Red Ladder Theatre Company

It has been nearly a month since I last blogged on the blog, (if that’s the correct verb). My mobile phone twinkles a reminder every Friday entitled simply, “Write blog” but that hasn’t got an ‘app’ for squeezing more time into my day and I’ve just been too busy doing other stuff. Other stuff has included…attending ‘Devoted and Disgruntled 5’ in London on the last weekend of January, running some really powerful ‘Global Justice ‘ sessions in Priory School, Barnsley with Grace and finally, reading the first draft of ‘Ugly’…and that has taken up most of my head space. Oh yes – I’ve also had a great idea for the 2010 winter show pitched to me by Boff Whalley and commissioned a new writer to write a play for Red Grit to perform in the Emerge Festival this summer…so blog writing has just not been possible!!

So let’s start with ‘Devoted and Disgruntled 5’ or D&D as I’ll refer to it (for ease of typing and because that sounds cooler!). If you haven’t heard of D&D it is an ‘open space’ for theatre-makers run by Phelim McDermott and Improbable Theatre. Open Space Technology (see a book by Harrison Owen with this title which explains all) is a wonderful technique for several hundred people to meet and debate, discuss, converse, flirt, irritate, agitate…well to communicate in all forms as we do naturally but with the difference that one really feels that there is a genuine opportunity to be heard. It’s also a great opportunity to network amongst like-minded artists and to feel some sense of solidarity. I have ranted on and on about the rise of Movements in this blog – but I really had a sense that Open Space gives a real feeling of being part of a Rising – a subversive gathering of passionate people who are generally self-confident, articulate and generous – it felt very powerful – much more than attending the old style conference where a panel of speakers patronise an audience, an audience that feels as if they are gagged – unless they have the nerve to take the mic in the five minute Q&A session allotted before the coffee break. At D&D there are no name badges or titles to get in the way – you just choose a conversational topic stuck on the wall (or stick one up yourself) and wander over and join in. Most importantly, if the conversation is not going the way you want, or is being dominated by one selfish voice, you just walk away and join another group. The power one feels when walking away is inexplicable – it should be rude… but it is totally acceptable and therefore liberating.

Any northern artists out there – there will be a D&D run by Improbable and The Empty Space at Gateshead Old Town Hall on 31st March and 1st April. To book tickets go to www.theemptyspace.org.cuk/producing/devoted-and-disgruntled-north-east-2

Meanwhile – in Barnsley every Tuesday morning, Grace and I have been running Global Justice workshops for a discrete group of 14 Year 9 students. Much of the time has been spent gaining the trust of the group and letting them understand that they are in a safe space in which to express views and feelings. The difficulty is that they express some pretty offensive viewpoints – not because they are inherently racist but because they are totally misinformed. Rather than confront these views and explain that what they are expressing is bigotry we have allowed them to attempt to explain where they got their information from and why they hold such angry, blame-soaked attitudes. At one point I described their feelings rather than their views – I described how much pain there was in the room and gave the young people an opportunity to express pain in their lives. The effect of this was remarkable – their body language changed totally and once they felt able to share some quite painful stories they began to listen more reasonably to us and to each-other. We then brought in a Kurdish friend of mine for them to interview and they were able to ask him many questions about why he was a refugee, what happened to him as a boy living under Saddam and to clear up their confusions about the war in Iraq. The session was remarkable and I hope was a step towards helping them view the world with more compassion.

And so to the first draft of UGLY. Emma Adams has been locked away writing the first draft over the last two months and if you have followed her blog on the culture vulture site you will know the pain she has gone through!! The pain has been worth it! The first draft is really quite remarkable – much darker than I expected but incredibly powerful. Emma’s agent rang me and said, “I think we’ve got a classic here”. No pressure then! The fact is, ‘Ugly’ will totally divide audiences – it is deeply shocking in places but also has the potential to be very funny. Post show discussions will have to be compulsory – we really need to hear what audiences want to say in reaction to this piece. Essentially, Emma is posing the question’ “If we allow our environment to become this bleak, this devastated and so sparse of resources, then will it be possible to remain human?”.  A few years ago I was shocked by Philip Ridley’s play ‘Mercury Fur’ – in every performance people walked out unable to cope with the unpleasant world they were witnessing. I think some audiences might feel the same about ‘Ugly’ – but if we are to provoke real discussion about what we are going to do about our world to prevent the kind of dystopia that ‘Ugly’ describes, then I agree with Emma, there is no other better way than to push people out of their comfort zones. I have said before on this blog that ‘Ugly’ is probably one of the most important pieces of work I will make – we live in a world which is being controlled by a system in crisis – and unless we can provoke discussion about alternatives we really heading for annihilation … is it my duty as a theatre maker to respond to this crisis? Discuss!

We are inviting twelve actors to the first read through of ‘Ugly’ draft one so that we can hear a range of voices and to inform the second draft. I’ll keep you informed as to the progress as the script develops – but I promise you, the journey to opening night next September will be very interesting!!!