HOW CAN I MAKE MY REHEARSAL PROCESS AS QUEER AS THE CONTENT OF THE SHOWS I MAKE?

Convener: Ben Webb

- Begin by defining queer (I can't!)
- Queer seems to me to be inherently undefinable, unplaceable, shifting...
- Can you define it by what it's not? Or do we just then end up with binaries?
- I am tired of the constant reiterative struggle to define - why can't we just do?
- ...but a working definition of queer would be useful (if not definitive)...
- The show doesn't need to be ready for opening night.
- It's useful to not knowing and not be right and create an environment where these things are possible (or even better encouraged).
- Queer theatre might be theatre that is not always the same (a process is by definition ongoing). Maybe stop thinking of theatre as a product.
- Keep your process moving.
- Process becomes the product. So enjoy that.
- Learn to craft process (the space where it happens) rather than the show... an open space.
- People bring predictability.
- Work out a of a conversation - multiple voices.
- There is an ethical imperatibe of paying close attention to who the people you work with really are = complexity.
- Derek Jarman's process. If you show up you're in the film. A community.
- Four principles to do: 1) Turn up 2) pay attention 3) Tell the truth 4) Don't be attached to the end result.
- Chaos (Declan Donnellan?)
- Queer artists tend to have a lived practice (a queer proposition) - how we live dissidently within the culture.
- Everything comes out through the work. You can't switch it off.
- Aren't you a working artist every moment of your day (and night). Reconsider rehearsal time. How does this effect the quality of the work?
- Initiate a process that enables us to love each other more as collaborators.
- Open Space as rehearsal (Improbable)
- Is rehearsal process resistant to Queer? Is rehearsal counter-revolutionary?
- Explore Anarchist ways of running meetings (hand signals / decentralisation).
- Is Queer anti-system?
- There are two stories on stage. The story you are telling plus the story of the company's experience together.
- Is there something queerly erotic about a strongly guided process- this is where we're going.
-There are many types of Queer.
- Telling people what to do is not being in control. You are never in control anyway.
- Phrasing things as questions/invitations can be useful.
- Tickle people into trying things they're not sure about (directing as seduction).
- Process work (what flirts with you today?)
- It's always people, people, people.
- Check in/check out every day (create a space for weakness).
- Queer = un/anticapitalist.