| 2020: Theatre Directors Speak |
Arts Policy Report |
| Directors , Theatre in Wales , August 27, 2020 |
An article below 21st December 2017 is headed “2017: Theatre Directors Speak”. It was the result of a survey by the Society of Directors and its conclusion was:“a damaging and impoverishing lack of capacity around the job of director in Wales....88% have never had an opportunity at any point in their career to direct on a main stage in Wales, despite some doing this at theatres elsewhere.” It made for disheartening reading. In 2020 a new report is published. It was completed in February, just weeks before live performance collapsed, tours were cancelled, liquidity for institutions and individuals evaporated. Its title is “Forever Emerging? A report into directing for the stage in Wales.” The authors are Simon Harris and Bridget Keehan and it is supported by Stage Directors UK and the Arts Council of Wales. Its scope is broader than the survey of 2017, its length 15,000 words over 56 pages. Methodologically it began with an online survey. From 120-plus professional stage directors based in Wales 76 responded. The density of the first data yielded areas of importance: training and engagement, career pathways, transparency, sustainable careers, leadership. Subsequent stages entailed meetings with artistic leaders from Arts Portfolio Wales organisations and two focus groups. Language is always difficult, “emerging” being particularly slippery. The report fields its own definitions, albeit more for guidance than as a last word: “For the sake of clarity, we use the term ‘emerging’ to refer to directors at the start of their career who are predominantly assisting, directing fringe projects and have less than five years’ experience. We identify ‘mid-career’ directors as those who have regularly directed professional work across different scales and have between five and twenty years’ experience. We refer to ‘established’ directors as those with a substantial track record of work and twenty or more years’ experience in the industry.” A useful historical context is given. Kenneth Rea in 1989 published a landmark study into the training of directors in the UK for the Gulbenkian Foundation. Thomas Hescott and Corinne Furness published “The Director’s Voice” thirty years later. The Australia Council for The Arts in 2008 published a report where: “directors felt stuck within a certain scale of work and were unable to progress; where opportunities to direct were limited and declining; where pathways for career progression were frustrated and unclear; where it was perceived artistic directors were staying in role for too long and where creative succession was not happening. Many would recognise the parallels with Wales.” The economy of the United Kingdom has acute labour shortages across a swathe of sectors, hence its overwhelming need for immigration. Not so here, concedes the report: “the realities of being a small nation mean that fewer jobs are available to directors than there are people who want and possibly deserve them.” Hence the issue: “it is important to ascertain whether opportunity is under-developed or even systemically limited in Wales and whether there is an inequality that mitigates against Welsh talent being able to achieve its full potential.” There is a wealth of commentary and detail- which make the full text worth reading- before the recommendations. For instance, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru has recently launched Awenau, an initiative aimed at developing more Welsh-speaking theatre directors. Arwel Gruffydd: “The aim of Awenau is to nurture the talent of new Welsh-speaking theatre directors, to ensure that individuals feel ready and confident enough to take hold firmly of the wheel and lead on exciting theatre projects in the future. The scheme is part of our enterprise to support the development of theatre artists, to facilitate the development of new, ambitious theatre work, and to promote talent” The position of assistant director is highly variable. By way of private anecdote in 2010 I found myself sitting next to an assistant director by pure chance. I took the opportunity to ask Blanche Mcintyre what she had done. It was not as reported here from a respondent who opted for anonymity: “I’ve had a real variation… so I had a job where I didn’t speak. I just made the tea. That was the process for me. And I felt like I wasn’t allowed to speak - I didn’t have the knowledge or the authority to offer anything creatively. I literally just made the tea and made sure the actors were okay. And that was it. Whereas the job I’ve just got, I asked, what do you want from an assistant director? And was told; “I want you to be my creative collaborator in the room.” And it was amazing to hear that from a director. And for me it was a really new approach, given my past experience.” The geography of Wales is a joy but a perennial issue: “As with appointing freelance directors for Theatr Clwyd productions, offering opportunities to local directors and companies and other Wales-based artists is part of our decision-making process.” Additionally, it is held to be a priority “to nurture and develop creative talent in Wales, particularly Welsh and Wales-based.” Recently, Theatr Clwyd has launched several initiatives supporting the development of early career directors, writers and others. Until recently opportunity for freelance Wales-based directors to direct in-house productions has been limited. As Tamara Harvey points out, “It’s very difficult, from North Wales, to get a true sense of who’s making exciting work down south, even with regular visits.” A critique can be found in language that is opaque to the lay reader: “Despite the personal merits and good intentions of many of the directors in positions of power in Wales, there is an overwhelming sense in the research that the exercise of that power has possibly unintentional consequences that are divisive and exclusionary.” The two adjectives “overwhelming” and “possible” are of course contradictory. Abdul Shayek, now at the helm of Tara Arts, is outside Wales and more able to comment boldly: “I think there should be a stipulation in every mid-scale venue that they’ve got to work with someone from within Wales because artistic directors don’t leave very often and when they do they’re replaced by people from London. So the problem again is this kind of constant – There’s a real - Is it a crisis of confidence in Wales and its creative sector? Cos there’s this constant looking outwards to bring people in… I don’t think that model works. For Wales to really grow.” The McMaster Report on board composition is revisited and there is much exploration of leadership models and issues. The recommendations will be published separately. But an important paragraph is located within the main body: “There is an expectation that public investment in the arts in Wales helps prevent a drain of creative talent out of the country and retains people within the industry. Welsh taxpayers have a right to expect that a proportion of their money is being directed towards artists who live, work and reciprocally invest their time, energy and money here. It is our view that it is neither insular nor narrowly nationalistic to expect this.” Quotations acknowledged and copyright at: Source: https://arts.wales/sites/default/files/2020-08/Forever%20Emerging.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0TjMZsfe9OYR54nGnEwikX5-JNd-WaiEZUAm2xbnmEZMQ81XSmLwGkplU |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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