|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Articles
|
||
|
Articles |
Musical Theatre - A Challenge!Dateline: 2nd May, 2010I’m incredibly excited, in a first-day-of-rehearsals sort of way. The MThe:UK musical theatre conference at LIPA was a huge success, and it inspired some brilliant opportunities for musical theatre in the UK. We gathered with no set agenda, and let our passions guide us within Open Space Technology. The group represented further and higher education, universities and drama schools, regional theatres and London-based producers, actors, writers, directors, composers, and song, dance, drama. Within that room we had the potential to create a West End show, but what we discovered was a longing to find something else, something beyond the West End and reality TV. Not that we don’t love those just as much as everyone who wants to see who could be Dorothy, anyone who gets those butterflies in their stomach standing in the foyer of a big London theatre… But there is so much more to musical theatre in the UK. I listened to Laurie Sansom of the Royal & Derngate in Northampton passionately discussing musicals with Susie Dumbreck from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Sally Ann Gritton from London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and they all seemed to be saying the same thing: we all need to collaborate. There is a constant struggle for funding in the UK. Mercury Musical Developments struggles to find the money to fund the development of new writing. Musical Theatre Matters struggles to fund the nurturing of new producers. Educators fight to pay additional creative practitioners, and theatres fail to put on shows. Never mind the practical problems, though. The most frustrating thing about the lack of funding is that it creates the worst kind of emotional environment in which to develop and nurture the genre of British musical theatre. You have to keep fighting just to stand still. What if we could forget about funding? What if we already had everything we need to turn that negative energy into a celebration of musical theatre in the UK? Call me crazy, but I think we should try it. At the conference, several institutions offered to host smaller satellite conferences around the country, to which we can invite anyone, everyone who has an interest in musical theatre. Using Open Space Technology, we could actually create musical theatre in that short space of time: re-stage a bit of a traditional musical in a new way, or create a new short musical from scratch! We could just have a bit of a sing-song, or we could design an outrageous set for an imaginary production of something in our local park. … and what if we’re then inspired to take that crazy design and see if the council will let us actually do it? What if the creation of that short musical involves a regional theatre director who offers some studio space to see if it can be developed further? What if a director gets to try a bit of writing? A producer get to direct something? In Open Space, anything is possible: the sign on the wall says “Be prepared to be surprised”. Now imagine a weekend in which every regional venue in the country, and every drama school and university, opens their doors and gives some time and some space for a nationwide Open Space creative musical theatre event. Imagine the whole of the UK gathering wherever they are, to create and explore and devise and experience musical theatre in all its glorious forms, with no set agenda other than our passions and our creativity. We’d be bringing storytelling through song and dance back to its roots: in the local community. We could call it Reality Musical Theatre! Let’s do it, for real. Spread the word. If you have a venue and could be part of this event network, drop me an email at jenifertoksvig@gmail.com or pass this information on to your local theatre, drama school, college, youth group or NODA society and tell them to get in touch with me. Everyone should join in! This isn’t just about musical theatre. This is about British Musical Theatre. Jenifer Toksvig
|
|
|
|