28.11.1996

Fighting against compromise

Andy Barrett is a writer and performer based in Nottingham. He was artistic director of the Touch and Go theatre company for two years and he helped set up and organise the successful arts project, Alive Arts, in Nottingham. He is currently touring with two pieces he has written and performs in. Phil Rudge spoke to him after a performance of Epic at a Revolutionary Communist Party conference, Where are all the heroes?, in London last week.

How did you get involved in this event?

I’m not a member of the RCP, but it organises a lot of cultural and political events that are interesting. I am not sure if I am an anarchist, communist or socialist. Most of my work reflects this tension. I find that to a degree my confusion makes me write.

You were active in politics before though, weren’t you?

I was in the Labour Party. I left at the time of the 1984 miners’ strike after organising a miners’ support group at university. I realised then that Labour were not capable of instigating radical change and transforming society. I was also involved in the anti-poll tax campaign.

Epic does seem to reflect the conference topic - Where are all the heroes? Was it written with the RCP in mind?

I have been performing it in conjunction with Ben Elton’s play Popcorn, which is exactly what it sounds like, with a smothering of liberal moralism thrown in. I wanted to perform something much harder hitting and crazier. This is where the RCP comes in, because they constantly hammer away at the alienation and hermetic atmosphere around today. I do worry sometimes that this kind of analysis is too one-dimensional and that Epic reflects that static viewpoint a bit.

What happens next?

I’m writing much more regularly now. My own creative process is much more lived, more organic. The problem of being commissioned or patronised by the arts council or local authorities is a constant worry. I don’t want to compromise, so I’m trying to use it to pick up the habit of writing to a deadline whilst still being creative. The last 17 years of the Tories have been catastrophic for radical theatre in this country. It’s a cultural tragedy that will take a long time to recover from. It’s so easy these days to become demoralised and disconnected, socially and artistically. I am constantly fighting against it. I want to start reading Marx a lot more too.