In this key pre election moment this is an invitation to come together at Toynbee Studios, London E1 6AB on the 6th of April at 7:30pm to discuss and engage with the important issues raised by this question.
Dear All,
Through a series of annual and monthly events called ‘Devoted and Disgruntled’ (or D&D), hosted by Improbable, a large network of people from the performing arts have been building a diverse and ever-expanding community. From the annual gathering this January, attended by several hundred people, has come a new groundswell of energy and discussion around the issues that will be important in a general election debate and beyond.
As a direct result of this, and of the activities of associated organisations such as Jericho House, in the past few weeks there have been discussions online and in various newspapers about the commitment of each party to the arts. These have led, for example, to Ed Vaizey, Tory spokesman for the arts, committing to the maintenance of funding to the arts; to the Lib Dems making a matching commitment; and to The Culture Show on the 4th of March, in which each party was quizzed on their arts policies by Alan Yentob.
From the last D&D meeting at the start of this month emerged the desire to widen this debate to include politicians, audiences and other stakeholders, to engage with these questions in a way that involves genuine and constructive debate.
This then is an invitation from this community to join in these discussions in a style where everybody will be able both to listen and to have their voice heard. The evening will run using Open Space technology which gives anyone the chance to propose a starting point for discussion, then take part in one of these conversations or flit between them all.
If any of these questions concern you, come along:
Do artists care about politics?
Do politicians care about the arts?
What do performing artists and politicians have in common?
As a politician, would you like the opportunity to listen and be listened to? To meet the community who cares about these issues?
As an artist, what would make a difference and win your vote?
As an audience member, what would win your vote? What are your concerns?
What will it be like to be involved in the performing arts after this election?
How can the cultural Olympiad actually leave the culture enriched?
What matters to you most about the future of the performing arts in this country?
It would in particular be terrific if policymakers and prospective ministers were to attend and to participate in a genuinely grassroots exchange of perspectives in an environment not dominated by the usual ‘us and them’ structure of staged panel debates.
We would, in short, love YOU to come and discuss and engage with these vital issues!
Hope to see you there,
Phelim McDermott and Improbable
Jonathan Holmes and Jericho House
DETAILS:
If you cannot attend but would like to be kept in touch email office at improbable.co.uk
The evening runs using Open Space technology which gives anyone the chance to propose a starting point for discussion, then take part in one of these conversations, flit between them all, or head to the bar.
This event is free! No need to book, just turn up on the night, but an RSVP is nice.
Artsadmin at Toynbee Studios: 28 Commercial Street | London | E1 6AB.
Map at: http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/contacts/ For further information or to discuss access requirements get in touch with Lucy at lucy at improbable.co.uk or at the office on 0207 240 4556. Hope to see you there.
Showing posts with label invitation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label invitation. Show all posts
Friday, 19 March 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
110 A crafty sign
Jenifer Toksvig and Stuart Targett gathered by the coffee place and decided to sew a new sign for the stage in fabric hung from hemp line so it’s easy to store and put up. Other people expressed an interest, including Sophia Simensky who is going to knit a lovely butterfly, and Sharon Seager, who is going to knit a lovely bumblebee.
Anyone who would like to join in is welcome to contact Jen Toksvig on never at acompletelossforwords.com so we can make a plan. You can also find me on ravelry.com as Toksvig.
Anyone could create a butterfly or bumblebee in any media, or join in on the big sign, or make a sign for one of the four principles and the law. Wording is thus:
Whoever comes is the right people
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
Whenever it starts is the right time
When it's over, it's over
And you could either write ‘The Law Of Two Feet’ or make two feet!
Anyone who would like to join in is welcome to contact Jen Toksvig on never at acompletelossforwords.com so we can make a plan. You can also find me on ravelry.com as Toksvig.
Anyone could create a butterfly or bumblebee in any media, or join in on the big sign, or make a sign for one of the four principles and the law. Wording is thus:
Whoever comes is the right people
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
Whenever it starts is the right time
When it's over, it's over
And you could either write ‘The Law Of Two Feet’ or make two feet!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
075 Can the D+D networking site support/work better? Ideas?
Convener: Emma Adams
Participants: Shakera Louise Ahad, Lie Chen, Laura Farworth (sorry if I got your last name wrong, I found it hard to read your writing), Thomas Hescott, Mark Morreas, Robert Welle, Phelim McDermott, Leslie Cooke, Annie Rigby, Jeni Toksvig, Dan Johnston, Clare Fischer, The Red Hedgehog + other folk too.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This was a wide ranging conversation which I struggled to keep up with at times. Scribing and thinking at the same time…
Questions and problems that were brought up:
Is the Ning D+D Site any good?
Do we need a site at all?
Pros and Cons of different social networking sites and how to use them?
What motivates people to go to the Ning site?
How can we keep the energy that is in the room here alive when we go home?
D+D can be everything and anything so does this make it hard to translate into a site with clear goals and objectives?
D+D gives energy here in the flesh and then disillusionment when we go on line, but live monthly events work
Do people want to keep the experience of coming to D+D events as discreet ‘energy boosts’ which you don’t have the responsibility of putting energy into beyond the event its self???
Vicious circle of lack of critical mass – the site doesn’t get traffic so people don’t find anything so don’t go back etc etc
Every year people say that they want the Ning site to work, but then the energy drops and it doesn’t work like that.
Too much of a focus on what Improbable ‘should be doing’.
Suggestions of how to move forward / solutions:
Should it be more of a case that people take on responsibility for themselves?
Would it work to have live chat / weekly update or do we need a news letter?
Social Networking sites:
Different people have different ways of interacting with platforms
Twitter not good for in-depth discussions
Twitter brings instant energy into the D&D event itself
Whatever solution comes needs to be low on man hours
Sadness that the energy in this room can’t be maintained.
For an online community to work, need to establish the point of the live community, ask the question of how we motivate and give value to that community, then need to express this through a question so that people know the point of going online.
Status is not an issue in the room, but the question, “Can I have your email address?” outside this room becomes something entirely different.
Really interesting: Issue of status, which is clear in the abstract industry, but not so clear in this room. Within the abstract industry, the rules work differently. Face to face, in the room, you can have time to build trust and figure out other people’s intentions.
Moderated: focus is kept on topic. (That’s a man-hour nightmare!)
Continue to have the Ning, but set up an email list. Add people who are on the Ning automatically but they can opt out, the hope being that this would bring more traffic to the site which might give us critical mass.
Some suggestion that this might fracture things into many different platforms, or it might just lead to different kinds of usage on different kinds of platforms.
Theatre Bristol have just done an Open Space and their website is very clear.
Ideas for expanding the use of D&D on Twitter, using Devoted and Disgruntled as separate identities. Maybe too complex, should just hash DD5
Does having a nice site motivate people to use it?
Are questions open or closed on the site: does that affect how people use it?
Facebook: news page helps distil what’s going on into one easy digest.
What people say they want while they’re at D&D doesn’t always match what they actually want, or what they do, once they’ve left the experience.
The Open Space list was great until someone suggested they all join a Ning, so lately it’s lost momentum as the Ning has taken off. The critical mass has moved.
Young Vic Directors’ Forum: also has an email list.
Not about going to a website, but about receiving something in your inbox.
It would be good if the social networking that comes out of the event mirrors the vibe of the event itself.
Mel administrates from Improbable, Jen also helps but has nothing to do because no-one really uses it.
Someone suggested that putting stuff up on the Ning won’t get noticed because no-one goes there.
Is Ning just the wrong tool?
The relationships one forms at D&D don’t make sense to continue in a social networking way. It’s more about having a coffee face-to-face.
Is it about sustaining the energy? Or is it about finding something else?
Phelim would like whatever it is to be open access.
There’s always a rush afterwards, and then it all dies.
People say they want stuff, but then it doesn’t work like that.
People said that the monthly meetings are fine.
Suggestion for meetings online with live chat?
Plan for Action Meeting on Monday:
Email list?
This has now been set up- you can join here
Live chat meetings online for those who can’t get to monthly meetings in London?
Who is going to Tweet?
Phelim has now set up a D&D UK Twitter feed @DandDUK
Participants: Shakera Louise Ahad, Lie Chen, Laura Farworth (sorry if I got your last name wrong, I found it hard to read your writing), Thomas Hescott, Mark Morreas, Robert Welle, Phelim McDermott, Leslie Cooke, Annie Rigby, Jeni Toksvig, Dan Johnston, Clare Fischer, The Red Hedgehog + other folk too.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This was a wide ranging conversation which I struggled to keep up with at times. Scribing and thinking at the same time…
Questions and problems that were brought up:
Is the Ning D+D Site any good?
Do we need a site at all?
Pros and Cons of different social networking sites and how to use them?
What motivates people to go to the Ning site?
How can we keep the energy that is in the room here alive when we go home?
D+D can be everything and anything so does this make it hard to translate into a site with clear goals and objectives?
D+D gives energy here in the flesh and then disillusionment when we go on line, but live monthly events work
Do people want to keep the experience of coming to D+D events as discreet ‘energy boosts’ which you don’t have the responsibility of putting energy into beyond the event its self???
Vicious circle of lack of critical mass – the site doesn’t get traffic so people don’t find anything so don’t go back etc etc
Every year people say that they want the Ning site to work, but then the energy drops and it doesn’t work like that.
Too much of a focus on what Improbable ‘should be doing’.
Suggestions of how to move forward / solutions:
Should it be more of a case that people take on responsibility for themselves?
Would it work to have live chat / weekly update or do we need a news letter?
Social Networking sites:
Different people have different ways of interacting with platforms
Twitter not good for in-depth discussions
Twitter brings instant energy into the D&D event itself
Whatever solution comes needs to be low on man hours
Sadness that the energy in this room can’t be maintained.
For an online community to work, need to establish the point of the live community, ask the question of how we motivate and give value to that community, then need to express this through a question so that people know the point of going online.
Status is not an issue in the room, but the question, “Can I have your email address?” outside this room becomes something entirely different.
Really interesting: Issue of status, which is clear in the abstract industry, but not so clear in this room. Within the abstract industry, the rules work differently. Face to face, in the room, you can have time to build trust and figure out other people’s intentions.
Moderated: focus is kept on topic. (That’s a man-hour nightmare!)
Continue to have the Ning, but set up an email list. Add people who are on the Ning automatically but they can opt out, the hope being that this would bring more traffic to the site which might give us critical mass.
Some suggestion that this might fracture things into many different platforms, or it might just lead to different kinds of usage on different kinds of platforms.
Theatre Bristol have just done an Open Space and their website is very clear.
Ideas for expanding the use of D&D on Twitter, using Devoted and Disgruntled as separate identities. Maybe too complex, should just hash DD5
Does having a nice site motivate people to use it?
Are questions open or closed on the site: does that affect how people use it?
Facebook: news page helps distil what’s going on into one easy digest.
What people say they want while they’re at D&D doesn’t always match what they actually want, or what they do, once they’ve left the experience.
The Open Space list was great until someone suggested they all join a Ning, so lately it’s lost momentum as the Ning has taken off. The critical mass has moved.
Young Vic Directors’ Forum: also has an email list.
Not about going to a website, but about receiving something in your inbox.
It would be good if the social networking that comes out of the event mirrors the vibe of the event itself.
Mel administrates from Improbable, Jen also helps but has nothing to do because no-one really uses it.
Someone suggested that putting stuff up on the Ning won’t get noticed because no-one goes there.
Is Ning just the wrong tool?
The relationships one forms at D&D don’t make sense to continue in a social networking way. It’s more about having a coffee face-to-face.
Is it about sustaining the energy? Or is it about finding something else?
Phelim would like whatever it is to be open access.
There’s always a rush afterwards, and then it all dies.
People say they want stuff, but then it doesn’t work like that.
People said that the monthly meetings are fine.
Suggestion for meetings online with live chat?
Plan for Action Meeting on Monday:
Email list?
This has now been set up- you can join here
Live chat meetings online for those who can’t get to monthly meetings in London?
Who is going to Tweet?
Phelim has now set up a D&D UK Twitter feed @DandDUK
058 What one idea from outside theatre has most changed your practice inside theatre?
Convener: Chris Goode
Participants: About three dozen people, and we’re still going…
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
I’ve noticed that often it’s the ideas that we translate across to the world of theatre from other disciplines, artforms, practices and cultures that can have the biggest impact on how we think about theatre and how we imagine what it might be able to do. Other theatre makers may influence us in all sorts of ways but often it’s an adoption or adaptation of ideas from elsewhere that make the real game-changing difference.
So I wanted to ask what those transformative ideas were for other people, and this is what came up, with blanket apologies for any mis-spelled names, garbled titles etc:
• Primatology. That monkeys define status through eye contact. (Makes you think about stage actors in a different way!)
• Lewis Hyde, The Gift. An examination of gift culture - generosity of spirit in action. What changes when instead of selling tickets we swap them for cake? (etc.)
• Paula Rego’s painting ‘The Family’ – supports loads of different narrative readings. Problematizing but not confrontational.
• Previous experiences in business sector, as a kind of negative shaping influence: wanting to not be dictated to by scheduling or fixation on product.
• ‘Linda Joy’: an experimental Canadian documentary about a woman battling cancer, with an intimate commentary added to the footage after the subject’s death. The idea of video as record; the present constantly passing.
• Funeral rites, ancestral worship rituals, esp Native American. Personal experience of funerals. (‘Funeral directors’: interesting performative terminology!)
• Also, giggling and then suddenly crying at a funeral – abrupt and slippery transitions between emotional states.
• The Lucifer Effect (sorry, didn’t make a note of the author): book about the Stanford Prison Experiment. How our behaviour is defined by situational rather than dispositional forces. By extension, how the structure you create as a director is fundamental to what work can be created.
• Argon: how the presence of traces of an inert gas in the atmosphere means that we’re all connected by the air we breathe. Every time you breathe you breathe a few atoms of argon that were once breathed by… [think of a person, any person]
• Psychics / spiritualists, and their performances. Does it really matter if the skills they claim to have are not actually real?
• Coma (missed the author again, sorry): communicating with people in coma states through touch and minimal signals. The ethical questions (about agency, choice, right to life, etc.) that arise from understanding that there’s a whole world going on inside coma states. Rehearsal exercises developed out of this specialized contact language.
• Harmonic chant.
• A childhood recollection of pretending to be sick so as to bunk off school, and then watching Powell & Pressburger films with mum – sharing those moments, entering into the world of the films, eating Lockets…
• Punk music; also,
• Punk ethos – DIY. (See Forest Fringe, STK etc.)
• Patrick Watson gig – the theatrical experience of togetherness, a sensation of collectivity
• Pulp albums: Different Class, This is Hardcore: an influence on understanding of narrative forms.
• Participatory economics – the collective ownership of an organization, and how that ownership is felt by participants; rotation of tasks etc.
• The 12 Steps (program for dealing with addiction) – e.g. principles of being of service rather than being in charge; stepping away from ego; principle counting for more than personality. This had effected a complete change of rehearsal practice.
• Rugby: a visceral, passionate, seemingly violent sport that promotes daring and the suppression of individual ego, and that is innately collaborative and smart in its reliance on strategic behaviours.
• Pixies, Debaser. ‘Nuff said. - Also, the experience of arranging a Pixies party in a phone box – a sense of “wanting everything I do to feel like this” – not setting out to create theatre, but wanting to do something renegade.
• A love of pathetic, futile gestures. Enjoying the absurdity of doing it anyway.
• A knowledge that things can change the world without everyone having to see them.
• Journalism. Some theatre could be seen as a kind of journalism, but wanting theatre to make it possible to enable a deeper exploration of issues and events. We talk about theatre being quickly responsive but it seldom is; journalism really is fast, and also good at being polemical. Theatre should take its time, avoid polemic, and concentrate on doing what journalism can’t.
• Good manners. Finding oneself wanting to apologize to the audience / fighting against the urge to say sorry for everything!
• Knowing that it’s OK to be paid for what you do…
• …and that you are not what you make: your art is not you. Once the work exists, let it be.
• Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern. No commentary / curatorial labels, so there was no sense of there being some predetermined stuff that you were supposed to understand or a particular set of ‘correct’ interpretations: and no reading or relationship was rejected by the paintings themselves – an object lesson in trusting the intelligence of the audience.
• Music in general, especially jazz: the use of abstract structures in a context of improvisatory liveness
• Gaspar Noe’s film Irreversible. Encouraging a reaction that’s visceral as much as cerebral.
A final conversation about The West Wing reminded me about an axiom often stated on that show: don’t simply argue about an issue – sometimes it makes better sense to reject the premise of the question. It feels like it’s exactly that that the practice of translating ideas across from other areas can remind us to do, because those ‘foreign’ ideas don’t just begin from a place of blandly accepting the premise of what theatre already is and can already do.
This was a really beautiful session – thanks to everyone who shared their ideas. People keep coming up to me and adding ideas or saying they wish they’d come to the session, so please email me if there’s anything you want to add to the list – I always really like hearing this stuff. Tell me things: chris at chrisgoodeonline.com xx
Participants: About three dozen people, and we’re still going…
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
I’ve noticed that often it’s the ideas that we translate across to the world of theatre from other disciplines, artforms, practices and cultures that can have the biggest impact on how we think about theatre and how we imagine what it might be able to do. Other theatre makers may influence us in all sorts of ways but often it’s an adoption or adaptation of ideas from elsewhere that make the real game-changing difference.
So I wanted to ask what those transformative ideas were for other people, and this is what came up, with blanket apologies for any mis-spelled names, garbled titles etc:
• Primatology. That monkeys define status through eye contact. (Makes you think about stage actors in a different way!)
• Lewis Hyde, The Gift. An examination of gift culture - generosity of spirit in action. What changes when instead of selling tickets we swap them for cake? (etc.)
• Paula Rego’s painting ‘The Family’ – supports loads of different narrative readings. Problematizing but not confrontational.
• Previous experiences in business sector, as a kind of negative shaping influence: wanting to not be dictated to by scheduling or fixation on product.
• ‘Linda Joy’: an experimental Canadian documentary about a woman battling cancer, with an intimate commentary added to the footage after the subject’s death. The idea of video as record; the present constantly passing.
• Funeral rites, ancestral worship rituals, esp Native American. Personal experience of funerals. (‘Funeral directors’: interesting performative terminology!)
• Also, giggling and then suddenly crying at a funeral – abrupt and slippery transitions between emotional states.
• The Lucifer Effect (sorry, didn’t make a note of the author): book about the Stanford Prison Experiment. How our behaviour is defined by situational rather than dispositional forces. By extension, how the structure you create as a director is fundamental to what work can be created.
• Argon: how the presence of traces of an inert gas in the atmosphere means that we’re all connected by the air we breathe. Every time you breathe you breathe a few atoms of argon that were once breathed by… [think of a person, any person]
• Psychics / spiritualists, and their performances. Does it really matter if the skills they claim to have are not actually real?
• Coma (missed the author again, sorry): communicating with people in coma states through touch and minimal signals. The ethical questions (about agency, choice, right to life, etc.) that arise from understanding that there’s a whole world going on inside coma states. Rehearsal exercises developed out of this specialized contact language.
• Harmonic chant.
• A childhood recollection of pretending to be sick so as to bunk off school, and then watching Powell & Pressburger films with mum – sharing those moments, entering into the world of the films, eating Lockets…
• Punk music; also,
• Punk ethos – DIY. (See Forest Fringe, STK etc.)
• Patrick Watson gig – the theatrical experience of togetherness, a sensation of collectivity
• Pulp albums: Different Class, This is Hardcore: an influence on understanding of narrative forms.
• Participatory economics – the collective ownership of an organization, and how that ownership is felt by participants; rotation of tasks etc.
• The 12 Steps (program for dealing with addiction) – e.g. principles of being of service rather than being in charge; stepping away from ego; principle counting for more than personality. This had effected a complete change of rehearsal practice.
• Rugby: a visceral, passionate, seemingly violent sport that promotes daring and the suppression of individual ego, and that is innately collaborative and smart in its reliance on strategic behaviours.
• Pixies, Debaser. ‘Nuff said. - Also, the experience of arranging a Pixies party in a phone box – a sense of “wanting everything I do to feel like this” – not setting out to create theatre, but wanting to do something renegade.
• A love of pathetic, futile gestures. Enjoying the absurdity of doing it anyway.
• A knowledge that things can change the world without everyone having to see them.
• Journalism. Some theatre could be seen as a kind of journalism, but wanting theatre to make it possible to enable a deeper exploration of issues and events. We talk about theatre being quickly responsive but it seldom is; journalism really is fast, and also good at being polemical. Theatre should take its time, avoid polemic, and concentrate on doing what journalism can’t.
• Good manners. Finding oneself wanting to apologize to the audience / fighting against the urge to say sorry for everything!
• Knowing that it’s OK to be paid for what you do…
• …and that you are not what you make: your art is not you. Once the work exists, let it be.
• Rothko exhibition at Tate Modern. No commentary / curatorial labels, so there was no sense of there being some predetermined stuff that you were supposed to understand or a particular set of ‘correct’ interpretations: and no reading or relationship was rejected by the paintings themselves – an object lesson in trusting the intelligence of the audience.
• Music in general, especially jazz: the use of abstract structures in a context of improvisatory liveness
• Gaspar Noe’s film Irreversible. Encouraging a reaction that’s visceral as much as cerebral.
A final conversation about The West Wing reminded me about an axiom often stated on that show: don’t simply argue about an issue – sometimes it makes better sense to reject the premise of the question. It feels like it’s exactly that that the practice of translating ideas across from other areas can remind us to do, because those ‘foreign’ ideas don’t just begin from a place of blandly accepting the premise of what theatre already is and can already do.
This was a really beautiful session – thanks to everyone who shared their ideas. People keep coming up to me and adding ideas or saying they wish they’d come to the session, so please email me if there’s anything you want to add to the list – I always really like hearing this stuff. Tell me things: chris at chrisgoodeonline.com xx
050 Bunch of Purves? – What is the state and fate of criticism? Does it matter? Will it? Do we even care?
Convener: Matt Trueman
Participants:
A host of people, some of whom I recognized, others who I did not. I’ve added some names and left space for more to be added. Please do…
Alex, Chris Goode, Johnny, Jon, Gemma, James, Maddy, Gerard, Phillipa, Emily, Amy, Kobna, David,
The following is written as if owned collectively and totally. (Probably) No one actually believes all this and yet together WE do.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
First off, we clearly do care. Perhaps I’m projecting my own rage/fire/belief onto a collection of people, but there was a vociferous engagement with the nature, both theoretical and practical, of criticism that suggested we – as critics, practitioners and audience members – want a healthy critical culture.
With the question rephrased (and, initially, misspelt) as “CRITIciSM: Do not resuscitate(?)” there was some deliberation as to whether criticism was, indeed, dead.
Turns out yes and no.
Something that goes by the name of criticism exists. It sits at the back of newspapers, it happens in the pages of Time Out, it can be found online (if one knows where to look.)
However, we are not satisfied with it. It does not have the requisite vitality. There are great critics, but the system is broken: it no longer works for us.
More than that, there are lots of very different things that we call criticism. Perhaps we need to abolish the term itself?
If all theatre criticism stopped at midnight tonight, would we bother to reinvent it? If so, what would it look like? What form would it take? Who would be CREATING (not necessarily writing) it? Who would it be for? What role(s) would/could it fulfil?
Reviews vs Critiques (and more besides)
• Theatre needs reviews, as sort-of consumer guides. (Some) audiences need them to go and see a show. (Some) theatre companies need them to attract and audience.
• In these terms, the critics (as in the council that review the vast majority) have an extraordinary and unhealthy level of influence and power.
• But, theatre also needs critiques. This is where the system is left wanting; it doesn’t have the space to allow for them. More than that, it doesn’t even care. Why should it?
• Criticism as a creative response. “It should be a conversation” How does it allow for/become dialogue? We’re not satisfied with the comment box scenario that the Guardian has employed – token. How does the writing become porous? How does it emerge into a critical culture? How does a piece of writing fit into that culture? Can theatre criticism be collaborative?
• The blogosphere as an important model. There is a community and we like that it exists. (How do you sort the wheat from the chaff? How does the theatre industry harness it? If a vital opinion lands noisily in the blogosphere, does anyone hear it in amongst the cacophony of voices? How does this become sustainable/not a hobby?)
• What we need is a new system. A new forum. But more of that later.
Who are we writing for?
• What are the critic’s responsibilities to the artist and the work? (What if every piece of criticism began with 5 stars?)
• What are the critic’s responsibilities to the process? Is the critic a medium, conveying the artists intentions to the potential audience? After all, theatre is like quartz – sometimes you can tilt it five degrees and it lets the light through. Should theatre critics be integral? Should they be independent? Can they be both?
• Whose side are theatre critics on? Are they part of theatre or part of not-theatre? We want critics onside, not policing us, but we want them to be honest.
• How do practitioners use critics and criticism? Can they become outside eyes in the rehearsal room? Or even be treated as such in the constant ongoing in-progressness of staged work?
• The blogosphere harnesses that and can be both. The unlimited space of the internet means the boundaries can be blurred. Let’s blur the boundaries. Let’s defy categorisation.
• Write for yourself. Write for others in order to write for yourself
Who are the critics?
• We want them to have expertise, but we don’t want them to be an exclusive set. Oooh, there’s a paradox.
• Or is it? There are far more voices with value than a first glance would suggest. We aren’t happy with the same clump of people reviewing all the work. Isn’t that absurd? No other art form has to put up with that?
• (But hang on, we do want people to be gathering it all up together, spinning connections and making sense of it beyond individual works. Otherwise, it is a reviewing culture not a critical one.)
• We want a diversity of voices. Young theatre critics are totally powerless
The system is broken; it has stultified itself, become a fossil, a stagnant cesspool.
It needs revitalising.
Or…
WE NEED A NEW SYSTEM
Ok, so let’s call it an anti-system. Everything that the system doesn’t do, we’ll do that. And we’ll do it well. It shall be known as THE MAGAZINE (for the time being.)
The Magazine will be all-encompassing. It will challenge its own forms, by experimenting with the nature of criticism. It will embrace artists without getting into bed with them. It will find its readership, do its important job, change its world, without breaking itself or believing its own hype. It will become sustainable and it will be more than happy to do so. It will be a creative response. It will be loved and respected. It will do all things for all (theatre) people. It will think about how it can apply and existence according to the principles of Open Space.
There are potential funders – Live Art Development Agency, Arts Admin, Arts Council England. Isn’t it just as important and in need of subsidy? Moreover, if we, the practitioners, want it, why shouldn’t it come out of our funding? What about artists including critics into their funding applications, cf Action Hero. What about festivals doing the same?
Other things to look at include: Open Dialogues, Writing Encounters Conference at York St Johns, The Inbetween Time Festival
(No one mention that journalism is dying. But, whatever happens, the magazine will happen
Participants:
A host of people, some of whom I recognized, others who I did not. I’ve added some names and left space for more to be added. Please do…
Alex, Chris Goode, Johnny, Jon, Gemma, James, Maddy, Gerard, Phillipa, Emily, Amy, Kobna, David,
The following is written as if owned collectively and totally. (Probably) No one actually believes all this and yet together WE do.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
First off, we clearly do care. Perhaps I’m projecting my own rage/fire/belief onto a collection of people, but there was a vociferous engagement with the nature, both theoretical and practical, of criticism that suggested we – as critics, practitioners and audience members – want a healthy critical culture.
With the question rephrased (and, initially, misspelt) as “CRITIciSM: Do not resuscitate(?)” there was some deliberation as to whether criticism was, indeed, dead.
Turns out yes and no.
Something that goes by the name of criticism exists. It sits at the back of newspapers, it happens in the pages of Time Out, it can be found online (if one knows where to look.)
However, we are not satisfied with it. It does not have the requisite vitality. There are great critics, but the system is broken: it no longer works for us.
More than that, there are lots of very different things that we call criticism. Perhaps we need to abolish the term itself?
If all theatre criticism stopped at midnight tonight, would we bother to reinvent it? If so, what would it look like? What form would it take? Who would be CREATING (not necessarily writing) it? Who would it be for? What role(s) would/could it fulfil?
Reviews vs Critiques (and more besides)
• Theatre needs reviews, as sort-of consumer guides. (Some) audiences need them to go and see a show. (Some) theatre companies need them to attract and audience.
• In these terms, the critics (as in the council that review the vast majority) have an extraordinary and unhealthy level of influence and power.
• But, theatre also needs critiques. This is where the system is left wanting; it doesn’t have the space to allow for them. More than that, it doesn’t even care. Why should it?
• Criticism as a creative response. “It should be a conversation” How does it allow for/become dialogue? We’re not satisfied with the comment box scenario that the Guardian has employed – token. How does the writing become porous? How does it emerge into a critical culture? How does a piece of writing fit into that culture? Can theatre criticism be collaborative?
• The blogosphere as an important model. There is a community and we like that it exists. (How do you sort the wheat from the chaff? How does the theatre industry harness it? If a vital opinion lands noisily in the blogosphere, does anyone hear it in amongst the cacophony of voices? How does this become sustainable/not a hobby?)
• What we need is a new system. A new forum. But more of that later.
Who are we writing for?
• What are the critic’s responsibilities to the artist and the work? (What if every piece of criticism began with 5 stars?)
• What are the critic’s responsibilities to the process? Is the critic a medium, conveying the artists intentions to the potential audience? After all, theatre is like quartz – sometimes you can tilt it five degrees and it lets the light through. Should theatre critics be integral? Should they be independent? Can they be both?
• Whose side are theatre critics on? Are they part of theatre or part of not-theatre? We want critics onside, not policing us, but we want them to be honest.
• How do practitioners use critics and criticism? Can they become outside eyes in the rehearsal room? Or even be treated as such in the constant ongoing in-progressness of staged work?
• The blogosphere harnesses that and can be both. The unlimited space of the internet means the boundaries can be blurred. Let’s blur the boundaries. Let’s defy categorisation.
• Write for yourself. Write for others in order to write for yourself
Who are the critics?
• We want them to have expertise, but we don’t want them to be an exclusive set. Oooh, there’s a paradox.
• Or is it? There are far more voices with value than a first glance would suggest. We aren’t happy with the same clump of people reviewing all the work. Isn’t that absurd? No other art form has to put up with that?
• (But hang on, we do want people to be gathering it all up together, spinning connections and making sense of it beyond individual works. Otherwise, it is a reviewing culture not a critical one.)
• We want a diversity of voices. Young theatre critics are totally powerless
The system is broken; it has stultified itself, become a fossil, a stagnant cesspool.
It needs revitalising.
Or…
WE NEED A NEW SYSTEM
Ok, so let’s call it an anti-system. Everything that the system doesn’t do, we’ll do that. And we’ll do it well. It shall be known as THE MAGAZINE (for the time being.)
The Magazine will be all-encompassing. It will challenge its own forms, by experimenting with the nature of criticism. It will embrace artists without getting into bed with them. It will find its readership, do its important job, change its world, without breaking itself or believing its own hype. It will become sustainable and it will be more than happy to do so. It will be a creative response. It will be loved and respected. It will do all things for all (theatre) people. It will think about how it can apply and existence according to the principles of Open Space.
There are potential funders – Live Art Development Agency, Arts Admin, Arts Council England. Isn’t it just as important and in need of subsidy? Moreover, if we, the practitioners, want it, why shouldn’t it come out of our funding? What about artists including critics into their funding applications, cf Action Hero. What about festivals doing the same?
Other things to look at include: Open Dialogues, Writing Encounters Conference at York St Johns, The Inbetween Time Festival
(No one mention that journalism is dying. But, whatever happens, the magazine will happen
013 Free Mask Workshops
Convener:Steven Whinnery
Participants: Steven Whinnery, Antonio Ferrara, Emma Deakin, Myro Wolff, Samal Blak, Jennifer Pearcy-Edwards, Kyle Davies, Kate Murthagh, Lizzie Wiggs, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Naomi O Kelly, Ben Hadley, Louise Collins, Louise Platt, Jane Gauntlett
Free Summer Mask workshops run by Steven Whinnery (mask maker, artist, teacher, theatre director) at The Olympic Arts Centre, in Stratford, East London. Running from June 2010 till October 2010. The workshops are free but there will be an audition process, and or interview. Open to individuals interested in working with masks, and to companies wishing to develop mask work. The workshops will be run as drop in sessions over the summer. We will be playing with masks most of the time, but there will be mask making workshops. It will be held in a complex of artists’ studios, on the ground floor, 500 square feet, plus access to an outside areas twice that size. Concrete floors. Should’nt present any barriers to those with mobility issues.
If you are interested contact me: Steven Whinnery: stevenwhinnery at yahoo.co.uk
Participants: Steven Whinnery, Antonio Ferrara, Emma Deakin, Myro Wolff, Samal Blak, Jennifer Pearcy-Edwards, Kyle Davies, Kate Murthagh, Lizzie Wiggs, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Naomi O Kelly, Ben Hadley, Louise Collins, Louise Platt, Jane Gauntlett
Free Summer Mask workshops run by Steven Whinnery (mask maker, artist, teacher, theatre director) at The Olympic Arts Centre, in Stratford, East London. Running from June 2010 till October 2010. The workshops are free but there will be an audition process, and or interview. Open to individuals interested in working with masks, and to companies wishing to develop mask work. The workshops will be run as drop in sessions over the summer. We will be playing with masks most of the time, but there will be mask making workshops. It will be held in a complex of artists’ studios, on the ground floor, 500 square feet, plus access to an outside areas twice that size. Concrete floors. Should’nt present any barriers to those with mobility issues.
If you are interested contact me: Steven Whinnery: stevenwhinnery at yahoo.co.uk
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Invitation
Do you love theatre?
Do you find it frustrating?
Do you wish it were different?
Do you feel like an outsider in your own profession?
Do you want to help change things for the better?
Have you just started out and need support?
Have you been in the profession for years and feel jaded?
Is your sector always left out of the discussions?
Do you usually dread discussions and meetings?
Are you looking for a sense of: community, eldership, mentorship?
Are you looking to change things?
DEVOTED AND DISGRUNTLED 5
What are we going to do about theatre?
"The annual Devoted and Disgruntled open space will be on the last weekend in January- keep the dates free; it's the most energizing event in the theatre calendar."
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
Five years ago I sent out the first invitation to “Devoted & Disgruntled”. I’d become aware that, passionate as I was about theatre, I found myself frustrated at how we make it, how we communicate with each other and how little the existing structures supported us to feel part of a genuine community. Since that first invitation to others who were devoted and disgruntled, this has become an extraordinary annual event.
From each of the previous four D&Ds have come an amazing number of projects and initiatives. Some of them very tangible, others, equally important, are more subtle and tangential. Whatever they are, from new theatre companies to individual projects, from pressure groups to artist’s salons, D&D has helped bring them to fruition. Perhaps most importantly for me has been the gradual and growing sense of community. I have to say I was astonished by the number of people who turned out for the first D&D event and I’m incredibly excited that here we are – in our fifth year!
So if there are things you are passionate about or things you are pissed off about, projects or proposals you need support on, or if you want to connect with your community, all are possible because in Open Space you set the agenda. Nothing is off limits.
If you feel like this event might not be for you then that is a sure sign we need your input! If you feel that the issues that affect you or your sector never get discussed so what’s the point of turning up? This is the event for you.
On past experiences of D&D, the more diverse our group, the more creative and exciting the work has been. All sectors and genres; Fringe, West End, Off West End, London based, regional etc etc are invited. If you’ve never been to D&D we need your voice, if you’ve been to every D&D we need your voice. Whatever your connection to theatre; on stage, back stage, off stage, in the audience, you are invited.
In it’s fifth year we still don’t know where D&D is headed – and I think this uncertainty is exciting and I am passionate about opening the space again. I’m excited by the opportunity D&D5 gives me and you to reconnect with UK theatre and the wider arts community. To continue building on the work we have begun and generate new initiatives. And to reconnect without cynicism and lethargy but rather with renewed energy.
I hope to see you at this, our fifth D&D.
Phelim
Phelim McDermott
Co-Artistic Director, Improbable
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
003 Having a sing
Convener: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Kobs)
Participants: Cass, Rod, Amanda, Phelim, Cat, Zoe, Greg. Others I thank but didn’t catalogue.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This wasn’t a discussion so much as an opportunity to make some singing noises. The loose concept is to set up a secular choir. Some people who would like to sing but not necessarily to worship. I don’t think it would make the world worse if we could neuter any fear some of us have, even if only of singing aloud.
I have now had the opportunity to see how people respond to a casual invitation to sing. The law of two feet applies strictly but it means that those that show are engaged or at the very least curious.
The participants were (without exception) timid at first but without exception each construction of our group (different constructions because different people dropped in and out) sounded ‘perfect’ at some point for each song/sung thing.
We sang ‘Senzeni Na’, that ‘Doo Doo Ba Nay’ one, the central phrase from ‘Frankensinatra’ and a gospel sounding one that consisted simply of ‘Yes’ sung in a four note sequence (so very much better then that reads).
Now, this choir will go ahead however large or small. We need a venue. Maybe an evening weeknight or better still a Sunday morning. Sunday because that’s usually free-est, and it would be about 11am - 1230. 11am to dissuade the hungover but not rouse us unreasonably early on the day off. In the week it would be at about 7 but I don’t think that’s sustainable.
We haven’t a choir yet but it seems people are happy to respond to a casual invitation to sing, which is super. Venue must come first though.
I’m asking for a venue or some venue advice. My email is kobs at talk21.com and please put ‘Chorus’ in the subject box.
Niceness unto you.
k
Participants: Cass, Rod, Amanda, Phelim, Cat, Zoe, Greg. Others I thank but didn’t catalogue.
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
This wasn’t a discussion so much as an opportunity to make some singing noises. The loose concept is to set up a secular choir. Some people who would like to sing but not necessarily to worship. I don’t think it would make the world worse if we could neuter any fear some of us have, even if only of singing aloud.
I have now had the opportunity to see how people respond to a casual invitation to sing. The law of two feet applies strictly but it means that those that show are engaged or at the very least curious.
The participants were (without exception) timid at first but without exception each construction of our group (different constructions because different people dropped in and out) sounded ‘perfect’ at some point for each song/sung thing.
We sang ‘Senzeni Na’, that ‘Doo Doo Ba Nay’ one, the central phrase from ‘Frankensinatra’ and a gospel sounding one that consisted simply of ‘Yes’ sung in a four note sequence (so very much better then that reads).
Now, this choir will go ahead however large or small. We need a venue. Maybe an evening weeknight or better still a Sunday morning. Sunday because that’s usually free-est, and it would be about 11am - 1230. 11am to dissuade the hungover but not rouse us unreasonably early on the day off. In the week it would be at about 7 but I don’t think that’s sustainable.
We haven’t a choir yet but it seems people are happy to respond to a casual invitation to sing, which is super. Venue must come first though.
I’m asking for a venue or some venue advice. My email is kobs at talk21.com and please put ‘Chorus’ in the subject box.
Niceness unto you.
k
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