Saturday 17 April 2010

Beginnings in new light: session with Peader Kirk

Peader was given free reigns again Friday afternoon, in what was the second plenary of the Gathering's first day. He used this opportunity to redo what had been done before, posing questions about beginnings and rethinking of roots. The structure was much like it had been before; a moment of epiphany, your family tree, your first performance and your real motivation, but with the addition of seeds and a picture of your homeland. For those who had not been part of the first set of laboratories, this was both a catch-up and chance to think about their own beginnings and legacies.

The “family tree” was also a chance to discover fraternities with others, as well as unfamilar connections. For those who had done the exercise before, it was a chance to revisit the thoughts from last week, and maybe add or remove a few names in their legacies. As directors, whether established, emerging or aspiring, we all have more debts than we can ever hope to pay to our ancestors, and taking a moment to acknowledge those connections is not just useful, but a way to pay something back in itself. The various connections and names caused much discussion, from those who had discarded the “big names” (which predominantly are men), to those who had included them next to tiny, personal references. Someone asked if a list of just six, or a ban of any big names could have been another fruitful and equally interesting experiment, and their questioning is certainy worth considering. For who are your influences when your mind is at work in a creative and directorial process? Is it those you remember to put on a piece of paper, or is it a completely different set of reference points, ones you may not remember to acknowledge? The number of non-theatrical references made shows how much what happens in theatre is influenced by life itself.

This leads into what for me is a crucial point. One person remarked that what comes out of this exercise, in reality is nothing, in the same manner as a table of football results in the newspaper produces nothing. But does it really? Our family trees may have no practical application or sensible function. It is a waste of energy and time, just like a football match is. But this football match liberates energies, is highly dependent on teamwork, and creates a sense of community for participants and onlookers alike. There is no tangible result at the end of the day apart from the league table – but the work behind this and the bonds it creates cannot be measured or quantified. As theatremakers, the immeasureable may be just as important as what can be measured. Let us therefore hope that our “family tree” takes on the role of a league table: some results of a much greater process of experiences and encounters that were real and valid as they happened, and will shape the futures and what is to come. Wasteful, yet productive. Intangible, yet with implications. Seemingly nothing, yet the very foundation of our art.

- Ragnhild Dale

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