Convenor:Joe Hallgarten, who carrying out some research you can read about on his blog - http://armslengthstate.blogspot.com/2010/01/speaking-doubt-to-power.html
Participants: A small and perfectly formed group of 10-15 A-list D and D-ers, most of whom stayed for most of the session.
Summary of discussion:
Apologies for this random collection of points – I was too busy listening and talking to make good notes!
• Title of session reminded one participant of the solo piece Nagging Doubt
• Artists as civic leaders – if you want public money, should you be expected to engage in the public realm
• Need for a broker between artists and policymakers
• Reminded of the book ‘the gift’
• Would need to ‘timetable’ arts experiences into the policymaking process
• Examples include Blackwatch being seen by the Scottish parliament, civil servants (mainly from DCMS) often coming ‘informally’ to see Barbican shows
• Performing Arts Lab (PAL) may offer a possible model – Susan Benn
• EU parliament has used theatre in this way
• Example of a minister (in an unnamed country) who, having seen Death of a Salesman, ‘went home and changed his country’s pension policy’.
• Matarasso – rural and community spaces
• Theatre needs to be ‘as simple as possible, no simpler’
• What about film? Why is The Wire having so much influence? Or is it?
• Theatre as collective experience
• Forum Theatre
• Kinnock etc influenced by Absence of War
• Maybe we should influence policy MAs etc – how do these emerging policy wonks engage in the arts?
• www.haringwoods.com
• Creating doubt needs space
• Policymaking used to scenario planning/modelling. Arts and theatre could play a role in this – even around dystopias, since scenarios don’t have to be realistic to be useful
• BAC – Coney Show and Home Sweet Home
• Concept of Timenos – From Senate
Showing posts with label content. Show all posts
Showing posts with label content. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Friday, 5 February 2010
099 Mythology lab: What fascinates you about Mythology?
Convener: Chthonic Rewind (Kai Irina Hahn)
Send me an email if you want to participate:
faunesk at googlemail.com (Kai Irina Hahn)
You’ll also find us on Facebook: Chthonic Rewind, Mythology Lab
Infectious Stories is giving a story telling workshop on the following dates:
13th, 15th and 21st Febuary
Contact: infectioustheatre at gmail.com
1. What fascinates you about mythology?
Mythology gives answers to the big questions:
Who we are? Where do we come from? and What are we here for?
It explains the unexplainable, gives a name and a face to the mysteries of our world and makes us connect to times long gone through stories. It gives us guidelines, rules and models how to live, shows us visually how we are punished when overstepping these rules.
Myth doesn’t make excuses for being perverse, dirty, grotesque or raw. It shows a rawness and purity that we still respond to today. There’s a charm and magic surrounding the age of the stories that were retold so many times, many times focusing on different aspects of a character or tale. Layer for layer we’ll find, while digging into mythological stories, that characters were changed completely to their opposite: Medea once was a wisdom goddess and became in the turn of time a wicked sorceress, who killed her own children. But there are older stories in which the Corinthians killed her kids. Through the shift from matriarchy to patriarchate, Medea, who was heir to the throne of Corinth, became a threat to the newly established patriarch society and needed to be presented as a bad person, while in older stories she is a positive figure. So myth is very rich through its different versions and facets that tell you about developments in society, religion and politics.
2. Are new myths different to old myths? I. e. Neil Gaimann?
Not really. They use the structures and richness of the old ones, having gods, monsters and heroes as protagonists and fate as a major source for why things are happening and why we do certain things. You’ll find that concept also in cosmic ordering and Buddhism.
3. What about free will?
There are even myths about how we received free will.
4. Does it make bad things more bearable to believe in Gods?
There is a strange sort of comfort to the thought that everything is the way it should be. It’s relaxing as it’s not your own responsibility. Also it’s comforting to be part of a bigger story. It makes you connect to the generations of ancestors, their stories, tragedies and adventures. All the people who fought for a better life for future generations had us in their minds, so shouldn’t we think of them as well? In the long story of life itself our story is only a chapter embedded in the stories of our ancestors and future generations. We create our little section and all of us affect each other.
Having monsters and gods as representatives for our dark side gives us the distance to face this part in us without the restriction and censorship of what society allows. It’s less serious. The gods are not all virtuous, we were shaped in their image, so all our weaknesses and failures we‘ll find in them as well. Having these colorful creatures is also food for the brain that thinks in images. They are so real. And of course the hunger for adventure, fight and battle, that these days games satisfy. By reading these stories (for example a Russian story name unknown) you are having the adventure. The hero meets all those characters he will never see again at the end of having read all of them you feel you’ve come a long way.
5.Which mythological theater plays have you seen that you liked?
His Dark materials
Lilly through the Dark
Puppetry makes it easy to give the supernatural characters a believable shape.
Especially if there’s human interaction with them
Hotel Medea, an all night experience
The Team
6. Which were the first myths that fascinated you:
- C.G. Jungs Archetypes in Psychoanalysis
There was a resonation that was transported, I responded to
- Bedtime stories, the stories take place in a unknown time and place, it’s not clear, no continuous narrative
- Fairytales, Films like “The Labyrinth”, Superhero – movies, Star Wars, Christian Mythology, Creation Myths, the book “All my friends are superheroes”, Egyptian afterlife, Greek Mythology: the use of a female chorus, very powerful, because of fate
- Viking Mythology, Norsgaard
- Mythology was never taught in school, Irish legends, where do I fit into the world, natural ancestry: making a connection to the land you are living in, it becomes part of you, you belong to something, the bigger sense, legends about why the land looks the way it does, landscape
Tír na nÓg (roughly meaning "Land of Youth") is the most popular of the Otherworlds in Irish mythology. It is perhaps best known from the story of Oisín, one of the few mortals who lived there, who was said to have been brought there by Niamh of the Golden Hair. It was where the Tuatha Dé Danann settled when they left Ireland's surface, and was visited by some of Ireland's greatest heroes. Tír na nÓg is similar to other mythical Irish lands such as Mag Mell and Ablach. Tír na nÓg was considered a place beyond the edges of the map, located on an island far to the west. It could be reached by either an arduous voyage or an invitation from one of its fairy residents. The isle was visited by various Irish heroes and monks in the echtrae (Adventure) and immram (Voyage) tales popular during the Middle Ages. This otherworld was a place where sickness and death do not exist. It was a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life, and all pleasurable pursuits came together in a single place. Here happiness lasted forever; no one wanted for food or drink. It was the Irish equivalent of the Greek Elysium, or the Valhalla of the Norse. Tír na nÓg plays a major role in the tale of Oisín and Niamh. To get to Tír na nÓg an adventurer needed a guide; in Oisín's case, Niamh plays the role. They travel together on a magical horse, able to gallop on water, to the Blessed Realm and the hero spends some time there. Eventually homesickness sets in and Oisín wants to return to his native land. He is devastated to learn three hundred years have passed in Ireland since he had been with Niamh, though it seemed to him only one. He goes home on Niamh's magical horse, but she warns him not to touch the ground, as the weight of all those years would descend upon him in a moment. While Oisín is helping two men move a stone, he falls from the horse and ages in an instant. It is suggested that Oisín fell from his horse in the area of Elphin, County Roscommon. This story bears a striking similarity to many other tales, including that of Urashima Tarō.
For me mythology is very much about the question of belonging
a definitive compendium of African myth and folktale, retold in rich, vibrant prose, Indaba, My Children is a stunning literary and ethnographic achievement. As a young man, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, a Zulu from the South African province of Natal, was determined to follow in the foot-steps of his grandfather and become a tribal historian in order to keep the rich oral tradition of his culture alive. In this book, begun in response to the injustices against Africans and their culture, he sets these legends down in writing.He begins with the creation myth, when Ninavanhu-Ma, the Great Mother, created the human race. From there, an epic unfolds, an intricate and vivid cultural tapestry populated by gods and mortals, cattle herders and supreme kings, witch doctors, lovers, grave diggers, warriors, and handmaidens. The story continues all the way up to the colonial era, when a Portuguese Kapitanoh and his crew arrive on the African shore. Indaba, My Children is a classic and indispensable resource for anyone interested in the cultural life of Africa and the human experience as it is filtered into myth.
- Independent People (Icelandic: Sjálfstætt fólk) is an epic novel by Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness, published in 1946. It deals with the struggle of poor Icelandic farmers in the early 20th century, only freed from debt bondage in the last generation, and surviving on an isolated croft in inhospitable countryside.
The ancient Icelandic sagas are still alive in the stories and fables that the characters live with on a daily basis. Bjartur is a talented poet, a living embodiment of the great oral tradition of the sagas.
- BBC series “Claudius”
- Teachings about the duality of good and bad
097 Walking and listening in the city (Soundwalk?)
Convener: Peter Cant
Participants: MARK TREZONA, DANIEL COPELAND, SHARON SEAGER, GREG WHEAD, Allen O'Leary, Griet Sponhove, Kate Woolmer, Catriona James, Martyn Duffy
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
A walk in Plymouth
Walk through mindnight until noon
6 km ramble – noticing what you noticed. Coridoors and light
To make a performance that encapsulates the city at night – a sense of all those lives, machine noise, invisibility.
It sounds like poetry
MARINA AMBROMOVICH made a piece in 80s / 90s started with her lover one at each end of the GREAT WALL OF CHINA and walked to meet in the middle
By the time they met their relationship had gone kaput they knew they had to end it
The walkl in Plymouth mapped the China Wall onto Plymouth by a scale of??? 600:?
Guides took us on the route.
Road signs are pointless when there’s no traffic.
With all that stage lighting from the streetlamps.
The experience of the city through the sounds but also continuing the history and building on that
Start and then have others add experience. Collective memory.
Trusting the city sound
Sound like smell
Short circuits language/ words
Give people time to create their own emotions
An invitation to stop and stare. To wait.
The intense theatricality of contrasting space with sounds that don’t belong there.
The lady who records dolphins above and below water
Beating the bounds – They go around the boundary of the parish, to honour boundaries, to repeat
Time being defined by distance. Something primal.
Ramblers vs performance.
Walks: The London loop
It doesn’t have to be time bound?
Do it on separate tracks?
JUXTAPOSITION
One track at a time, a collection of pieces, that can start at any point, forming a symphony.
A character. A lost soul. Who could be our guide.
Sounds and smell circumvent our response to words.
If you use words to make suggestions you need to allow space. As you make a trail you leave something – people should make non verbal contributions.
Will you look at a map?
How people could contribute sounds during the wwalk. Not necessarily words? And that could be added for the next opnes.
Messages left by opther walkers / participants. Leave messages in chalk on the pavement.
Graffiti Tags. An hourglass symbol
A hermit
The hermit
Moments in which you could confront the city with fresh eyes.
To re-engage Stop and hear and see the layers on layers on layers.
Moments to STOP
But how do you bookend these moments of silence?
They liked the connection with the real wold. The car playing music ‘just for me’
Break walls. You think its ion your head?
Which takes it away from being… ??
Just the experience of walking that walk is RICH
Don’t load it up so full. Don’t cram it.
From the moment it starts, thoughts and imagionation get stirred up.
Breathing in moments. Allow them to land for us.
By looking at a square
Hearing of the events that happened elsewhere, in Yugoslavia, a square in Goldsmiths became that other square. I could see a grey empty square but I was described a student setting himself on fire.
THE EGG TIMER ON THE BENCH. Some minutes just to listen
The group ended with everyone listening to the sounds.
Everyone was so generous helping us with our project, listening, responding, nodding, thinking the thoughts in real time.
Thank you so much
Ps. Beware of the lady who told us she’s recording your conversations on the tube. She will make an entire theatre piece about you and you will end up sending her your pants in the mail
Participants: MARK TREZONA, DANIEL COPELAND, SHARON SEAGER, GREG WHEAD, Allen O'Leary, Griet Sponhove, Kate Woolmer, Catriona James, Martyn Duffy
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
A walk in Plymouth
Walk through mindnight until noon
6 km ramble – noticing what you noticed. Coridoors and light
To make a performance that encapsulates the city at night – a sense of all those lives, machine noise, invisibility.
It sounds like poetry
MARINA AMBROMOVICH made a piece in 80s / 90s started with her lover one at each end of the GREAT WALL OF CHINA and walked to meet in the middle
By the time they met their relationship had gone kaput they knew they had to end it
The walkl in Plymouth mapped the China Wall onto Plymouth by a scale of??? 600:?
Guides took us on the route.
Road signs are pointless when there’s no traffic.
With all that stage lighting from the streetlamps.
The experience of the city through the sounds but also continuing the history and building on that
Start and then have others add experience. Collective memory.
Trusting the city sound
Sound like smell
Short circuits language/ words
Give people time to create their own emotions
An invitation to stop and stare. To wait.
The intense theatricality of contrasting space with sounds that don’t belong there.
The lady who records dolphins above and below water
Beating the bounds – They go around the boundary of the parish, to honour boundaries, to repeat
Time being defined by distance. Something primal.
Ramblers vs performance.
Walks: The London loop
It doesn’t have to be time bound?
Do it on separate tracks?
JUXTAPOSITION
One track at a time, a collection of pieces, that can start at any point, forming a symphony.
A character. A lost soul. Who could be our guide.
Sounds and smell circumvent our response to words.
If you use words to make suggestions you need to allow space. As you make a trail you leave something – people should make non verbal contributions.
Will you look at a map?
How people could contribute sounds during the wwalk. Not necessarily words? And that could be added for the next opnes.
Messages left by opther walkers / participants. Leave messages in chalk on the pavement.
Graffiti Tags. An hourglass symbol
A hermit
The hermit
Moments in which you could confront the city with fresh eyes.
To re-engage Stop and hear and see the layers on layers on layers.
Moments to STOP
But how do you bookend these moments of silence?
They liked the connection with the real wold. The car playing music ‘just for me’
Break walls. You think its ion your head?
Which takes it away from being… ??
Just the experience of walking that walk is RICH
Don’t load it up so full. Don’t cram it.
From the moment it starts, thoughts and imagionation get stirred up.
Breathing in moments. Allow them to land for us.
By looking at a square
Hearing of the events that happened elsewhere, in Yugoslavia, a square in Goldsmiths became that other square. I could see a grey empty square but I was described a student setting himself on fire.
THE EGG TIMER ON THE BENCH. Some minutes just to listen
The group ended with everyone listening to the sounds.
Everyone was so generous helping us with our project, listening, responding, nodding, thinking the thoughts in real time.
Thank you so much
Ps. Beware of the lady who told us she’s recording your conversations on the tube. She will make an entire theatre piece about you and you will end up sending her your pants in the mail
092 Making a show about claustrophobia and anti-social behaviour.
Convener: Sara
Participants: Sara, Katherine, Mandy and Lou
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Mini discussion about location of the show- in theatre spaces or on estates.
Also, the potential to commit noise pollution and get an anti-social behaviour order while making or performing a show in a residential area.
Ideas for the content of the show discussed.
Lou suggested looking at an exhibition of photographs recently featured in the weekend Guardian: pictures of children lit by their iPods, Wiis and computers.
Discussion on finding a good way to market a show with challenging content that sounds a bit like an issue based TIE show…
Participants: Sara, Katherine, Mandy and Lou
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Mini discussion about location of the show- in theatre spaces or on estates.
Also, the potential to commit noise pollution and get an anti-social behaviour order while making or performing a show in a residential area.
Ideas for the content of the show discussed.
Lou suggested looking at an exhibition of photographs recently featured in the weekend Guardian: pictures of children lit by their iPods, Wiis and computers.
Discussion on finding a good way to market a show with challenging content that sounds a bit like an issue based TIE show…
090 Open Space A good way to engage Writers to create chararcters with disabilities?
Participants:
Lisa Hammond, Cherylee Houston, Angela Clerkin, Jean St Clare
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• As a writer I would love to write a play in the future with a disabled character
• But I need a dialogue with disabled people to find out about the content
• Has found interest in people’s (disabled) difficulties but MORE interested in what we have in common
• More interested in what’s going on in the mind
• What about dis/abled bodied people are the same trials / tribulations/ thoughts
• Would an Open Space for writers on this subject interest you as a writer
• YES
• Open Space to explore the language
• To explore disabled people’s opinions / lives
• Challenged by the concept
• Never written a disabled character
• What would that challenge be?
• Is it casting not writing?
• Might not be the thing that you want to focus on as a writer
• But aware that it could be fear – getting it wrong
• Don’t want to get it wrong
• Realise that it’s a challenge that interests me
• Need to know that I’m included as an able-bodied person to come along
• As an able-bodied writer I’d have to be prepared to get it wrong – safe place needed to do so.
• I need my awareness and responsibilities to make other writer’s aware of theirs.
• There could be many strands to this idea of using Open Space to explore this – directors / producers
• Is it the writer’s responsibility to concentrate on that strand? Pass the buck back to the casting director – they then in turn pass the buck back to the writer. The disabled actor doesn’t get seen.
• Write normal scripts, but make one of the characters have a disability in the blurb of the character
• Writer’s can get feedback of showing too much of a breakdown of actual community
Two Solutions
• Cast disabled people in roles non disability specific
• The specific. The disability not being the central storyline, but access info / specifics in the script needed if the character has got a disability.
• If I write a disabled / Deaf character and that story is not played out, then I will be asked why they are there.
• Casting like before disability and after – different casting needs
• Disabled people represented not played out “their real disabled life” the difficulty of it
• Scripts that aren’t focused on disability
• If people don’t have the experience then how are they expected to get it right?
• Lack of information for people who don’t have experience of disability
• Information source
• Speaking to people to get their individual stories and taking credit for it
• Interested in a collaboration
• The first “story” isn’t the best “story”
• TV, film and theatre
• It will be a gift to come to an Open Space on this
• Contact Writer’s Guild, word of mouth, ongoing thing…
• Not only disabled actors some “normal” disabled people with stories and lives
• Could I call a session and ask about people’s first dates?
• Getting it wrong
• What is the question
• Challenging subject
• Different ways of working and approaching and are allowed to get it wrong
• Venue – Jerwood – posher venue attract all
• Be in touch about a “Name” for the Open Space
• Learning from “the old days”
Lisa Hammond, Cherylee Houston, Angela Clerkin, Jean St Clare
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• As a writer I would love to write a play in the future with a disabled character
• But I need a dialogue with disabled people to find out about the content
• Has found interest in people’s (disabled) difficulties but MORE interested in what we have in common
• More interested in what’s going on in the mind
• What about dis/abled bodied people are the same trials / tribulations/ thoughts
• Would an Open Space for writers on this subject interest you as a writer
• YES
• Open Space to explore the language
• To explore disabled people’s opinions / lives
• Challenged by the concept
• Never written a disabled character
• What would that challenge be?
• Is it casting not writing?
• Might not be the thing that you want to focus on as a writer
• But aware that it could be fear – getting it wrong
• Don’t want to get it wrong
• Realise that it’s a challenge that interests me
• Need to know that I’m included as an able-bodied person to come along
• As an able-bodied writer I’d have to be prepared to get it wrong – safe place needed to do so.
• I need my awareness and responsibilities to make other writer’s aware of theirs.
• There could be many strands to this idea of using Open Space to explore this – directors / producers
• Is it the writer’s responsibility to concentrate on that strand? Pass the buck back to the casting director – they then in turn pass the buck back to the writer. The disabled actor doesn’t get seen.
• Write normal scripts, but make one of the characters have a disability in the blurb of the character
• Writer’s can get feedback of showing too much of a breakdown of actual community
Two Solutions
• Cast disabled people in roles non disability specific
• The specific. The disability not being the central storyline, but access info / specifics in the script needed if the character has got a disability.
• If I write a disabled / Deaf character and that story is not played out, then I will be asked why they are there.
• Casting like before disability and after – different casting needs
• Disabled people represented not played out “their real disabled life” the difficulty of it
• Scripts that aren’t focused on disability
• If people don’t have the experience then how are they expected to get it right?
• Lack of information for people who don’t have experience of disability
• Information source
• Speaking to people to get their individual stories and taking credit for it
• Interested in a collaboration
• The first “story” isn’t the best “story”
• TV, film and theatre
• It will be a gift to come to an Open Space on this
• Contact Writer’s Guild, word of mouth, ongoing thing…
• Not only disabled actors some “normal” disabled people with stories and lives
• Could I call a session and ask about people’s first dates?
• Getting it wrong
• What is the question
• Challenging subject
• Different ways of working and approaching and are allowed to get it wrong
• Venue – Jerwood – posher venue attract all
• Be in touch about a “Name” for the Open Space
• Learning from “the old days”
089 What types of women are we not seeing on stage?
Convener: Mandy Fenton
Participants: Lots…
Some facts, figures, info on survey findings - followed by the summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
1. Gender Equality Duty: -
2. Equality Bill published 2009, expected to come into force autumn 2010 containing significant clauses outlawing gender and age discrimination
3. Some European Commission/FIA findings in survey 2008 - Research on age, gender and performer employment conducted by Dr Deborah Dean of the Warwick Business School:
4. Equity Petition Feb 2009:
5. Sphinx Theatre - Vamps, Vixens and Feminists Conference 2009 - Summary Factsheet 2006 findings:
a. Theatre: 2006: Women in Theatre Survey. 16-29 Jan 2006 inclusive.
Theatre – Writing
b. Screen and Broadcast: Writer’s Guild TV Committee, 1 month of Radio Times issues
c. UK Film Council Report – Women writing for film
Summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
In light of shocking and depressing statistics relating to women in the industry in 2009 the question ‘What types of women are we not seeing on stage?” seems a significant and good start point for convening this discussion...
There were both male and female participants in this discussion, many of the women participating did not feel adequately represented on stage, particularly around stereo-typing and age considerations.
• Some suggestions of types of women we’re not seeing were made by participants before the discussion broadened out to wider issues, with awareness there are many, many more to be made:
• Why aren’t we seeing them, what is the source of the problem?
• Suggestions/considerations/reflections from participants around the current situation concerning representation of women
• Actions suggested/ to be taken following this D&D discussion
Participants: Lots…
Some facts, figures, info on survey findings - followed by the summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
1. Gender Equality Duty: -
“The gender equality duty comes into force in April 2007 and is the biggest change in sex equality legislation in thirty years, since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act itself. It has been introduced in recognition of the need for a radical new approach to equality – one which places more responsibility with service providers to think strategically about gender equality, rather than leaving it to individuals to challenge poor practice. “(Equal Opportunities Commission Chair Jenny Watson Nov 2006)
2. Equality Bill published 2009, expected to come into force autumn 2010 containing significant clauses outlawing gender and age discrimination
3. Some European Commission/FIA findings in survey 2008 - Research on age, gender and performer employment conducted by Dr Deborah Dean of the Warwick Business School:
• 57% of women felt that their gender restricted employment opportunities (6% of men felt the same).
• The number of women active in the industry declines sharply from the age of 50 – only 17.8% of women were in the older age group, 30% of men were over 50.
• 50% of men believed that getting older was an advantage in relation to pay, 70% of women said it was a disadvantage
• 33% of men earned more than £20,000 per year, 19.7% of women earned at the same levels.
• 2009 Euro/FIA Project : “Engendering Change: Strategies to Combat Gender Stereotypes and Promote Equal Opportunities for Performers in Theatre, Film and Television in Europe” – To move research into action
4. Equity Petition Feb 2009:
“Over half the viewing public is female, yet in TV drama for every female character, there are two male characters - (35.3% female roles to 63.5% male roles). Whilst leading parts are frequently played by male actors over 45, women in this age group start to disappear from our screens. The message this sends to viewers is distorted and distorting. We call on all the major UK television channels to take action to correct this imbalance”.
5. Sphinx Theatre - Vamps, Vixens and Feminists Conference 2009 - Summary Factsheet 2006 findings:
a. Theatre: 2006: Women in Theatre Survey. 16-29 Jan 2006 inclusive.
Theatre – Writing
• In 1983, only 20 out of 620 (3.2%) of plays were written by women, excluding Agatha Christie. In 2006, out of 140 productions sampled only 13 written by women (9%), with 22 collaborations (16%)
• Out of 48 new writing productions, only 8 were written by women (17%) with 10 collaborations (21%)
• Out of 9 new adaptations/translations, 5 were by men, 0 by women, with 4 collaborations
• In 1983, 7% of playwrights were women, whilst in 2006, 17% of playwrights are women
Theatre – Roles
• In 1983, only approx 12% of directors were women. In 2006, out of 140 productions sampled only 32 were directed by women (23%), with 6 collaborations (4%) and 5 unknown (4%)
• On stage, Sphinx’s survey found that 38% of roles were for women
• On television, Equity has found that 35.5% of roles are for women
b. Screen and Broadcast: Writer’s Guild TV Committee, 1 month of Radio Times issues
• Out of 179 television programmes, only 50 were written by women (28%)
• Out of 49 radio programmes, only 12 were written by women (24%)
c. UK Film Council Report – Women writing for film
• Only 26% of women writers write for film
• Women screenwriters are credited on less that 15% of films between 1999 – 2003
• Films written by women screenwriters are as likely to gain a release as those written by men
• The Box Office return for British films with a female screenwriter is $1.25 per £1 budget, compared with $1.16 for films with all-male writers.
Summary of D&D discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
In light of shocking and depressing statistics relating to women in the industry in 2009 the question ‘What types of women are we not seeing on stage?” seems a significant and good start point for convening this discussion...
There were both male and female participants in this discussion, many of the women participating did not feel adequately represented on stage, particularly around stereo-typing and age considerations.
• Some suggestions of types of women we’re not seeing were made by participants before the discussion broadened out to wider issues, with awareness there are many, many more to be made:
- 15% of single women are happier in their 50’s. Planning life in 50’s. Women in positions of responsibility with angst about time spent with children, court systems and women – women being separated from children through divorce of if child is in trouble with the law. Menopause and sex being great after menopause as less worries, older women giving advice, Family law, UK is bottom of welfare league in Europe for child welfare - ability to be a good mum in a system that doesn’t support them.
• Why aren’t we seeing them, what is the source of the problem?
- Women directors who have kids get wiped out. Exceptions: Thea Sharrock and Marianne Elliot. This can also occur for women in all areas of work where attendance hours are long.
- Writer told us she has been asked to put more men in the script/women under 30
- Commercial compromises i.e. Kidron’s first script was about Greenham Common whereas she recently directed a Bridget Jones film
- Historically women have been on stage a shorter time so there are a large amount of existing plays for predominantly male casts
- What kind of plays do producers/audiences want? i.e. participant remarks on a perceptible difference between Germany and UK and finds comparatively that here producers are predominantly thinking about selling tickets and star system
- Many literary managers are female but are they supporting the women in these networks? One participant mentioned a news article about a recent experiment done where plays were presented to female literary agents with some of those written by women attributed to male writers and vice versa – findings here were that when the plays were attributed to a female writer they were consistently marked lower.
- Confidence, self-restriction, self-editing
• Suggestions/considerations/reflections from participants around the current situation concerning representation of women
- One participant discussed the development of the strong female character in her forthcoming solo show and voiced her fears about buying into stereo-types of ‘mad hysterical woman’ . The character is quite enticing and she is worried about picking up outside, received ideas/stereotypes of women. Discussion on this perhaps being a tendency for writers and a strong point raised for writers to reflect on when writing female character
- Write more female protagonists, set out to write more female parts, put women in roles where you would ‘expect’ to see men
- Many stories are ‘guy’s stories’ – reverse the male gaze. Theatre de Soleil given as an example in this approach
- ‘It’s Complicated’ – Meryl Streep’s new film
- Point raised about too many women being on stage talking about relationships, not enough about ambition / competitiveness / creativity / movers within the world politically
- Concern voiced that there has been awareness around this issue for years - i.e. memories of university essays written years ago etc – and that this situation still has not been adequately addressed despite women being 52% of the population. The need for men, as much as women, in taking responsibility to address this issue
- Don’t wait for other people to do it. Women work in ways they want to work now, keep doing what you do – challenge commissioning editors/producers. Need to stop thinking of what other people are going to buy. Make relationships happen and get them to see something they might not see
- Reverse casting – need to think about this when casting – sometimes have to question the reflex which may first think of a man in a role
- If writing a ballsy character, not to just see this in terms of a division between male and female behaviour
- How to write about the lived existence of a strong woman, ‘f**k’ the setting and tell the story. Would it be pushed aside because of this? Is there danger in saying women’s stuff has to be outside of these structure?
- Now there many women are coming through in genuine positions of earned power and still negotiating their identities within this.
- Is there any impact in the structures of the new playwriting going on?
- Hard to get female gay relationships on stage – One participant writer said she had been asked to take the female gay relationship out of her script - male gay relationships more acceptable. Sarah Walters writes these relationships in a historical context - if its detached in this way then it seems it can be accepted more readily?
- There is a branding issue for the big theatres – that they work with writers they want to write with. There was the positive suggestion that now perhaps they will want to work with more women writers and theatre makers as this issue could almost become ‘trendy’ ...
- Resources such as The Bush Theatre’s Bush Green online facility for playwrights, 17percent network for women writers http://17percent.wordpress.com and http://17percent.co.uk/index.php , Clean Break, Unfinished Histories, Magdalena Project - Jill Greenhalgh Aberystwyth University etc
• Actions suggested/ to be taken following this D&D discussion
-Several participants expressed the wish for a continuing forum or conference. Proposal that one of D&D monthly session be themed around this issue, to deepen this discussion, exploration of subsequent insights/thoughts and suggestions of possible actions arising from this.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
074 One-on-one theatre: Who’s in charge here
Convener: Benjamin Luke
Participants: Beccy Owens, Nick Rutherford, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Michelle Owoo, Rosaline White, Amy Powell-Yeats, Emily Kempson, Becki Haines, Nick Coupe, Philippa Wilkinson
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Rules of the game
Can we make a performance where the audience member decides the rules? How could this work?
• A place of the audience member’s choice. Come and cook in my kitchen…
• Or a topic, subject matter? I would like you to cook X for me
• Stimulus decided by the audience? My favourite color is X, my favourite song is Y, I would like to travel to Z. Make me a meal based on that.
Live Art Speed Dating
Developed through a need to facilitate an audience/artist creative response
Rules of the game #2
We need a certain framework to allow the audience member to interact and challenge the artist, while maintaining a structure.
24 hour-death match: A good example of a reciprocal structure whereby a framework is created that allows the participant to be both an audience member and an artist (or to experience being dominant and recessive)
Ontroereud Goed
A long discussion on the reactions of Internal. Brought up a lot of subsequent issues:
After care
Do we have a responsibility to ensure the health of the participant afterwards if they are particularly traumatized?
This moved on to a discussion of children’s theatre. If a parent complains about a child being scared at a show, what are the ethical implications? We can’t be scared of offending people, we wouldn’t put on a show!
Man up! People like being challenged!
What one-on-one theatre might present is a perfect expression of what we want to do as artists: trust people to understand their responses and learn from them.
Ethical responsibility
What was ethically problematic in Internal? The trust that you put in the performer was taken advantage of. Does this matter? It’s a show about ethics!
Warning people
How can we warn people against the content in the show? Should it be explicit – a contract, a sign etc, or implicit – through marketing etc?
Participants: Beccy Owens, Nick Rutherford, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Michelle Owoo, Rosaline White, Amy Powell-Yeats, Emily Kempson, Becki Haines, Nick Coupe, Philippa Wilkinson
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Rules of the game
Can we make a performance where the audience member decides the rules? How could this work?
• A place of the audience member’s choice. Come and cook in my kitchen…
• Or a topic, subject matter? I would like you to cook X for me
• Stimulus decided by the audience? My favourite color is X, my favourite song is Y, I would like to travel to Z. Make me a meal based on that.
Live Art Speed Dating
Developed through a need to facilitate an audience/artist creative response
Rules of the game #2
We need a certain framework to allow the audience member to interact and challenge the artist, while maintaining a structure.
24 hour-death match: A good example of a reciprocal structure whereby a framework is created that allows the participant to be both an audience member and an artist (or to experience being dominant and recessive)
Ontroereud Goed
A long discussion on the reactions of Internal. Brought up a lot of subsequent issues:
After care
Do we have a responsibility to ensure the health of the participant afterwards if they are particularly traumatized?
This moved on to a discussion of children’s theatre. If a parent complains about a child being scared at a show, what are the ethical implications? We can’t be scared of offending people, we wouldn’t put on a show!
Man up! People like being challenged!
What one-on-one theatre might present is a perfect expression of what we want to do as artists: trust people to understand their responses and learn from them.
Ethical responsibility
What was ethically problematic in Internal? The trust that you put in the performer was taken advantage of. Does this matter? It’s a show about ethics!
Warning people
How can we warn people against the content in the show? Should it be explicit – a contract, a sign etc, or implicit – through marketing etc?
073 Are we all saying the same thing?
Convener: Alex Eisenberg
Participants: Adrian, Lindsey, Liam, Rosin, Joe, Alex
That we articulate things in different way (in language) BUT maybe there are some fundamental things that we are all in fact always trying to say (or do?).
The example of an argument comes up – when there is conflict but really that is getting in the way of the fact that you are ‘saying the same thing’.
How can we think of this as broader! Are there some fundamental principles of life?
Love
Sex
Death
Thinking about the question in relation to theatre? Are all people making theatre trying to say or do the same thing?
What about differences in politics? Or differences in motivations? Differences in intention?
How important is intention in theatre making?
Compare to Lady Gaga – what is the difference in intention between a Lady Gaga concert and a Romeo Castellucci show?
Let’s consider that:
Maybe we are not all saying the same thing.
Thinking about collaborative processes. The problem of trying to get everyone on the ‘same page’. Or ‘forcing’ a group to compromise.
Does it matter if we are all saying the same thing or not?
Perhaps it’s about empowering difference in your work (and in your life). Perhaps it’s about finding ways to incorporate the NEGATIVE or the NO voice?
RECLAIM THE NEGATIVE?
SAY YES TO NO!
Thinking about certain theatrical techniques like Le Coq which operate from a place of attempting to access certain universals – such as:
What is universally funny?
OR
What is a universally great story?
Maybe we should ‘overcome postmodernism’ and revert back to more traditional notions of storytelling.
BUT maybe this is a move in towards the individual as opposed to the group and maybe that is not so good?
“Saying the same thing” – in relation to the production of a project.
How certain members of a group might talk about the project in terms of marketing or PR?
How there might be a good coherence within the group in terms of the performance but when it comes to sharing this in ‘public’, outside of the theatre space, that this is not always the case?
Do these things hold us back?
- Chasing after novelty.
- Always trying to do the thing that is new.
CONVERSATION MOVED AT THIS POINT TO (and notes stopped being taken – so this is from a loose memory!):
Nostalgia or sentimental forms of engagement – such as Lady Gaga, Football or X-Factor
IN COMPARISON TO
Certain forms of theatre/performance/art which seek to set up an ethics where (for only a short moment perhaps) there is no option but to be ‘overcome/bound’ by the moment. And where this is the intention.
That theatre is an amazing place to do this. (Maybe it’s the only place to do this.)
THEATRE MAKERS – BE RESPONSIBLE!
RAISE THE BAR VERY HIGH – AND THEN RAISE IT AGAIN!
That theatre has the potential to leave ‘a stone in your shoe’ – like Forced Entertainment/Goat Island.
The shape and texture of that stone depends of the ‘intentions’ and process of the work.
Accessing reality – opening portals beyond reality?
Dream States
It’s just about how to access or bring forth this commonality.
Catharsis as a way?
What is the most pure way to do this?
Big Questions
072 ‘Lost and Unfound: Exploring Experiences of Loss on Stage’
Convener: Amy Powell Yeates
Participants: People with much more wisdom than I, including a girl with a lovely orange cardy.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This session was held as a means of generating ideas for a twenty-minute piece of theatre I am making through workshopping. The piece, which is in its very early stages, is at the moment concerned with the somewhat broad subject of loss. In the session, I was interested in experiences and observations of loss - in life and in the theatre.
Through references to plays and the film ‘Precious’, group members were very interested in the triumph of sincerity over sentimentality. In such pieces, humour, hope and bravery take the place of morbidity and regret, qualities that we reflected can so easily define a piece that deals with loss. A playwright in the group was concerned that the loss of his protagonist at the end of his play might produce an anti-climax. Unnecessary sentimentality.
So perhaps one challenge is in creating a piece that has no room for regret. It was suggested that on stage, one way of achieving this is by using the narrative as a character’s escape from loss. They might give their audience snippets about the loss that they are attempting to flee, but these are peppered throughout their diversion, which might be a less than tuneful song played on the guitar. You take comic refuge with them. You are not being made to feel upset for the sake of the theatre-maker’s desire to evoke a reaction.
Something that will really stick with me is the simple statement that, ‘loss doesn’t have to be tragic.’ You’d rather find a friend than lose one. But you’d rather lose an enemy than find one.
Or perhaps the productive that comes out of loss is the vacuum that it leaves behind. What might the need for this gap to be filled provoke? How far do you think about acting upon something unless there is a space, a hunger for it?
Actors, somebody pointed out, are often asked to ‘lose’ their natural habits. ‘Adopt a physical neutrality’ trainers or directors request. ‘Clear your mind’ the tai chi or yoga instructor asks. Take on momentary losses in order to find something else. Loss produces gaps for a replacement.
Maybe the thing that fills it isn’t productive. Maybe this represents another loss entirely. Loss producing loss. Or maybe the gap remains forever, its contents perpetually unfound.
But this is not the worst case scenario. What if you lose everything? The way we deal with loss, it seems, is by diverting our attention to what we haven’t. What does it look like, feel like to have nothing?
Maybe it’s funny. Loss can have you in floods of tears one second and laughing hysterically in the next. And it’s a relief to find solidarity with a character and their experience of loss.
Because most of the time, we try not to talk, or think about it.
Sometimes loss can inhabit new bodies, new realities. One group member had a picture of a friend that had recently passed away on her digital camera that she hadn’t backed up and it got deleted. She described the feeling as horrific. ‘It wasn’t even real, I couldn’t even hold it.’ Is this about responsibility? If you feel you might have been able to prevent a loss, your attempt to digest it is magnified or extended, or both.
It is not necessarily about the thing that is lost. But how, why and when.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated, I would welcome any other suggestions or comments to en07arpy at leeds.ac.uk
Participants: People with much more wisdom than I, including a girl with a lovely orange cardy.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This session was held as a means of generating ideas for a twenty-minute piece of theatre I am making through workshopping. The piece, which is in its very early stages, is at the moment concerned with the somewhat broad subject of loss. In the session, I was interested in experiences and observations of loss - in life and in the theatre.
Through references to plays and the film ‘Precious’, group members were very interested in the triumph of sincerity over sentimentality. In such pieces, humour, hope and bravery take the place of morbidity and regret, qualities that we reflected can so easily define a piece that deals with loss. A playwright in the group was concerned that the loss of his protagonist at the end of his play might produce an anti-climax. Unnecessary sentimentality.
So perhaps one challenge is in creating a piece that has no room for regret. It was suggested that on stage, one way of achieving this is by using the narrative as a character’s escape from loss. They might give their audience snippets about the loss that they are attempting to flee, but these are peppered throughout their diversion, which might be a less than tuneful song played on the guitar. You take comic refuge with them. You are not being made to feel upset for the sake of the theatre-maker’s desire to evoke a reaction.
Something that will really stick with me is the simple statement that, ‘loss doesn’t have to be tragic.’ You’d rather find a friend than lose one. But you’d rather lose an enemy than find one.
Or perhaps the productive that comes out of loss is the vacuum that it leaves behind. What might the need for this gap to be filled provoke? How far do you think about acting upon something unless there is a space, a hunger for it?
Actors, somebody pointed out, are often asked to ‘lose’ their natural habits. ‘Adopt a physical neutrality’ trainers or directors request. ‘Clear your mind’ the tai chi or yoga instructor asks. Take on momentary losses in order to find something else. Loss produces gaps for a replacement.
Maybe the thing that fills it isn’t productive. Maybe this represents another loss entirely. Loss producing loss. Or maybe the gap remains forever, its contents perpetually unfound.
But this is not the worst case scenario. What if you lose everything? The way we deal with loss, it seems, is by diverting our attention to what we haven’t. What does it look like, feel like to have nothing?
Maybe it’s funny. Loss can have you in floods of tears one second and laughing hysterically in the next. And it’s a relief to find solidarity with a character and their experience of loss.
Because most of the time, we try not to talk, or think about it.
Sometimes loss can inhabit new bodies, new realities. One group member had a picture of a friend that had recently passed away on her digital camera that she hadn’t backed up and it got deleted. She described the feeling as horrific. ‘It wasn’t even real, I couldn’t even hold it.’ Is this about responsibility? If you feel you might have been able to prevent a loss, your attempt to digest it is magnified or extended, or both.
It is not necessarily about the thing that is lost. But how, why and when.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated, I would welcome any other suggestions or comments to en07arpy at leeds.ac.uk
068 How might might we think about desire in relation to theatre?
Convener: Jonny Liron
Participants: Jonny Liron, Chris Goode, Mat Trueman, Andrew Haydon, Chris Wilkinson, Lucy Ellinson, Gerard Bell, Greg McLaren, Katherina, the infantile radiance of the entire desperate people.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
(Coupled with the urgent contingence of political sex, as in, Today)
We speak the sharpening
Is that defecating noise in the future tense
sound the hate system falling apart
We were here all the time
The terror corollary examples its own specious disgust
The co-ordinates (like the sea, and love) scramble and re-align
Moving knowledge to passionate radical de construction
In (neck positioned) attentive gleam
To radiate those (these) sinews in empathy with another, to speak of us
The boy dancer shines his specific orientated lost
The queer turn back towards the horizon
(the stars dislocate and shimmer out of angled sight
The form of the poetic critical engagement with what is critical
We are hurtling, impact imminent
O, we were found
out straining out stretched throat
Participants: Jonny Liron, Chris Goode, Mat Trueman, Andrew Haydon, Chris Wilkinson, Lucy Ellinson, Gerard Bell, Greg McLaren, Katherina, the infantile radiance of the entire desperate people.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
(Coupled with the urgent contingence of political sex, as in, Today)
We speak the sharpening
Is that defecating noise in the future tense
sound the hate system falling apart
We were here all the time
The terror corollary examples its own specious disgust
The co-ordinates (like the sea, and love) scramble and re-align
Moving knowledge to passionate radical de construction
In (neck positioned) attentive gleam
To radiate those (these) sinews in empathy with another, to speak of us
The boy dancer shines his specific orientated lost
The queer turn back towards the horizon
(the stars dislocate and shimmer out of angled sight
The form of the poetic critical engagement with what is critical
We are hurtling, impact imminent
O, we were found
out straining out stretched throat
060 Does theatre still have a social and moral responsibility?
Convener: Jo Faith
Participants: Sarah Grochala, Ellen Parousi, Lou Platt, Meenakshi, Helen Pringle, Joe Austin, Aaron Mirrigin, Dannie Laybell, Sharon Matthews
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Buzz words / ideas – ‘Structures’, ‘Education’, ‘choices of individuals’, ‘Aesthetic v political / deeper meanings’, ‘provoking’, ‘’role of theatre’, ‘types of practice’, ‘form’, ‘Faith’
Most people felt that theatre has a social responsibility, not everyone was sure about moral.
The word responsibility was questioned – ‘quite dry’ as opposed to the creative process. But we discussed how theatre should be seen as more ‘important’ in society, which raised a question about responsibility - we see schools as being responsible for our children, supermarkets as responsible for our food (daily needs), NHS responsible for our health… etc.
If the theatre wants more importance does it need to be more responsible?
Funding – there is often a need to have a social or moral stance to gain funding. Why is this? Should this be the case?
A director – spoke about his issue of conflict with social / moral responsibility when making theatre.
Writer – depends on the context.
Theatre – historically important as a means of passing on information.
Often messages are forgotten – information and awareness may be increased but the key message can be lost and not put into action. How can this be assessed? We are being modified and ‘transformed’ daily, surely, everything feeds into that process…
Is emotional connection as important as a mind / physical reaction? Or is it just pleasure? (essentially pornographic)
Arguably theatre that has a participatory / interactive element is more transformative.
Ongoing work has the most social benefit (working with ex-offenders, with regular contact)
Theatre so often works within the current political climate – not really addressing or challenging anything. (Often agrees with what people are already saying)
Question of Universal truths, moral framework that often the old playwrights were dealing with – many of these texts still used within the education system. Why?
Education failing to embrace enough diversity. Education should ‘provoke’. Discussed why teachers aren’t called ‘provokers’ therefore rather than ‘teachers’.
Education should teach the politics of ‘now’, aware of the fact that things, issues, students, change every year. Are there any solid truths that must always be acknowledged?
‘England People Very Nice’ a play that stirs up community, rather than encouraging good community relationships. The further degrading of victims.
Our moral and social responsibility is to educate people about issues.
Theatre draws together a wide spectrum of strangers to share ideas and raise discussion / debate.
Who is the theatre for?
People don’t like to be preached at, unless they agree with what is being preached!
Religions are stories…so is the theatre
Theatre shouldn’t try and tell everything, nothing in life does or can so neither should theatre be concerned about trying to do that.
Activism should be fun
Is theatre a social and moral act?
Provocation is ok, but a fun time is ok as well. A bad theatre experience is useful?
In the most unlikely places we find the beauty, truths
Often moral / social theatre is boring, long-winded, self-righteous.
Theatre should be using different forms, experimenting with form more.
Trend in social theatre again, why? People are disillusioned with politics, and want to voice this.
Trilogy – a joyful expression of women, questions about feminism still not resolved in society just more silent now. Why?
Social responsibility of theatre – to create a space where people can disagree.
Sense of responsibility of the playwright, the actors, the storytellers. The individual and collective responsibility. Where does personal morality operate within the structure? If theatre is all inclusive, it invites people with all beliefs and political opinions. So theatre will reflect these.
Participants: Sarah Grochala, Ellen Parousi, Lou Platt, Meenakshi, Helen Pringle, Joe Austin, Aaron Mirrigin, Dannie Laybell, Sharon Matthews
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Buzz words / ideas – ‘Structures’, ‘Education’, ‘choices of individuals’, ‘Aesthetic v political / deeper meanings’, ‘provoking’, ‘’role of theatre’, ‘types of practice’, ‘form’, ‘Faith’
Most people felt that theatre has a social responsibility, not everyone was sure about moral.
The word responsibility was questioned – ‘quite dry’ as opposed to the creative process. But we discussed how theatre should be seen as more ‘important’ in society, which raised a question about responsibility - we see schools as being responsible for our children, supermarkets as responsible for our food (daily needs), NHS responsible for our health… etc.
If the theatre wants more importance does it need to be more responsible?
Funding – there is often a need to have a social or moral stance to gain funding. Why is this? Should this be the case?
A director – spoke about his issue of conflict with social / moral responsibility when making theatre.
Writer – depends on the context.
Theatre – historically important as a means of passing on information.
Often messages are forgotten – information and awareness may be increased but the key message can be lost and not put into action. How can this be assessed? We are being modified and ‘transformed’ daily, surely, everything feeds into that process…
Is emotional connection as important as a mind / physical reaction? Or is it just pleasure? (essentially pornographic)
Arguably theatre that has a participatory / interactive element is more transformative.
Ongoing work has the most social benefit (working with ex-offenders, with regular contact)
Theatre so often works within the current political climate – not really addressing or challenging anything. (Often agrees with what people are already saying)
Question of Universal truths, moral framework that often the old playwrights were dealing with – many of these texts still used within the education system. Why?
Education failing to embrace enough diversity. Education should ‘provoke’. Discussed why teachers aren’t called ‘provokers’ therefore rather than ‘teachers’.
Education should teach the politics of ‘now’, aware of the fact that things, issues, students, change every year. Are there any solid truths that must always be acknowledged?
‘England People Very Nice’ a play that stirs up community, rather than encouraging good community relationships. The further degrading of victims.
Our moral and social responsibility is to educate people about issues.
Theatre draws together a wide spectrum of strangers to share ideas and raise discussion / debate.
Who is the theatre for?
People don’t like to be preached at, unless they agree with what is being preached!
Religions are stories…so is the theatre
Theatre shouldn’t try and tell everything, nothing in life does or can so neither should theatre be concerned about trying to do that.
Activism should be fun
Is theatre a social and moral act?
Provocation is ok, but a fun time is ok as well. A bad theatre experience is useful?
In the most unlikely places we find the beauty, truths
Often moral / social theatre is boring, long-winded, self-righteous.
Theatre should be using different forms, experimenting with form more.
Trend in social theatre again, why? People are disillusioned with politics, and want to voice this.
Trilogy – a joyful expression of women, questions about feminism still not resolved in society just more silent now. Why?
Social responsibility of theatre – to create a space where people can disagree.
Sense of responsibility of the playwright, the actors, the storytellers. The individual and collective responsibility. Where does personal morality operate within the structure? If theatre is all inclusive, it invites people with all beliefs and political opinions. So theatre will reflect these.
046 Is theatre political?
Convener: Tom Mansfield
Participants: Emma Adams, Shakera Louise Ahad, Sharon Matthews, Meenakshi Sharma, Paschale Straiton, many butterflies, bumblebees and people whose names I totally failed to write down…
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
click on the image to view it fully
In a word – yes – we started from the basis that everything’s political. In life, and therefore in theatre, we are constantly engaging in power relationships between people. The question becomes how we as theatre-makers can confront those power dynamics, and how we can use theatre as a tool to dissect those dynamics in the wider world. When we talk about politics are we really discussing ideology – the idea that the world should be a certain way and that people should behave in particular ways to achieve that.
Audiences and marketers are often put off by the idea of “political theatre” – it takes us back to the idea of some kind of 1970s banner-waving protest art – but is this situation beginning to change with shows like Enron, Katrina, and the Jean Charles de Menezes plays? We discussed work that we’d seen that explicitly engages with major political issues – often, like the Hurricane Katrina show, these were most successful when dealing with individuals’ stories and without necessarily explicitly dealing with the “politics” of it.
Venues too are often discouraged by work that seems “too political” and we discussed whether it would be right to “smuggle the politics in”, or whether if we want to make political work we should be explicit about it. As artists, none of us were keen to be seen as trying to preach to an audience, and we kept coming back to the idea of storytelling as a vehicle for politics rather than the other way round. While a political issue or a specific incident might be the starting point for a piece of work, the most successful political theatre is good theatre as much as it is good politics. How explicit or implicit political ideas are within a piece may just depend on the piece we’re working on…or our own tastes as artists.
As a live form, our advantage is that we have a group of people assembled in a particular place at a particular time, who respond both as a group and as individuals. We discussed how we might help audiences to participate in and respond to political work – this could range from formal post-show discussions to conversations with artists in the bar afterwards, using social networking sites and our companies’/venues’ websites to get feedback. We were also intrigued by trying to find ways of getting the audience involved in debate/discussion during the show itself – is this possible? What opportunities does it present?
In theatre, our industrial structure gives us a huge advantage over film and TV in that we are able to reconsider everything afresh each time we create a new piece of work – we’re not restricted by the cultural and political assumptions of the mass media. We need to keep challenging our own assumptions – while the temptation is always to find the right tribe of people to work with, we also need to avoid forming cliques. Working with collaborators, material and audiences with which we’re not familiar can be a way of keeping ourselves fresh and opening ourselves up to new ideas. If we’re going to question the society we live in then of course we need to keep questioning ourselves.
Many of us had found that the very process of working on a politically engaged piece of theatre had changed the way we think about the world more broadly – by working on a piece of art we learn not just as artists but as individuals within society. How we then apply those political changes in our theatre-making could take all kinds of ways – but we all agreed that we need to keep aware of the politics that exists both inherently and explicitly in our theatre.
Participants: Emma Adams, Shakera Louise Ahad, Sharon Matthews, Meenakshi Sharma, Paschale Straiton, many butterflies, bumblebees and people whose names I totally failed to write down…
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
click on the image to view it fully
In a word – yes – we started from the basis that everything’s political. In life, and therefore in theatre, we are constantly engaging in power relationships between people. The question becomes how we as theatre-makers can confront those power dynamics, and how we can use theatre as a tool to dissect those dynamics in the wider world. When we talk about politics are we really discussing ideology – the idea that the world should be a certain way and that people should behave in particular ways to achieve that.
Audiences and marketers are often put off by the idea of “political theatre” – it takes us back to the idea of some kind of 1970s banner-waving protest art – but is this situation beginning to change with shows like Enron, Katrina, and the Jean Charles de Menezes plays? We discussed work that we’d seen that explicitly engages with major political issues – often, like the Hurricane Katrina show, these were most successful when dealing with individuals’ stories and without necessarily explicitly dealing with the “politics” of it.
Venues too are often discouraged by work that seems “too political” and we discussed whether it would be right to “smuggle the politics in”, or whether if we want to make political work we should be explicit about it. As artists, none of us were keen to be seen as trying to preach to an audience, and we kept coming back to the idea of storytelling as a vehicle for politics rather than the other way round. While a political issue or a specific incident might be the starting point for a piece of work, the most successful political theatre is good theatre as much as it is good politics. How explicit or implicit political ideas are within a piece may just depend on the piece we’re working on…or our own tastes as artists.
As a live form, our advantage is that we have a group of people assembled in a particular place at a particular time, who respond both as a group and as individuals. We discussed how we might help audiences to participate in and respond to political work – this could range from formal post-show discussions to conversations with artists in the bar afterwards, using social networking sites and our companies’/venues’ websites to get feedback. We were also intrigued by trying to find ways of getting the audience involved in debate/discussion during the show itself – is this possible? What opportunities does it present?
In theatre, our industrial structure gives us a huge advantage over film and TV in that we are able to reconsider everything afresh each time we create a new piece of work – we’re not restricted by the cultural and political assumptions of the mass media. We need to keep challenging our own assumptions – while the temptation is always to find the right tribe of people to work with, we also need to avoid forming cliques. Working with collaborators, material and audiences with which we’re not familiar can be a way of keeping ourselves fresh and opening ourselves up to new ideas. If we’re going to question the society we live in then of course we need to keep questioning ourselves.
Many of us had found that the very process of working on a politically engaged piece of theatre had changed the way we think about the world more broadly – by working on a piece of art we learn not just as artists but as individuals within society. How we then apply those political changes in our theatre-making could take all kinds of ways – but we all agreed that we need to keep aware of the politics that exists both inherently and explicitly in our theatre.
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.
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.
031 How do you go about communicating “Non-Sense” ideas to people who would likely not know what you mean?
Convener: Li E Chen
Participants: Griet Spanhove, Gary Horsman and Paul Whitlock
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• Style of expression
• Cultural differences: To find out the difference between European conceptual artists and Asian conceptual artists?
• To speak to artist who are like-minded and similar backgrounds. (Kazuko Hokui, etc)
Suggestions:
• Test ideas through few people
Participants: Griet Spanhove, Gary Horsman and Paul Whitlock
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
• Style of expression
• Cultural differences: To find out the difference between European conceptual artists and Asian conceptual artists?
• To speak to artist who are like-minded and similar backgrounds. (Kazuko Hokui, etc)
Suggestions:
• Test ideas through few people
023 Science in Theatre?
Convener: Jack Lowe
Participants:
Anna O’Brien, Tyne Rafaeli, Dee Evans, Liam J O’Driscole, Katie Murturgh, James Blakey, Lizzie Wiggs and more – (forgot to ask to sign up! Please do if you were there)
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
The discussion opened with a shared history/experience of theatre which engages with scientific debate. Various projects, small/large scale companies, and issues including:
• Plymouth Theatre
• Gecko
• Sci-Lab
• Complicité
• Clod ensemble – performance medecine
• Danny Boyle’s “Frankenstein” etc
• Kandinsky, Blast theory and Curious Directive
Discussed other access points to popular science today
• BBC Horizon
• The news etc
What are the questions of ethics in performance about science that we need to keep in mind?
We looked at the difference between putting on theatre which looks at:
• Specific scientific content
o LHC
o Bio-technology
o Moments of discovery
o Mnemonic
• Specific scientific processes
o Theory
o Equations
o Sequences
• How this can be put into performance
We discussed/dissected and interrogated the thesis of the “Snow Base: Triptych” – a new science/theatre venue at the Edinburgh International Science festival, taking place in April 2010. Particularly looking at:
• Which form of performer/audience relationship can be used to tell stories/narrative about science
o Installation
o Sculpture
o Live performance
We looked at the idea of Scientists in co-creation with theatre makers. What can we learn from each other, and how can we inspire one another. Conclusion: “Theatre is not Science’s bitch!” (and vice verse)
Questioned Art/drama/music therapy?
Discussed www.ted.com and it’s role in generating accessible science related performance.
BBC Life, Planet earth = the sort of inspirational support of science which interests us.
Conclusions: Theatre can take a huge amount of inspiration from Science, and Scientists are eager to engage with artists/theatre makers. The process for setting up this relationship takes a huge amount of preparation and thought. We’re all up for it!
Participants:
Anna O’Brien, Tyne Rafaeli, Dee Evans, Liam J O’Driscole, Katie Murturgh, James Blakey, Lizzie Wiggs and more – (forgot to ask to sign up! Please do if you were there)
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
The discussion opened with a shared history/experience of theatre which engages with scientific debate. Various projects, small/large scale companies, and issues including:
• Plymouth Theatre
• Gecko
• Sci-Lab
• Complicité
• Clod ensemble – performance medecine
• Danny Boyle’s “Frankenstein” etc
• Kandinsky, Blast theory and Curious Directive
Discussed other access points to popular science today
• BBC Horizon
• The news etc
What are the questions of ethics in performance about science that we need to keep in mind?
We looked at the difference between putting on theatre which looks at:
• Specific scientific content
o LHC
o Bio-technology
o Moments of discovery
o Mnemonic
• Specific scientific processes
o Theory
o Equations
o Sequences
• How this can be put into performance
We discussed/dissected and interrogated the thesis of the “Snow Base: Triptych” – a new science/theatre venue at the Edinburgh International Science festival, taking place in April 2010. Particularly looking at:
• Which form of performer/audience relationship can be used to tell stories/narrative about science
o Installation
o Sculpture
o Live performance
We looked at the idea of Scientists in co-creation with theatre makers. What can we learn from each other, and how can we inspire one another. Conclusion: “Theatre is not Science’s bitch!” (and vice verse)
Questioned Art/drama/music therapy?
Discussed www.ted.com and it’s role in generating accessible science related performance.
BBC Life, Planet earth = the sort of inspirational support of science which interests us.
Conclusions: Theatre can take a huge amount of inspiration from Science, and Scientists are eager to engage with artists/theatre makers. The process for setting up this relationship takes a huge amount of preparation and thought. We’re all up for it!
018 Staging A Last Tango in Paris
Convener: Lawrence O’Connor
Participants: Lawrence O’Connor, Dodger Phillips
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
- STORY
- CHARACTERS
- AUDIENCE
- MORALITY
- ETHICS
- LOGISTICS
- OTHER STORIES
- PHILISOPHY
- TEXT
- POLITICS
CONCLUSION
Probably the most effective way to communicate what we agreed was beautiful and interesting about this story is to stage, in very truthful terms, the basis for and the process undertaken during this Open Space Session no. 18 to unearth what it is that we find of value in the story and, using snippets and extracts from the text/film, enable the audience to take that journey with us.
Components of the telling of The Story:
- Exploration
- Animality
- Animals have no need for…
- Worry
- Self-justification
- Living outside the moment
- Humanity
- Beauty
- Why it needs to be told
- Why it is difficult to tell
- Reactions to it
- Reactions, obstacles and challenges to the telling of it
- And those described in the following themes…
- Flawed***
- Worlds
- Inside (together)
- Outside
- Need to be understood
- By
- Themselves
- Each other
- Chooses to…
- Question
- Judge
- Reconcile
- Story accesses…
- Their personal experience
- Their images
- This is the personal world view that the story tellers and the audience will inevitably bring and that will enrich the giving and receiving of the story.
- This is the social & political external, cultural dimension that will inform and, at times clash with and contradict the personal morality of the story, its tellers and of the audience.
- Simply staged
- Lectern
- One actor
- Flip chart and large space on which the map of the story will evolve.
- Screen for projections of movie snippets
It seemed helpful to look at other stories that include some of the elements that we wanted to address in this staging:
- The Piano & Blair/Iraq
- Flaws
- All the main characters are flawed**
- Voyeurism + revelation
- Key moments seen through…
- Slots
- Holes
- Gaps
- Self-destructive
- Privately
- Publicly
- Need to be:
- Discovered
- Understood
- Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Gray
- Useful model for staging.
This is where we spent most of our time in discussion – it was a way of unfolding what the ideas were that made staging the story of A Last Tango Appealing and getting beyond the common perception of the story as only about ‘fingers, butter & bottoms’.
- Human evolution
- Existentialism
- Process
- Choice
- Possibility
- Beauty
- Risk
- Being Wrong
- Disapproval
- Nihilism
- Dark aspect
- Satre
- Typical, general perception
- Responsibility
- Light aspect
- De Beauvoir
- In the moment
- Absence of ‘worry’
TEXT
What will be the content…
· Extracts
o Screenplay/script
o Research about the original film/story, the making of it and the impacts of it having been made.
· Story of the story of…
o First encounters/impressions of A Last Tango’
o Finding beauty in the story/emotions/tears.
· Impro
o Engaging the audience
POLITICS/CULTURE
One of the things that will make the staging of the story of the story is interesting is the context in which it is told, the tensions between that and our current social politics and culture and the disconnect between them and the themes of A Last Tango’.
- Rules
- Other People
- Who are they anyway?? (we bearly know ourselves, how can we ever claim to ‘know’ other people???).
- Social
- ‘Inclusion’ it is a futile and sometimes destructive exercise to set out to attempt to ‘include’ everyone. People will include or exclude themselves based on their choice.
- Important to remember that, on one level, people are organisms.
- The importance of:
- Time
- Place
- The story staged must be personal and truthful to be a sufficient antidote to the challenges above and enable the interest & beauty to be revealed.
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