Y Pwyllgor Diwylliant, y Gymraeg a Chwaraeon
Adolygiad Polisi: Ysgrifennu cyfrwng Saesneg yng Nghymru
Hijinx Theatre
New Writing for Theatre
New writing has not been a strategic priority in Wales in recent years and as a result the little support there was has been seriously eroded. New writing and new theatre productions are at the forefront of defining any nation’s cultural identity. In any country’s policy for theatre it is important to get the right balance of classic texts and new writing productions. Ireland has done this to great effect. Recent plays such as Dancing and Lughnassa, Stones in His Pockets, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Weir and many more have been widely produced throughout the world - some have been made into films. All this adds to the body of modern Irish work which includes the earlier writings of Sean O’Cassey, Eugene O’Neill, Brendan Behan etc. This highlights the profile of Ireland as a vibrant, diverse and proud cultural nation. In Wales we have some very talented and prolific writers. [One example being Charles Way who has written over 40 plays, many for children; during the Christmas period in 1999 three of his play were in performance in London at three different theatres; his work has been translated into many different languages, including Chinese.] Yet the structure to enable Welsh theatre companies to commission new work on a regular basis is withering away. At the time of Arts Council restructuring in 1999 the amount of money dedicated to the support of new writing declined significantly. And whilst the changes which brought about the birth of Sgript Cymru attempted to address this the investment of money in new writing has declined severely. New writing is not only about plays for large scale theatre venues but must include plays which tour to small community venues. The classic example of a play commissioned by a small touring company transferring to the West End and Broadway is Blood Brothers by Willie Russell, initially commissioned by Mersey Young People’s Theatre Company. This well illustrates how some of today’s new plays may well become tomorrow’s classics. New writing is about both the nurturing of new writers and the support of established writers. As a company who regularly produce two new plays a year which tour throughout Wales and England to largely non-theatre venues Hijinx have to constantly evaluate whether this is possible within our limited budget. We are not a designated "new writing" company and so there is no recognition of the costs of commissioning in our revenue grant. In the past additional grants from ACW to contribute towards commissioning fees was on a rather ad hoc basis. The current situation is commissioning comes within the remit of the Production & Audience development scheme (sadly the money has run out in this scheme until 31st March 2004). Constant discussions with our Board hinge around whether we can afford to commission or if we should produce an existing text. In planning terms we need to make the decision to commission at least eighteen months before production, it takes this long to write a play. If financial constraints continue we may well have to commission less. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s when the eight theatre in education companies also had a community theatre arm and commissioned new plays for adults on a regular basis. This is not the case now. Many of these companies continue to commission plays for children but not for adults. For many years now I have had a concern that continuous long-term under funding has resulted in the majority of new plays being written for only 4 performers because companies cannot afford bigger casts. It is often hard to generate and sustain audiences for new plays. New plays are by definition unknowns, harder for promoters to sell. Hijinx have worked hard at this over the years and try to minimise the risk element by a clear and comprehensive brief about the audience to the writer. As a result our audience figures have been pretty constant over the last 5 years and we have developed a strong network of venues throughout Wales who regularly book our work as well as a strong fan base. Many Universities in Wales now study the work of Ed Thomas. The GCE curriculum in English allows for studying new plays and writing a report for assessment, at least it does in England. We were approached last year by a school in Rugby for the script of Dreaming Amelia for this purpose - so a play by Sharon Morgan will form part of the course work of students at a school in the West Midlands. In recent years money has been invested in publishing plays, this is very welcome and needs to continue. In terms of what the Assembly can do to support new writing for theatre there needs to be a clear statement of commitment backed up by a ring-fenced increase in resources from ACW. This coupled with the recognition that the whole business of new writing is not dealt with by Sgript Cymru alone, but that other initiatives need to be supported as well. This will hopefully stop the decline in the number o plays being written and produced in Wales and in time contribute to a solid body of work of which we can all be justly proud.Val Hill
28th August 2003
