SPILL Symposium

Produced in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency, the SPILL Symposium will take place at Soho Theatre, London on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April 2007 from 10.00 to 17.30.

What are the possibilities of radical, contemporary performance: what forms can it take, where can it be located, what can it do, and who can it be for?  A gathering of influential international artists, producers and commentators will discuss different strategies of performance making and presenting, and new ways of activating audiences.

The SPILL Symposium hopes to unpack some of the baggage associated with 'experimental' and 'radical' theatre and performance practices, look at the kinds of work we would like to see in our cultural centres, and consider why these kinds of work are important and who they might be important to.

The two day Symposium sets out to consider different ways of working with the production, presentation, distribution and discussion of contemporary theatre and performance practices, and propose new models for a more sustainable future. The first day of the symposium will be structured around conceptual issues: polemics and presentations asking what kind of forms contemporary theatre and performance can take, what are the lineages of such work, who are they for, where can they be located, what can they do and say, what can be said about them, and why they are important.  The second day will be structured around more practical and discussions: case studies and models of practices around these questions and particularly in relation to the making and touring of contemporary work, to the sharing of existing models, and to the propositions of future strategies for cultural frameworks, critical dialogues and new audiences.
 
Day One – Thursday 12 April
Morning 10.00 – 13.00

Opening Polemic: Tim Etchells

Session 1: The range of lineages and ideas which inform and shape contemporary radical theatre and performance making.  
Speakers: Cindy Oswin, Adrian Heathfield
Chair: Claire MacDonald

Session 2: The significance and cultural value of experimental theatre and performance practices, their relation to other disciplines and potential to affect cultural change.  
Speakers: Tom Trevor, Leslie Hill
Chair: Claire MacDonald
Afternoon 14.00 – 17.30

Session 3: The ideas and experiences this kind of work can offer and the kinds of audiences can it offer them to.
Speakers: Hannah Hurtzig, Gregg Whelan, Karena Johnson
Chair: Stella Hall

Session 4: The locations, contexts and discourses these kinds of practices can occupy and activate.
Speakers: Simon Casson, Marisa Carnesky, Judith Knight
Chair: Stella Hall
 

Day Two – Friday 13 April
Morning 10.00 – 12.30

Opening Polemic:  Christine Peters
Session 5: What kind of models exist, or might exist, that can respond to the kind of touring work that changes and evolves as it moves from location to location, context to context, and constituency to constituency.
Speakers: Keith Khan, Tilmann Broszat
Chair:  Angharad Wynne-Jones

Session 6: Creating equitable and reciprocal dialogues, networks and resources amongst artists and producers, and exploring the responsibilities of artists and producers to the contexts they are working within.
Speakers: Rose Fenton, Phelim McDermott
Chair:  Angharad Wynne-Jones
Afternoon 13.45– 17.30

Session 7: Talking about it: the development of new contexts, new languages, and new cultural frameworks?
Speakers: Louise Jeffries, Lyn Gardner, Ju Row Farr
Chair:  Lois Weaver

Session 8: Who are tomorrow’s audiences, where will they come from, what do they want, where should they go to find it, and how can artists, producers and venues adapt to working with different audiences?
Speakers: Helen Marriage, Robert Pacitti, Mike Christie/Mike Smith.
Chair:  Lois Weaver

Tickets: £50 full price, £30 concessions, £25 New Work Network members.  Booking information www.spillfestival.com/