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TWO new plays from Made in Wales justify the use of the cliche that art imitates life. As the theatre company waits to find out if it is to secure future funding essential to its survival from the Arts Council of Wales, its latest plays, Venus and Perspective, ask whether art has any social value. That is the nub of Made in Wales’s present dilemma - does the work it performs in developing and producing new theatre justify to the Arts Council its continued existence? Or, as the company’s artistic director Jeff Teare believes, will Made in Wales simply become the victim of cutbacks? Mr Teare says the Arts Council had taken a decision to back Theatr Clwyd financially, forcing it to make cuts elsewhere. “In order to fund wherever else they are giving the money, they are making a £90,000 cut in new theatre writing.” Teare is angry that the Arts Council of Wales has allegedly refused to give feedback on the quality of Made in Wales’s work. The Arts Council is expected later this week to make a belated decision about the future funding of Welsh theatre writing in Wales. The quango is expected to back Dalier Sylw as a new bilingual theatre writing company in Wales, forcing the closure of Made in Wales. “We don’t know if Dalier Sylw or Made in Wales is going to close. I am making an assumption that we are the ones to close. “There has never been a discussion with ACW over whether we are fulfilling our remit. I am completely sure that the only reason one of us is being closed down is as a cost-cutting exercise. “It is deeply ironic we are doing these plays at this moment. It is very likely that this will be the last production that Made in Wales ever does.” Venus and Perspective are two new plays commissioned by Made in Wales examining the role of art in society. The two plays are very different: Venus takes the phenomenon of the Young British Artists (YBA) move-ment as a starting point, uncovering the relationship between art and advertising while Perspective, set in 1920s Germany, questions the social value of the work of left-wing artists and asks if it made any difference. Peter Morgan, the writer of Venus, said his play was sparked by the growing celebrity of artists. “They are almost tabloid super-stars, we know as much about their lives as their art.” Certainly, there is a personality cult surrounding Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. The central character in Venus is a female artist who uses her personal experience as a form of art, much in the way Emin has. Where Emin in one piece of work stitched the names of everyone she had slept with on to the inside of a tent, Helen Miller, the artist in the play, puts her boyfriends’ love letters on show. “We are not drawing any direct comparisons with Emin, there is a whole group of artists who use personal experiences in their work,” said Teare. He said Venus was about “the relationship between art and advertising, the role of Saatchi and Saatchi. It asks, ‘Is art a product, are they artists?’ “What is the relationship between advertising and art? Damien Hirst commissions other people to do his dot paintings - are they still Damian Hirst paintings? “The techniques between advertising and art are common - you cannot tell the difference any more.” Perspective, written by Mark Ryan, asks if art can make a social difference. Set firmly in the Bertolt Brecht period in the Weimar Republic, it uses drama and song, where Venus uses drama, visuals, slides and video footage. “The debate in Perspective is whether art is only important if it does have a social or political effect,” said Teare. “The drama is that the artist believes his work is making a difference. Progressively, through the play he realises that it isn’t and at the end of the play he has to face what a lot of artists then had to face - what could they do when Hitler came to power?” • Venus and Perspective open at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff on Friday and run until Sunday, before transferring to the Bristol Old Vic. For more information and tickets in Cardiff call 029 20 304400. |
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Wednesday, February 9, 2000 |
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