. She had been in a very lucid sleep, always aware that she was lying next to him. It took her a long time to get used to sharing a bed with a new lover, as she found it impossible to fall into a really deep sleep whilst she still fancied the pants off someone and was too sexually excited to be able to relax properly. Which was exactly how she was feeling right now, counting down the seconds until he showed signs of life, so that they could commence with the mating ritual that is the morning wriggle. That figure of eight frottaging on each other’s legs, this way and that, until one of you could resist it no longer and finally raised your sleepy body against the mighty force of morning gravity and plonked yourself on top of the other.

“That girl’s got custardy tendencies,” noted Esmeralda.

As with an Impressionist painting, where the image appears from the dots, the story of Esmeralda emerges from the chaos of the writing, revealing a twenty-first century woman trying to make sense of a world gone mad.

Esmeralda is no girlie girl. She’s a mean, not very lean, shagging machine. Her body is not a temple... It’s a skip.

How can we describe Esmeralda’s life? Imagine Moll Flanders met Mrs Dalloway and they decided to drop acid and dance all night at a party in a commune outside Norwich. That’d be a start.

Structurally, this novel challenges perceptions of time and memory. Mingling past and present, Esmeralda drifts downstream through a series of scenes peopled by a rambling, picaresque cast of characters. Some are fleeting ghosts never seen again while others retain significance throughout the stream of Esmeralda’s consciousness. Actually, “drifts” is the wrong word. A more appropriate nautical metaphor would be that Esmeralda crashes through life like a rudderless speedboat, leaving havoc in her turbulent wake. No situation is too strange, no drugs are off the menu, legal, illegal, or purely psychological.

This book is Fifty Shades for the Trainspotting generation, Fear of Flying for pill poppers or Bridget Jones for those who are so off their faces they can’t remember what happened yesterday.

In this, her first novel, Jolie Booth has given voice to a new strong woman - Esmeralda, who with all her disasters, triumphs, certainties, resolutions and contradictions still manages to fascinate all around her and hold the whip in hand.

ON SALE READY FOR CHRISTMAS 2016

Produced by Kriya Arts for physical theatre company Rhum and Clay, TESTOSTERONE is the product of our exciting collaboration with trans male writer and performer Kit Redstone and the wonderful drag BAME performer Daniel Jacob. The piece is an exploration of Masculine identity through the lens of a 'brand new man'.

Rhum and Clay’s TESTOSTERONE is organised as a series of questions. Kit Redstone’s text raises questions like ‘When did I become a man?’, ‘Have I ever been a woman?’, and ‘When did we lose the right to cry?’ which structure this journey through identity, masculinity and self-knowing. These questions for Redstone are not merely rhetorical. As a trans man a year after his first injection of testosterone, he uses them not only to better understand himself, but also to examine and unpack the complex, contradictory and sometimes toxic world of men.

So what better place to set the action than the most quintessential of masculine spaces: the locker room. Julian Spooner and Matthew Wells, artistic directors of Rhum and Clay, lounge about with a lazy machismo, showing off their bromance (and other things) for everyone to see. Daniel Jacob sits to the side, going through a pre-workout routine. An angled mirror hangs over the stage, reflecting both the action and the audience. Much of Testosterone is about what we show and who sees it. And so the gym, as a place where mirrors and self-improvement dominate, acts not just as an overtly manly environment, but as a space for Redstone to reflect on himself and his position in the world.

What first appears as a routine ritual of four men changing after a workout, then transforms into an epic coming of age quest for a masculine identity in an environment that affords little space to hide.

Born at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris in 2010, Rhum & Clay is led by artistic directors Julian Spooner and Matthew Wells. We are passionate about finding interesting new stories and bringing them to the stage. We tailor the style and approach of each show to the story we are telling. We collaborate with writers, musicians, dancers, designers and anyone with an interesting story to tell. This makes every Rhum and Clay show a complex harmony of the varied voices in the rehearsal room.

We are an associate ensemble of New Diorama Theatre and Redbridge Drama Centre.

Recent productions have include 64 Squares (Underbelly 2016), The Man in the Moon (Pleasance 2013), Hardboiled (ZOO 2011) and Shutterland (ZOO 2011).

TESTOSTERONE raises important issues. It is both a critique and a celebration of all things male and raises important questions around gender identity, gender assigned roles and male emancipation. Coming at a crucial time in man's history, this is a politically relevant piece, at a time when we are all being asked to re-evaluate the ways we are living our lives and the accepted status quo is becoming increasingly frayed. We believe this is a show that will delight, entertain and challenge your audiences.

REVIEWS

'Kit Redstone tells his tale with clever asides and sometimes disarming honesty.' ★★★★★ Westend Wilma

'TESTOSTERONE is everything good theatre should be, powerful, emotional, entertaining and thought provoking and I cannot recommend it highly enough' ★★★★★ London Theatre

‘Hilarious look at the antics and routines of the inhabitants of a male changing room' ★★★★★ Theatre Breaks

‘Thought provoking play and ideal for a society that is fighting back against gender norms' A Younger Theatre

TOUR DATES

Performing at 5.30pm in the Pleasance 2 for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival throughout August as part of the British Council Showcase,.

Jess Thom has Tourettes, a condition that makes her say 'biscuit' 16,000 times a day. Her unusual neurology gives her a unique perspective on life; one she's about to unleash on the world. This two-woman solo show weaves comedy, puppetry, singing, and incredible tics to explore spontaneity, creativity, disability, and things you never knew would make you laugh. Geranium bashing and penguin gangbangs may or may not feature - no two shows can ever be the same. Jess is neurologically incapable of staying on script, and that's when the fun begins. 

Kriya Arts became involved in developing Backstage in Biscuit Land at the earliest stages and helped support with the rest of the Touretteshero team with developing the show. It premiered at the Pleasance Courtyard in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014. The show was a sell out smash hit, listed as one of Lyn Gardner's "Edinburgh Shows to Die For" & securing the "Best Emerging Artist" Total Theatre Award. The show's impact went well beyond awards and acclaim though, setting a new benchmark in accessible theatre and inspiring others to take up the cause. At the forefront of the UK's relaxed performance movement, Jess's work led directly to artists holding their first relaxed shows including Daniel Kitson (Tree, Old Vic), Mark Thomas (Cuckooed, Tricycle), Nina Conti (Soho Theatre) and companies Tangram Theatre and London's Old Red Lion Theatre.

To read an interview with Jess Thom in The Telegraph click Here

What Touretteshero say about working with Kriya Arts

"Producer, performer, Essex girl and all round good egg. Jolie co-produced the award winning Backstage in Biscuit Land with Leftwing Idiot. She works with an portfolio of incredible companies and if you're very lucky you might catch her as a cat (dressed as a nun). "

Reviews for Backstage in Biscuit Land

‘Delightful’ - Stephen Fry

**** 'Extraordinarily entertaining... could teach a lot of other theatre a lesson or two' Guardian

***** 'Funny, moving and fascinating... a hilarious creative force' Three Weeks

**** 'Poignant and vibrantly instructive' Scotsman

**** 'Triumphant...inspiring' The List

SHANGRI-LA IS THE META-NARRATIVE THAT STRIVES TO ILLUMINATE PROGRESSIVE CULTURE AND OTHER-WORLDLY ENTERTAINMENT.

Interactive installations and wrap around venues, ground breaking live art and performance, epic-scale subversive artworks and multifarious music programming unify to inspire and engulf its audiences.

Shangri-La holds a mirror up to the masses, challenging people in politics and play. Creating conversations, force-feeding the senses, expanding minds and opening hearts. There are No Spectators.

The fantasy field in the furthest corner of the festival has a deep history in outsider art and underground culture. This spirit continues to manifest in original and new ways to inspire the next generation of cultural revolutionaries and amplify the collective conscience.

ALL WELCOME, ALL CONSUMING, ALL NIGHT LONG: SHANGRI-LA

Kriya Arts has supported the Shangri-La team since 2016, where Jolie Booth stage manages SHITV.

tangramtheatre.co.uk

Tangram makes shows that are joyous, exciting and surprising to watch. We pride ourselves on creating work that is life affirming, moving and generous. We make work that is messy, chaotic, full of mistakes, silly and fun. We have important things to say about the world we live in. 

Produced by Kriya Arts since January 2013, together they have been creating a new "Scientrilogy" that covers the areas of Biology, Physics and Chemistry, by exploring the lives of leading figures in these fields through the genre of musical comedy. Starting with award nominated international sell out show exploring the life and work of Darwin entitled The origin of species by means of natural selection or the survival of (r)evolutionary theories in the face of scientific ecclesiastical objections: being a musical comedy about Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the company then went on to make the award winning (Off West End Award 2015) international sell out show about Einstein entitled Albert Einstein: Relativitively Speaking. This production did so well we were encouraged to develop a second "Junior Edition" of the production aimed at younger audiences and this edition of the show went on to win the Latest Best Children's Event at the Brighton Fringe 2014 Award. We are now working on the third play in the series, which will be exploring the life of Marie Curie entitled The Element in the Room: The Death and Life of Marie Curie, still performed by the writer and fabulous actor John Hinton, previewing at the Brighton Fringe Festival this May and premiering at the Pleasance Courtyard in the Edinburgh Fringe 2015.  

What Tangram Theatre Company says about working with Kriya Arts:

"You're a superstar!"

Reviews for Tangram Theatre:

“The clearest - and certainly the funniest - explanation of the Theory of Relativity I know." - JOHN LLOYD (Creator of QI) 

"Here's a treasure... handled with something close to brilliance... This one's a winner." - The Times 

"Hinton expertly makes the most complicated of concepts easily intelligible... comes strongly recommended." - The British Theatre Guide 

"Hinton comes across as every student's dream teacher... It is surprisingly effective...He is strong of voice, corny of accent and lithe of body. It's all lots of clever fun." - The Barefoot Review (Adelaide)

"If you think science is boring, think again, think Hinton... Not only accessible to all but cleverly informative, funny and entertaining." - The Public Reviews

"No shortage of comic presence." - The Scotsman

"This show will get anyone interested in science." - The Big Issue

"It's Atomic! Tickets may go at the speed of light." - Broadway Baby

"Humor and enlightenment... Great fun!" - ONE4REVIEW

jonathankay.co.uk

Jonathan Kay is a 21st century Fool. He is recognized as a leading teacher of Fooling, having toured in the USA, Canada, Australia, Spain, Bosnia, Jordan and the UK. He see this art form as inclusive, a way of including both the ‘real’ world of the audience and the ‘imaginary’ world of theatre. He takes his audience on a journey into the human experience using paradox, taking licence with the dark and light aspects of life.

“Making them laugh at themselves to understand themselves. It is what a good fool is supposed to do!” -The Guardian

Kriya Arts spent six years working with Jonathan Kay and was responsible for all areas of running the company, from fundraising, to book-keeping, tour booking to producing the vision and also running a training Academy created by Kriya Arts for the director. Working alongside Artistic Director Jonathan Kay, we were associate artists of BAC and received regular funding from several different funding bodies. 

Kriya Arts produced for Jonathan Kay from 2005 until 2011

nomadicacademy.org

Fooling is a unique theatre technique that introduces you to the architecture of your own personal inner stage, upon which you are able to perform on at any time and in any space, using just improvisation and your own imagination. This work stretches past ego, allowing you to feel at ease in any situation and comfortable talking intimately with anyone in the audience, from a beggar to a king.

As a performer, you slowly learn to play within this architecture through a device known as The Structure. You learn about the atmospheres available on each part of the stage, allowing yourself to be influenced by them, where ever you are performing, be it in the street, in a church, theatre or in a living-room.

The Structure is developed through the workshops held every month throughout the year. Through continuously training in this discipline the performer learns to meet the unknown with a relaxed attitude. Knowing all this, the performer is able to carry their ‘inner stage’ around with them, wherever they go, able to set up and perform in an instant without anything prepared.

Kriya Arts produced the Nomadic Academy of Fools from 2006 until 2011

Jolie Booth trained in the Fooling technique from 2008 until 2011

Photography by Red Fash Photography

You will find Theatre of Now marauding across the UK and Europe, a troupe of multi-talented players entertaining with a huge variety of delights, from improvised comedy through to physical theatre performances of Shakespeare. 

This exquisite production of Shakespeare's lesser known play uses the power and magic of imagination to bring the world of Richard alive. Without the limitations of props, costumes or set, the Fools are free to fly from one place to another, creating film like images with their bodies and riding on a wave of emotions that the audience is able to feel, no matter how tricky they find the words!  

This new ensemble of Fools are currently touring Shakespeare's Richard II as well as improvised Fooling shows, having recently completed training as part of the Nomadic Academy of Fools. This is the company's forth Shakespeare play under the Artistic Direction of Jonathan Kay, having also produced Dolly Award Winning, A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1999/01, The Tempest 2002, Romeo & Juliet 2003/4, using his unique theatrical technique, which creates whole worlds without the use of costumes, props or sets, instead working with the imagination of the audience to take them on a journey into their inner world.

Jolie Booth played Richard II, among many other parts, from 2008 until 2011

Photography by Red Fash Photography

kentwell.co.uk

The Suffolk Howlers are Tudor Re-Enactor and Mummers Player specialists, having over eighty years experience between them, making them somewhat experts in their field (no pun intended). That much experience, and yet they still manage to be one of the youngest Mummers Player companies in the country and one of the only ones who perform in full authentic Tudor costumes. They are energetic, terribly good fun and the real life relationships between the actors, reflected in their ad-libbing, is as entertaining as the actual plays.

Formed at the award winning Kentwell Hall Tudor Re-Creation, the Suffolk Howlers have performed in a multitude of  events, festivals and venues all over the country. These include the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, The Lord Mayors Show, Secret Garden Party, Cecil Sharp House & Fire Gathering Festival.

Jolie Booth of Kriya Arts has been Artistic Director of the Suffolk Howlers since 2004.

Listen here to Jolie reading the script George and the Dragon.

Photography by Graeme Walker

flowmagazine.co.uk

For decades, conventional women’s magazines have focused relentlessly on fashion and consumerism, beauty and relationships; stylistically, their tone is normally serious to the point of humorless, implying that their relatively trivial content represents the most significant issues on the average woman’s mind. This is patronising to the point of absurdity. It hardly needs stating that real women are engaged with the world at every level, are concerned with politics, art, culture, and want to read about issues that are of real importance to them. Neither should it need to be pointed out that most women are equipped with a fully-functioning sense of humor. So why can’t a women’s magazine, when dealing with more light-hearted subjects like sex and relationships, take a crude and satirical tone, paralleling the humor that is so common in the new generation of men’s magazines? There is a demand for a magazine aimed at real women, voicing their views and displaying their many talents, whilst also being able to laugh at themselves.

We want to create a magazine designed, produced and written by women, giving a uniquely female interpretation of the world, and providing real women with something to read that stimulates them and reflects their personalities. We want to create a magazine that prints reports on the plights and victories of women around the world, written by women who are involved or interested in the events. We want to provide an outlet for creative women, a forum for artists, designers and writers to promote their work. This magazine will be genuinely serious but also genuinely funny, discussing our sex-lives in the way that they should be discussed: as something to have a good laugh about. This will make a welcome change from the monotonous ‘how-to-satisfy-your-man’ tutorials that we are still subjected to in the pages of the mainstream glossies.

Flow Magazine hit the headlines in 2002 when Julie Burchill wrote an article about it in her weekly Saturday column for the Guardian and then became a contributor to the magazine herself.

Produced & Edited by Jolie Booth of Kriya Arts from 2001 - 2002

www.kentwellhall.co.uk

Our Tudor days are unrivalled in scale, visitors immerse themselves in the sights, sounds and smells of the 16th Century. Kentwell is the originator of historical live Tudor events starting over 30 years ago. What we offer is still the biggest, most comprehensive, and most authentic Tudor experience you will get anywhere. We re-create life on a community scale, our entire historic house and estate are transformed into a 16th Century Manor, with up to 250 inhabitants of all ages, skills and wealth carrying out a huge variety of daily tasks.

Jolie Booth has worked as a Tudor every summer for over 26 years, making her somewhat of a specialist. Working as a dairymaid for her formative years, she went on to become a washerwoman and then a low-player. Ten years ago she set up the Mummers station and has been head of station ever since. This troupe, known as the Suffolk Howlers, perform their plays upon a cart and sleep beneath it under the stars.