Drumstick attempts to deal with problems of communication, visually and aurally. It references Bunraku Theatre, ventriloquism, the concepts of throwing your voice, a News Night setting, words put into other peoples' mouths, Chinese whispers, synchronisation and the work being (of course) completely out of sync.

 

Commissioned by Third Ear and Sam Belinfante for The Voice and the Lens, supported by Sound and Music, and first presented at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. The film is displayed as an infinite loop, with the audio running independently and at a different length than the video, constantly shifting the resulting synchronicity. It has since been exhibited at Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart.

 

The audio is made up of re-constructions of famous British ventriloquist acts (performed by Adam de la Cour), including Arthur Worsley, Ray Alan, and Michael Redgrave's character in The Dead of Night, interspersed with musical interludes from the radio skits of comedian Sandy Powell.

 

Filmed by David Barnett
Sound engineer, Alan Witts