Marianne Powell, 11 January 2016

I called the session as I'm thinking of making a piece about alcohol. I was interested to

hear anything people wanted to say about booze. We covered a lot in just an hour.

Drinking culture in the theatre: There was unanimous agreement that there can be

pressure to drink in the theatre world. A few people mentioned the drinking culture in

Edinburgh, and the likelihood of being drunk for much of the month. And someone

who'd recently started writing mentioned that a few people suggested writing the first

draft drunk. ('Write drunk, edit sober.') This isn't all bad - one person mentioned touring

as a positive opportunity to socialise and catch up with friends.

Drinking and diversity: One participant mentioned an outreach programme in Bristol. In

their callouts to meet new artists, they often said things like ‘find us in the bar

afterwards’. And they realised that potentially excluded many people. This led to a

broader chat about networking, e.g. lots of advice to people who are starting out is

about meeting contacts in bars, buying them a drink etc.

Drinking and audiences: A few people mentioned the commercial imperative to get in

a drinking crowd for bar takings, and that programming decisions were made based on

this, e.g. ‘we can’t put that on, that will only attract a tea and coffee crowd'.

Drinking, generally: We touched on what causes people to drink, the need for

escapism or to medicate. One participant mentioned a report she did for Aquarius,

about why women drink. People were interested in the idea of a show about drinking,

and one participant mentioned a piece she was making about the experience of being

drunk.

Tags:

Audiences, Theatre, audiences, drinking, Diversity, diversity, THEATRE, bars, theatre

Comments: 1

Amy Clare Tasker, 13 January 2016

Related: Bryony Kimmings show “7-Day Drunk”

http://www.bryonykimmings.com/7daydrunk.html