The idea of a company
Wed, 13 Mar 2002, 02:28 pmWalter Plinge6 posts in thread
The idea of a company
Wed, 13 Mar 2002, 02:28 pmTHE IDEA OF A COMPANY
by David Meadows (with a nod to Sir Peter Hall)
"If you donÂ’t care, you die" - Arnold Wesker
True theatre companies are communities of actors, writers, directors, and technicians creating a common spirit that vastly improves the work. They are not easy to make or sustain in our restless market-driven society. They are not even very fashionable... largely, I suspect, because they do not exist anymore.
But all of the most significant shifts in theatre - from ShakespeareÂ’s Globe to the Moscow Arts Theatre to the Berliner Ensemble - have always been through the energy of a company. Without the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Royal Court, British theatre would have few new plays and no living tradition of classics.
An actorÂ’s talent is to some extent defined by the parts he is playing. A repertory of three or four roles, rehearsed and played concurrently, avoids routine, challenges habit, and keeps the actor creative. So their performances will get better. Playing the same part eight times a week condemns the actor to a routine that eventually constrains them more and more.
What I am proposing for Naked Emotion sketches a possible future. Actors have a variety of parts and no deadening routine. Audiences benefit too: subscriber discounts; Sunday matinees; and the best of the worldÂ’s new plays alongside the classics.
But how can you start a theatre company today? Once upon a time, if someone in the arts made something new or arresting, the arts funding organisations were there, ready to encourage with funds. There were fewer plans and fewer priorities. They responded to energy.
It is not like that now. If I asked ArtsWA or the Australia Council if I could run a small company, I would most liklely be told that it did not fit their funding criteria; that Perth had enough “companies”; that there wasn’t the audience for it; and that my focus on classical theatre was out of touch with today’s society.
Like Bell Shakespeare before me, I would have to seek support from the private sector. And given the current economic climate, our chances there would be pretty slim, too.
So, other avenues have to be explored. Hence the idea that we just get to work. Bugger the money. Bugger the prestige of being an “employed” actor. However many hours a week we can spare, however much time we could spend not earning an income, we would spend in someone’s front room, working on half a dozen plays at a time, Reading dissecting, arguing, shooting ideas across potato chips and coffee. Artists at work.
With a bit of research and a well-formulated proposal, we might even be able to convince a government office or a local shire council (or perhaps even a particularly philanthropic property-owner) to let us have that abandoned bank-branch, school-building, shop-front, or small warehouse as a rehearsal/performance space for the finishe productions.
If I have given the impression that this would be an ego-driven vanity showcase for David Meadows, apparent enfant terrible of the Perth theatre scene, then I am sorry. All along, I have regarded this idea as a way for frustrated W.A. practitioners to quit their whinging and get on and do something... to create work of which they could be proud, which would re-enthuse other practitioners and, even more importantly, the general public.
It has been said, and frequently, that there is no culture of theatre-going in W.A. What, did we think it was just going to fall out the sky and land in our laps? We have to CREATE it. Funding agencies might not respond to pure energy and commitment, but audiences sure as hell do.
So quit attacking the messenger. I offer no apologies at all for my desire to lead the charge. But Naked Emotion is, always has been, and always will be, about anyone who takes their theatre seriously enough to make some compromises, alter their lifestyle just a little bit, re-assess their priorities, and get cracking.
Quite apart from my determined unwillingness to do this alone (bugger that for a joke), this is not, and never has been, about me and my supposed ego. I want people behind me, yes... but the more people that are UP HERE WITH ME, knee deep in the good fight, the better.
If you want to help light a fire under the arse of the cynical, complacent ennui-junkies, e-mail me with YOUR THOUGHTS, ideas and willingness (in principle, at least) to support what I am proposing.
davidave@bigpond.com
And spread the word.
by David Meadows (with a nod to Sir Peter Hall)
"If you donÂ’t care, you die" - Arnold Wesker
True theatre companies are communities of actors, writers, directors, and technicians creating a common spirit that vastly improves the work. They are not easy to make or sustain in our restless market-driven society. They are not even very fashionable... largely, I suspect, because they do not exist anymore.
But all of the most significant shifts in theatre - from ShakespeareÂ’s Globe to the Moscow Arts Theatre to the Berliner Ensemble - have always been through the energy of a company. Without the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Royal Court, British theatre would have few new plays and no living tradition of classics.
An actorÂ’s talent is to some extent defined by the parts he is playing. A repertory of three or four roles, rehearsed and played concurrently, avoids routine, challenges habit, and keeps the actor creative. So their performances will get better. Playing the same part eight times a week condemns the actor to a routine that eventually constrains them more and more.
What I am proposing for Naked Emotion sketches a possible future. Actors have a variety of parts and no deadening routine. Audiences benefit too: subscriber discounts; Sunday matinees; and the best of the worldÂ’s new plays alongside the classics.
But how can you start a theatre company today? Once upon a time, if someone in the arts made something new or arresting, the arts funding organisations were there, ready to encourage with funds. There were fewer plans and fewer priorities. They responded to energy.
It is not like that now. If I asked ArtsWA or the Australia Council if I could run a small company, I would most liklely be told that it did not fit their funding criteria; that Perth had enough “companies”; that there wasn’t the audience for it; and that my focus on classical theatre was out of touch with today’s society.
Like Bell Shakespeare before me, I would have to seek support from the private sector. And given the current economic climate, our chances there would be pretty slim, too.
So, other avenues have to be explored. Hence the idea that we just get to work. Bugger the money. Bugger the prestige of being an “employed” actor. However many hours a week we can spare, however much time we could spend not earning an income, we would spend in someone’s front room, working on half a dozen plays at a time, Reading dissecting, arguing, shooting ideas across potato chips and coffee. Artists at work.
With a bit of research and a well-formulated proposal, we might even be able to convince a government office or a local shire council (or perhaps even a particularly philanthropic property-owner) to let us have that abandoned bank-branch, school-building, shop-front, or small warehouse as a rehearsal/performance space for the finishe productions.
If I have given the impression that this would be an ego-driven vanity showcase for David Meadows, apparent enfant terrible of the Perth theatre scene, then I am sorry. All along, I have regarded this idea as a way for frustrated W.A. practitioners to quit their whinging and get on and do something... to create work of which they could be proud, which would re-enthuse other practitioners and, even more importantly, the general public.
It has been said, and frequently, that there is no culture of theatre-going in W.A. What, did we think it was just going to fall out the sky and land in our laps? We have to CREATE it. Funding agencies might not respond to pure energy and commitment, but audiences sure as hell do.
So quit attacking the messenger. I offer no apologies at all for my desire to lead the charge. But Naked Emotion is, always has been, and always will be, about anyone who takes their theatre seriously enough to make some compromises, alter their lifestyle just a little bit, re-assess their priorities, and get cracking.
Quite apart from my determined unwillingness to do this alone (bugger that for a joke), this is not, and never has been, about me and my supposed ego. I want people behind me, yes... but the more people that are UP HERE WITH ME, knee deep in the good fight, the better.
If you want to help light a fire under the arse of the cynical, complacent ennui-junkies, e-mail me with YOUR THOUGHTS, ideas and willingness (in principle, at least) to support what I am proposing.
davidave@bigpond.com
And spread the word.
Walter PlingeWed, 13 Mar 2002, 02:28 pm
THE IDEA OF A COMPANY
by David Meadows (with a nod to Sir Peter Hall)
"If you donÂ’t care, you die" - Arnold Wesker
True theatre companies are communities of actors, writers, directors, and technicians creating a common spirit that vastly improves the work. They are not easy to make or sustain in our restless market-driven society. They are not even very fashionable... largely, I suspect, because they do not exist anymore.
But all of the most significant shifts in theatre - from ShakespeareÂ’s Globe to the Moscow Arts Theatre to the Berliner Ensemble - have always been through the energy of a company. Without the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Royal Court, British theatre would have few new plays and no living tradition of classics.
An actorÂ’s talent is to some extent defined by the parts he is playing. A repertory of three or four roles, rehearsed and played concurrently, avoids routine, challenges habit, and keeps the actor creative. So their performances will get better. Playing the same part eight times a week condemns the actor to a routine that eventually constrains them more and more.
What I am proposing for Naked Emotion sketches a possible future. Actors have a variety of parts and no deadening routine. Audiences benefit too: subscriber discounts; Sunday matinees; and the best of the worldÂ’s new plays alongside the classics.
But how can you start a theatre company today? Once upon a time, if someone in the arts made something new or arresting, the arts funding organisations were there, ready to encourage with funds. There were fewer plans and fewer priorities. They responded to energy.
It is not like that now. If I asked ArtsWA or the Australia Council if I could run a small company, I would most liklely be told that it did not fit their funding criteria; that Perth had enough “companies”; that there wasn’t the audience for it; and that my focus on classical theatre was out of touch with today’s society.
Like Bell Shakespeare before me, I would have to seek support from the private sector. And given the current economic climate, our chances there would be pretty slim, too.
So, other avenues have to be explored. Hence the idea that we just get to work. Bugger the money. Bugger the prestige of being an “employed” actor. However many hours a week we can spare, however much time we could spend not earning an income, we would spend in someone’s front room, working on half a dozen plays at a time, Reading dissecting, arguing, shooting ideas across potato chips and coffee. Artists at work.
With a bit of research and a well-formulated proposal, we might even be able to convince a government office or a local shire council (or perhaps even a particularly philanthropic property-owner) to let us have that abandoned bank-branch, school-building, shop-front, or small warehouse as a rehearsal/performance space for the finishe productions.
If I have given the impression that this would be an ego-driven vanity showcase for David Meadows, apparent enfant terrible of the Perth theatre scene, then I am sorry. All along, I have regarded this idea as a way for frustrated W.A. practitioners to quit their whinging and get on and do something... to create work of which they could be proud, which would re-enthuse other practitioners and, even more importantly, the general public.
It has been said, and frequently, that there is no culture of theatre-going in W.A. What, did we think it was just going to fall out the sky and land in our laps? We have to CREATE it. Funding agencies might not respond to pure energy and commitment, but audiences sure as hell do.
So quit attacking the messenger. I offer no apologies at all for my desire to lead the charge. But Naked Emotion is, always has been, and always will be, about anyone who takes their theatre seriously enough to make some compromises, alter their lifestyle just a little bit, re-assess their priorities, and get cracking.
Quite apart from my determined unwillingness to do this alone (bugger that for a joke), this is not, and never has been, about me and my supposed ego. I want people behind me, yes... but the more people that are UP HERE WITH ME, knee deep in the good fight, the better.
If you want to help light a fire under the arse of the cynical, complacent ennui-junkies, e-mail me with YOUR THOUGHTS, ideas and willingness (in principle, at least) to support what I am proposing.
davidave@bigpond.com
And spread the word.
by David Meadows (with a nod to Sir Peter Hall)
"If you donÂ’t care, you die" - Arnold Wesker
True theatre companies are communities of actors, writers, directors, and technicians creating a common spirit that vastly improves the work. They are not easy to make or sustain in our restless market-driven society. They are not even very fashionable... largely, I suspect, because they do not exist anymore.
But all of the most significant shifts in theatre - from ShakespeareÂ’s Globe to the Moscow Arts Theatre to the Berliner Ensemble - have always been through the energy of a company. Without the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Royal Court, British theatre would have few new plays and no living tradition of classics.
An actorÂ’s talent is to some extent defined by the parts he is playing. A repertory of three or four roles, rehearsed and played concurrently, avoids routine, challenges habit, and keeps the actor creative. So their performances will get better. Playing the same part eight times a week condemns the actor to a routine that eventually constrains them more and more.
What I am proposing for Naked Emotion sketches a possible future. Actors have a variety of parts and no deadening routine. Audiences benefit too: subscriber discounts; Sunday matinees; and the best of the worldÂ’s new plays alongside the classics.
But how can you start a theatre company today? Once upon a time, if someone in the arts made something new or arresting, the arts funding organisations were there, ready to encourage with funds. There were fewer plans and fewer priorities. They responded to energy.
It is not like that now. If I asked ArtsWA or the Australia Council if I could run a small company, I would most liklely be told that it did not fit their funding criteria; that Perth had enough “companies”; that there wasn’t the audience for it; and that my focus on classical theatre was out of touch with today’s society.
Like Bell Shakespeare before me, I would have to seek support from the private sector. And given the current economic climate, our chances there would be pretty slim, too.
So, other avenues have to be explored. Hence the idea that we just get to work. Bugger the money. Bugger the prestige of being an “employed” actor. However many hours a week we can spare, however much time we could spend not earning an income, we would spend in someone’s front room, working on half a dozen plays at a time, Reading dissecting, arguing, shooting ideas across potato chips and coffee. Artists at work.
With a bit of research and a well-formulated proposal, we might even be able to convince a government office or a local shire council (or perhaps even a particularly philanthropic property-owner) to let us have that abandoned bank-branch, school-building, shop-front, or small warehouse as a rehearsal/performance space for the finishe productions.
If I have given the impression that this would be an ego-driven vanity showcase for David Meadows, apparent enfant terrible of the Perth theatre scene, then I am sorry. All along, I have regarded this idea as a way for frustrated W.A. practitioners to quit their whinging and get on and do something... to create work of which they could be proud, which would re-enthuse other practitioners and, even more importantly, the general public.
It has been said, and frequently, that there is no culture of theatre-going in W.A. What, did we think it was just going to fall out the sky and land in our laps? We have to CREATE it. Funding agencies might not respond to pure energy and commitment, but audiences sure as hell do.
So quit attacking the messenger. I offer no apologies at all for my desire to lead the charge. But Naked Emotion is, always has been, and always will be, about anyone who takes their theatre seriously enough to make some compromises, alter their lifestyle just a little bit, re-assess their priorities, and get cracking.
Quite apart from my determined unwillingness to do this alone (bugger that for a joke), this is not, and never has been, about me and my supposed ego. I want people behind me, yes... but the more people that are UP HERE WITH ME, knee deep in the good fight, the better.
If you want to help light a fire under the arse of the cynical, complacent ennui-junkies, e-mail me with YOUR THOUGHTS, ideas and willingness (in principle, at least) to support what I am proposing.
davidave@bigpond.com
And spread the word.
NaWed, 13 Mar 2002, 04:11 pm
RE: The idea of a company
Good god, do i agree! i am so - no offense meant - about people saying there is no work...i spent six monthes in a depressive episode, and the only thing that got me out of it was convinvcing myself that i could MAKE MY OWN WORK! i am a techie, and at that time had no professional work or degrees to back me up. Now i am finishing my final year of a theatre course, and am hoping to set up my own company, making my own theatre, finding my own work! And all because i knew that it wouldnt come to me. I had an Indian friend who was - still is - one of the best actresses in Melbourne...she refused to get into the theatre because she believed there is no work for Indians except those stereotypical types...well, she lost out, because she refused to take the risk to make her own work! i dont care how much money i lose, i'm working in the theatre....cause god knows i dont belong anywhere else!
crgwllmsWed, 13 Mar 2002, 06:01 pm
RE: The company of an idea
Hey David
Have you gotten hold of the ArtsWA handbook? What you've just written here sounds like a pretty good answer to the first 1 or 2 questions it asks.
It might not be so out of your reach to apply for that kickstart funding.
While I quite enjoy the freedom of being able to freelance between companies, I certainly owe my current position and experience to the ensembles I started my career in, which were repertory based.
The ill-fated State Theate Co was criticised by some for being largely a repertory ensemble (mostly by the ones who didn't make the list), but that period of theatre in Perth saw the strongest and most successful casts.
Good luck...sounds promising.
Cheers
Craig
<8>-/====/-----------
Have you gotten hold of the ArtsWA handbook? What you've just written here sounds like a pretty good answer to the first 1 or 2 questions it asks.
It might not be so out of your reach to apply for that kickstart funding.
While I quite enjoy the freedom of being able to freelance between companies, I certainly owe my current position and experience to the ensembles I started my career in, which were repertory based.
The ill-fated State Theate Co was criticised by some for being largely a repertory ensemble (mostly by the ones who didn't make the list), but that period of theatre in Perth saw the strongest and most successful casts.
Good luck...sounds promising.
Cheers
Craig
<8>-/====/-----------
Walter PlingeMon, 8 Apr 2002, 09:26 pm
David Meadow's Naked Ambition
Been away for a while so thought I'd drop in and see how much everthing had changed... It hasn't has it?
Best wishes for the company idea David. All companies start with the drive of one individual - whether that be a Stanislavky, or a Meyerhold, or a John Bell!
The bottom line is that unless you have a body of 'professional' quality work neither the the funding agencies nor business sponsorship will take the risk. And of courses without financial backing it's tough to stage a professional show.
But sometimes the work just needs to be done! And that's the only excuse for it...
I'm presently teaching drama in a London school and seeing about two shows a week... Glorious!
The biggest problem here is fighting for tickets!
Best wishes
Malcolm Crisp
[%sig%]
Best wishes for the company idea David. All companies start with the drive of one individual - whether that be a Stanislavky, or a Meyerhold, or a John Bell!
The bottom line is that unless you have a body of 'professional' quality work neither the the funding agencies nor business sponsorship will take the risk. And of courses without financial backing it's tough to stage a professional show.
But sometimes the work just needs to be done! And that's the only excuse for it...
I'm presently teaching drama in a London school and seeing about two shows a week... Glorious!
The biggest problem here is fighting for tickets!
Best wishes
Malcolm Crisp
[%sig%]
melanieWed, 17 Apr 2002, 10:42 pm
Re: David Meadow's Naked Ambition
Goodness gracious me Malcolm - London - the last I heard you were heading for Newman I think!!
All the best
Melanie DeCull
All the best
Melanie DeCull
Walter PlingeFri, 10 May 2002, 08:36 pm
Hi ya Melanie!
Hi ya Melanie!
Contact me on my Email and I'll tell you my Newman to London stories.
Malclx@Hotmail.com
See you soon
Malcolm
Contact me on my Email and I'll tell you my Newman to London stories.
Malclx@Hotmail.com
See you soon
Malcolm