Reviewing My Own Past. I am an idiot.

Within an academic context, Radical Subjectivity is a problematic methodology. Having coined the term to describe a range of diverse strategies within my own popular criticism, I adapted its definition to suit any approaches I'd later use within The Vile Blog. 

In one memorably incoherent article, I attempted to discuss semiotics by evoking a couple of productions that I had seen (Slope and Tomorrow) and Honzl, a Czech theorist I must have found in one of my trawls of Marvin Carlson's writing. Although, on first reading, I can't imagine why I thought publishing an article like this on a blog that is supposedly dedicated to 'populist' critique was a good idea, it does represent some aspects of radical subjectivity's style.

First of all, there is the awkward juxtaposition of academic and popular criticism. The focus of the article is Honzl's analysis of theatre semiotics - he observes that any object, placed in a theatrical performance, can take on a variety of meanings. However, the references to Untitled Project's Slope and Vanishing Point's Tomorrow allude to contemporary performances (in 2014) and the process of reviewing. 

The two forms are shoved together shamelessly, with Slope and Tomorrow providing examples of Honzl's semiotic analysis. This suggests both a historical context for the two productions, and updates Honzl into a contemporary context.

The framing of the article also insists on a contemporary context: both the first paragraph and the last (a circular structure, doubtlessly influenced by theatrical performances - such as Robert Softley's Purposeless Movements which ends with the same lines at the beginning and end of the show) discuss the then-relevant threat by Anonymous to publish material that would shame Iggy Azalea. 

This reference, of course, dates the article. 

Then there is the repeated use of humour, often misplaced. This supposedly lessens the seriousness of the material but also reveals the personality of the author (confused and childish, most likely). 

Elsewhere, I place my methodology within a tradition of reader response theory. 

Tomorrow @ Tramway

Vanishing Point have made a virtue of eclecticism: while their productions share a commitment to high production values and an integration of text, scenography and precise direction from Matthew Lenton, they tackle subjects as varied as violent pornography, moral corruption, existential doubt and, in Tomorrow, the onset of dementia and death. Reducing Tramway's expansive space to an intimate stage, through Jamie Harrison's austere design, Lenton's study of a man's final days is a moving elegy that refuses sentimentality.

At just over an hour, Tomorrow abandons a typical dramatic story for a series of allusive episodes. The transformation of the young man into his senile self is quickly effected, through encasing him in a latex mask, and the following scenes - the lounge of a hospice, a sneaky cigarette with the nursing staff, a sudden burst of loud music and desperate action - examine the dwindling hours as he is gradually submerged in his dementia. From the vague interactions with the other patients to the difficult reunion with his daughter, whom he inevitable mistakes for his wife, the hero only briefly longs for escape before the lights, then the sounds, disappear.

Lenton's dispassionate direction makes Tomorrow all the more melancholic: rather than build towards a dramatic resolution, he allows events to take their course. An attempted escape from the hospital becomes poignant, and the final scenes descend into a comforting darkness. Tomorrow evokes a state of confusion, tracing the sad journey of one man as his life, and memory, slowly fades to black.

Vanishing Point appear in Brighton

Vanishing Point are one of a group of companies that I associate with the growth of Glaswegian performance during the late 1990s (the others are Cryptic, Suspect Culture and Untitled). Whether it is just a fantasy, or they all were inspired by the flow of international work that used to come through Tramway, I see them as making work that was as engaged with the visual as the literary, creating theatre that was worth watching and not just hearing.

They all share a serious work-rate, too. Vanishing Point obviously felt making the Big Show of the Year for the NTS wasn't enough, and are nipping down to  premiere a new piece at 2014 Brighton International Festival/ It is called Tomorrow, and marks Vanishing Point’s first co-production with Brighton International Festival and Cena Contemporânea, Brasilia.

Press release begins...

Following the Brighton premiere at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on 21 – 24 May 2014, the production will play at Cena Contemporânea, Brasilia(August 2014) and Glasgow’s Tramway (October 2014).

Conceived and directed by Matthew Lenton, Tomorrow is a devised piece with an international cast exploring issues of old age and dementia, needing care and needing to care.

“Old age, dementia and care are among the most pressing issues facing 21st century society,” says Lenton. “Through this production we aim to explore some of the many challenges and dilemmas from the perspectives both of those who care and those who need care.”

“We are delighted to be premiering the piece at the 2014 Brighton International Festival and to be continuing our long and fruitful relationship with Tramway,” he adds.

"Brighton Festival is very happy to be collaborating with Vanishing Point, one of Scotland’s most consistently stimulating and intriguing theatre companies,” says Sally Cowling - Associate Producer, Brighton Festival. “Their mesmerising and elegant show, Interiors, played in Brighton in 2012 and we greatly look forward to the company’s return this May. Their new piece, Tomorrow, will premier at the Festival alongside the work of extraordinary artists from all over the world including Declan Donnellan, Wim Vandekeybus, Dmitry Krymov and the Belgian theatre and filmmakers, Berlin".

Tomorrow also marks another first for the company which has been flying the flag for Scotland internationally for over 10 years. Following a series of master-classes led by Matthew Lenton at the 2013 Cena Contemporânea, the company is now set to co-produce a work with the leading South Americanarts festival.

“It is particularly exciting for the company to be co-producing a work with Cena Contemporânea,” says Severine Wyper, Producer and Manager of Vanishing Point. “Over the years we have worked with a number of international venues and festivals, but this is our first co-production with a leading South American festival and we are delighted to be partnering with Cena Contemporânea.”

“How to build a bridge linking the cities of Brasilia and Glasgow?” adds Guilherme Reis, Director of Cena Contemporânea, Brasilia “The Cena Contemporânea Festival and Vanishing Point joined together to build this bridge. The festival reaches its 15th Edition this year reaffirming its vocation to break frontiers, broaden horizons and build a better world. Overcoming distances and difficulties, we are proud to participate in the new piece by this important Scottish company and we are ready to receive Tomorrow in our festival in August 2014. ‘Tomorrow’ is soon.”

Lenton began work on Tomorrow last summer in a series of master-classes for the Stanislavsky Foundation in Moscow with a group of international actors. The ideas explored in these sessions were then taken forward in a development period with the cast and creative team in Glasgow earlier this year.

The cast brings together actors from Scotland (Jenny Hulse, Samuel Keefe and Peter Kelly), England (Elicia Daly), Russia (Aleksandra Kuzenkina), Serbia (Damir Todorovic) and Brazil (William Ferreira). Meanwhile regular Vanishing Point collaborators including Pamela Carter (dramturg), Kai Fischer (lighting design) and Mark Melville (sound and lighting design) form part of the creative team for Tomorrow which also includes Jamie Harrison (stage design) Jessica Brettle (costume design) and Pauline Goldsmith (artistic associate).

This is an interesting bunch of colaborators: Jenny Hulse was in Wonderland, the controversial Vanishing Point show about on-line pornography (the violent stuff); Todorovic has made his own, very political theatre; Fischer is a great of theatre design, who can turn out a set that really can double as an installation in its own right; Pamela Carter is always value for money, with a sharp insight, and Jamie Harrison is out of Vox Motus, who totally knocked it out the park with Dragon. 

Tomorrow is Vanishing Point’s second major collaborative project in 2014 along with The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler, a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland which premieres at Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre on 10 April 2014.

Tomorrow is a Vanishing Point, Brighton International Festival, Cena Contemporanea, Brasilia and Tramway (Glasgow) co-production in association with Platform (Easterhouse) and National Theatre Studio (London)