Archive for 2007
Arts Council in England ends funding to 1 in 5 companies
December 20th, 2007 • theatre
Nearly 200 arts organisations in England have been told that their Arts Council funding will end from next April:
The National Student Drama Festival, for example, founded in 1956 and with starry alumni that include Simon Russell Beale, Pete Postlethwaite and Meera Syal, has been told to expect to lose its £52,000 annual grant, which could jeopardise its annual festival in Scarborough, taking place in three months.
Holly Kendrick, the festival’s director, said: “We think that this decision is unreasonable, but it is particularly serious for us because of the timing. We have commitments three months ahead. We now have to find a third of our funding at impossibly short notice.” The group said it had recently been discussing plans with the council that carried up to 2010. [...]
The Exeter Northcott Theatre has been told to expect to lose its £547,000-a-year grant from April 2009. It received the news as it reopened after a £2.1m redevelopment programme that had seen it closed for nearly a year.Steve Gratton, chairman of the Northcott, said: “I simply cannot understand why the Arts Council would … allow public money to be spent on its redevelopment, and then pull the plug just as the theatre reopens.”
Blasphemy case dismissed: Theatres Act prevents prosecution
December 5th, 2007 • theatre
The BBC reports that the blasphemy case against Jerry Springer: The Opera has been dismissed:
[T]he two senior judges at the High Court said the 1968 Theatres Act prevented any prosecution for blasphemy in relation to public performances of plays - and the 1990 Broadcasting Act prevented any prosecution in relation to broadcasts.
They said it was reasonable to conclude Jerry Springer - The Opera “in context” could not be considered as blasphemous, as it was not aimed at Christianity, but was a parody of the chat show genre.
Those are two separate arguments: first, that the Theatres Act effectively prevents any prosecution for blasphemy for public performances, and secondly, that this particular instance was not in any case blasphemic. Read more »
Blasphemy on the British stage
November 30th, 2007 • theatre
This week’s installment of the attempt to sue the producers of Jerry Springer: The Musical for blasphemy neatly illustrates the impact of British law on the stage since the closure of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, and the introduction of the Theatres Act (1968).
In dismissing permission to issue summons in the original case - now under appeal at the High Court - District Judge Miss Caroline Tubbs argued prosecution was prevented because of s2(4) of the Theatres Act 1968:
”No person shall be proceeded against in respect of a performance of a play, or anything said or done in the course of such a performance - (a) for an offence at common law where it is of the essence of the offence that the performance or, as the case may be, what was said or done was obscene, indecent, offensive, disgusting or injurious to morality.”
Fringe 2007
October 8th, 2007 • comedy
A few overdue thoughts, post-Fringe 2007:
1. The narrative in the media that there was “too much comedy” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was both strange and unexamined. In actuality, theatre and comedy represent roughly equal proportions of the Fringe - theatre has slightly more shows, in fact.
It’s never been clear why comedy should have to represent a smaller proportion of the total shows; if the argument is that they take a larger proportion of ticket shares and that this impacts directly on theatre sales.. well, we’re just admitting that the public doesn’t actually want to cram into converted cupboards to watch theatre. Comedy? Maybe it doesn’t matter what the venue is like if the bar is open. Read more »
October Update
October 8th, 2007 • penny dreadfuls
I’m down in London over the weekend of the 27th October for the first recording of the Penny Dreadfuls’ new BBC radio series. If you’re free on the Friday night - or the following Wednesday - free tickets for the recording are available here.
C.J. Jarvis and C. Cooke - Edinburgh artists now based in London - are in the final weeks of their show at the Madder 139 gallery. I’ve worked with them on various projects over the last few years and hope to collaborate again in the future: there’s a mix of high-level art theory and humour that really appeals.
I’m also in the process of putting together the first issue of a new quarterly online publication - (which, right now, mainly involves calling a large number of friends and contacts working in theatre and the arts to see if they have time to spare). I’ll post something more here when I have firmer details - and when I start the open submission process - but am aiming for a winter edition at the end of the year.
play as rehearsal for living
June 30th, 2007 • research
I’m currently working on a paper that covers a few of my research interests: improvisation, activism and interactive theatre. To be more specific, I’ve been looking at World Without Oil - a collective imagining of an real world oil-shock led by Jane McGonigal and Ken Eklund - and trying to tease out the relationship to the methods in other communal, activist performances.
The most productive link I’ve found so far has been to the communal forum theatre form pioneered by Augusto Boal, which shares the same intention to use play as rehearsal for living.
I’m also working with material from a paper I gave at the Improvisation Continuums conference a few months back - there’s a definite sense that the kinds of creativity available are determined by structure. Put simply, we accept limitations or borders in order to make our play more coherent and productive, a concept familiar to most if not all improvisers.
Finally, some (unrelated) pictures from a combination birthday and farewell party for some artists I’ve had great fun working with.
