Theatre can happen anywhere, anytime, and in any form. Today during the final presentations for the Contemporary Scottish Theatre class, I found this to be incredibly true. I had the pleasure of seeing three scratch performances of devised pieces that were in no doubt a testament to how many talented people we have in our company for Forget Fire. From a feminist manifesto, to a trashy experience, to a questioning of grass, I got to see how creative and collective experimentation could lead to greatness. Each individual scratch performance had the through line of activism, which was surprisingly not an enforced theme. I find that incredibly interesting. Nowadays we live in a world where you see a lot of people starting to voice their opinions and speak out against what people think isn’t right. To see that reflected in a theatre setting with young artists is phenomenal. It got me thinking about how powerful theatre is. You can take an idea, nurture it, devise the heck out of it, and get a product that can be profound, funny, poignant, experimental, shocking, artistic, and just plain important to see.
Aside from the great performance work the groups did, they put an immense amount of time into a project that mirrors the process of actually putting up a devised piece. They filled out funding applications, got producers, wrote letters, and did it all while having rehearsal for our show (something I commend them greatly for being able to do). It just reminds me no matter how much you have going on, there is always time to step back and reflect on what you’ve done. Watching my fellow company members put up their “babies” they’ve been working on reminded me about how Forget Fire’s opening show is coming up soon and I can finally say our baby has come a long way!
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