Rachel Shimell looks at a new international theatre co-production between the UKs Forest Forge and Canadas Theatre Newfoundland Labrador.
This month sees a new international theatre co-production, New Found Land, embarking on a fully booked tour of small rural venues in the south-west of England. All the more remarkable is that the UK theatre company involved is tiny Forest Forge. New Found Land is a co-production between Forest Forge and Theatre Newfoundland Labrador, Canada (TNL). The play is divided into two parts, Winter, by English writer Nell Leyshon, and One Foot Wet, by Canadian Robert Chafe. The cast calls for a mix of English and Canadian actors, with Leyshons play set in 19th century Newfoundland and Chafes in 21st century England. So how did it come about?
Sean Aita, Artistic Director of Forest Forge, explains, Nell and I saw one of Robert Chafes plays, Tempting Providence, in Poole, when it toured England three years ago. We were both interested in the historical links between the west of England and the Province of Newfoundland, and wanted to do a piece based around this connection. (Over 80% of the English-speaking inhabitants of the province emigrated from Wessex in the 19th century). I began by contacting TNL, who had produced the performance, and then made a bid to Arts Council England, South East for support to explore the potential to develop a co-production. The Arts Councils policy of supporting and promoting international work, introduced in its policy documents covering 20072011, has been immensely beneficial to the success of the project without their support a small company like Forest Forge could not have developed such an ambitious proposal. We received a research and development grant from Grants for the Arts. Once the details of the project were put in place, this was followed by a grant covering the additional costs of the international element of the co-production. Fortunately TNL and ourselves produce our work in a complementary pattern they do a show in the summer, we do one in autumn so we were able to link our production process so that the main costs of production were born through our core funding.
When asked if he would want to do something like this again, Sean answers, Most certainly! But an international co-production is a complex process and not one to get into lightly. If the company is outside the European Union you require a work permit for each performer who enters the UK. There are very specific criteria, and ensuring that all of your arrangements and documentation conform to the regulations is crucial. We had a comprehensive co-production agreement which laid out what each companys responsibilities were. However, dotting the is and crossing the ts on the contract took a great deal of time and negotiation. Luckily we all got on well and trusted one another from the outset. It is essential to know that the organisation you are working with is financially sound and well managed particularly if you are expecting your actors to spend time working abroad with them. In our case, the company has been an International Theatre Council approved manager for most of its 25 year existence. TNL is a signatory to the Canadian PACT agreement with Canadian Equity, and has been operating for over ten years.
Sean explains that actors union Equity was highly supportive of the project, &I think because they recognised that there was a genuine exchange we sent two performers to Canada for seven weeks and brought two actors from Newfoundland to the UK for the same length of time. There was also a strong artistic reason to support the proposal as the production is all about a sharing of cultural heritage between the west of England and the province of Newfoundland. They liaised closely with Canadian Equity and assured themselves that the terms and conditions we would be offering the actors were appropriate and that the project would be beneficial to British performers. As with all co-productions there have to be genuine benefits to the companies involved. Our designer and TNLs designer have worked together; Nell and Robert have explored a new process for making theatre; TNL and Forest Forge have a new piece of theatre created by two award winning writers; and two sets of actors have experienced what it is like to work in one anothers countries.
Rachel Shimell works for RM Communications. New Found Land tours until the end of October.
e: rachel@rmcomms.co.uk