Theatre and Culture from Scotland, starring The List's Theatre Editor, his performance persona and occasional guest stars. Experimental writings, cod-academic critiques and all his opinions, stolen or original.
Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man reads as ugly as its title sounds. Between repeating the same points about Michael Moore's duplicity - yes, he did wrong by his writers, by his subjects, by the notion of truth, but developing an argument is, like, a thing - authors Hardy and Clarke betray their obvious frustration at his success. Sure, the book was written before Moore lost his credibility, so their resentment at Moore's hypocrisy had currency back then. But being spiteful about his weight and wealth does get in the way of their thesis that Moore's documentaries are dishonest. Judicious editing, and reconstructions of events, allow Moore to play loose with the facts. His general arguments, that 'Merica is bad, okay, and that individual acts of violence are expressions of wider cultural values, are supported by half-truths and melodramatic posturing. In particular, the manipulation of chronology, and a conversation with Charlton Heston are called out again and again.
Moore defends his slap-dash approach by pointing out that he makes entertaining, popular film. To bring in Aristotle, he is not making history, but poetry, which is more about the universal than the particular. In other words, so what if the facts are mangled? There is a bigger picture. It's the same problem that verbatim theatre has: the use of real life
people and events lends an aura of authenticity to the work, but then makes inaccuracies less forgivable. Poetry, as Aristotle explained, is better than history because it does not rely on specifics, tending towards broader ideals. For Aristole, mimesis was the thing. Roughly translated as imitation, it is the process whereby nature becomes art. Poetry has particular aesthetics and epistemologies (got it in!). The problem with Moore is that he fakes historical aesthetics. He's pretty much like most journalists, then. Hardly fair to pick on just him. Is it because he's fat?
Ménage By Ryan Good Underbelly Ménage is the story of sex workers in Edinburgh and London. It is a play about their personal lives and their professional lives. Based on interviews with writer Ryan Good, this visceral, honest piece of verbatim theatre aims to redefine how audiences think of sex workers and their work.
“I don't get a lot of couples in here” The play will take place in a flat near to the Underbelly and will play to no more than two people at a time. Different actresses and actors will play the role of the sex worker, making the show a unique experience for every audience member. Underbelly, George Sq Aug 6-16,19-30 - 15:00, 15:40, 16:20, 17:00, 17:40 The Fringe What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object? I began with an idea in the form of a location. While performing at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013, I would take a short-cut through a damp dark alley and pass a place called Sauna No. 9, which had an entrance that looked like a fabulous stage set to me. I went in and talked to the people working there and decided I wanted to do a show about these people that was staged in that sauna. But when I returned to pursue that further in Dec 2014, I discovered that this sauna and nearly all the other places of it’s nature had been closed by Police Scotland, putting the women who worked there at a new level of risk. At that moment, the piece became much more critical to do immediately. Why bring your work to Edinburgh? This piece is in a lot of ways a direct response to the police crackdowns in Edinburgh (and secondarily in London, Australia, Norway, and Canada). It was motivated by events taking place in Edinburgh right now, so there was really no other place this piece could première. Also, I wanted to challenge a fringe audience to do something a bit different (like a lot of exciting work happening this year). I think the current day’s audiences crave interaction, and the fringe audience is the most risk-taking and open in the entire world. What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production? They will see and feel through physical experience the environment of a sex worker’s home/office. There are things for them to find in the set, things for them to notice and discover. The attentive, brave audience member will get a lot more out of this experience. The Dramaturgy Questions How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work? I think there is a non-traditional sense of dramaturgy that is very present in this piece. The interviews done by myself and journalist Michaela Carroll were the first stage. But as the project has grown, I have used guidance from my actors, producer, and associate director to shape the script. Because the words are not written by me (all the text is quoted directly from the interviews), assembling these pieces was more collaborative than a traditional script might typically be. Additionally, wading through research on the topic has been a large part of the process for all involved as this is a topic that is highly divisive and one that is often covered with large amounts of bias by the media. What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition? Too many to name probably. Bryony Kimmings is an artist whose courage and inventiveness inspire me every year. Additionally the American theatre company the Neo-Futurists (who I was a member of for 10 years) influence me greatly in that their work is rooted in “non-illusory” theatre - in which there is no pretending to be someone else or being somewhere else while on-stage. I’ve applied that in my directing approach to the text (which is in this show interview based and therefore rooted in real experiences) and in tasks, not asking the performers to create extra “character” beyond the voices in the text. And I think I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Punchdrunk, who have put immersive theatre at the forefront of things in London and New York over the last 5+ years. Some of my non-theatre inspirations for this piece are the sexual energy of 1920s hot jazz, the intense personal connection found in Marina Abramovic (particularly The Artist Is Present), the laughter through tears of Shostakovich’s string quartets and 15th symphony, and the physical presence of burlesque great Dita Von Teese. Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process? This process began with interviews. During that time, we also reached out to sex worker support organizations such as the Edinburgh based group Scot-PEP and to the authorities in the UK. Then, my producer and I took a pass at putting the puzzle together to form a script. A lot of conversation about what these stories do in terms of creating a character took place early on. Then once we got to the rehearsal room, the performers made me hear the text differently and helped cohere the disparate sections into a greater whole. My associate director is now focusing on specific acting work around breath, voice, and physicality. In a little over a week, we will get into the space and hopefully bring it all together. What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work? In this particular piece, I think the audience plays a large role in the experience and the dynamic of the piece. I think preconceived notions and knowledge of sex work (or lack thereof) will make one audience member’s experience of the character very different from the experience of another audience member.
But, It’s important to me that I do not take a political stance with this piece. I’m portraying a person in a unique job. How the audience feels about that person and that job is the core of what this piece is about. Ménage is an incredibly timely show. The merger of Scotland’s eight police forces into Police Scotland has seen the “House Rules” Glasgow style policing of Chief Constable Sir Stephen House applied to Edinburgh’s saunas, with the city no longer turning a blind eye to the industry. The effects of this, as a recent report for the City of Edinburgh Council’s Health and Social Committee made clear, have been damaging. Saunas no longer stock condoms, they can be used by police as evidence of sex work, and rates of infection are up, and the number of workers engaging with NHS services are down - for the first time in eight years. “There is no evidence that the number of women selling sex in Lothian has reduced, but they are not attending for support from NHS Lothian in the same volumes as in previous years” the report says. It continues, “Anecdotally, we hear of women now selling sex in other venues, such as lap-dancing bars, and more women are informing us that they are working from flats and advertising on the internet.” Good aims to give the sex workers a voice and to make a story that humanizes, softens, and makes more complex the audience’s view of the profession. Good is an actor, writer, and director based in San Francisco and New York City. Previous solo shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe include Interpretive Dances to My Diary (72% non-fiction) at the Gilded Balloon, and Sex With Animals at the Underbelly. Ryan was an ensemble member of the Fringe First Winning Neo-Futurists, whose ever changing show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind played to sold out audiences in 2014. His short film And... A Fragmented Biography was premiered at Coney Island Film Festival. This year Good will also be premiering his new solo show COSMOnaut also at the Underbelly.
Delhi Belly, Underbelly Cowgate Box Office: 0844 545 8252 6th to 30th August, 12am (No show on the 17th)
What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object? Amy Bellwood: We began with an idea. We were sat around having a girly night at mine. Anais had basically visualised a
moment/image where three women would be sitting on poles drinking cups of tea and gossiping. It was essentially a moment that was natural, but also included stylised movement.
So the whole piece really stemmed from the idea of using Pole Dancing poles as a staging tool. 'A scaffold' said Lyndal. And bringing it more into the theatrical world and utilising poles more as a theatrical tool.
Why bring your work to Edinburgh? Where else can you pile thousands of pounds into a show with the hope that it might work without being called mentalists?
We probably wouldn't have done it in London (even though we said we would if our applications were rejected).
Also you have a ready audience, waiting and wanting to see something new. So why not take advantage of that?
Also the Underbelly is perfect for us and our show, so to be represented by them and to be under their umbrella is great. So said Rhianna.
What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production? Golly, well we're not mind readers. Any response is a good response...actually no...scratch that. Erm...
So we can only hope that they listen, watch and hear and somewhat respond to what they've seen in some way.
Hopefully their pre-existing opinions that may exist about Pole Dancing will have changed slightly.
Hopefully they'll see that it's a women's right to safely and joyfully express her sexuality, and that this shouldn't be judged.
Hopefully they will start thinking about Pole Dancing as an extension of Physical Theatre and the use of Poles as a valid theatrical medium, just as trapeze/silks and corde lisse is.
Hopefully they will hear about some of the pitfalls that this dance genre still has and how it is still prevented from being fully accepted by wider society, by people who abuse and control its use. Hopefully this won't re-confirm existing negative views but instead allow people to see how they have been conditioned to think the things that they do.
Obviously you can see that we are very hopeful : )
But really we just want them to enjoy the hour they spend with us and hear from the amazing women that we have been so honoured to interview. They can have whatever options they wish.
The Dramaturgy Questions
How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work? I think without being aware it has had a relevance. To be honest I can't think of a way in which it isn't relevant. I think it's almost impossible.
As it is a verbatim script it basically wrote itself. So there was no real influence on our part in the lines themselves. However we did choose the questions to ask during the interview process. So already we were suggesting at a structure and hinting at what the narrative would be without completely realising it. So there was certainly shaping that was already going on before the edits were made.
In terms of editing the interviews. We knew the journey that we wanted to take the audience on. I think we scribbled a wiggly line on a bit of paper that looked a little like a cardiogram. So then it was up to me to find the structure within the existing text to honour that, to make it flow somehow (or not depending on our intention for each moment) and to make it actable and to create a story. Sometimes this was easy, sometimes a bit of shoe-horning was involved.
What particular traditions and influences would you
acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition? God. I'm not sure. Again as three individuals we have different backgrounds. So we each bring different fragrances to the blend :)
I think our influences more have come from the people that we have worked with previously and companies that we have seen perform and liked, rather than a specific artist or genre.
Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process? We don't, but this is what our process emerged as whist doing it... So we started with the interviews, which developed into a script and then from that came the physicality/movement and choreography.
There was a moment where we were trying to give the writing and choreography equal weight, but it wasn't quite working. Also as we had gotten such rich dialogue from the various women that we interviewed it seemed a shame not to give this the weight that it deserved.
We had about three drafts of the script then a lot of tweaks following this.
We had Choreography created by Lyndal for three specific moments in the piece and then the movement dialogue arose organically as we began blocking the piece. There is such an abundance of pole dance vocabulary that we could call upon for specific moments that this was really quite easy and took care of itself.
I think there is always collaboration, especially when there isn't a director. I think it's necessary.
What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work? I guess towards the end of the process, when you actually perform and receive critique, the role of the audience is important in deciding the meaning of your work. As essentially they decide what the meaning of your piece is. If the general consensus is that your piece is about A, you can hardly go, no you're all wrong, it's about B. You've obviously done your job wrong.
But at the start when we were creating the show I don't think that the audience played much of a role.
That sounds really bad doesn't it?
I think because we knew that our opinions were shared by others and that the message that we wanted to convey was one that wanted to be heard. And that was enough. This was reinforced initially by our interviewees and the content that they delivered.
I also think that as it's a verbatim play the Audience naturally takes a back seat in making the meaning of the piece. As it is accounts rather than traditional storyline the audience’s role relaxes somewhat I think. It becomes more about absorbing and digesting as oppose to finding a meaning. Because maybe there isn’t one.
POLE is a verbatim physical theatre show that uses three poles and three female performers to re-tell the stories of 5 different women, who are related to pole dance in one way or another. From a stripper and a dance/fitness instructor, to a banker and an undercover sex trafficking worker.
The characters give an undiluted spectrum of opinions and take you on a journey of social preconceptions, sexism, seduction, violence, empowerment and hope. The aim of the show is to reflect and bring to the stage the many still prevalent taboos that society has towards pole dancing and women’s rights to safely and joyfully express their sexuality.
Pole intends to raise questions, how would you feel if your wife practiced pole dance? Your boss? Your daughter? While exploring pole dancing in all of its lights and shades, this piece really aims to promote and acknowledge Pole Dancing as an art form and as a valid and acceptable medium for theatre.
POLE’s Ideal Market is a mix of both female and male audience members from 16 to 70 years old. The show has strong language and touches on the world of sex trafficking, in what we hope is an educational approach within a dramatic context.
POLE supports Eaves Charity, a London based organisation that helps women who are victims of sex trafficking.
