Guest Blog: Headlong's Rob Watt On ACTS OF RESISTANCE

"Without community there is no liberation. In our rallying and marching we rediscovered community in one another." Poet and activist Audre Lorde.

Our understanding of what 'community' means is ever changing at the moment. Our strange island is rupturing, splitting down the middle, its boarders being redefined. Our politicians are in a flat spin, the media have become prophets of good and evil, and binary has become a currency. Who we are and where we belong is resonant more than ever.

Our understanding of community theatre is also being redefined. For most, it conjures images of altruistic endeavours which are applauded, "but I wouldn't pay £20 to go and see it".

Like many artists and companies across this land, I am trying to shift the perception of what theatre made by communities can be. Companies like Slung Low, Company Three, and the new Public Acts programme at the National Theatre are all at the forefront of innovating and redefining the way theatre is made with non-professionals.

Two years ago, Headlong Theatre set up an outreach initiative called Headlong Futures, which brought writer Stef Smith and I together with the aim of creating a piece of work with different voices around the country. Over this time, we have been working with four communities across England to discover stories behind the fractured party lines of our country and ask how we can work together across generations, across backgrounds and across the nation.

We set up partnerships in Mansfield, Plymouth, Bristol, Kendal, and we listened; we played pool, drank tea, visited libraries, pubs and told stories. Our aim was to make a large-scale show which brought these communities together and put them centre stage. We will find out if we were successful on Sunday when we open Acts of Resistance at Bristol Old Vic.

I understand why theatres stay well away from making community theatre. It can be difficult. It takes time; you need to understand the community's world before you can introduce them to the world of theatre. It takes time to build trust and build the skills to make great stories.

You also have to work to the community's rhythms and timetable - not yours. Rehearsals will be in the evenings, at weekends, in lunch breaks.

Currently, this work also isn't seen as a viable income stream. On the whole, theatres don't market this work widely, shows aren't usually in the main houses, are usually short runs, and it is inevitably challenging to tour. In these financially crunchy times, theatres have to weigh up if they have the skills and resources to make work that may not make money.

Difficulties, however, for me are diminished as making work with communities is potent. There is an honesty and legitimacy that you get from working with community members that you just don't get working with professionals. They cut through the guff; it can be both exhilarating and, at times, eye-watering. Stef and I were clear that this wasn't an autobiographical nor a verbatim project, but a place where communities were able to tell the stories of their home through made-up characters.

With a nation obsessed with the notion of diversity rather than delivering it, I am most excited that we have been able to nurture a wonderfully distinct company. We have a cast of 36 actors who are made up exclusively from members of regional communities; where else will you get to hear such a range of broad, beautiful and authentic accents on one stage?

Headlong Theatre have been open and bold enough to make this happen; to not sideline this work into a department, but to do what it knows best - make brilliant shows.

I learnt my trade working as an Associate Director for Immediate Theatre, an innovative theatre company engaging communities to tell stories and evoke change. What I learnt on those estates and what I champion now, is that theatre should not be defined by the people who make it but the stories they tell, the journeys it takes you on and the impact it leaves.

Acts of Resistance at Bristol Old Vic 7-8 April

Picture credit: Richard Davenport

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