Theatre is not...

After reading the January 2016 edition (Provocative Theatre) of Scene, a monthly Journal from ISTA, I was reminded of my slightly more 'anarchic' days as a student and contemporary theatre maker, in particular by the words from Jess Thorpe in her contribution These bridges, these walls. Discussing the value of arts practice in the context of a prison, she reminds us that
"Theatre is not just about entertainment - although it is important to find enjoyment in it.
Theatre is not about showing-off - it takes a brave person to stand up in front of others.
Theatre is not a soft option - it requires a huge amount of hard work to create something authentic.
Theatre is not a treat - from the beginning of time humans have used creativity to respond to the world around them and to reflect their experiences. It is part of who we are."

When I reflect on the role of drama here at ISB, in a school community that is by most comparisons incredibly privileged, I am always asking myself 'What impact can art have on these students' lives?' and in turn 'How can these students have an impact through art on their community and the world in general?'

I feel very lucky as a teacher, to be given the freedom and respect to choose the content of my course and also have the flexibility to make plans based of the particular interests and requirements of each group. But I also feel a responsibility to these principles of theatre/art/performance/whatever, that the things we create to be shared with the world should have other values than just entertainment.

Myself, back when I was a high-schooler devising a piece called Charity with my local youth theatre; as a student learning about the Performance Art of Marina Abramovich, Ron Athey, Stelarc and others; studying Sarah Kane, Moisés Kaufman, Pina Bausch, Goat Island; and as a theatre-maker with our company Trace Theatre, I wore the mantra of 'changing the world through art' on my sleeve. I turned my back on all forms of theatre that were escapist, masturbatory, money-grabbing or any other derogatory definition I would give and became passionate only about performance that was socially and politically engaged.

A little older and little more experienced I have since broadened my terms of validity in the art world, but I still long to see and make work that has impact. Now, I have a responsibility to make work with my students that is engaging and catches the student's attention for longer than a single 40-minute block. At the same time, it is our duty as conscientious citizens of our community (/communities) to make art that is not just for entertainment
is not stagnant or stifled
is not pretentious or entitled
is empowering, determined, passionate, considerate
is aware of and designed for the wider communities than just the drama classroom



In one of my classes right now, we are working on writing and performing Slam Poetry. It's not traditionally something you might encounter in a Drama class (but is more likely to appear in a class entitled Performance Works) and at first students were hesitant to jump into the topic. Can't we do a script? Can't we play more games? Poetry, seriously? - were some of the initial reactions to the idea. Yet, after a class chatting openly about what the students are passionate about, what angers them, what they would change in the world, etc, they eventually all warmed up to the idea.

We began the project by writing down their thoughts ('the writing's on the wall' in this case). I felt that the students were not just paying lip-service for an assessment criteria or other such nonsense, with the contributions they made to the conversation. They were genuinely passionate about the topics they suggested, as well as being reasonably well-informed about the initial arguments they might have on such subjects.

The poems the students are creating are powerful, brave, passionate and thought-provoking. Our plan is to film the Slams and share them with as many people as we can, because we believe that their work is important and should be heard. 

For the rebellious, often idealistic, mind of a teenager the thought of changing the world is not inconceivable. It is only older, with more defeats under our belts, perhaps, that many of us become more weary, more cynical.

Reading this edition of Scene and working with my students has shaken me up again, filled my energy tank with some fuel and once over reminded me of the power of art and performance.

As educators, if we can help students find their voices they will show us that are not afraid to use them; for making noise, for disrupting the peace, for speaking out.

We should look more to the passion and energy of the young. We should remind ourselves that art is not disappearing, it is not insignificant and neither are we.

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Making + Sharing

HS and MS students collaborating on a devising project with Action Hero

Of course, Making is central to a Performance course. Long gone are the sterile times of Theatre Studies, where a script is poured over again and again by students, to divine some great meaning from it. Furthermore, I'm an advocate for the messy exploration and discovery of Devising. The best drama classes bring Making to the fore-front, pushing ahead of the passive, reproductive presentation of ancient texts. Students are not practicing being actors (with a single mindset of one day going into the acting profession) but performance-makers and self-expressors, tasked with creating all aspects of the rehearsal/production process. 

In answer to the questions posed by Ashley Bayles and Ben Doxdator's post But is it making?, in my pedagogy I highly value lots of the elements of the chart, some on both sides. As Will Vreugdenhil pointed out in Making PE Better there are skills and techniques to be learnt from teacher-led instruction and student reproduction, the same is true for Performance class. 

Gemma Paintin from Action Hero devising with ISB students

It's hard to pick a single element out and raise it higher than the rest; so many are intertwined. However, if you were to hold a keyboard (or a gun) to my head, I'd be forced to pick 'Learning with head, heart & hands equally valued'. The head has to combine all the generated material that the heart has dreamed of then the body has created.This principle is core to Performance, and Art in general and encapsulates many of the key-skills that I think are improved by studying the subject.

Art involves the mind, the body and the soul, in both the creation and reception of it.

As we strive to move more towards the right side of this chart I look forward to the idea of Making bouncing around between more people's ears. But at the same time as we concentrate on Making, here at ISB and elsewhere, we are shifting much more into Making + Sharing. There will be times when our work remains personal and private, but increasingly we are asking our students to share their work online, to broadcast, perform and present in digital and physical spaces.

I am excited for Performance (performing in all it's forms including broadcasting and public speaking) to become even more embedded across all aspects of education, not just in the drama classroom. For us as teachers, its an opportunity to combine our understandings of Maker, Performer, Audience and Format as we blend disciplines and subjects together into a vision of education which more closely resembles real life. 

The beautiful chaos of making performance

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21st Century Skills From Devising

Drama matters, now as much as ever, and devising is a particularly important and powerful part of the subject. In a recent post, my colleague Alan and I talked about why Drama = Life and here I want to expand on how devising supports this. If you're not sure what devising is, or want to her some of my take on it, then I have a blog post on it here: Devising: My Favourite Definitions.

This is also in response to the blog post 21st Century Skills In The Drama Classroom
written by Lindsay Price on the fantastic Theatrefolk blog.

The Four E's

Exploration

Pic: Frantic Assembly- Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime
(words by me)

Without the relative safety of a script guiding the rehearsal process, students find themselves exploring the realms of uncertainty. Devising provides us an opportunity to develop ideas without a predefined understanding of the final performance. We can discover surprising, new ideas and themes as we go, enjoying the ever-shifting nature of the process.

There is no script for life. Unexpected events happen all the time and having a positive, open-minded approach to the unknown is important to develop.

Egality

Pic: Forced Entertainment- The Last Adventures
(words by me)

With the strict roles of playwright/director/actor/crew and their associated hierarchies becoming challenged more and more in the performing arts, we find ourselves in a field were many people can be many things. Dancers make the costumes and have an influence over the content of their work. Performers have written their own scripts and created the video trailers to promote their shows.   

The best devising promotes collaboration in a more egalitarian hierarchies. By using the right strategies and methodologies , everyone involved can have an influence on the process, production and performance of their work. 

Expression

Pic: Tanztheater Wuppertal - Vollmond
(words by me)

Performance has always been about self-expression but devising puts it at the heart of the creative process; importantly, for everyone not just the writer and director. Devising harnesses the makers personal stories, thoughts, skills and ideas and embeds them into the art. 

Experimentation

Pic: Cupola Bobber- The Field, The Mantel
(words by me)

Without a script acting as road-map, without a single vision from a director, and with a wealth of stories and ideas to rub together, experimentation is the engine through which sparks of inspiration are developed into final material. Innovators are supported by their other collaborators, who are in turn innovating themselves. Together they can dabble or dive into all manner of disciplines, styles and techniques during the course of any given process.

If Performance is the body of the theatrical art forms, then for me devising is its soul. It has been the method by which many great contemporary performance companies have made their work. Personally, it forms the core of both my artistic and teaching practices and continues to accompany me through my life.

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Devising: my favourite definitions

Devising, as a concept, is a tricky thing to pin down. Companies that devise and academics often talk in loose terms about how devising works. Alison Oddey, in her book Devising Theatre introduced it saying that "devised theatre can start from anything. It is determined by a group of people who set up an initial framework or structure to explore and experiment with ideas, images, concepts, themes, or specific stimuli that might include music, text, objects, paintings, or movement. A devised theatrical performance originates with the group while making the performance, rather than starting from a play text that someone else has written to be interpreted."

For me, as an artist and a teacher, there are three companies that have majorly influenced my understanding of devising. Goat Island and Forced Ents both have excellent resources and books which I recommend as great reading if wanting to know more about devising.

Goat Island

Unfortunately Goat island stopped making work in 2007, and their resources might be tough to get your hands on, but their little Schoolbook 2 described their process wonderfully. Replace the words Goat Island with your own class or group and this methodology can be something to aim for.

Forced Entertainment

Tim Etchells eloquently describes the process of Forced Entertainment, in his book Certain Fragments. 

Trace Theatre

This one's a bit different, in that it was a company I co-founded with four friends. We worked together for four years before heading off on our separate ways, but in this time we developed our own practice of devising; a methodology which still guides me today.

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