Residence- Bristols performance mafia, in a really positive way.
I have just returned from Prototype at The Tobacco Factory where 3 of the 6 performances were by members of Residence and not only did we all rocked in our own special ways, but we rocked in an absolute sense too.
But this post isn't just gratuitous self congratulation, there is a serious point to be made about the benefits of a being a member of a collective such as Residence...
Now usually scratch night feedback, from other artists, comes in the form of statement to the effect of:
"Hi, that was great, but it would have been much better if you had made it more like the kind of work I make."
This is the kind of feedback that tells you more about the person giving the feedback than the show they are supposedly commenting upon. It's informed by the almost monotheistic and certainly monomaniacal idea that "The work I make is the only true and beautiful way to make work!" So comments such as .... mean that....
It needed to be performed more: The person makes theatre.
It needed to be performed less: The person makes live art.
It needed to be more structured: The person makes narrative work.
It needed to be less structured: The person makes imagistic work.
It needed to be more musical: The person is a musician.
and so on...and so on...etc...etc...
This small mindedness is a hang-over from the fight-my-own-corner attitude that under funding and competition for resources can engender. It is also a function of artists inability to engage with the simple structure of criticism, William S. Burroughs of such insane books a Nake Lunch, put forward a very simple 3 stage process:
1. Understand what the artists is trying to do.
2. Understand how they have done it, and question how well that have done it.
3. Question whether it was worth doing at all.
Most artists, and indeed critics and people in general fall at the first hurdle: they fail to engage with or attempt to understand what the artist is actually trying to do. Not what they want to see, not what work they make themselves, not anything else. The artist isn't necessarily trying to please you, or even make work that you will like, so what is it, at core, that they are trying to do? Once you think you know this you can begin to engage critically with the work, otherwise your are simply acting like a Sideshow Mirror, reflecting the artist back at themselves only distorted by you own prejudices.
Next we take the beast apart, look under the bonnet and question the craftsmanship, just how good was the dance, music, improvisation, physical theatre, set, lighting etc...
Finally you make a judgement, was it worth doing at all, is it worth spending all that time and effort highlighting the plight of the shark; the artists fear of the dark; the mafia; the nature of wood; or the difficulty in making a truly great cup of tea?
The point that James from action hero made was that since being a member of Residence and coming into close contact with other artists making diverse types of work and indeed working together with them on a space, rather than against them for funding, he has found himself better able to meet work on it's own terms and give constructive feedback. So come on people lets try and meet work on it's own terms.
