Humans of Frome: Mark Bruce by Ciara Nolan

As a kid in London, Mark Bruce harboured dreams of being a graphic novelist.

He liked to create and tell stories through his art.  His father, Christopher Bruce, the world-renowned choreographer and his mother, artist and dancer Marian Bruce, were happy to encourage their son in his own individual artistic endeavours.

At the age of 17 however, Mark finally realised that the environment that he had been immersed in his whole life was less of a backdrop to his childhood and more a part of his DNA and he began training to dance.  His childhood had provided a rich seam of creative energies, and gifted artists and performers moved in and out of his everyday existence; the thought of leaving that behind was unsettling to say the least.

Mark had a lot of catching up to do in the shape of hard work, but years of being immersed in the world of his parents had given him a grounding that few could dare to dream of.  He trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and after graduating in 1989, he pursued a career as a dancer and choreographer, working and living in the UK and abroad.

In 1990 he formed the Mark Bruce Company, an ambitious move for a young man, but he knew from very early on that he wanted to develop a choreographic voice and theatrical style of work that would require time, and a foundation entirely under his control. Many Mark Bruce Company productions followed, seeing the company growing to the substantial scale that it is today.

14 years ago another bold move was undertaken.  Frome, long on his radar (due to his parents settling in Witham Friary) beckoned. This small market town’s location felt far enough away from the frenetic existence of London, yet situated close enough to everything to still be able to work.

His young family, wife Eleanor Duval (a dancer and assistant director of the Mark Bruce Company) and their then baby son, Jack, started their life in a town on the verge of change. What followed was a period of growth, both to the family (now 3 children, 2 of whom are following in the family’s dance tradition) and the company, which following production after production, grew in popularity and size.

At one point Mark explains that three shipping containers at the back of the train station, filled with costumes, props and sets was the company’s home, along with a transient existence across Frome’s venues from the Bennet to The HubNub Centre and Saint John’s First School.

Having achieved a number of notable awards including the Sky Arts South Bank Award for Dance, the National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer for Jonathan Goddard as Dracula, and the award for Best Independent Company, it was time to invest in a more permanent home.

Today, Mark Bruce Company has a fresh new home in Frome, complete with a fit-for-purpose sprung floor, the airy space is alive with activity on the day that I visit, and the company in full rehearsal mode for their forthcoming production of Macbeth.

The dancers are taking their lunch break when I settle in to chat with Mark about the new space and their forthcoming show.  Macbeth, follows on from ‘The Odyssey’ 2016, and ‘Dracula’ in 2013/14. Productions prior to these all made in Frome include ‘Made in Heaven’ ‘Love and War’ and ‘Sea of Bones,’ all of which are fearless in their approach to the dark side.  I ask Mark about his willingness to deal with such subject matter.

“There is a darkness in everything, there is a darkness in being human,” he says. “My work is not nihilistic in any way, I always look for the hope in things. I think it’s a real problem that there’s always a momentum to deny what we are; we should look and try and understand, come to terms with it. If you shove it in a box, it becomes a monster.”

The soundtrack for Macbeth will be provided by pieces by Arvo Part and judging by the boldness of previous musical choices for Mark’s productions, it is not surprising to find a wildcard Sonic Youth track making an appearance either. Mixing musical genres is not something that Mark shies away from, much like his other artistic choices.

When I ask him about his music selections he replies, “It’s important to not have a fear of doing things, it’s like when you have dreams, there is no-one there censoring them.” He explains that he has wanted to work with Part’s music for years but feels that the time is now right, there is room for him within it, it’s music that gives him space to have a dialogue with it.

He grew up on a healthy diet of David Bowie and good old fashioned blues. Bowie was a rule breaker, something that he admires greatly, a musician and a performer, sound and vision working in perfect unison, things that run through his own bloodstream. Mark is a musician in his own right, published by Mute Song. He explains that if he didn’t play guitar he’d go mad, returning to playing blues to unwind (along with film-making and editing). He also writes; this year will see the release of his book On Choreography and Making Dance Theatre, published by Oberon.

‘Macbeth’ plays in Frome’s Merlin Theatre January 25th-27th, and then tours the UK, taking in a number of weeks in London’s iconic ‘Wilton’s Music Hall’.

So it would seem that Mark has achieved his childhood ambition of being a graphic novelist after all – but perhaps his early ambitions were just a little on the small size for someone who would grow up to be a polymath, capable of bringing his story-telling and narrative right off the page into a visceral and infinite world of artistic possibilities.

Check the website for full tour dates www.markbrucecompany.com