Episode 7 - Spectacle Theatre
Into each life a little shame must fall.
Previously on This Writer’s Journey
I’ve moved to Wales to work as an actor-teacher in the brand new Mid Glamorgan Theatre in Education company. I’m living in a garret. I’m still not writing.
When in Wales, an English speaker from outside Wales should approach any word containing a double L with caution and respect.
Regular readers might remember that Mid Glamorgan TIE was based in an old junior school in a village called Gelli. This being Wales, you won’t be surprised when I tell you that the word was not pronounced to rhyme with jelly.
To say Gelli properly, you must start with a hard G , follow it with a short e and then twist your tongue at the back of your mouth while making a guttural sound, before you hit the final i.
I practice and practice until I can say Gelli more or less the right way.
The company believes that everyone should have access to stories that resonate with their lives. We will go out into the communities, we will talk to the people of the valleys, we will listen, we will go back to base, we will create our shows and then we will take them, in our ancient Transit van, back out to the local schools and community halls. TIE and community theatre, we believe, when prepared and performed to the highest standards, can empower people and be a force for change.
Are we idealistic? Yes. Are we naïve? Possibly. Do we achieve our aims? Empowerment and change are slippery things to quantify.
The local education authority has given us the use of two rooms in the school.
There’s a large draughty classroom that we use as our Company Office, Meeting Room and Green Room.
Do we really call it the Green Room, or is that memory playing a trick?
For rehearsals we have use of the old gym. Climbing ropes still swing from the ceiling and the walls are lined with vaulting horses and gym benches.
On the gym/rehearsal room floor, we improvise our productions together. We start with an idea, try out some scenarios, work towards a story. From what seems to be chaos, a shape emerges: characters, narrative, subtext. Even when we’re on the road, the process continues. We’re constantly asking ourselves what works, what doesn’t? Why? Should we change something? What?
We don’t create every production from scratch. One of our shows is an environmental piece, devised by Coventry Belgrade TIE, about working with, not against, the environment. Mother Earth, Father Sky is designed for classes of young children, aged between five and seven. I play a few parts in the show, including a buffalo. My buffalo has a persistent sniff and gets a lot of laughs.
The Local Education Authority asks us to do a touring production of that year’s set Shakespeare text for sixteen year olds: The Merchant of Venice. We’re not keen, but as well as the use of the school, they’re also giving us some money, so we agree. Again, I play several parts. One of my roles is Gobbo the clown, to whom I give a marshmallow habit. Gobbo gets a lot of laughs too.
If there’s anything headier than making a roomful of children laugh, I don’t know what it is.
If you can make an audience laugh, you can get them on your side. And when you’ve got them on your side, they might allow you to ask them to think, and maybe even cry a little.
Somewhere in the midst of all this creative stuff we’ve raised enough funding to expand to a company of nine. When the new people join us, we rename ourselves Spectacle Theatre.
In a fast forward to 2024, I’m delighted to say that Spectacle Theatre still exists. To see what they’re doing now (and it’s impressive) here’s a link. Spectacle Theatre.
Back to the story.
Way back then, Spectacle Theatre runs as a co-operative. All policy decisions - artistic, financial, administrative - are hammered out around the company table. The company meetings can sometimes drag on, and tempers can get a bit frayed, but after the grunt work of the ballet company, I love the shared responsibility.
There is an equal pay policy. We pay ourselves seventy pounds a week.
My eighteen months at Spectacle is pivotal. It is inspiring. Encountering new ideas, researching the work, creating it on the floor, I can feel my brain expanding.
In the evenings, the members of the company often go out together for a film or a curry. Frequently, though, I choose to spend the evenings in my bedsit, where I prop myself up on my bed and read. Twisty murder mysteries, incomprehensible spy stories, gloomy Russian classics. My days are intense and it can be a relief to sink into the peace of my own thoughts.
And another thing: the story-making on the rehearsal room floor is starting to make my fingers itch.
Here’s what PG Wodehouse has to say about the itch:
I never feel really comfortable unless I am either writing or have a story going.
After a few weeks, I shift the rickety table to a spot beneath the window, perch on the wonky chair and stare out at the neglected back gardens of unloved, multi-occupied houses. I reach for my pen and jot down a scrap of something.
The bedsit begins to feel a bit more like home.
So. You read the subtitle at the top. Would you like to know about the shame?
Fair enough. Deep breath. Here goes.
Back at the start, when Spectacle Theatre was still Mid Glamorgan TIE, the local radio station asked if one of us could come in to talk about our work. The others all had other plans, so I said I was happy to do it.
The interviewer is friendly. He feeds me biscuits and tea and some great questions. I talk with passion of our mission.
And where are you based, he asks.
We’re based in an old school building, I tell him. In the village of -
Hard G, no problem. And then the short e. And then -
You’re right. The word that comes out of my mouth rhymes perfectly with -
Many, many years on, the memory still reddens my face.
I hope you’re enjoying my story.
If you are, you could show appreciation via the tip jar. Until the new year I will be donating all tips to Crisis - a UK charity for homeless people.
Delightful memories of making theatre with F all except imagination and talented company - I remember it well-different companies but same experience.