Metta likes...Belarus Free Theatre

Through our dear friend, and patron of Metta, Laura Wade we've recently been introduced to the Belarus Free Theatre, or BFT. Having been on some of their marches/protests it was really lovely to put names to faces. And having now got to know them quite well it's lovely to put personalities to the names. The work that the BFT does is astonishing on so many levels - the art they make is beautiful and powerful, the workshops they lead inspiring and totally transformative for the participants, and everything they do is some form of protest against Lukashenko's regime - the last dictatorship in Europe. On top of this they are forced - as a theatre company in exile from their own country - to work from Britain on the tiniest of shoe-string budgets. Last year they had a smash hit in Edinburgh with their Fringe First award-winning show A Reply to Kathy Acker which will run at the Young Vic for a month in June next year, and before that they're doing an adaptation in Belorussian of King Lear at the Globe for their Globe to Globe Festival.

Lessons from Metta

After an awesome couple of years it's time for me to step down as Executive Producer for Metta. Since I started working with Metta, we've staged 111 performances of 8 shows in 17 different venues. It's impossible to do that much theatre without learning a thing or two, so I thought I'd use my last blog for the company to note down a few of the key lessons here.

Metta likes... Theatres

Despite our last tour being deliberately outside them one thing that we really like at Metta is theatres. Not just because they often house our plays, and even because they often house other plays, companies or performers that we really like. We are very fond of the buildings themselves.

For some theatres it's easy to see why. I recently made my fist ever visit to the Old Vic, and spent a sizeable amount of the interval craning my neck towards the ceiling and admiring what is an undeniable beautiful building.

Metta likes...Fruit

We're very healthy here at Metta HQ - we even have a vegetable patch outside our office (currently growing potatoes, courgettes, leeks, lettuces, tomatoes, broccolli, broad beans and peppers...and possibly some carrots though I'll have to check that with Will). But we've also gone mad on fruit lately because Sexing the Cherry (as the name suggests) is bursting at the seams with cherries, bananas, apples, peaches and even an occasional pineapple!

Sexing The Cherry is full of fruit!

Fruit is a good thing. It tastes great and it makes great theatre...

Metta likes... Touring

At the end of May we completed our first tour. As is so often the way of these things, it was right in the middle of all the exciting action that we had the least time to write about it. So here's my rather belated tour blog. Suffice to say, we don't just like touring, we LOVE touring.

As the piece that we were touring was our site-specific performance of The Man with the Flower in his Mouth, I feel that we got a heightened tour experience. We not only had to recreate our show in 10 different locations, but we had to build new performance spaces in each one too.

Metta likes...the world (part 2)

Juliet Stevenson in The Heretic at the Royal Court, 2011
photo Keith Pattison

Last time I wrote about what theatre can do to reduce it's own carbon footprint, but can it also help by doing making theatre, by telling stories?

There's been a plethora of climate-related plays recently - from Net Curtains production of One-Nineteen at the Arcola a few years ago to the Royal Court's recent production of The Heretic (with Metta's Honorary Patron Juliet Stevenson). But what do they achieve?

Metta likes...Sunshine

And who doesn't, after a long dark winter. But this spring we've made some interesting discoveries re-rehearsing our production of Pirandello's The Man With the Flower in His Mouth. Last year we mounted the show in November/December in the cosy environs of The London Particular cafe in New Cross. This year we open in Dean & Hudson, a cafe up in Highgate, at the very end of April (tomorrow night in fact) and tour across the UK throughout May (mostly in a number of Boston Tea Party cafes). Who knows what the effect of playing in so many different spaces will have on the production - an invigorating and energising one I imagine - but already after only a few days on re-rehearsals we have noticed some profound changes because of the different weather conditions...

Metta likes...the world

Yup, the whole world. In fact we love it. And we want to look after it - in fact we want theatre in general to help look after it. We have an ethical policy at Metta that means we have to look out for both the natural and the human world around us - we need to minimise our environmental and social impact. There's a little bit more detail on our website, here.

We all know that theatre can change the world politically - for example, just look at the Belorussian regime's fear of the Belarus Free Theatre for proof of that, but what can it do to save the planet?

Metta likes...Mothers

Today is Mother's Day so in honour of the three wonderful women without whom Metta wouldn't exist - namely Ruthie Alexander-Morgan (Poppy's mum), Jo Reynolds (Will's mum) and Bridget Doole (Heather's mum) - we want to celebrate, appreciate and dedicate this to mothers everywhere. But our mums in particular have been instrumental in the development of Metta - without their endless love & support we wouldn't be where we are today, so thank you. And we love you.

I hosted a debate at the Young Vic last week on women working in theatre which began to explore gender issues - and what exactly those issues were - so inevitably the question of balancing motherhood and career-hood came up.

Metta likes... Stage Managers

I'm going to start this post with a declaration of interest - my background is Stage Management, and I still retain a very Stage Management-y view on theatre. That said, this is written thinking about all the Stage Managers who have helped smooth the creative process for our shows.

Metta likes...Silence

Our 2010 production of The Man With the Flower in His Mouth (which is touring in May, watch this space for dates) started with 5, the recent production of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape in Town really pushed the boat out and started with almost 20! And my current (non-Metta) show - Barrie Keeffe's Gotcha at Riverside Studios (for Jagged Fence) starts with at least 3.

Metta likes...support

We've been really lucky over the years with the amazing support we've received from both venues and individuals and this year looks like our best yet. We're forging a really exciting relationship with Jacksons Lane who are supporting us with our forays into circus with Sexing the Cherry and Points of Light, and now also possibly jumping on The Man with The Flower in His Mouth band waggon. And the Southbank Centre are still behind us - programming Sexing The Cherry for their Literature Festival - on the back of the sell-out success of last year's Waiting. Oxford Playhouse too have been great supporters of Metta ever since we started the company back in 2005 - they programmed our first show, when we were still students. And as well as booking one of our 2007 productions they've now taken Flower Man for a week as part of our UK tour and we've several other collaborations with them to look forward to over the next two years.

Metta likes...Intensity

This week I started rehearsals for a non-Metta show - a new production of Barrie Keeffe's Gotcha, which is on at Riverside Studios (from March 1st-19th). It's quite a departure for me as it's just a play, I don't mean JUST a play - but I mean there's no puppets, circus or video projection craziness. It's just four people in one room, over one day. And it's brilliant, and will hopefully be a searing and visceral production which packs a real emotional punch (it's only day three of rehearsals but as everyone knows I'm an optimist). But it got me thinking about intensity...

Devoted & Disgruntled

I spent the weekend at Improbable's brilliant and inspiring (and life-changing) event Devoted & Disgruntled. This was my first year, but it's been going for six years now and I have never participated in a workshop that left me feeling so uplifted, inspired and energised. So what's it all about?

Metta likes... people making sound

This week Metta love the noises performers make. And no, we’re not talking about the lines they deliver or the chatter in rehearsal room, but in their role in producing live sound design, and the impact of that on performance.

In its most obvious form, this can be using actor-musicians to create live music. Our production of Blood Wedding had cast members make up the wedding band, who were sometimes present in the scene and sometimes just providing music.

Metta likes... Stories

12 Dancing Princesses, V&A Museum 2010

We seem to have somewhat fallen off the blogging wagon over the festive season, so lets get back on track with the weekly 'Metta Likes...'  and this week stories. This is what we're all about (at Metta), telling stories in new ways, telling new stories, retelling old stories, telling the same stories through different media (Sexing The Cherry being a great example of that which has spawned two other shows - 12 Dancing Princesses & Points of Light and hasn't actually seen the stage-light of day...yet). Stories, stories and more stories.

Why are we so into stories?

Expectations

This year is shaping up to be our most exciting yet - what with venturing beyond London with national tours of The Man With the Flower in His Mouth and Waiting (and hopefully Otieno too) as well as new London productions like Points of Light (in totally new genres - to us at least - of dance/circus theatre) and Sexing The Cherry, and possibly some other new shows outside of London - to be announced shortly...