The British Theatre Consortium is pleased to announce a new conference entirely dedicated to the art of creating punning titles for theatre conferences. The first session ‘Welcome to the House of Pun’ will centre on a keynote address by David Edgar and consist largely of telling the history of British theatre through song titles. The second session, ‘When I Hear the Word Culture I Reach For My Pun’ is a panel discussion, in which Mark Ravenhill and Emma Rice will debate the role of the pun in postmodern, postdramatic, posteverything theatre. In the final session ‘Here Comes the Pun’, a panel of Liverpool playwrights will talk about the good old days and how they don’t write ‘em like they used to. The conference will conclude with the ritual denunciation of the conference organisers for various exclusions of oppressed and marginalised groups.

In 2008, the British Theatre Consortium were commissioned by the Arts Council to carry out some research into the effectiveness of their ‘new writing’ policies over the last decade. The project was, in fact, split between us and a group comprising Emma Dunton, Robin Nelson and Hetty Shand. Broadly, we were looking at the larger building-based companies and they at the community and touring end of the industry. The resulting reports make for extremely interesting reading. It reveals that new playwriting in England since 2003 has been in rude health:

• 47% of the repertoire consists of work that involves new writing in some form
• the box office performance of new plays was consistently in the 60-70% range, peaking at 68% in 2007-8
• 9 out of 10 tickets for new plays were for plays in main houses
• A quarter of all performances of new plays were in theatres seating 500 or more

The full report can be read here in either PDF or Word format. You can also read the Dunton/Nelson/Shand report on the Arts Council’s website.

The report has already achieved considerable coverage. You can read these articles online:

• David Edgar on the report for the Writer’s Guild
• Lalayn Baluch on the report for The Stage
• David Edgar on the report for The Guardian
• Mark Lawson in The Guardian

We are planning events to continue and deepen the debates raised by our reports which will be publicised here.

University of Birmingham, Selly Oak Campus
Saturday March 13th- Sunday March 14th 2010

2009-10 marks the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of what was then the MA in Playwriting in Birmingham, the first course of its kind in Britain. To mark this anniversary, 20/20 will reflect on the impact of the study of playwriting on dramatic writing within the theatre and beyond. The weekend will include the debut of 20 specially commissioned short plays by graduates of the Birmingham course. Panels of speakers will include some of the most active and influential playwrights, academics, and critics working in Britain, Europe, and the USA today.

The conference will attempt to define a lexicon of dramaturgical terms, survey the extent and validity of the playwriting literature, examine how playwriting is taught and nurtured at different levels of educational and artistic endeavour and through a comparative account of its place in the US, Britain and Germany, question what form plays for our times should actually take, ponder the old chestnut that theory and practice don’t mix, look at how playwriting is developed in theatres, on radio and in schools. It will be of interest to any playwright, playwriting teacher, dramaturg, educationalist, theatre practitioner and academic in this field.

20/20 plays by: Clare Bayley, Craig Baxter, Helen Blakeman, Ben Brown, Stephanie Dale, Rod Dungate, George Gotts, Lucy Gough, Tony Green, Fraser Grace, Sarah Grochala, Nancy Harris, Duncan Macmillan, Charles Mulekwa, Amy Rosenthal, Carolyn Scott Jeffs, Tim Stimpson, Anthony Weigh, Lance Woodman, Sarah Woods.

Panellists include:

Mark Bly is the Senior Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development at the Alley Theatre, Houston, TX.

David Edgar plays include Destiny, The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby, Testing the Echo founder of the MA in Playwriting whose book How Plays Work is published by Nick Hern

Dr Ken Cerniglia is a theatre scholar and dramaturg, who works for Disney Theatricals, and will offer the view from Broadway.

Maja Zade works as a Dramaturg at the Lehninerplatz Schaubühne, which has led Europe in establishing the collaboration of the playwright, the director, and the dramaturg in producing new work. Zade has also worked as a senior reader at the Royal Court Theatre.

Jack Bradley dramaturg and writer, former literary manager National Theatre

Dan Rebellato, Cathy Turner, Mary Luckhurst, Kara Reilly, Ian Brown, Karen Juers Munby, Liz Tomlin, Steve Waters, Anthony Weigh, Julie Wikinson, Peter Wild, Caroline Jester and others.

Fees: £130 full rate/ £75 concessionary. (One day registration is £75)

Includes two lunches, dinner and drinks on Saturday night, all conference events and two performances of the 20/20 plays.

You can book for the conference here. The most convenient accommodation can be found here.

We are keen to make these conferences reflect the key concerns of the theatre community so if you have any suggestions for changes of format, topics for future events, or indeed - equally useful - comments on what went right, please get in touch via the contact page.

Audio files of all the conference sessions will shortly be available on the website. Do check back to the website for information on the British Theatre Consortium’s other activities.

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11.00-13.00 Intro keynote and panel: A national narrative?

• Michael Boyd on Shakespeare’s Different Histories; Playwright Howard Brenton, director and actor Barrie Rutter.

13.00-14.15: Lunch

14.15-15.45: Access schmaccess?

• Barbara Matthews (Arts Council of England), commentator Mark Lawson and Ed Vaizey MP (Conservative Arts spokesman)

 15.45-16.15: Tea

 16.15-17.45: Mistaken identity?

• Playwrights Alia Bano,  Kwame Kwei-Armah and Ashmeed Sohoye, director Natalie Wilson and academic and writer Lynette Goddard.

 18.30-19.30: Reception and book launch (hosted by Nick Hern Books)

 19.30: Conference dinner.

Sunday

 10.00-11.30: Are we being served?

• Jonathan Church of Chichester Festival Theatre, Lisa O’Neill-Rogan of the Bolton Octagon, Stuart Rogers of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and director Simon Reade.

 11.30-11.45: Coffee

 11.45-13.15: Offending the audience?

• Writer and comedian Stewart Lee, playwright Richard Bean, director Janet Steel, commentator David Aaronovitch and writer Kenan Malik.

 13.15-14.15: Lunch

•  14.15-15.45: A National theatre? Theatre and film director Richard Eyre, National Theatre of Scotland Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, and Jude Kelly, chair of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

 15.45-16.00: Closing session.

1. The Great Game

One of the most ambitious projects of the year, addressing many of the issues of the conference, is surely Nicholas Kent’s commission of playwrights for a series of plays that seeks to engage with the history and current situation in Afghanistan. On their website, The Tricycle Theatre introduces this programme , which also involves their cinema and gallery spaces, as a festival:

‘The aim of this festival is to explore Afghan culture and history. Afghanistan is likely to be the most important focus of British, European and American foreign policy for the rest of this decade, and for many years to come. Through these plays, exhibitions and films it is hoped that audiences will more fully understand how this policy has evolved; and through debate and discussion lessons from the past can be used to better inform action for the future’.

The response to the theatre portion of three programmes of twelve plays spanning 1842 to the present has been overwhelming. The sheer scope of the project has been paramount, but so too the variety of perspectives, theatrical styles, and opportunities to consider aspects of the relationship between Britain and Afghanistan throughout its troubled history. Audiences have responded to the idea of this festival as well as to its substance, and the public commentary on the plays has been substantial (mostly, though not all positive, including the criticism of not including a play by an Afghan writer ). Below is a representative selection of reviews of The Great Game and an article by Guardian reporter and long-time contributor to the Tricycle Theatre’s verbatim works, Richard Norton-Taylor.

Selected Reviews:

• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Telegraph
• Financial Times
• Time Out
• The Times
• Evening Standard

Commentary:

• Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian 

2. Seven Jewish Children

Caryl Churchill’s ten-minute play was written as a response to recent events in Gaza and offered for free on the internet to anyone who wanted to produce it as long as money was collected for Gaza relief funds. The play, first produced at the Royal Court, triggered a heated discussion that demonstrates how theatrical performances that address cultural, religious, and political sensitivities play their part in the wider public discourse about these issues. Not only theatre critics but commentators and the public have spoken out for and against the play. The BBC decided they would not broadcast the play because it was perceived to be too partial while the Guardian responded by putting a version on their website (see link below). Churchill has been condemned for anti-Semitism by some and praised for her compassionate intervention by others. The debate about the play has been heated in the US as well, and two well-known Jewish theatre figures, Tony Kushner and Alisa Soloman, have defended the play in a major weekly magazine (see link below). While some insist this play is merely propaganda, others consider it a demonstration of theatre addressing the most important issues of the day. Below are some key links to reading up on this play and its reception:

Access the play online:

• PDF of the playscript
• Video of a performance

A Selection of Reviews:

• The Times
• The Sunday Times
• The Guardian
• The Observer

• Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian
• Leon Symons in The Jewish Chronicle 
• Melanie Phillips in The Spectator
• Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon in The Nation
• Howard Jacobson in The Independent 
• … and responses to Jacobson’s article, including by Churchill herself
• Jacqueline Rose in The Guardian
• Antony Lerman in The Guardian
• US debate between Ari Roth and Jeffrey Goldberg over the play
• Correspondence between Roth and Churchill

Response plays:

• Israel Horowitz’s What Strong Fences Make 
• Deb Margolin’s Seven Palestinian Children 
• Richard Stirling’s Seven Other Children 

3. England People Very Nice
Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice has provided a recent focus for some of the issues to be broached during our conference. Highly controversial, this play has received a number of positive reviews and equally negative critical responses as well. Demonstrators attempted to disrupt a platform at the National Theatre, and many audience members have also expressed strongly felt opinions about the play (you can read what they say on the National website link below). Hussain Ismail and Keith Kinsella have organized a campaign against what they perceive as a racist play, and many thoughtful commentators have written about their own perceptions. Bean has been interviewed concerning the play (see link below) and will speak at our conference where he will no doubt be criticized and defended by other speakers. Below are a number of links that will allow you to sample the opinions surrounding the play and its production at the National Theatre:

National Theatre website and links:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/englandpeople/
For audience comment see: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=44&board_id=800&gid=2&action=board

Two Representative Reviews:

• Charles Spencer in the Telegraph
• Michael Coveney in the Independent

Some Leading Commentators:

• Anwar Ahktar (East End Director of the Richmix Centre and as Director of CIDA).
• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (Independent Commentator)
• Rabina Khan on why she withdrew from the debate
• Hussain Ismail’s comment on the Guardian blog:
• Richard Bean interviewed by Maddy Costa in the Guardian

In Summer 2007 severe flooding across the UK brought misery to thousands of people, destroying homes and livelihoods. As a result of the ensuing chaos, over 2000 households were still living in caravans a year after the event, with over 100 families still stuck in caravans two Christmases later.

Following months of research and interviews, Look Left Look Right present the stories of real people word for word, alongside visual and audio footage, inside their very own caravan outside Warwick Arts Centre!

With fascinating memories of what happened and moving accounts from the people who were worst affected, The Caravan is a timeless piece of theatre that explores the resilience of human nature. Following a Fringe First Award, wide critical acclaim and sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival and The Royal Court Theatre in London this is your chance to experience a documentary up close - in a caravan.

“Bursting with warmth, charm and honesty… as homely and refreshing as the honest cuppa you’ll be offered on entry.” **** Time Out

Tickets are £10 and can be booked here.

We organise the British Theatre Conference series, conduct and publish research, and act as consultants and advocates for British theatre in all its forms. Our next conference event is All Together Now? British Theatre after Multiculturalism from the 13-14 of June 2009 at the Warwick Arts Centre. For more information about this event and to book tickets online see this page.

This two-day conference at Warwick Arts Centre, debates theatre’s relationship with the community, with identity politics, with the emergent nationalisms of Scotland and Wales, multiculturalism and our national history.

The current line‑up of speakers includes playwrights Alia Bano, Richard Bean, Howard Brenton, Kwame Kwei‑Armah and Ashmeed Sohoye, comedian and writer Stewart Lee;  directors Richard Eyre, Natalie Wilson, Janet Steel, Simon Reade, Michael Boyd (RSC) and Jonathan Church (Chichester); Barrie Rutter of Northern Broadsides and Vicky Featherstone of the National Theatre of Scotland; Stuart Rogers of the Birmingham Rep, and Lisa O’Neill-Rogan of the Bolton Octagon; academic Lynette Goddard, commentators David Aaronovitch, Mark Lawson and Kenan Malik; Barbara Matthews of the Arts Council, Conservative arts spokesman Ed Vaizey MP and the chair of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad Jude Kelly.

The British Theatre Consortium is organised by playwrights David Edgar, Steve Waters and Julie Wilkinson, playwright/academic Dan Rebellato and Warwick University’s Janelle Reinelt.

This conference is supported by generous contributions from…

So what did happen? Did extra funding transform British theatre? Did access trump excellence (or the other way round)? Are verbatim and performance theatre new waves or last gasps? Is the new play dead? And what will be the impact of the Olympics?

To address Blair’s theatrical legacy we have invited a wide range of theatre makers and commentators including Nick Hytner and Nick Starr from the National Theatre, Michael Boyd from the RSC, actor and equity activist Malcolm Sinclair, theatre consultatnt Peter Boyden, commentator Mark Lawson, actor/plawywrights Kwame Kwei-Armah and Robin Soans, writers Alistair Beaton, Victoria Brittain and Tanika Gupta, and directors Katie Mitchell and Emma Rice, to ask: how was it for us?

The day will start with a keynote contribution from Tessa Jowell MP, the longest-serving Labour Culture secretary, whose 2004 challenge to instrumentalism in the arts advocated a seachange in policy.

The conference is organised by playwrights and acacdemics David Edgar, Steve Waters, Dan Rebellato, Janelle Reinelt and Michael Early, and is being generously supported by the Universtities of Birmingham and Warwick, the Writer’s Guild and Alan Brodie Representation.