'Fever' is a play written and directed by Gemma Muir, Senior Community Coordinator at SISCO. It is published as part of a collection of writing that brings together the script for 'Fever' with prose and poetry written by members of SISCO’s creative writing group facilitated by Joey Simons over the course of his In-Residence project. Developed through a series of prompts and writing exercises drawing from the legacy of The Special Unit at HMP Barlinnie, alternative histories of the city, and the role of community and solidarity, these new works respond to and expand upon the central themes put forward in Fever.
It is part of 'Beyond the Forbidden Gate', a body of work by Joey Simons made in response to the latest phase of urban regeneration in North Glasgow.
Produced by Joey Simons for Glasgow Sculpture Studios in collaboration with designer Andrew Brash, the book series 'Beyond the Forbidden Gate' presents a suite of publications that tell previously unpublished and newly commissioned working-class histories, stories, and scripts that centre on North Glasgow.
The Mitchell Library’s Old Glasgow Room was a central gathering point for this project, with the space used by Joey and his collaborators to present archival materials and artworks that investigate the class forces shaping competing visions for North Glasgow. A series of talks, workshops, poetry readings and text-based works will also unfold across public libraries in Springburn, Woodside and Possilpark. These civic spaces, forever under threat, remain a vital space for culture to persist and flower amidst the developers’ plans.