The title of this blog report was suggested to me by Helen Nicholson last night, as we recovered from our energetic moving and shaking on the dance floor for Heavy Load. The Caberet was kicked off with some fantastic food and then moved into the performance studio to watch a series of comedians, hosted by Broderick Chow. After a brief break, with enough time to refill our wine glasses, Heavy Load took to the stage and entertained us with their fantastically provocative and witty lyrics, fronted by their charismatic, anarchic lead singer, Simon Barker.

One particularly surreal moment of the evening which led to Helen’s suggested title of this piece, was when I gazed across the room to see Helen Nicholson cajoling James Thompson into joining her in dancing along to a cover  of the Clash classic, ‘I Fought the Law’ as it played out over the speaker systems...

The inner punk of some of the delegates at the conference game to the surface, and even those who would not necessarily go to a punk gig of their own accord seemed to join into the spirit of the evening. Once again, Helen Nicholson was the leader in the call for ‘One more, One more!’ to which the band responded, and in the end actually provided two more songs! The crowd were eventually asked to leave and further fun was had over at the Swiss Cottage pub. Quite night, with some tired looking faces this morning!

The Illegals

‘I had to take a risk...I wasn’t free’

Ice and Fire’s rehearsed reading of a brief section of The Illegals was a beautiful dialogue concerning the stories of four illegal immigrants who deemed themselves ‘irregular,’ ‘undocumented,’ ‘unauthorised’ and ‘in violation.’ Typical of an Ice and Fire production it documents the stories of others in a sensitive and seemingly untouched manner.  An unfussy reading, to me, is the perfect form of delivery for an Ice and Fire collaborative script. The issues that surround both verbatim and testimony theatre present multiple considerations in the realm of ethics. The words and stories of real life individuals faced with real life problems are utilised to form verbatim conversations and monologues within a performance text: This clearly brings to the fore issues of truth, representation and the manipulation of words in aid of performance. These actors are conveying the stories of others; a reading is simple, it does not aestheticise. By presenting the stories in this way The Illegals became purely about the words that were spoken and allowed the audience an insight in to the essence of the dialogue and issues that are faced by these individuals in their many manifestations.

Whilst sitting alone with my note pad watching The Illegals I found myself with something caught in my throat. There were no notes to be taken. I was engrossed in the actors speech however felt uncomfortable, almost as though I was privy to an address that was not intended for me. It seemed like an emotional plight, a call for understanding or for compassion. I struggled to watch but this was not because of an awkward performance or because there were elements within the text that were particularly hard to listen too. I was extremely moved but it had taken me by surprise. I did not see these individuals as victims instead I found much of what was said celebratory of human nature: passion, drive, aspiration and humour were paramount however I still found myself moved close to tears. Whether this is a credit to the actors and their ability to convey that raw emotion that must have been present when the stories were initially told or whether it was perhaps being allowed to witness the stories of individuals who have truly struggled in pursuit of a better quality of life for themselves and for their families. Either way I found this short reading to be mesmerising, thought provoking and extremely moving.

The downfall of the experience was perhaps many audience members who had been unable to hold still in their seats, rushing off as the actors closed the performance. (The actors had ran over time by 3 minutes) These audience members did not allow these stories to come to their conclusion undisrupted due to a strict itinerary for the day and the need to be at that very important paper. I understand of course that due to the circumstance of this performance, academic papers were perhaps rather more pressing however I felt a slight lack of respect for what the actors were communicating. Perhaps this is a personal grievance.

Contributed by Rebecca Crowther 

I just went to Heavy Load’s presentation on their ‘Stay Up Late’ campaign. Heavy Load are a punk band of musicians with and without learning difficulties who’ve been together for 14 years. They gave a really lively talk about ‘Stay Up Late’ – a campaign to that seeks to provide more freedom and choice for people who require a support worker to be with them; the issue being that the support workers go off duty by 10pm, meaning that the people they are supporting have to go home earlier than a music gig usually finishes, often by 9.00. The campaign has taken them to Westminster and other political spaces to try to affect change around regulations of shift patterns for support workers. Of course, this will not only change the accessibility of events in music, but also it would enable wider possibilities for people with learning difficulties to attend theatre performances and other cultural events which go on long after 9pm. The band is beginning to work internationally, taking their campaign to the USA and Denmark, with other exciting projects on the horizon. Their anarchic sounds and controversial lyrics will be entertaining us all later on as part of Thursday evening’s Cabaret. For more info on the band, take a look at http://www.heavyload.org/

Contributed by Ellen Havard

Photo by Rebecca Crowther

Regarding Jenny Hughes’ Today we are looking at the Muslim: What Makes Her Tick, 

Can we use the arts as a means of protecting us from threat?

Does segregated work allow for something more radical or a deeper exploration of oneself?

Contributed by Rebecca Crowther

On Wednesday morning Central was taken over by 110 primary school children ready to be performers for the day: To be scrutinised by students and delegates a like – what a scary prospect! These kids were absolute stars all the way through to their wonderful performance of The Story of Pompei in which they played with masterful concentration and conviction. I had met the kids earlier in the morning as myself and several other students attempted to keep them entertained during their lunch break; They had a picnic complete with picnic blankets on the grass whilst we carried out a sort of costume and puppet ‘show and tell’ before playing the biggest name game I have ever seen! The children were so excited to be at Central and were an absolute pleasure.

The performance, directed by Tina Muir of Patchwork Theatre Company, was moving and subtle with a range of performance styles including tribal stick dance, tableaux and the fantastic fire dance. The show was extremely well put together from the eerie post show music to the heart stopping short circuit of the volcanic explosion. Quite honestly I did not expect to see such a polished performance from such a large group of young. The performance, I believe, was a credit to what those within the realm of theatre in education do and I don’t think I’m alone in saying that it was one of the highlights of yesterday’s proceedings.  

Contributed by Rebecca Crowther

Photo by Patrick Baldwin

When the play ends – what remains?

When the play ends – what begins?

Bharucha asked what lies beyond the exit...And pointed towards a ‘theatre beyond theatre’.

Boal’s ‘spect-actor’ was mentioned, and Bharucha said it was ‘with warmth’ he reflected on Boal’s words – echoing Jan Cohen Cruz’s mention of Boal yesterday, that Boal is hovering over all of the conversations at the conference, and very much here in spirit.

In questioning the limits of performance, when does a performance end and the ‘dimension of temporality’  of  performance, Bharucha asked when does a prison stop being a performance and when does any performance end? He suggested that performance in every day can be ‘over valued’  but also can be ‘undervalued’ if we put limits on the duration of the assigned performance.

Ananda Breed’s study of  Gaccaca courts in Rwanda was mentioned and a reflection on who benifits from performance was made, in relation to the performance of reconciliation and re-writing a country (pointing also to Thompson’s reflections on the affects and effects of performance within applied settings.)

Bharucha asked if applied theatre could embrace a perverse beauty and other sensualities – suggesting we move away from the purer forms of beauty – suggesting that the ‘ugliness of beauty' ought to be embraced.  Providing accounts of theatre work in prisons where the ‘ugliness of beauty’ was found in a graphic representation of rape, Bharucha saw this as ‘deeply disturbing’ as well as a form of deeper provocation surrounding identity within the context of a prison.

A need to ‘problematise the ethics of disturbance’ was suggested, again with reference to Thompson’s varied wok and frank reflections on the place of a practitioner in an intervention.

Suggesting that we ought to share pain and that ‘pain does not have to be locked in the other’ provided an interesting angle on the truth of a practitioner within the work.

I've been in touch with Rustom Bharucha and he has expressed his eagerness to hear reflections on his thoughts and if anyone has questions, I will be emailing them to him for his response.  Please include them in a comment below...

Contributed by Ellen Havard

Photo by Patrick Baldwin

QUOTE OF THE HOUR:

"An artist does not become lesser by creating engaged work... life is more important than art, that’s what makes art so important" - Jan Cohen-Cruz, The Unfaithful Disciple

 Jan Cohen-Cruz is more than happy to respond to comments and questions from those who were there to hear her delivery of the key note address via Skype yesterday afternoon. So please feel free to post any thoughts here...

Contributed by Rebecca Crowther

Real-time scenic painting in the Social Space by 3rd Year BATP students Sarah Kier and Heather Dolan.

Is is art or is it a performance?

(Photo by Patrick Baldwin)

The first day of the Theatre Application’s conference seemed widely focused on the concept of ‘beauty’ and ‘aesthetics’. Terms that have and continue to pose problems for the field… 

From observation it almost seemed that applied theatre as a form is still attempting to grapple the terms ‘beauty’ and ‘aesthetic’ and what role they might play to the individual practitioner, and the field as a whole. Throughout Wednesday's paper panel discussions it appears as though a turn towards the aesthetic in applied theatre is being be promoted versus accepting applied theatre as limiting the aesthetic.  

Although we have heard a few individual’s opinions, it calls for a wider number of responses for those that did not present papers or ask questions today.  

I present you with some questions to consider: 

Is applied theatre experiencing a new turn towards aesthetics?  

What is the link between aesthetics, ethics, and political? 

What are the politics of aesthetics in applied theatre? 

What is the possible impact of aesthetics in theatre? 

Is the purpose of art to educate?  

…and so on. 

And my favourite point, and the one that I had a personal dilemma surrounding was: that without transformation one cannot have education. My personal response to this would be what about transportation? 

What remains clears is that the dialectic relationship between aesthetics and politics remains greatly problematic, but even though problematic the concern the topic displayed during the first day of the conference shows the it does clearly inhabit an important role to theatre, and one that needs to be acknowledged rather than ignored. 

Let us know what you think…and if a question the you are interested in hasn’t been addressed, feel free to post it to provoke conversation.

Contributed by Emma Moeller