Dear Fergus, You were very accurate and very kind about my LOSING VENICE in your podcast. Don’t imagine that’s the only one: I’ve been writing plays that present new values in new theatrical forms for 40 years now, and with consistent success- at the Traverse from 1985-93; Pitlochry 1993-2002; Edinburgh International Festival 1989,96,98,2003; Lyceum 2005,6,10,21. I don’t want to sound like a moan, but I’m about tired of hearing the ADs of theatres telling me they love my work but don’t know how to programme it; and it is really weird after all these years to find myself having to travel to Australia to get new work performed. Not to mention THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS QUEEN OF HEAVEN which caused angry protests in the streets in Scotland and Brazil, has been translated into 5 languages and performed in 6 continents and which I’m still performing 15 years after its opening… only not in theatres. I’ve had to take it back to the roots of theatre - in the sacred space of churches. Which is a way of saying to you that I don’t think you’ll find what you’re after in mainstream theatre. Start looking elsewhere…..
Thank you. There's a lot to consider here. Theatre is an expensive medium. You can't stage the next great movement with a busker's licence and a street corner. And if you can, the form will drive the content. Economics is a form of censorship, I guess.
To be honest I think that's the only place the "next great movement" can come from. Kerouac had a cheap notebook, Dylan had an acoustic guitar, Mondrian painted on cardboard boxes. Money does not inspire revolution.
No. Not inspire. But communication is necessary for movements. And we live in a world of entangled communitied, where communication is rarely free. Can grass roots work on a large scale now?
You assume people at the time knew they were in the middle of a "revolution" - we could have one going on right now, there's no guarantee we'd know. Where would you put "in yer face"?
Dear Fergus, You were very accurate and very kind about my LOSING VENICE in your podcast. Don’t imagine that’s the only one: I’ve been writing plays that present new values in new theatrical forms for 40 years now, and with consistent success- at the Traverse from 1985-93; Pitlochry 1993-2002; Edinburgh International Festival 1989,96,98,2003; Lyceum 2005,6,10,21. I don’t want to sound like a moan, but I’m about tired of hearing the ADs of theatres telling me they love my work but don’t know how to programme it; and it is really weird after all these years to find myself having to travel to Australia to get new work performed. Not to mention THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS QUEEN OF HEAVEN which caused angry protests in the streets in Scotland and Brazil, has been translated into 5 languages and performed in 6 continents and which I’m still performing 15 years after its opening… only not in theatres. I’ve had to take it back to the roots of theatre - in the sacred space of churches. Which is a way of saying to you that I don’t think you’ll find what you’re after in mainstream theatre. Start looking elsewhere…..
Thank you. There's a lot to consider here. Theatre is an expensive medium. You can't stage the next great movement with a busker's licence and a street corner. And if you can, the form will drive the content. Economics is a form of censorship, I guess.
To be honest I think that's the only place the "next great movement" can come from. Kerouac had a cheap notebook, Dylan had an acoustic guitar, Mondrian painted on cardboard boxes. Money does not inspire revolution.
Ah, but the cheap notebook and the cheap rent and the luxury of being able to sit around and strum a guitar all day are also economic factors, right?
So, money does not inspire artistic innovation, but being able to live cheaply enables it.
No. Not inspire. But communication is necessary for movements. And we live in a world of entangled communitied, where communication is rarely free. Can grass roots work on a large scale now?
You assume people at the time knew they were in the middle of a "revolution" - we could have one going on right now, there's no guarantee we'd know. Where would you put "in yer face"?
I don't assume that.