Tachowa Covington likes to live his life outside the normal rules of engagement. It’s not everyone that would choose to jump down into the hold of a disused water tank and see potential for a home there. His brothers all still lived at home with his mum, but that was not for him.

Once inside his ‘tank’, Tachowa set to work. Over the course of seven years he turned this rusting oversized cigar tube into a cosy retreat, but more – an art installation in its own right, but one hidden from the outside world.

Perched high up on a ridge overlooking the Pacific coast near LA, Tachowa’s tank was spotted by none other than our own Banksy, who also saw potential in the squatting cylinder. Spraying the words ‘This looks a bit like an elephant’ on the outside, Banksy set in motion a sequence of volcanic changes to Tachowa’s life.

Unfortunately the attention that the graffiti brought to his home would result in Tachowa’s eviction from it. A consortium of LA dealers rapidly acquired the newly adorned tank and took it away for auction – a hobo’s home had been transformed into hot property. All of which raises deep questions about ownership, what is art and what is trash, and should the market always get its way? It should be said that on hearing about Tachowa’s predicament, Banksy immediately stepped in to pay for new accommodation.

Having read about Tachowa’s story in the press, director Emma Callander contacted writer Tom Wainwright and suggested he write a play about it. Working in tandem with filmmaker Hal Samples, Tom and Emma decided to contact Tachowa, and with his permission brought his story to the stage and screen for an unusual split-media presentation of his life.

In the first half of this ‘double-bill’, actor Gary Beadle sassily jumps into Tachowa’s shoes, and takes us into his tank world. Beadle portrays a self-sufficient dignified man, who has faced down his own various demons and found calm and pride in his creative accomplishments. In a strong performance Beadle portrays a resilient individual schooled by his mum “never to lose his ‘happy’”, and one who has learned the hard way to always have a back-up plan.

Samples’ film, Something from Nothing, which forms the second part of the evening later adds more detail to the story of Tachowa’s life. In his ‘Rollerball’ guise we see him sweeping along the beachside avenue on his roller blades adorned with self-styled costumes that are reminiscent of Andrew Logan’s mirrored masterpieces of the 1980s. We follow his journey from tank to cave to tent, and finally to the UK, where he witnesses the telling of his own story on stage, so completing an extraordinary cycle of events. There is a piece of Tachowa in all of us. His fight to live his own life in his own way makes for moving theatre.  ★★★★☆  Simon Bishop

Photos by Gary Beadle