making theatre in Open Space

[Stella Duffy]

hi all, 
I'm new to this list, having been at all of Improbable's 'Devoted &
Disgruntled' Open Spaces led by Phelim McDermott in London in the past
years. Some years ago, when I came to a major impasse in the editing of my
eleventh novel, I tried editing in OS and was astonished at how useful it
was for me, alone, with my manuscript. This year I have shared OS, along
with other practitioners, with my buddhist practice here in the UK, and most
recently I've been working on a new theatre project and (with Phelim's
encouragement!)I now - shyly - share with you the report I returned to the
National Theatre Studio who generously gave 30+ of us the space to work on
this new project in OS. 
I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone else who has used OS for
writing or where it's been used for making/devising theatre work.
best wishes, 
Stella Duffy
stelladuffy.wordpress.com


My report to the NTS : 
I'm emailing to thank you all so much for your support for the Chaosbaby
Project Open Spaces this weekend and last. 

To give you some idea of what happened, and how valuable it was :
36 people attended over both days (many of them came to both).
The age range was from 21 to mid-60's.
They were 11 actors, 2 actor-musicians, 4 actor-writers, 1
choreographer-dancer, 6 directors, 1 designer, 1 film-maker, 2 musicians, 2
playwrights, 5 writer-directors, 1 photographer.

In the two days, using the Open Space form, various groups & individuals :
- wrote a 14-page traditional/'straight' narrative for the piece
- developed character breakdowns
- worked on the physicality/movement for a number of characters/spaces
- held many discussions about the nature of the piece
- discussed the nature of chaos (as a theatrical concept, as a
dance/movement concept, and in terms of chaos theory and mathematics)
- created/drew up initial design ideas
- wrote 3 new monologues
- worked on the (two, brief) pre-existing texts
- wrote and recorded a lullaby
- documented the work on camera and video
- made a puppet show, with live music accompaniment

Above all, I think, we showed ourselves it is not only possible, but perhaps
preferable to work in Open Space, with a wide range of theatre-makers,
across many disciplines, which generated an enormous amount of
work/material, led not by a single director or writer, but by the whole -
and that in doing so it is still possible  to have a cohesive idea of what
we are making and where best our skills might be used. 

I'm really excited about taking this on further, I especially loved that,
having met Slav (on the door, doing security) the first Saturday, he took
(wonderful) photos for us on the 2nd Saturday. 

We're looking at a full weekend/three day Open Space to further the work
later in the year. 

I've worked in made/devised/improvised theatre for the past twenty-five
years, this was one of the few times I've felt that it was TRULY a shared
group endeavour and not, at least in some ways, a director or writer-led
experience. And happy though I am to work as both a director and a writer, a
working form that uses ALL the skills in the room, to the utmost that can be
offered, feels like a much better use of time, space, money and, most
importantly, the full range of all the artists' abilities.  

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