The Sherman Theatre's response to the Consultation concentrates on our views of developing New Writing through the medium of English in Wales. The development of writers and audiences for Welsh language New Writing requires a special and often complex agenda. Particular attention should be paid to the experiences of Welsh language companies before developing any new strategies in this direction.
It is our view that in order to address The Issues listed in the ACW New Writing in Wales Consultation, it is necessary first for ACW to create a Mission Statement for New Writing in Wales. How the vision of that Mission Statement is to be translated into policy and practice in order to set the priorities for the next five years can thereafter be addressed through debate of The Issues as listed.
1: Our first recommendation therefore, is that ACW address the need for a Mission Statement relating to New Writing in Wales.
1A: In order to create a Mission Statement with credibility, we believe ACW must acknowledge the need for (and the current lack of) a sustainable New Writing Culture in Wales. We set out below our views on ways in which the Mission Statement could reflect the needs of the New Writing culture.
We consider it necessary for ACW to have a clear vision of a sustainable New Writing culture as a first step towards a Mission Statement.
1. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to a long-term development strategy for new writing in Wales. By comparison with other cultures and traditions the development of dramatic writing in Wales is still in its infancy. It will be through creating sustainable structures to promote the development of a New Writing culture for the English language in Wales that a healthy cultural and economic environment will be established. We envisage an environment in which both mature and new writers are able to practise their craft, professionally supported by ambitious, resourceful and visionary structures.
2. It is important that a New Writing culture be developed that can define and promote differing concepts and practices in the field; defining and promoting what is meant, for example, by new writing, new writers, writers in residence, dramaturgs, literary managers, archivists, reading services and workshop processes.
Points for consideration in the development of the Mission Statement
1. The Mission Statement needs to reflect a New Writing culture as it relates, currently and potentially, to (a) established, (b) new and (c) developing, audiences.
2. The Mission Statement also needs to reflect a New Writing culture as it relates to audiences via Main Stages, Studio, Touring, Young People's Theatre, TIE, Community, Experimental, Youth Theatre, Special Needs and other culturally diverse groupings.
3. Wherever we work, the Mission Statement must address audiences for New Writing. New Writing can play a role in developing audiences for the author. In a vibrant New Writing culture, the writer's development and audience development may happen together.
4. The Mission Statement needs to identify new opportunities within the New Writing culture for the training of writers, and all associated theatre makers (directors, designers etc.). The Mission Statement must reflect successful training patterns and opportunities of the recent past and present in order to ensure artistic sustainability for the future.
5. Many Welsh writers are working across the genres; for TV, film and radio as well as for theatre. Each genre demands different skills and expertise; training opportunities for all genres need to be taken into consideration as part of a comprehensive Mission Statement.
6. Most writers cannot make a living out of writing for the theatre alone. Many more experienced writers have ongoing commitments with media projects and companies, and consequently it can take 2-3 years to develop a new stage play with them. The Mission Statement should reflect the need for long-term commissioning patterns in the culture of New Writing.
7. New writing in English within Wales has a history of commissioning to perform. In consequence, "the cupboard is bare"; there are currently no long-term funded projects in development with writers that are not committed to production. In the light of the above it may be necessary to commission some new work IMMEDIATELY in order to avoid an unacceptable hiatus in 2000/2001 and 2002. Development without the pressure of production is an important and necessary practice that needs to be promoted by the Mission Statement for a New Writing culture in Wales.
8. Continuity between writers, commissioners, producers, workshop teams, directors, dramaturgs and other production staff is of central importance in the process of ensuring well-developed and mature work; it will be important for the Mission Statement to reflect this.
9. Outside Wales there are models of successful practice in such organisations as the Royal Court, Soho, Bush and Hampstead theatres in London, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, the Tron Theatre in Glasgow and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The Mission Statement can recommend or commission research on the successful working practices and policies of established mature and successful institutions in other parts of the UK and beyond, to be incorporated into the New Writing culture in Wales. We do not need to reinvent the wheel.
10. It is our belief that the New Writing culture in Wales has been damaged by the lack of long-term consistent policy objectives. This has left not only the writers but also the professional artists and the audiences confused and disenfranchised. Change can be both exciting and necessary; but the constant switching imposed on the Arts community in Wales in the last thirty years has been neither. There is an opportunity for the Mission Statement to recommend long-term consistent policy objectives to achieve a stable New Writing Culture.
11. We believe that the Mission Statement should introduce a policy of ring fencing with regard to new writing money for all ACW revenue-funded clients; a policy whereby a percentage of a client's revenue funding is ear-marked for new writing. If the client does not succeed in spending the ring-fenced money on new writing, then that money must be returned at the end of the year to ACW.
12. We believe that the Mission Statement should state a commitment to double funding on all policies to ensure that objectives are achieved in both the English and Welsh languages.
13. We believe there is scope within a New Writing culture in Wales to develop the oral tradition indigenous to the country. The Mission Statement for New Writing should not preclude the development of a poetic theatrical language, embracing both the reinvention of forms such as the verse play, the musical and the play with music and the growth of new forms of writing for music-theatre and physical performance, for example.
14. For far too long New Writing has had to be Box-Office dependent in Wales. Consequently the scale of any New Writing achievement has principally been measured by audience attendance figures. This is, only one way of accounting success. There is an opportunity for the Mission Statement for New Writing to recommend increased subsidy to new work.
15. In order for New Writing to reach its potential market, the need for touring (and the additional costs incurred) must be recognised. New Writing in Wales needs to be given the widest possible exposure through touring. A New Writing touring policy should reflect the diverse needs of the audiences throughout Wales.
16. Generally, the new plays of the past 30 years have been dependent on touring in order to cover their generation costs. The financial strain placed on a new play must be acknowledged, particularly so in Wales, where many venues find it hard to financially support product for more than one night. Companies wanting to produce new writing have too often been obliged to tour their projects over the border into England and beyond in order to make their projects viable. There is an opportunity for the Mission Statement for New Writing to recommend increased subsidy to new work and to finance touring.
17. Writers tell us that it is important for them to "stop starting" and become "part of a history". They will create and record that history by the continuance of their work. The Mission Statement can underline the importance of investing in our writers by outlining a practical working culture and economic climate that ensures status for them.
2: Once a stable culture of New Writing (as enshrined in the Mission Statement) has been achieved, and in moving towards setting the priorities for the following five years, our second Recommendation is that ACW lead a full debate on the following key questions.
2A: All the questions below have an impact on the wider community of those concerned with the development of New Writing, as well as a direct implication for the Sherman.
1. In which ways can New Writing best be encouraged and developed?
2. Can Writer in Residence schemes be set up in all producing companies?
3. In what practical ways can Dramaturgy be made central to the culture of New Writing in Wales?
4. Can a shared concept and practice of Literary Management be included in the ACW vision, funded to be available for all producing companies?
5. How can a funded, professional Reading Service for unsolicited scripts be made possible?
6. Wales has had a unique tradition in experimental work in the last thirty years. In which areas can an experimental space for ideas be maintained?
7. It is desirable to enable the commissioning of writers without obligation to produce. How can funding be brought into place to support this?
8. How varied a programme of Young Writers' Schemes can we develop in Wales?
9. What are the strategies for achieving more productions of more new full-length plays developed by Wales' mature writers?
10. Is it appropriate to consider programmes of work which are jointly driven by actors and writers working together?
11. What steps can we take to ensure that the work that is being created now becomes an integral part of the cultural language of the nation in the future? What are the strategies for ensuring a body of quality work that will still be around in 200 years' time?
12. How can we create opportunities for "second production"?
13. How can we safeguard the interests of the commissioning company in the process after first production? ACW should resist any notion of WNPACs "cherry picking" potential commercial successes after first production, most particularly if those WNPACs play no part in the development of a new writing culture, and acknowledge no responsibility of their own towards it. Such a policy could only act as an enormous disincentive to the original production company, and consequently be against the writers' interests.
14. In the range of New Writing work, how can opportunities be made for new plays with large casts to be staged with full and proper resources? How can we create opportunities for writers to expand their skills in this area?
15. How can we create opportunities for writers to develop their technique in creating appropriate work for both Main Stage and Studio environments?
16. How can a programme of long-term artistic development partnerships between writer and director be funded?
17. Is the concept of "pitching" (submission of treatments prior to commissioning) a useful tool for theatre as well as for the broadcast media?
18. How can New Writing occupy a place with status in the public domain? How can the "branding" of new work be developed?
19. How can funding be put in place to secure all the necessary implications and potential developments of a thought-through and visionary New Writing strategy?
20. Can the introduction of "ring fencing" into revenue funding agreements be a useful tool for ACW and other funding bodies in promoting a healthy culture of New Writing?
2B: The following questions have a direct implication for the Sherman, and possible repercussions on the wider artistic community.
1. Can the Sherman develop a profile as a 'safe house' for new writing? Is this an appropriate development, in ACW's vision of a New Writing culture for Wales?
2. How can the Sherman Theatre play a part in such a development in addition to the role it has played in the past nine years as a Young People's Theatre? How can we ensure the benefits of 9 years' investment, innovation and achievement in terms of Young People's Theatre are not lost?
3. Is it appropriate for the to Sherman have National status as a WNPAC with a twin mission to develop both new writing and work for young people? If so, how can this best be achieved? Taking the model of the Royal Court Theatre as an example, it is clear that the two concepts of New Writing and Young People's Theatre can be successfully matched. Could they be enabled to work hand in hand to consolidate and develop a positive professional theatre experience in Wales' Capital City and beyond?
4. Can the Artistic team at The Sherman be expanded to enable a fully-resourced, visionary process to be practised, in relation to (3) above ?
5. How can the Sherman's extant and successful New Writing relationship with Television and Radio be developed?
6. When do ACW intend to pursue the "dropped" consultation regarding the provision of Drama in Cardiff and the position of the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff in relation to this?
All of the above need to be considered in the light of our first recommendation: in developing a vision for new writing in Wales.
We have deliberately avoided any mention of a structural amalgamation of companies until this juncture of our paper, simply because we cannot see that such a consideration can be made until after the Mission Statement has been published and a New Writing Policy established. We recognise that a number of different models can be considered. It is wholly unrealistic to 'develop strategies for future provision in autumn 1999' and yet anticipate 'implementation of successor provision in April 2000'."
3: Our final recommendation is that ACW should take up to the end of Year One to develop its vision of a New Writing culture for Wales, achieving its Mission Statement through a process of debate, which we recommend should be inclusive, wide-ranging and akin to "dreaming". This will enable a series of 1, 3, 5 and 10 year strategies to be developed, which can fully realise and develop the implications of the Mission Statement. We welcome this opportunity to create a realistic state for new writing in both English and Welsh which has an investment in the creation of the strategy and process and which addresses both the cultural concerns of Wales' practising professionals and its audience requirements.
CONCLUSION:
Bearing in mind all of the above, we have exciting, innovative and ambitious ideas and models of practice we haven't been able to carry out, mainly because of resources. We would welcome the opportunity to develop these ideas over the next 12 months with ACW and practising professionals in Wales.
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