07.05.1998

Reviving the political

‘Seeing red’ is a festival of new political plays sponsored and produced by the multi-award winning Red Room. It brings together 16 of the most interesting and thought-provoking voices in British theatre, among them Peter Barnes, Kay Adshead, Judy Upton and Roddy McDevitt. Marking the 30th anniversary of the revolutionary situation in France and the 1st anniversary of the New Labour government, the season is designed to bring the political back into theatre. Jack Conrad spoke to Lisa Goldman, the Red Room’s artistic director

Where do you see theatre in general and in particular, following the election of the New Labour government?

It depends on what kind of theatre you are talking about. There are many strands - commercial, subsidised and the fringe. In terms of radicalism there has been almost a complete reversal of roles between subsidised theatre and the fringe. The fringe is now mainly a middle class career ladder. Subsidised theatre often has a more radical agenda.

Twenty or thirty years ago the fringe was at the cutting edge. It pressurised and in many ways gave a lead to the subsidised theatre. Today sights have been lowered. Subsidised theatre now follows the lead of commercial theatre - transfers, film deals, etc. As to the oppositional response to the election of Blair and New Labour, the Red Room’s present season is probably the first. But that is hardly surprising, given the logistics of programming, writing, etc.

How did people view New Labour?

I can’t speak for theatre artists as a whole. But in terms of those around me I think there are a number of trends. Many had no illusions whatsoever. For example, our piece by Roddy McDevitt gives a voice to the disenfranchised and the so-called ‘under-class’. They knew that Labour would do nothing for them. Others had high expectations or at least a gut, anti-Tory desire to ‘get the bastards out’. So for them on the night of May 1 there was either joy or relief. Many leading artists closely identified with New Labour - some still do. However, with the writers, directors and actors that I know there has undoubtedly been a change of mood. There is a lot of anger.

What sort of expectations were there in New Labour?

That there would be a turn away from the brutality of the Tories. That there would more concern for poorer people, the unemployed. That education and health would get a higher priority. That somehow things would change. Whatever Blair said and told them, they did not expect student fees, attacks on single parents or workfare. They were blinded by their desire to get rid of the Tories.

But Blair and New Labour went to great lengths explaining that they would keep to Tory spending limits. That is what they were pledged to do. So why do you believe there were high expectations?

Perhaps expectations is the wrong words. Perhaps hope is better. Either way the absence of a viable revolutionary left and the deep humanity of those involved in theatre created a situation on May 1 where there was a real euphoria. They invented their own Labour Party. They invented their own programme for New Labour. The point is however that someone could vote Labour on May 1, celebrate on May 2 and then go on to write a savage indictment of the New Labour government. The plays in our season do that and more. For example Judy Upton’s piece and Aidan Healy’s. Under the Tories more often than not ‘political theatre’ would appear to be no more than a call for the election of a Labour government. Now social criticism can perhaps lead audiences to question the system of government and the system of society itself.

Does political theatre have a vision of the future or does it look back longingly to a non-existent golden age of welfare capitalism?

There is no unified vision, that is for sure. But neither is there a sentimental looking back. Any truthful artistic critique of the present implies within it the possibility of a different future. We have joined together a range of critical voices - in all their individuality and uniqueness - to begin a culture of opposition. A common theme in the work is the alienation of people. An exploration of powerlessness has within it at some level implicit or explicit an agenda for people to take power.

Do you think a political theatre providing real answers is possible at this moment in time?

No. There is no mass progressive movement in society. Theatre must connect with where people are at.

In terms of those you approached to take part in the ‘Seeing red’ season was there any kind of political differentiation between those participating and those not?

You could say the older generation of writers were less forthcoming than the young. But to be fair that is in no small part explained by the older writers having their own up-and-running projects, overdue commissions, etc. Everyone I spoke to was tremendously supportive of the idea behind the season.

Do you think art and artistic criticism produces social change?

I think art can provoke. It can get people thinking, feeling and imagining. One way or the other that shifts consciousness. Whether or not that translates into political action is a very complex question. There is no direct relationship. In depends on the historical context. For example in 1968 there was a lot of revolutionary theatre. Artists question the status quo through their work, but that means keying into what exists. That can legitimately mean dealing with and exploring personal issues, individual crises and isolation. That was characteristic of the years of the Tory government. Of course, there was a negative side. Political theatre became for some almost a dirty word. The personal became depoliticised. We have taken a first step in reasserting, in re-establishing political theatre.

Seeing red

Part one: May 6-24
Fragmenting red by Tony Craze
Know your rights by Judy Upton
The head invents, the heart discovers by Peter Barnes
Election night in the yard by Roddy McDevitt
I’ll cry if I want to by Aidan Healy
The cows are mad by Jon Tompkins
The Mandelson files by Paul Sirret
The big idea by Helen Kelly

Part two: May 26-June 14
On the couch with Enoch by Tanika Gupta
The ballad of Bony Lairt by Roney Fraser-Munro
The (bogus) people’s poem by Kay Adshead

Part three: June 16-28
Made in England by Parv Bancil
Thanks mum by David Eldridge
Stick stack stock by Dona Daley
Slow drift by Rebecca Prichard
Les événements by James Macdonald

Venue: Battersea Art Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11.