I want to start a theatrical revolution! Who’s With me and what shal we do?

Convener(s): Sophie Austin

Participants: It’s a secret

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

We started by creating a secret handshake which will be passed round and once you’ve had it you’re one of us.

We started by discussing what we find revolting in theatre and what our Revolution should be about.

We discussed what we liked about theatre and what the important fundamentals of theatre are.

We talked about what we could do to start a Revolution

We discussed whether theatre is passé and whether it needs a revolution.

The conversation flowed and we got anarchic and passionate. I didn’t write it all down, but here is a list that hopefully explains the highlights:

Audience = Everyone – Our revolution is for the artist and the audience and the audience should be anybody.

Play with Space

Work in unusual space

Spaces we can’t access – Space was a key point and we discussed taking theatre out of theaters and putting it amongst the people.

Collaborate with non-artists

Collaborate with non theatre artists

Doing it anywhere with anybody – we discussed moving away from the traditional theatre hierarchy and working with artists and people who are not part of that. Creating equality through removal of establishment collaboration.

High Quality

Not do something new but do something better

Wow - Moment – we said that above all the work must be good and the revolution should be about creating high quality work at all times, no exceptions.

Gorilla Tactics

Flashmob theatre – Again breaking down the barriers of established conventions but in an underground way.

Unpopular culture – to break down the populist and repetitive and challenge the conventions by not striving to be popular and to be loved. Move away from venues and establishments that eat you up from the inside by colleagues wanting to work in more glamorous media like film etc. Get back to good honest basics…

Desire to tell stories

Never to be repeated – we agreed that story telling should be at the foundations of our revolution and that the fact that each happening will never be repeated is a basic law of theatre that no other medium has.

More like Rock and Roll – you know when you come out of a gig buzzing and you’re sweaty and alive, we want to create that experience.

The Moment

Never to be Recorded – Fundamentally we agreed that theatre is about the moment and this moment should be celebrated and one way we can do this is by refusing to have our work filmed, by keeping it alive.