Thinking on their feet

Three evenings of innovative and diverse works, in progress at Dublin' Project, show that there is an appetite for stage work which breaks the literary mould, writes Michelle Read

TRADITIONALLY, PLAYS ARE written by a writer. That writer, according to the popular imagination, sits alone in a variety of deskbound locations from the penurious garret to the lonesome cottage, to the home office in Dublin 8 (that's me). Now it is true that plays do still get written, but it's also notable that theatre is increasingly made in a variety of different ways, using a cross-fertilisation of ideas from other art forms and, nowadays, new technologies as well.

The development of this kind of work is not always straightforward. Four theatre-makers have recently responded to its demands, and their own needs, by setting up a new support initiative, the unequivocally titled Project Brand New, which kicked off at Dublin's Project Arts Centre last month.

The brainchild of producer Róise Goan and fellow theatre-makers Deirdre Roycroft, Louise Lowe and Jodie O'Neill, Project Brand New is a programme of curated work in progress, which made its first public appearance during Easter week as 13 discrete performances by a cross-section of emerging and established artists.

By the final evening of the event's three nights, the signs of exhaustion and mild hysteria were starting to appear in the organisers' eyes. But steered back to the subject of their fresh-faced beginnings, the four recalled that they had met last year at the Next Stage project, an initiative of the Dublin Theatre Festival to help Irish practitioners hook up with some of the international theatre-makers present at the festival.

Goan, Roycroft, O'Neill and Lowe all found themselves in a workshop with Hungarian director Árpád Schilling from the Krétakör company. The four found Schilling's methodology very practical. It was a "talk, do" approach, says Roycroft, and they started to wonder how they could apply that kind of practical experimentation in their own work.

"We didn't want another two weeks of amazing conversation and then have to go back to our own cave," says O'Neill.

Previously Goan, a director and writer with theatre company Randolf SD, had come across Scratch Nights at London's Battersea Arts Centre (where Jerry Springer: The Opera originated). She describes them as a kind of try-out arena and says they inspired her to talk to the others about making a similar but different model for Dublin. The four agreed that what they were looking for was space to experiment outside "the traditional production model", where they could explore new ideas without necessarily committing to them.

At this point they approached Willie White at the Project, who offered them the Cube studio space along with administrative back-up (no small gift). They then asked for submissions of work that looked "towards the new" but that was also "at a developmental stage". As Goan notes, "we were creating opportunities for ourselves as well as other artists".

The programme they eventually put together was an eclectic mix of pieces across a variety of art forms and experience. The first of these (and the most extraordinary, such is our general disconnection from people with disabilities), was James Brosnan's (Beyond) The 7 Movements of James. Brosnan, who has severe cerebral palsy and works as an associative research fellow in assistive technology innovation, is involved in developing and demonstrating ways to help people with limited physical ability engage in the arts.

As facilitator, Chrissie Poulter, of Trinity College Dublin's drama department, commented that "we're more used to showing the outcomes in laboratories and science environments - my motivation for applying was to bring the team into an arts space for a change".

More demonstration, then, than performance, the piece has many elements but becomes personal when Brosnan shows a film of himself before he became wheelchair-bound. Later he is shifted by his care assistant via a hydraulic-pump lift into another chair. Hanging momentarily, he dances, using all his seven movements, before being strapped back in so as to jam with two musicians using a computer interface operated by his eyes.

Brosnan describes the performance as playing "with the omnipotent medical model that focuses on physical attributes rather than the person themselves" and offers that the piece "takes the mickey out of this". Whether this idea is manifest for the spectator or not, two audience members I spoke to felt that the film and the mid-air dance had been the most effective and affecting theatrical moments.

The choreographer and performer, Rebecca Walter, was up next, creating a flutter of excitement when she invited us to write down our interpretation of her movement. Concerned that she is normally "a very dramaturgically orientated choreographer", Walter wanted the opportunity to "loosen her grip" on the narrative and focus instead on "anatomical and spatial starting points". Thus, with the house lights up and pens in our hands, we were asked to write down what kind of story or setting her three sequences suggested to us.

"I think audiences are very keen to get a story along with their dance performances," Walter says. "This format could provide an interesting way of letting them have that, without me having to provide it."

After the show, Walter was looking forward to finding out what we had decided her "raw movement" was about, which was an ingenious way to duet with an audience.

The final performance of the first night was Voices, co-created by Tuula Voutilainen, Dorothy Murphy and Sue Rynhart. A startling vocal improvisation, the singers moved about the stage conjuring up what seemed like sound-based characterisations and scenarios. The three, all from musical backgrounds, came together to explore an interest in avant-garde music.

Afterwards, project initiator Voutilainen was slightly overwhelmed by the experience. The group's brief to itself was "to incorporate more theatrical aspects . . . and a more conscious use of space"; however, this was the first time the trio had performed outside a jazz club, and Voutilainen felt the openness and theatricality of the space had been a challenge.

I wondered if this group might now benefit from a return visit to develop their ideas, such as occurs at the Scratch Nights in Battersea. These events have a progression built in to the format, whereby artists can come back for a "double scratch" (ie, a longer slot) and can eventually present a full-length piece, albeit still in a basic form. Goan and company were hopeful that this might indeed be the case and that Project Brand New might become a regular event, occurring every few months. Considering that the curators were working for nothing (like everyone else, but they shouldered all the organisation as well), one of the things they may need to do is give some serious consideration to funding options.

There was no more time to ponder "burn-out" as the second night was quickly upon them. Once again it was both exhilarating and exhausting just trying to keep up with the line-up of diverse 20-minute, theatre "injections".

First up was Dublin Youth Theatre member Grace Dyas with the provocatively deconstructed debut piece, This Story is About You. She explained that the idea came "from a thirst to understand why we make theatre", and her enthusiasm for the process was infectious. When asked, in a question-and-answer session, what she thought about her piece, she replied with genuine delight: "I thought it was brilliant."

There was only time for a 10-minute turnaround between each showing, which was part of the brief and gave those in attendance an opportunity to digest and discuss. The three nights were sold out, but not surprisingly the audience were predominantly made up of arts practitioners, along with the participants' friends and family (the Cube only seats 70). Project director Willie White is not put off by this, however, and feels the main benefit of the platform is for the artist to present work to "A.N. Audience in a formal space and primarily gauge the response for themselves".

One artist who supports White's view, and is particularly interested in her own assessment of the work in front of an audience, is choreographer Charlotte Spencer. Currently dancer-in-residence with Daghdha Dance Company in Limerick, Spencer presented Adrift at 30,000 Feet, a piece based on the sine curve, which already seemed an accomplished beginning for a potentially longer work.

Spencer, like choreographer Walter before her, is clearly used to this type of presentation and seemed fully cognisant of what she was trying to achieve.

This also seemed true of experienced collaborators, writer and director Louise Lowe and visual artist Owen Boss. Lowe and Boss's piece, re:developed, was perhaps the most nuanced combination of different art forms. It utilises what Boss describes as "low-fi animation" to make a charcoal drawing gradually appear bit by bit until it is superseded by the photograph that inspired it. As the image grows, three performers relate a first-person narrative about the developing picture, which may or may not be true.

Talking to Lowe and Boss after the show, they were wonderfully animated about how it hadn't quite worked for them. Lowe's particular frustration was that "the process wasn't adequately reflected in the performance". It will be fascinating to see how this process eventually appears in their joint work.

The other pieces that made up the full programme were Kelly Shatter's Bubble Wrap Blues, a physically conceived, non-verbal relationship comedy, inspired by a newspaper dress; Priscilla Robinson's quirkily engaging comedy slide show; Jodie O'Neill's real-time play, Breakfast; Roíse Goan's Experiment in Inspiration, examining political rhetoric and popular culture; Expandance's evocative choreography exploring work and motherhood; Carrie Crowley's new play, utilising film and live action; and Conor Hanratty's pared-down and deceptively simple story-play based on the Indian classic, A Tale of Four Dervishes.

After the final show, White was already "eager" to talk to the curators about the next step. It seems Project Brand New may indeed become a regular event, and the four organisers seemed elated and exhausted all at once.

New ideas in art need to be nurtured. Now Project Brand New's viability has been established, it is to be hoped that some funding can be sourced to sustain the personal enthusiam and energy that has brought it this far.

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This is the first in a series of occasional articles in which writer/performer Michelle Read looks at how new theatre is being developed and created in Ireland.

Charlotte Spencer performs her piece in John's Square, Limerick, on Apr 10. Louise Lowe and Owen Boss are working on a new site-specific show for a former school in Ballymun, which will open in the autumn. For details of the next Project Brand New, keep an eye on www.project.ie