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?

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...Reviews

Well ok, we do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them of course, they are there to criticise us after all - and we certainly prefer them when they're glowing!

The Guardian Theatre Blog

I guess there are two parts to this discussion. The first part is the simpler one - reviews are a great way to get the word out about a show - people read reviews in places that they wouldn't have seen our advertising, so we can reach a wider group of people to tell them that the show is on. And a review of course gives a lot more detail than an advert would, and it's not biased because it's not been written by us! The second part of the discussion is perhaps more interesting though - reviews are a vital part of the feedback we get about a show.

Metta likes...Puppets

I blogged a few weeks ago about Handspring's wonderful Or You Could Kiss Me - which features wonderful almost life-size wooden puppet men. But it seems like there's a lot of it about at the moment - puppetry that is. Last week I worked on some research and development for Aerial Choreographer/Director Layla Rosa's new show Beneath My Feet, which will be featuring puppets as well as circus. That was a great (as in large but also wonderful) challenge because the tempo of puppetry and the tempo of circus are somewhat at odds with one-another - you can't ask an aerialist to hang from a rope for 5 minutes, while it cuts into their skin and their arms turn to jelly, in order to give time for a puppet to slowly swim across the stage.

Also I'm just about to open a show at Theatre 503 called The Prophets and the Puppets (which I've directed as part of their Coalition Festival), which stars a marionette operated by one of this country's greatest puppeteers Ronnie Le Drew (most famous for his role as Zippy in Rainbow).

Metta likes... Detail

I love seeing really close attention to detail in a production.

Peter Gill

I've just seen Over Gardens Out by Peter Gill Riverside Studios, directed by Sam Brown, and it's a production that demonstrates what I like just perfectly. Sam and his designer, Annemarie Woods, have paid attention to the detail both in the visual world they are showing us - Annemarie's costumes and set were wonderfully in-period, managing to locate the production in time and place perfectly and yet in a beautifully simple and uncluttered way - and also into the action as well.

Metta likes... Production values

This week, we like high production values.

Well, we always like high production values, but lets think a little about what that means. What we often mean is a slick and highly polished production - the sort of thing that looks expensive to achieve, the kind of professionalism you expect to see at the National or in the West End for example, but is that the only meaning?

Finding the form

For the last 4 years I've been adapting Jeanette Winterson's beautiful and magical (I won't call it magical realism because I know she doesn't like that tag) novel Sexing The Cherry for the stage. Which makes it sound like a long and arduous task - artistically speaking it was actually one of the easiest or should I say most pleasurable/fluid things I've done. The hard part is getting it on. Several 'important' theatre people have read it now and they all say the same thing - it's very beautiful but it's not a play. And it's not, but neither am I prepared to make it one and sacrifice/compromise the mode of presentation - which is story-telling - by converting it into action and dialogue.

Directing dance and randomness

So last weekend we ventured into the unknown and not a little terrifying territory of contemporary dance with our latest piece 12 Dancing Princesses (an extract from the Jeanette Winterson novel Sexing the Cherry that I've been adapting for the last four years). Adapting Shakespeare/mounting a new play about Zimbabwe in just over 9 weeks we can do, surprisingly easily it turns out, but directing dance...well.

Theatre/Baby Metaphors

So I often think that creating a show is in some ways like creating a baby - with the writer being the father who after the initial effort has to some extent sit back and let the director-mother get on with it (which is perhaps pretty telling of how I like to work with writers).

Food and Theatre

Heather (Metta's Exec Producer and also Producer of Otieno) is always mocking me because I insist every Metta board meeting revolves around food, whether it be eggs benedict or sausage sandwiches at our breakfast meetings, soup with home-made bread at our lunch meetings and casseroles & stews at our dinner meetings. Anyone who knows me even a little knows a) I'm a big eater and b) I get a bit bored talking business for too long. So is the food simply a ploy to keep me in the room? Until Monday I would have rather sheepishly conceded that was probably the case but I'm beginning to realise food and Metta Theatre are actually far more inextricably linked.

Otieno Rehearsals

It's day three and so far only one tantrum from the writer (which bearing in mind he's also the lead actor, sound designer and as of this morning fight director!!! is pretty good going.) But as a director who works predominantly with dead writers I'm more used to fighting with actors! Luckily he is one of those too, and the tantrum consisted of a few minutes of silent mutterings and then a big hug and copious apologies. Though he was only trying to preserve the integrity of the play - which is always something worth fighting for.