Programme Notes: Case studies for locating experimental theatre.
Eds. Lois Keidan and Daniel Brine

Contributions by: Lyn Gardner, Tim Etchells, Neil Bartlett, Stella Hall, John McGrath, Alan Rivett, Mark Borkowski, Rose Fenton, Brian Logan, Lucy Neal, Keith Khan, Simon Casson, Louise Jeffreys, Judith Knight, and Toni Racklin.

Live Art Development Agency, 2007, 108 pages, 16 black and white photographs, 12cm x 16.5cm. ISBN: 0954604040.

All the contributors to Programme Notes agree on one thing – now is a great time for independent theatre. Experimental, challenging, investigative and just plain different work has started to creep into our mainstream venues (think Duckie selling out at the Barbican) and attract huge audiences (do we need to mention the Sultan’s Elephant?). This book is a collection of case studies, essays and interviews with some of the people who aided that change, and it’s both a thrilling glimpse of practices that helped usher in the new, and a useful springboard for future strategies.

If there’s a recurring theme, it’s audience development. In fact, Neil Bartlett describes it as the only thing that sets ‘experimental’ theatre apart from its ‘conventional’ counterparts. John E McGrath, Artistic Director of Contact Manchester, reminds us that what we think of as mainstream theatre services its own niche, and its audience is always a minority – be it a well established one. The diverse practices hinted at here, in contrast, see engaging new audiences as integral to their work.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they go about it in the same way. While Keith Khan (co-founder of motiroti) develops work to attract new audiences, Alan Rivett (Artistic Director of Warwick Arts Centre) develops audiences to support the work. McGrath reaches out into his local community, while Stella Hall (currently the Creative Director of the Newcastle Gateshead initiative) builds local traits into the way she produces each event.

These differences in approach naturally reflect the differences between what each practitioner is trying to do (and explain why audience development is the only recurring theme). They also serve as a useful reminder that the term ‘experimental’ should not be prescriptive. Largely seen as a reaction against something, ‘experimental theatre’ becomes dangerous when it builds its own walls. Bartlett describes how he fought hard, in his ten year tenure at the Lyric Hammersmith, not just to break down the barriers surrounding work that called itself ‘conventional’, but also to smash the devices used by ‘experimental’ theatre to barricade itself in.

Happily, Programme Notes does not succumb to the temptation to define its own niche. The histories, policies and strategies outlined here don’t assert a single direction for practitioners of the future, so much as describe an attitude - of collaboration, audience development and accessibility – in which practitioners of the past and present have been able to thrive. ‘That’s all that anyone wanted, after all,’ writes Tim Etchells, the Artistic Director of Forced Entertainment, ‘that the door be open and left that way.’

At times, Programme Notes reads like a roll call of the great and the good of the British independent theatre scene. But when its contributors quote and reference each other, they not only demonstrate a working practice of respect and collaboration, but also a relatively small field of support. While it’s tempting for the case-studies to read smoothly, now that their writers are so well established, hindsight hasn’t ironed out how hard it was, or what parts luck and misfortune played along the way. ‘Please note’, Bartlett writes of his achievements at the Lyric, ‘that this took years, was a bloody struggle and caused great trouble at the box office …’

Neither do the histories of past successes stop this being a book that has its sites set very much on the future. There are warning bells – about funding, about latent conservatism, and about the risks inherent in this kind of practice – but this is a forward thinking and hopeful book. It brims with respect for the audience, building to a consensus that given access and choice, people will continue to embrace independent theatre practice. It also respects the diversity of the practices contained under the umbrella terms ‘independent’ or ‘experimental’ and doesn’t patronise its readership by prescribing a one-size-fits-all arts policy. The contributors’ passion and inclusiveness springs from every page, so that although aimed at professionals, this will make a fascinating read for anyone.

Written by Mary Paterson

Programme Notes can be ordered through Unbound:
http://thisisunbound.co.uk/