037 Are there any anarchists in theatre?

Convener: Rod Dixon

Participants: Michelle, Bec, Dee, Shakera, Adeel and several who came and went in an anarchic way

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
The definition of anarchy was chewed over and finally some consensus came to a definition which suited our purpose …that anarchy is not the violent and dangerous concept that many people believe it to be – its purest form should actually be the very opposite of that. The question was raised as to whether theatre making itself has at its heart the desire to investigate , question and provoke an opposition to the status quo – and if this has links to anarchy.

Can a theatre maker make a piece of theatre which is essentially anti-capitalist but is not a piece of dull polemic – if theatre is to be anarchic can it provoke this when audiences are compliant and passive – should we ‘get rid’ of the traditional auditorium and give audiences more power and participation in a theatre event? These questions provoked a lengthy conversation.

Capitalism as a system in crisis, as a system which is essentially unjust and the impossibility of growth economics in a world of finite resources…the doom laden fears of a world running out of these resources and the resulting climate chaos…the effect upon the global south and the increasing numbers of poor people…and whether we as theatre makers have a duty to use our work to educate….or to connect people across the world…or to spread movements that are essentially looking for system change… again a longish discussion about all this.

Agreement that theatre must not tell audiences what to think …it might prefer to just raise lots of questions that hopefully will be discussed after seeing the performance….

Essentially there were between 4 and 9 anarchists at D &D but they might not have described themselves as ‘anarchists’…..but that was just the way I saw them,…beautiful anarchists/comrades/fellow revolutionaries.