The Theatre of War Symposium & Project Ariadne

The Theatre of War Symposium, Abbey Theatre, 22-24 Jan 2015
PDF of schedule here

After slowing down to comatose this Christmas, my brain needed a good jolt to get going again. And what a jolt this was.

I hadn’t been able to attend the previous Abbey Theatre symposium on Theatre of Memory in January 2014, but had heard good things. A symposium on war, though? That was a harder sell for me. However when the ever-inspiring Dominic Campbell said he was on the programming committee, the decision was made for me. Dominic has a fantastic way of connecting people and creative ideas and often comes at topics from a direction I can’t predict. Conversations with him always leave me with a list of things to go home and google.

The programming of the symposium was excellent – both in terms of the spectrum of speakers and the scheduling of the three days. Nobody had quite enough time to speak, which meant they filled every second they were on stage with energy, so as an audience we rattled from one new thought, artistic practice or viewpoint to another. Also, thankfully, the few sessions I was less interested in flew by too.

Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 12.49.21 As part of the symposium, the Abbey were able to bring together the extraordinary women involved in the recently established Project Ariadne which is a network of female theatremakers working in conflict affected areas. Securing visas alone was an administrative feat – the women traveled from Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Palestine and Burundi via Belgium to speak at the event. Having them all in the one place for the first time, Ariadne‘s organisers Suzannah Tresillian and Georgie Wheedon were able to see the scale of the potential that the network has – I’m pretty sure a few stiff drinks were downed to help cope with the enormity of the situation. I was very lucky to have dinner with the network – I’ve never sat at a table so full of inspirational women.

Thankfully, the Abbey has much of the Symposium online, day by day.
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3 (still to come)

I’ve listed my own highlights of the event here, with added links:

Ariadne Project’s website and Twitter. The network members spoke on various panels during the symposium, and more information on each of them can be found here
David Cotterrell‘s talk on the experience of being a war artist in Afghanistan
Playwright Stacey Gregg’s piece on the “peace walls” in Belfast, as part of the Barriers panel on day 2
A presentation by Ray Dolphin of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the fragmentation of Palestine
Dr Anne Dolan of TCD’s paper looking anew at the Irish Civil War
Extracts of songs from Helen Chadwick‘s performance War Correspondents
Vladimir Shcherban on how Belarus Free Theatre keeps operations going

Still in the dream

Other work

When Veronica Dyas asked me to help her put together an installation/performance this May called Here & Now that would be the cumulative event in a project she had been working on for the last few years, I wondered what I could bring to it.

She didn’t need a designer – she knew what she wanted in the space. She didn’t need a producer – she had one on board, and knew that I don’t consider myself a show producer anyway. She didn’t need a director or an outside eye – it wasn’t really that kind of thing. I wasn’t sure what benefit I could be to her, but I have a lot of respect for Veronica, so said I’d help in what way I could. We agreed to meet once a week.

Veronica had what seemed like an enormous satellite team of excellent people contributing work in response to her and her thoughts. Among the people I didn’t meet, who she’d met originally on her Camino walk and were now collaborating remotely, she was working with:

– Eoin Winning designing lights and making everything work
– Dylan Tighe and Little John Nee contributing beautiful music
– The Company members Nyree Yergainharsian as producer, and Jose Miguel Jimenez making a video piece for the performance
– Louis Haugh creating a photographic installation
– Actor Conor Madden filming a documentary
– Theatre maker Sorcha Kenny responding to a previous part of Here & Now where Veronica gave away (nearly) everything she owned
– Amy Conroy of HotForTheatre working as script dramaturg; choreographer Ella Clarke advising on movement
– Aoife O’Sullivan as the dream stage manager

We talked, and I started to see what I could do for her. What I didn’t expect was that working with Veronica would do just as much, if not more, for me. Her practice of encouraging everyone to be in their dream – doing the thing they most want to do – created a feeling of connection, togetherness and calm over the whole event, for participants and audience alike. Everyone was welcome into the space she created. Everyone was at home.

Having the opportunity to be involved in the collaborative practice that Veronica led reminded me of why I got involved in working in the arts in the first place. Her creative openness and dogged optimism combined with a endless reservoir of integrity has encouraged me to keep interrogating my own ideas and plans to make sure they ring true. Thanks Veronica for reminding me of the feeling of long-distance walking, and how it’s worth the effort to bring that frame of mind into everyday life.

IETM Montpellier April 2014

Other work

Thanks to the generosity of Project Arts Centre, where I worked with last year to put on IETM Dublin, I got to attend the most recent IETM networking meeting in sunny Montpellier.

En route to La Chapelle Gely, a venue in the centre of the gypsy district of Montpellier

Other than getting a hit of vitamin D, tasting one or two local wines and learning all about the inner workings of harpsichords, I got to meet some great people doing interesting things. Here are a (very) few of them in no particular order whose projects, ideas or organisations have stuck with me:

Michele Losi of Scarlattine Teatro, who are one of the partners in the (literally) epic Meeting The Odessey project. Awarded EU Culture funding, the organisers will set a theatre company afloat to travel through Europe for 3 years, making work as they go. I’m already planning to stow away.
Ingrid Vranken of Spin in ever increasingly trendy Brussels – part of what sounds like a really interesting collective/cooperative model of 3 artists (Kate McIntosh, Hans Bryssinck and Diederik Peeters) and a producer (Ingrid).
Kamma Siegumfeldt of Copenhagen’s Dansehallerne who helps coordinate the Nordic-Baltic contemporary dance network and development initiative Kedja (also awarded EU Culture funding). The Kedja wilderness retreats, in particular, make me envious.
Choreographer Samantha Chester from Sydney who was just starting out on a European research trip thanks to having been awarded a Churchill Fellowship.
Stewart Laing of Untitled Projects in Glasgow who most recently was in Ireland as one of this year’s MAKE mentors.
Harley Stumm (the best dancer in IETM) who is helping coordinate the IETM caravan meeting in Sydney, as well as planning an international producer residency between Europe & Australia. He hosted a meeting about the idea in Montpellier, so I expect some further details will be up on his website soon.
MCP Factory or Marie-Charlie Pignon, who works in Paris as a kind of artistic project advisor and counsellor.
Steve Slater (who coordinated IETM Glasgow in 2010 and was senior producer at the Tramway for ages) who is back making performance work for the first time in a long time – most recently in Glasgow’s Buzzcut. Always great to hear of people who crossover between the artistic side to the management side and back. I wonder why…
And an entertaining late night wine-fuelled reminiscence-fest between Mole Wetherell of Reckless Sleepers and Tracy Gentles of Clod Ensemble which means I know a lot more about how things have changed, if I could only remember in which city.

World Scenography 1975-1990 now available

Other work

Book cover of World Scenography 1975-1990

Some years ago I was hired by Irish Theatre Institute to research Irish design for performance as part of the Irish contribution to World Scenography 1975-1990, a publication commissioned by OISTAT, the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians. The book is now published and available to buy online.

OISTAT says:

World Scenography 1975-1990 is the first volume in a new series of books looking at significant stage design throughout the world since 1975. This volume, documenting 1975-1990, has been about four years in the making and has had contributions from hundreds of people in more than 70 countries. Despite this range of input, it is not possible for it to be encyclopædic, much as the editors would like. Neither is the series a collection of “greatest hits,” despite the presence of many of the greatest designs of the period being examined. Instead, the object is to present designs that made a difference, designs that mattered, designs of influence; to document for posterity a collection of the significant theatrical set, costume, and lighting designs from the period.