KETAMINE (THE BISTO KIDS GONE WRONG)
2012
The origins of this work start with the The Big Chill Festival which my Scottish friend Graham and I attended in summer 2008. We travelled from London to the festival managing to acquire tickets en route. The tickets were free and even better, they were VIP tickets. There was however one obstacle overcome - The two journalists whose tickets had been given to us, could not attend and therefore, we had to pretend that we were them.
When we arrived at the box office it took half an hour for security to let us through. Essentially, they did not believe who we said we were but eventually persistence wore them down. We got through and parked the van in the VIP area then took a bit of time to unwind from the stress of having to lie about our identity.
It was at this moment I randomly asked Graham - 'what was ketamine like?’ Just as those words landed on Graham’s ear weird, wonderful, and bizarre vision appeared as if on cue. Two youngsters dressed as elves with elongated pointed hats appeared - dancing, staggering out of nowhere and out of control yet somehow managing to enact some weird benediction. A boy held out a long ladle with a tiny spoon on which white powerful was heaped upon. A girl bent forward in the midst of some mad chaotic dance lowered her nose to the spoon and hoofed the dust - with all the skill and precision of a honey bee reaching into the flower with its proboscis to sup nectar from the plant. Those two naughty elves were now certainly very high!
Graham and I looked at each other. He said in his heavy Glaswegian accent - that’s what Ketamine is like…..The words 'Bisto Kids Gone Wrong.’ then followed from my mouth as we both creased over with laughter. That whole weekend, those elves kept appearing and reappearing in my mind and my stomach was sore from laughter.
On our return, I stopped at the local shop to buy a can of Bisto gravy. When I got home and opened the bag to look at the can, I was shocked and surprised to find that the two bistro kids had disappeared from the can. Someone in the branding department of Bistoland had decided to erase the cheeky kids from the Bisto can.
I said to myself - The Bisto Kids Have Gone………Gone Where ?……Gone Wrong ! This gave birth to the work.