Making art in public and creating a source of inspiration for the community can be the most rewarding thing an artist ever does. However, it can be an awful experience for everyone, leaving the public feeling the work is irrelevant and the artists feeling they?ve been compromised. Ladder to the Moon was set up five years ago in South London to create theatre for those who wouldn?t normally experience it, recalls Justine de Mierre. Making theatre in public ? and finding a way to avoid these pitfalls ? was a priority. We?ve found that the keys to success are good consultation, public involvement and a belief that everyone deserves high quality work from imaginative professional artists.
Consultation for us is not about checking that what we?ve already decided is okay; rather, it is about gathering our sources of inspiration. For example, in our hospital projects, we meet with patients, staff and visitors and try to get a sense of what the place and the people are like. What activities have worked? What fascinating stories are there? What are people?s passions, beliefs, ideas? As the artistic team collects and researches these answers, we are constantly brainstorming our artistic response to the discoveries ? integrity is essential for that response to be a genuine, meaningful one.
For example, consultation for our Springfield Hospital project (for older people with mental health problems) revealed, among other things, that patients were interested in both glamour and technical innovations, enjoyed dancing, were happiest when courting and some had been affected by wartime trauma. The artistic team?s response involved a 1930s Hollywood director and budding starlet making a musical comedy ? and falling in love! ? thus incorporating the glamour, dancing, courting, not triggering trauma and allowing patients to help characters deal with new filming technology.
Consultation, though, is rarely enough if you?re trying to reach people who are turned off by traditional theatre. We have questioned form and presentation and so created what we call ?Connective Theatre? ? involving direct, two-way, meaningful connections between characters and audience. Connections have been as simple as a character sprinkling fairy dust for a sad woman at a bus stop and seeing her smile, or as complex as the relationship that develops between patients and characters in our hospital work, where characters play out scenarios over three weeks of daily visits. At Springfield, for example, the 1930s Hollywood Director, Jack, arrived in the hospital day rooms with cameras and costumes and auditioned patients and local 1930s Tooting girl, Betty, to be in his movie. Over the three weeks patients helped with filming, rehearsed, came up with scenes ? the walking stick sword fights were one of their more bizarre! ? and helped Betty overcome her shyness and win the man of her dreams. Patients even arranged for the hospital chaplain to marry the characters at the end of the three weeks.
Connective theatre characters involve audiences by needing their help ? such as the sailor needing help to find his mermaid and advice on how to propose! It?s these bizarre requests, delivered as if utterly normal ? ?Excuse me, have you seen my mermaid?? ? that surprise and amuse the public into interacting before they?ve really thought about it. The actor-improvisers are then able to play out their story and respond directly to the needs and suggestions of the audience.
Using this technique, we?ve created characters for streets, parks, shopping centres, riversides and schools as well as hospitals. The method of consultation varies for different environments but the principle remains the same ? to be inspired by the people and environment, and create something that affects people after the characters have left. For hospital patients, that might be the new friendships they?ve made with fellow patients or staff; for street characters, it may be more subtle. For example, Ebe, a guardian of Clapham Junction (created for Black History Month celebrations) lived in a local clock tower, which at night is always lit purple ? the characters told everyone they met that this was Ebe?s aura watching over the town. Now those people have been given a reason to look up and look at a bit of their world differently, and that is what we think all good public art should do.
Justine de Mierre is Artistic Director of Ladder to the Moon. e: justine@laddertothemoon.co.uk; w: http://www.laddertothemoon.co.uk