What shows and where?
So, we have 30 potential projects for our launch year's Theatre Map of Wales. All sorts of collaborations with all sorts of artists and companies have been discussed, and some have even entered the first stages of development. But there are no definite decisions yet. While it would be unfair on the artists involved to start some sort of online vote, it would be great to hear people's opinions on the range of work they would like to see: gritty realism? dance theatre? vaudeville? Welsh classics rediscovered? And where should the work take place? Do you have strong opinions about where in Wales we should put shows on? A particular location? Or a part of the country that shouldn't get missed out this time?
We will be staging twelve shows in twelve months - one a month every month; each in a different location, and each a different kind of theatre. Your opinions on what kind of work you would like to see and where will help us come to our decisions. Oh, and in case you are worried about the 18 project we can't do - don't worry, some of them will be ready for the following year!
We will be staging twelve shows in twelve months - one a month every month; each in a different location, and each a different kind of theatre. Your opinions on what kind of work you would like to see and where will help us come to our decisions. Oh, and in case you are worried about the 18 project we can't do - don't worry, some of them will be ready for the following year!
Views: 1218
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bethan Marlow on
-
Hi John, I feel that I need to wave a little flag here to remind us all that there is life North of the Valleys!
North Wales is a purple array of slate quarries and yes, I agree that there's an awful lot of plays that have been done to death on the mines and quarries but there are countless stories that still haven't been told. Many villages in North Wales are still shadowed by the slate slag heaps, it's still there and is still a part of everyone that lives there. You have this enormous and amazing backdrop to villages that are full of unheard voices (there's a village up in North Wales called Deiniolen that was described by authorities as having the conditions of a third world country- there are characters in that village are screaming to be written in a comedy!)
I know it's a small country but the North South divide is a pretty strong one.
-
Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on
-
Yes, don't worry. We will definitely be thinking about all compass points!
-
Permalink Reply by Peter Cox MBE on
-
In many ways it's easy to suggest WHERE but a more important question eventually would have to be WHY? Why a shop front? Why a disused industrial site? What does it bring to the show? What does it give to its audience? What does the choice of 'where' mean?
I'm taking it as read that NTW will have a broad reach across communities in Wales and will undoubtedly be stylistically and geographically adventurous. (And will have to consider access issues and how to bring in box office revenue and create good partnerships with the existing theatres network etc) So, without concentrating on the WHAT too much to begin with, here are some places that might be worth a thought - the thought being 'What might they offer as 'venues'?, as well as, 'How might they be able to help tell stories that are in some way emblematic of Wales and its place in the world - either 'then' or 'now'?
So Where?
Going into an ideas freefall here...
The Roman Amphitheatre at Caerleon, Castelltinbod - the Iron Age hillfort in Radnorshire
Castles such as Chirk, Raglan, Pembroke, Denbigh, Harlech, Rhuddlan, Powys, Beaumaris, St Donats et al
Llanthony Priory, Tintern Abbey, Valle Crucis Abbey, St David's Cathedral
Tretower Court, Portmeirion Italianate Village, the Millennium Stadium, a tented stage at the Wakestock Festival, the Royal Welsh Showground, the International Eisteddfod site in Llangollen, the oil refineries and docks at Milford Haven, the harbour & beach at Tenby, Craig y nos, Dan Yr Ogof Caves
The Penrhyn Slate Quarries, the Llechwedd Slate Caverns, Wylfa Nuclear Power Station, the Ironworks at Blaenavon, the blue lagoon and the abandoned stone quarry buildings on the cliffs above Porthgain, or the extraordinarily atmospheric and barren Cwmystwyth Valley above the Elan Valley - with its deep rooted history of upland lead and silver mining and coast to mountain transhumance
Or on the Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin or Fishguard to Rosslare or on Offa's Dyke
All well and good and atmospheric and different but WHY?
If any one of these, or a combination of these, ideas were pursued what would it give us? Sure, extraordinary options for site specific work but when you think about them a little more they appear to represent a cultural map that touches on many human experiences in Wales... the very stuff of drama and story.
There's religion here and diverse belief systems. There's isolation and invention, imperial aggression and economic exploitation as well as revolutionary politics, industrial expansionism and decline, social conflict, global trade and environmental issues, economic emmigration and internal migration routes, poverty and religious persecution, international cultural exchange, connections to the Welsh diaspora, how we live, how we lived, how we play, what we breathed and what shaped our lives.
Somewhere in there is a whole heap of WHAT's just waiting to be found.
Perhaps though, therein lies a problem. When we look at this place called Wales through the eyes of these places in Wales there may be a tendencey towards documentary thinking and I don't believe that is what we are about. We are about creativity and vision, the unexpected and unexplained, the power and the passion of human expression - the human experience alive in drama, story and character.
So maybe, rather than only thinking of these places as host venues, it might be that these places and their relationship to each other can inspire us to create the stories and the theatre forms that will then travel beyond our border and coastline - a valid and important ambition for NTW I believe - work that will explore the universal through the specific. Work that can play to audiences across the world but could only have been made in Wales. That sounds like a great journey to be on to me!
-
-
Peter. I think you answered your own question there. Sometimes the 'where' itself can become a 'why'. Extraordinary places can prompt us to ask questions we never thought of. For sure some of our work next year should start this way. And in other cases we will have a text we want to do, or a subject we want to address and will look for the right place to do it. We are both mapping Wales through theatre, and mapping theatre through Wales!
-
Permalink Reply by Ellie Carter on
-
there may be a tendency towards documentary thinking and I don't believe that is what we are about. We are about creativity and vision, the unexpected and unexplained, the power and the passion of human expression
I think that what you've written here answers your question of 'why' too Peter.
When work is made to be site specific, site generic (say a car park) or site neautral (say a car) I think that it isn't just the history of a place that influences the work. The work itself can rewrite the experience of a place or add a chapter. Whatever the practical purpose or perception of a place is/was; it can morph into the unfamiliar. Simultaneously of course the history (of place and perception) is influencing the work. It's this symbiosis of living historys and living places that feels exciting as an audience member, the living story. I don't think that 'documentary thinking' is a danger when expression and experience HAVE to incur a unique response.
In traditional theatre spaces we expect 'creativity and vision', spectacle, entertainment, the lot! It's hard to challenge experience when it's a history we understand, have been disappointed by or have never known.
Saying all this though I don't think that traditional theatre spaces should be ignored generally, it should make us try. really. hard. to keep creating the 'unexpected and unexplained'.
ps Back to "failed social housing projects" and Billy Banks. I really do have a thing for utopian vision, see also Arts Tower and Park Hill Flats in Sheffield. Park Hill Flats voted No.13 in Channel 4's DEMOLITION are now the largest Garde II* listed buildings in Europe and protected by English Heritage. Reimagining spaces? Because the building is the same.
/body>
-
-
Yes - the perforemance reimagines the space as well as the space imaginging the performance. We change space by what we choose to do and show there, while also discovering what was hidden...
-
Permalink Reply by Louise Osborn on
-
Yes. When immersed in a location - working artistically - the 'what' and 'why' hopefully begins to reveal itself... Place, people, space, shape, language, rhythms, smells, secrets, textures, history, music, the 'unsaid' become the subject; the stories emerge and begin to have a life of their own.... the excitement lies in being responsive to this tapestry - in tracing the scents, making intuitive choices, sensing the flavour, the 'meaning' of a particular place - building up the layers, weaving new, but reflective narrative. That is the hope - and if we are able to be open and responsive - to leave ourselves alone and listen enough - that's when audiences recognise something 'essential' in what they see/hear. And hopefully have another lens with which to consider/reflect on that recognition. (So a sort of dialectic begins to take place?) And then perhaps there's that sense of 'morphing' - But often our fears and expectations as writers/makers can get in the way of our processes so that we don't trust ourselves enough... hope this makes some sort of sense? It's hard trying to describe what is often happening at an unconscious level...but there's something about making the ordinary somehow extra-ordinary under this kind of scrutiny...
-
Permalink Reply by Deborah Powell on
-
Yes! My best theatre experiences have been when its evident that the work presented is really, as you put it Louise, 'responsive to this tapestry' and sees the topic in a new light. Hijinx's 'The Other Woman' did this for me regarding the Valley's last year!
-
-
...It's hard to challenge experience when it's a history we understand,
have been disappointed by ...
I think you're so right here Ellie - this is exactly the trap
we face when trying to work with/against some of the received
images of Wales. Far too many have focussed too narrowly on coal
mining & caberet! If we choose to perpetuate these particular stories then
we really do need a new angle to challenge experience and perception!
-
-
Hmmm challenging angles...
It occurs to me that when considering 'Where' NTW might do shows we've failed to mention UTOPIA.
Why? Well, Robert Owen for example was born in Newtown, Powys, in 1771 and is known as one of the most prominent social reformers of his period. As a pioneer of modern British socialism, he provided a source of inspiration to the co-operative movement. The Robert Owen Society is still going strong today and addressing the very hot contemporary issue of how to get us from the Ashes of the Crash that's having such an affect on our lives.
Likewise the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley came to rural mid Wales to try to set up a perfect place for the creation of art and life in the Valley of Nantgwyllt in the Elan Valley. Much of the ground that he walked on though was flooded one hundred years ago to provide water for Birmingham.
I'm sure there must be other Utopian visions and visionaries across Wales.
-
Permalink Reply by Victoria John on
-
Hi John,
As our remit at Velvet Ensemble to explore and develop theatre which gives focus to the female experience. I would like to see a piece of verbatim theatre shining a spotlight onto Welsh women from both North and South. Perhaps on a number of key themes. I think that if the representation of ideas and thoughts strikes a challenging chord, this could be something to reach a new audience in Wales. I was really struck by the blog posted by Kelly Page about the genius idea that Spirithouse Theatre company had on how to sell out their 2 hander.
just a thought
Vx
-
-
I agree 100% Victoria. Seeing something on stage that really articulates
the contemporary female condition seems like it has an untapped audience just waiting for it. Just look at the successful volume sales in recent years of so-called fashion mags that also prod the female psyche about everything from having-nothing to having-it-all, from saving the planet to saving the high street! If they can stray into this territory and be successful, there's no reason why theatre can't?
© 2024 Created by National Theatre Wales.
Powered by
