DYCP #2

Since my first DYCP blog in July, I have continued developing my creative practice by seeing work, meeting people, reading, doing research and shadowing. Below I record and share some of my experiences and findings.

Liberty Festival & other work
I spent 3 days in Lewisham, London, for a festival of work by Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists. Despite some technical and organisational difficulties, I saw some compelling pieces. I would highlight Here/Not Here, Drag Syndrome and 111 — a dance duet between Joel Brown and Eve Mutso. It was a shame that the schedule was so packed and certain events overlapped, making it impossible to see everything.

All the films shown as part of the festival included audio description (AD), but this often sounded robotic to me. It made me reflect on the importance of the AD voice and how it fits within the work (male, female, with a dialect or accent, etc.). I am excited about the possibilities of integrated AD in theatre. How can a piece of live performance provide an enriching experience to someone who may not be able to see it? If we took away the visuals, can the work still be artistically interesting as an audio piece?

I also attended a workshop with Vijay Patel about Creating An Access Rider which was extremely useful. I am now in the process of writing my own access rider (document that details information about my access requirements). Unlimited, the arts commissioning programme for disabled artists, have helpful resources about this online: www.weareunlimited.org.uk/resource/creating-your-own-access-rider

Unlimited Festival took place at the Southbank Centre in September, and included some online events. Unfortunately, some of the events were cancelled due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which caused some controversy, with one artist removing their work from the festival in solidarity with those whose work had been cancelled. I still managed to see some thought-provoking pieces online, including an experimental moving-image work by Emily Beaney representing lived experiences of endometriosis.

I have been watching a lot of live theatre from Bristol and Southwest-based companies such as Apricity Theatre, Insane Root Theatre and Closer Each Day. The first two were Shakespeare adaptations and provided interesting takes on the classics, and the latter is the longest improvised narrative in the world. Although this is not necessarily the kind of work I am interested in making at the moment, it was great to see the variety of theatre being made in the region, and it will be beneficial for future connections.

I attended the event Haunting Ashton Court: Reclaiming Forgotten Histories, which sparked an interest in working with archives. I also got to see Tobacco Factory Theatre’s latest production Revealed which attracted new diverse audiences, including many young people. Alongside the production, a campaign called Share the Story was launched to remove price barriers and open up access for young people of diverse backgrounds to see the show. This initiative will hopefully continue and include more live theatre in the future.

old brooms know the corners, a new show by acta’s community group Malcolm X Elders - a group of Caribbean women living in Bristol - explored childhood stories and life lessons mixed in with Anansi tales. I shadowed one of the rehearsals and then watched the performance at Malcolm X Centre, in a unique and wonderful environment, with the audience speaking and making comments throughout. It made me reflect that theatre is not one thing, and there is space for different types of experiences. In fact, the idea of a “passive audience” is a fairly recent phenomenon. Rowdy crowds are recorded throughout history, with audiences cheering, heckling, cackling, and sometimes even throwing food at the performers, throughout a play.

I travelled to Plymouth Theatre Royal to see Delicate by Extraordinary Bodies, written and co-directed by Jamie Beddard. All performances of Delicate are chilled, BSL interpreted, audio described and captioned. I have been in touch with Jamie and I am hoping to soon be able to shadow his work and better understand how he pulls together all the different elements in his productions.

I am extremely interested in Common Wealth Theatre’s work and saw their show Payday Party at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff back in August, which included song, dance, rap, spoken word and audience interaction.

Meetings
While in Cardiff, I got to meet Jonny Cotsen, a performance artist, facilitator and consultant for inclusion in the arts. I had seen his show Louder is Not Always Clearer at Bristol Old Vic back in 2019, and thought it was outstanding. Jonny generously provided me with a lot of useful links and references which I am looking forward to following up on, including an experimental live art festival in Cardiff called Experimentica.

I had a Zoom meeting with Lara Parmiani about LegalAliens Theatre’s community group and the process of creating Ali in Wonder(Eng)land, which I saw in July. Lara mentioned the group often goes to see theatre together, which helps create a strong bond. We spoke about the role of a director as someone who is like a “sponge” — listens, takes everything in, and then starts to find a thread and provide relevant references. It is essential to ask for feedback and find out what people are interested in learning or exploring, as well as explain any theatre jargon used. Unlike amateur theatre, in community theatre there is normally an artist who the participants trust has the techniques, tools and expertise to put on a high-quality show.

I recently met with Hester Welch (Spilt Ink Theatre Company) and Holly Wills (Bristol Old Vic Heritage Participation and Partnerships Manager), who run Drama and English classes for refugees and asylum seekers. I joined in one of their sessions to explore facilitation around language barriers, which included resaying or simplifying explanations, and using images and a translation app.

I have been thinking about how I can use technology in my work, especially for live captions and translation. I met with Liz Counsell from Pervasive Media Studio (based at the Watershed) who gave me great suggestions of people to speak to about this.

Quarantine’s 12 Last Songs
One of the highlights of the past few months for me was spending a week shadowing 12 Last Songs by Manchester-based company Quarantine, who make theatre and performance with people who are not normally on stage. 12 Last Songs, performed at HOME, brought together local workers to demonstrate their job and answer questions about life and work. With an underlying theme of where power lies in the city, the show created a platform for people to speak about themselves and, as many of them reflected, do something outside of their comfort zone. All participants got paid a flat rate and there was no need for rehearsals as the nature of the show was to be spontaneous, which I found captivating. The point was not to “catch people out” and the option to skip a question simply by saying “I don’t want to answer that” was always available. Previously performed in a theatre, this time they were using a Gallery space, which provided a different feel for the audience and might have helped workers not feel like they were performing. The process felt very human, non-hierarchical, with workers invited for an initial conversation to learn about the project and understand whether they would be interested and a good fit. The theatre scene can feel exclusionary, requiring specific skills, experience or vocabulary, but here people were invited in and made to feel welcome.

Trauma Informed Practice training
I attended Trauma Informed Practice training from Collective Encounters’ Centre for Excellence in Participatory Theatre. There were some very useful resources around understanding trauma, what it is and how it is not necessarily a deficit but should be considered part of a person. We discussed different scenarios in groups, and things to keep in mind when setting up any group (even if we don’t know there are participants with experiences of trauma). This is an approach that benefits all. I often say “Watching is participating” and I learnt a new term for this — Legitimate Peripheral Participation. I had also previously joined their Open Playground event about Creative Activism, exploring strategies to affect change in and with communities and getting to grips with the ethics.

Reading & Research
I have been reading some books relevant to my research, such as Theatre and Community by Emine Fisek and Community Theatre: Global Perspectives by Eugene van Erven. It has been helpful to learn about how community theatre is used in different locations around the world, and how the same questions are still being asked and considered today. Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong, provides eye-opening accounts of prevailing ableism, but also remarkable people and projects which I am keen to research more about.

While attending ‘Crossings — community and refuge’ at M Shed, I came across a display of Disability Activism in Bristol, from the 1980s to now. The exhibitions platformed unheard stories, calling attention to migration as a vast, complex, interconnected set of situations, and shining a light on disabled pioneers, protests and progress.

I participated in workshops at Watershed as part of their Freelance Fortnight, titled ‘Understanding Your Value’ (business-oriented) and ‘Where can change come from? — Exploring inclusion practise in your projects’ (practical exercises for thinking about inclusion in my work). I am looking forward to starting acta’s Elevate training scheme to expand on these topics.

The Flying Seagull Project
I had a mentoring/consultancy session with Isobel Wolff from The Flying Seagull Project, who bring play, laughter and creativity to children in areas of deprivation or challenging situations, including refugee camps and asylum accommodation. We spoke about the importance of access to culture as a necessary aspect of life, and the benefits of creativity for people who have experienced trauma. It was really interesting to find out more about The Flying Seagull Project’s methodology and legacy, and their use of non-verbal communication — through actions, noises, and call-and-response activities. Everything is an offer and participants have complete freedom to join in as much or as little as they like. A lot of research and careful consideration goes into planning projects, and they often partner with local NGOs, taking a “Do no harm” approach. This also applies to their workers’ wellbeing, which they support by setting strict boundaries and creating opportunities to speak about the work and any feelings that might arise. Isobel provided me with some tips and things to think about when planning a new project or workshops, including the pros and cons of female-only spaces, which I was debating with myself about.

I have been engaged with Migrants in Theatre for a while — a movement that campaigns for more and better representation of UK-based migrant theatre artists in British theatre. I am now a member of their Southwest group and excited about potential new collaborations. I am starting to plan and prepare some workshops that I will be facilitating next year, to test some of the learning and skills I have been acquiring. But first, I will travel to Ghent, Belgium, to visit NTGent and meet artists and companies making gripping work.