The peeps at the Watershed Pervasive Media Studio invited me to do a lunchtime talk for them over summer. I’ve been banging on forever about how the theatre industry (and wider arts/creative worlds tbh) would be much more open and connecting if we were better at welcoming, recognising and getting excited by diverse artistic identities, rather than immediately wanting to put people in predetermined boxes; so I thought I’d dig into that, and ask: what if we thought about difference in artistic rather than statistic terms?
Of course once you start digging, this stuff inevitably comes down to hierarchies, biases, power structures… but given lockdown, maybe the theatre industry might actually consider re-examining its business models and defaults (though the cynic in me is highly dubious about that).
Anyway, here it is: Breaking theatre is more fun than making theatre, a talk which asks: what if we thought about difference in artistic rather than statistic terms? It’s a bit angry, but also comes with genuine love and hope. Includes some proper honesty and terrible photoshopping.
Hope it fires you up.