I attended a workshop led by playwright and actor Andy Smith where we discussed the question:

What does it take to make a theatre?

Three important elements that come to mind are:

-Enthusiasm

-People

-Location

All three are necessities when it comes to forming a theatre company and creating theatre. As a group we need to have a passion and an aim. Why do we want to create this theatre? We need somewhere to perform it and in most cases we need people to perform the work. The workshop explored various ways we could devise a piece of theatre. Though STAMP are working from a scripted piece we will still be creating a form of theatre which corresponds with our manifesto.

Andy suggested that theatre does not have to be a messy complicated mash of objects and people, but instead can be simplistic. He discussed with us the idea of reducing the content of the work and devising in a context of simplicity. Rather than saying we cannot do it and accepting the limitations that are in place, he suggested we break through the limitations and use them to create a piece of work that flourishes through them. Arguably this is a challenge but with our company’s ideologies we agreed that we want our theatre to be limitless. For us there is no correct practitioner or performance; this is to say that we can synthesise all practitioners or a few.

Andy introduced us to a piece of artwork entitled An Oak Tree. (1973) The piece suggests to me as an actor that performance works due to our audiences ability to accept the preconception that we are actors performing. As the ‘Answerer’ states in Oak Tree ‘One could call it anything one wished but that would not alter the fact that it is an oak tree.’  (Carig-Martin 1973, Online) The conceptual idea that as actors we could embody a character and invite the audience to agree with the notion that we are merely portraying an action or a story. In this way they can enjoy the piece of theatre and focus on the acting. It is something that STAMP wishes to explore. We want to escape the contemporary concentration on aesthetically pleasing performance and create a theatre that focuses on the audience’s connection with us as actors who create a story through acting.

Work cited.

Craig-Martin, M. (1973) An Oak Tree, The Tate Gallery : Online (Accessed 29/01/2013)

Smith, A. (2013). What Does it Take to Make a Theatre? Theatre Company Guest Workshop, Lincoln, LSPA