From Ovalhouse to Hoxton Hall, Karena Johnson reflects on her career making theatre with cojones.
Artistic Director & CEO, Hoxton Hall (2015 – present)
I have completed my first year at the magical music hall that is Hoxton Hall. I was attracted to the role because of the Hall’s Cinderella status – it was an amazing beauty that hadn’t had a chance to shine.
It has been a momentous year: reopening after a £2 million capital restoration, creating a new vision “to be a home for contemporary variety” and, for the first time in over 145 years, delivering a continuous professional performance programme.
This is my latest challenge, in a career driven by a desire to make art and art spaces inclusive, accessible and respond to location. We are developing a new audience from scratch in one of London's hottest creative industry hubs. Being on the border between trendy hipster Hoxton and the working class multiculturalism of old Hackney, I am excited about using art to bring contrasting communities together.
CEO/Artistic Director, The Broadway, Barking (2009 – 2014)
My fascination with using art to enable communities to discover each other’s complexities and to disrupt mythologies continues from my work in Barking. In contrast, the theatre was a modern space where I inherited declining audiences and a programme with echoes of ‘the end of the pier’.
My approach was to put on work that spoke to the people I actually saw on the street, rather than the tabloid fantasy that had become synonymous with the borough.
My proudest achievement was delivering the SPIN season that responded to the 2010 election, particularly the local race between Labour and the BNP. It included a new play, a revival, a gig and interventions by emerging young artists.
The reaction from audiences and threats from the BNP made me sure I was doing the right thing. Although it was, of course, a little scary. I was nominated for a special TMA award, irreverently titled “for theatre with cojones,” for this work.
Director, Loud Talkin’ (2007 – present)
I have maintained my practice as a theatre director throughout my career. I created my second company, Loud Talkin’, in 2007 to make projects that provoke. While these projects do not always fit in the venues I lead, there is a common thread between my work in buildings and as a freelance theatre director: the marginalised voice.
I have collaborated internationally on a long-form improvised performance about fortress Europe that toured an 800 square metre maze to four countries around the Black Sea, and I have co-produced a site-inspired production at The Old Operating Theatre in London.
My preoccupations were expanded when I encountered the disenfranchised white working class demographic, hungry for work that reflected their concerns. In response, I developed ‘The Royal Duchess Superstore’ with young writer Jonny O’Neill, exploring the pace of change in East London.
I am currently developing a new piece, inspired by a song and historical events, for which I am the conceptualiser: I am bringing together a collaborative group including a playwright, a poet, actors, a sound designer and ten generous interviewees.
Acting Artistic Director, Contact, Manchester (2005 – 2006)
This was the first time I took ultimate responsibility for a whole building, while the Artistic Director was on an 18-month sabbatical. This multi-art form space, with its focus on young people and healthy resources, was a brilliant place to experience this role for the first time.
I realised that it I was a good fit about three weeks in, when someone came in to my office to ask a question and I answered automatically. I was using my knowledge, my voice. I was comfortable taking the lead. By the end of my tenure, I had established a third informal performance space in the venue call Contact Lounge.
Head of Theatre Programming, Oval House Theatre (2000 – 2005)
My first artistic leadership role was at Ovalhouse in South London. I had the freedom to create a vision that really communicated with the area, which I knew intimately since I had been a youth participant 12 years earlier. With its focus on emerging artists, this was a venue where artistic experimentation was core, diversity was normal and box office income was not the driver, because of the size of the performance spaces.
It was an exciting time. This was where my intersectional career began: the roles of artist practitioner, producer and enabler worked harmoniously and I was never asked to choose. It is also where I gained my ‘pioneer’ strap line, by being ‘the first black woman to…’, which I have yet to shake.
I feel lucky to have a career ladder led by my core beliefs. I am an artist who has the keys to the house. I force myself to remember this on the days dominated by finance or political manoeuvring that are all too necessary in leadership roles in the arts.
Karena Johnson is Artistic Director & CEO of Hoxton Hall.
www.hoxtonhall.co.uk
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