Reverberations across Small-Scale British Theatre

Description

Between 1960 and 2010, a new generation of British avant-garde theatre companies, directors, designers and performers emerged. Some of these companies and individuals have endured to become part of theatre history while others have disappeared from the scene, mutated into new forms, or become part of the establishment. Reverberations across Small-Scale British Theatre at long last puts these small-scale British theatre companies and personalities in the scholarly spotlight. By questioning what 'Britishness' meant in relation to the small-scale work of these practitioners, contributors articulate how it is reflected in the goals, manifestos and aesthetics of these companies.

Setting the Scene: Introducing Reverberations – Patrick Duggan and Victor Ukaegbu

Chapter 1: Foco Novo: The Icarus of British Small-Scale Touring Theatre – Graham Saunders

Chapter 2: Insider Knowledge: The Evolution of Belfast’s Tinderbox Theatre Company – David Grant

Chapter 3: Volcano: A Post-Punk Physical Theatre – Gareth Somers

Chapter 4: Tiata Fahodzi: Second-Generation Africans in British Theatre – Ekua Ekumah

Chapter 5: Keeping It Together: Talawa Theatre Company, Britishness, Aesthetics of Scale and Mainstreaming the Black-British Experience – Kene Igweonu

Chapter 6: Agitation and Entertainment: Rod Dixon and Red Ladder Theatre  – Tony Gardner

Chapter 7: Intercultural to Cross-Cultural Theatre: Tara Arts and the Development of British Asian Theatre – Victor Ukaegbu

Chapter 8: Kind Acts: Lone Twin Theatre – Eirini Kartsaki

Chapter 9: Political Theatre ‘without Finger-Wagging’: On the Paper Birds and Integrative Aesthetics – Patrick Duggan

Chapter 10: ‘Angels and Modern Myth’: Grid Iron and the New Scottish Theatre – Trish Reid

Chapter 11: Acts of Poiesis: salamanda tandem – Mick Wallis and Isabel Jones

Coda – Franc Chamberlain

Sujets

• Energie & environnement
• Théâtre
• General
• Engineering
• Technology
• General officer
• Theatre
• Sciences et techniques
• Performing Arts
• Power Resources

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783202171
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Patrick Duggan and Victor Ukaegbu
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Cover image: © Geoffrey Fielding
Production managers: Jessica Mitchell and Tim Elameer
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-297-3
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-216-4
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-217-1
Printed and bound by Hobbs the Printers Ltd, UK
Contents
Acknowledgements
Setting the Scene: Introducing Reverberations
Patrick Duggan and Victor Ukaegbu
Chapter 1: Foco Novo: The Icarus of British Small-Scale Touring Theatre
Graham Saunders
Chapter 2: Insider Knowledge: The Evolution of Belfast’s Tinderbox Theatre Company
David Grant
Chapter 3: Volcano: A Post-Punk Physical Theatre
Gareth Somers
Chapter 4: Tiata Fahodzi: Second-Generation Africans in British Theatre
Ekua Ekumah
Chapter 5: Keeping It Together: Talawa Theatre Company, Britishness, Aesthetics of Scale and Mainstreaming the Black-British Experience
Kene Igweonu
Chapter 6: Agitation and Entertainment: Rod Dixon and Red Ladder Theatre Company
Tony Gardner
Chapter 7: Intercultural to Cross-Cultural Theatre: Tara Arts and the Development of British Asian Theatre
Victor Ukaegbu
Chapter 8: Kind Acts: Lone Twin Theatre
Eirini Kartsaki
Chapter 9: Political Theatre ‘without Finger-Wagging’: On the Paper Birds and Integrative Aesthetics
Patrick Duggan
Chapter 10: ‘Angels and Modern Myth’: Grid Iron and the New Scottish Theatre
Trish Reid
Chapter 11: Acts of Poiesis: salamanda tandem
Mick Wallis and Isabel Jones
Coda
Franc Chamberlain
Notes on Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
This project has been supported by many people over the years of its gestation, in many different ways. Particular thanks are due to our colleagues Jane Bacon and Vida Midgelow, whose input and support in the very early stages of the work was fundamental in developing the book out of an initial project to curate a series of live conversations between artists and academics. We’d like also to thank the University of Northampton for the seed-funding that enabled us to begin work on the book and Jessica Mitchell at Intellect for her support in getting it finished. Above all, however, we would like to thank the artists and academics who have so generously contributed their time and energy to the production of this volume: thank you.
Setting the Scene: Introducing Reverberations
Patrick Duggan and Victor Ukaegbu
What are the conceptual consequences of thinking about culture as a verb instead of a noun , process instead of product?
(Conquergood 1991: 190. Emphasis original)
Reverberation, n.: Something repeated or transmitted further; a continued or knock-on effect, likened to that of reverberating waves of sound; a repercussion.
(Oxford English Dictionary: online)
Context
In 2004 the then Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell argued that:
Culture has an important part to play in defining and preserving cultural identity – of the individual, of communities, and of the nation as a whole … today we have the new melding of cultural traditions that is the result of population transfer and globalization… So we are inventing new forms of dance, of music, of drama that transcend traditional boundaries, and help give us a national identity which is uniquely ours. Culture defines who we are, it defines us as a nation. And only culture can do this.
(Jowell 2004: 17–18)
The cultural landscape of Great Britain has radically shifted since Jowell’s report was written, not least because the ongoing global economic downturn (arguably beginning in September 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and still ongoing as we go to press in 2013) has ensured that funding for the arts is being radically and universally slashed. Nevertheless, theatre maintains an important place within the cultural landscape and economy: ‘touring companies … are the lifeblood of the UK’s theatre ecosystem. It is vital they are able to flourish, now more than ever’ (Smith 2010: online).
Smith’s article was a response to the perceived (in 2010) threat to touring theatres that impending changes to Arts Council’s funding strategies, as a result of central government fiscal planning, might herald. Undoubtedly, the funding landscape in Britain has changed since the beginning of the global financial crisis and the implementation of massive cuts to arts (and higher education) funding since May 2010 when the Tory-led coalition government came to power. This is not intended as a statement of politicisation for the volume, but to highlight that while the shifts in funding have made life difficult for many theatre companies, one of the binding features of the companies within the volume is their resilience and so a more positive narrative emerges around a chameleon-like ability of small-scale theatres to adapt to survive the political and economic landscapes they inhabit [1].
Current social, political and news discourse on the place of the arts in the United Kingdom is wide ranging and in many cases inflammatory. Whether a cause du jour (such as the absence of creative and cultural subjects from the newly proposed English Baccalaureate under scrutiny in November 2012), the implicit denigration of arts subjects within higher education, or debates around the broader ‘productivity’ of the arts per se , the centrality of debates connected to the funding and function of arts is rarely far from some aspect of social consciousness via news or popular media representation. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, also a present part of academic consideration.
The 2008 worldwide financial crisis and subsequent economic squeeze on all sectors of the economy brought the arts world to a new historical juncture. For the first time in more than three decades the performance industry and theatre companies both large and small, marginal and mainstream have faced similar resource challenges and concerns about the future of the arts in general. At the same time, academics worry about the fates of drama and theatre as subjects and as academic disciplines in schools, colleges and universities. The full, long-term impact of these changes remains to be seen but there have been and will continue to be effects on financial sustainability, organisational structures, artistic policy and practices of small-scale theatre companies like the ones represented herein. These shifts are directly linked to the dwindling resources available to and thus granted by the Arts Council for England (ACE), Heritage Funds, and by private donor organisations. The usually financially robust Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has not been spared either. While it is not the focus of this volume to engage with this area of current discourse it is a concern undoubtedly inflected in all of the chapters below. There have been studies that have analysed such challenges, including: ‘Eclipse Report’ (2001) collaboratively published by ACE, the East Midlands Arts-Theatrical Management Association and Nottingham Playhouse; Dominic Shellard’s ‘Economic Impact Study of UK Theatre’ (2004) for ACE; the ACE, Baring Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s hybrid study of 2008 on arts, refugees and asylum seekers in UK society; the Equity Manifesto for Theatre (2011) was a report on ‘the way forward’ and was conducted after ACE cut the grants it made to 185 companies in 2007. Dorney and Merkin’s excellent book-length study, The Glory of the Garden: English Regional Theatre and the Arts Council 1984–2009 (2010), examines the ambiguous links between ACE’s financial and policy interventions and their impact on the practices and products of regional theatres. In different ways, these studies highlight the undeniable benefits and cultural capital that regional and small-scale theatre companies provide for society and the economic, cultural and social ‘dangers’ inherent within their demise. The chapters in this volume do not necessarily re-visit these sentiments but in bringing to light the historical challenges, conflicts and tensions that small-scale theatre companies have faced in Britain, they provide important lessons for new and emergent companies.
In July 2012, the University of Reading and the V&A Museum, London, hosted a conference entitled ‘Subsidy, Patronage and Sponsorship: Theatre and Performance Culture in Uncertain Times’ as part of the AHRC funded project ‘Giving Voice to the Nation: The Arts Council of Great Britain and the Development of theatre and performance in Britain 1945–1995’. Even before the presentations were accepted, the conveners raised some of the many issues that confront theatre and performance scholars and practitioners today with the titles of two of the 11 sub-themes of the conference: ‘Subsidy, Patronage and Policy in the Regions’ and ‘Embracing the Economic Crisis – Opportunities for Innovation’. We currently occupy a moment in history when the Arts Council of England has had to defend itself against charges that its actual and planned funding cuts (in response to current global economic down-turn and to government spending and cutting directives) are detrimental to ambitious theatre-making and to the arts in general. As such, the timing of the conference seems, if nothing else, an acknowledgement that the need for British theatre to meet its current challenges is as crucial as the need to understand where it has been, what it has done and how far it has cha