“How we made The Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club, and the wider role of making site-specific theatre in the North East”

Presented at the Literary & Philosophical Society by European Players, in association with Culture North East, on 17th October, 2007 at 7.30pm

The nature of theatre is changing. An exhibition at the V&A called Collaborators: UK Design for Performance demonstrates how the boundaries between designers, writers and directors are blurring. In the making of The Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club everyone got involved in all aspects of creating the show, from the cleaners and caretakers at the Lit &Phil who led us on bizarre journeys throughout the buildings, recounting familiar incidents and stories, to our PR consultant Richard Bliss, who ended up taking on a major role in the finished performance. The development and making of theatre in a site-specific context has certainly contributed to this new collaborative approach. The Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club was a site-specifc theatre performance and the buildings were the stars of the show, taking on a major role within the finished performances. Negotiating with staff and visitors created its own energy and narrative, creating the theatrical format and the shape of the ‘guided tours’, which became The Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club.

Cinzia Hardy, Creative Producer, European Players

Chair: Stella Hall (Creative Director Culture¹⁰)Speakers: Cinzia Hardy (Creative Producer, European Players); Alison Andrews (Scenographer & Director, Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club); Maurice O’Connell (Contributing Artist, Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club); Kay Easson (Head Librarian, Lit & Phil); Richard Gray (Development Director, Lit & Phil and the Mining Institute); Adele Evitt (Performer with Northern Stage’s Performance Group); Chris Moad (Performer with Northern Stage’s Performance Group); Pauline Beaumont (Chief Executive, Culture North East); Geraldine Pilgrim (Artist & Creative Director, Hesitate & Demonstrate).

Following 25 critically acclaimed performances of the Novocastrian Philosophers Club (NPC) at the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute over the month of September ’07, the purpose of this free, public event was to discuss how and why the performance was made; how the experience of working in this way was for the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute; the role of the Northern Stage Performance Group in making the piece; and the wider role of working in a site-specific context in the North East of England and what might happen next as a result of this discussion.

The main points that emerged from the discussion were:

• The success of the project lay in a shared ownership of the working process from the outset, by all partners and participants. Clear channels of communication, trust and mutual respect between all parties concerned contributed to the final success of the finished piece.
• By highlighting the more human and personal stories of the organisations and focussing on some of the less known spaces within the buildings, the performance succeeded in making the organisations’ histories and collections relevant to a contemporary audience. This subsequently attracted a new group of people into the buildings and allowed others to re-establish more personal connections.  

• The performances revealed the potential for how the buildings can be used in the future.
• The relationship of the NPC to the ‘place’ where it was devised and performed (i.e. the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute) was crucial to the success of the project. This ‘site specific’ theatre performance allowed a small number of audiences at a time to “see everything differently”, so that unknown places such as the Mining Institute library came to the fore. The buildings were the key players and this is what made the performances such a precious experience for many audiences – it couldn’t have happened anywhere else.

• The possibilities of regarding the region as a stage are endless. The NPC has raised many questions about a new direction for making and presenting theatre in the region.

 

SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION

How and why the performance was made
Cinzia Hardy, Alison Andrews and Maurice O’Connell described how their working relationship came about in the mid 1990s through a project called Dialogues, and their subsequent work together in Dublin’s Temple Bar area in 2000 on a site-specific performance called If the dead could go shopping what would they buy? It was this unusual performance piece in Dublin that provided the idea for developing a theatrical guided tour within the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute in Newcastle. The creation of a fictitious society, i.e. the Novocastrian Philosophers, and the real history, stories and mythologies of the buildings and of the people who inhabit them, became the starting point for the creation of the show.

Led by Alison Andrews and Maurice O’Connell, the show was devised jointly with the Northern Stage Performance Group, the Creative Team and staff, members and visitors to the buildings. Roles and responsibilities were clearly defined. Avenues of communication were identified and respected to ensure all partners and participants were fully engaged in the process. Alison Andrew’s role as Scenographer meant that she was writing text as it developed through the devising process, in situ. Maurice O’Connell described how during his early career as a sculptor he discovered that people were more interested in the conversations about his work rather than the work itself. He discussed the role of ‘playfulness’ and ‘curiosity’ that became a feature of the devising process, so that real stories about the buildings would become ‘Novocasrianised’. “Everything here is true” said Maurice “but not necessarily real”. This sense of playfulness was evident in the performances, allowing for additions and changes to be made at the last moment, in response to different audiences. The very personal relationship the performers were able to establish with different audiences has been highlighted as one of the performance’s greatest strengths.

One of the original aims of the project had been to create a vehicle for the public to re-establish a connection with these significant buildings and the collections held within them, removing the ‘fear of the threshold’ by inviting the public to take a very special tour and to rewrite the cultural stories that are attached to them. By inviting the public to interact with the buildings and collections in this way, the Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club invited the public (i.e. audiences) to become part of the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute’s future.

How the experience of working in this way was for the Lit & Phil and Mining Institute
Richard Gray described how his role (that straddles both organisations) is to give both organisations a sustainable future. He explained how the buildings are about history and that what takes place within them is about history, and how that can be difficult to decipher as a visitor to the buildings. What is important is to make the history a living history, a history that is relevant to today’s new visitors. It was this that the Novocastrian Philosophers’ Club (NPC) had achieved so well. From the very early planning stages eighteen months ago, Cinzia and her team had engaged with the day to day running of the organisations, acknowledging the challenges and opportunities. Kay Easson reminded the audience how the Lit & Phil had been the largest and oldest cultural institution in the North East, with its heyday in the 18th Century. Since then its status had diminished, hence the organisational aims for the NPC project were:

• To let more people know about their existence
• To encourage more people through the door
• To shatter the myths surrounding both institutions
• To show the buildings in a new light
• To raise their credibility as an artistic centre of excellence

The NPC project was a risky option to achieve the above – no script existed at the start and was based purely on a performance that had worked in Ireland. However, the proposal was original and exciting and the Board was totally behind it from the start. A strong relationship developed between the creative team and the institutions, based on genuine dialogue and sensitivity to the needs and requirements of the historic buildings and the people who use them. Kay described an amusing incident after the first performance when “an elderly gentleman came to the desk and said ‘there appears to be a large snake in the Reference Room, blocking access to the Wesley Historical Collection. May I ask when it will be removed?’ No animosity was intended – he was just stating a fact”. One of the strengths of the working process was how Cinzia and her team ensured they got to know as many staff members as possible – from the cleaners in the morning to the caretakers at night. A major achievement of the project was definitely how the NPC revealed the potential for how the buildings can be used, and some people have been genuinely moved by the experience. Kay described how she found the NPC an “unforgettable and thrilling experience” and asked whether we were seeing a new theatrical tradition establish itself in the North East? 

Questions from the audience highlighted that one member of the Lit & Phil, albeit enjoying the performance, felt she had not been consulted about last minute closures to the library. Richard Gray and Kay Easson acknowledged that managing a project the size of the NPC had been a steep learning curve for both institutions, that they had made mistakes but had learned many lessons along the way that were sure to stand them in good stead for the future.

Stella Hall reiterated that two main points that had emerged so far in relation to managing a successful site-specific project such as the NPC were trust and mutual respect.

Other comments from the audience included the importance of acknowledging the generosity of the staff within the institutions. A librarian spoke passionately about the fact that, for all the success of the production, ultimately it was the staff that made the Lit & Phil an accessible and welcoming place and their contribution should be recognised. “The atmosphere comes from the staff. We are very strongly tied to the building.” A respondent suggested, “What goes on here [in the two buildings] was honoured by the piece.”

“The NPC got to the heart, to the very essence of what the Lit & Phil is about” was another audience comment, and another that “This was audience development par excellence….the show managed to absorb people like me into the building. I’d never been to the Lit & Phil before but I love the theatre. The NPC got me in here and now I feel like I’m part of the fabric of the place…I’ll never forget that strange receptionist asking me for my favourite colour!”.

The role of the Northern Stage Performance Group
(For information about the performance group see: www.northernstage.co.uk)
Two members of the Performance Group were asked to describe what drew them to this project. They described how they trusted Northern Stage to offer them only good performance opportunities and that they had both enjoyed the Creative Team’s working method for devising material. Adele Evitt told the audience how through the process she had discovered her great grandfather’s connection to the Lit & Phil. For further information about the Performance Group’s experience of working on the NPC please see can we have a link to the Project Evaluation Report here?

The wider role of working in a site-specific context in the North East of England
Pauline Beaumont and Geraldine Pilgrim each spoke about making theatre in terms of connecting to a specific place from their individual perspectives.

As an audience member and CEO of Culture North East, Pauline Beaumont described how she had found the NPC an affecting and moving theatre performance. It had felt generous, an experience of being given to throughout. The role that both institutions had played in the performance was important. Creating a new theatre performance within a living and working building must have been an enormous challenge for everyone concerned - “they did the big things well - the ideas, the use of the space; the attention to detail was faultless too, I'm still marvelling over my gold-ribboned box, the talking books and that wondrous owl. Knowing the buildings, I shared in the feeling that I expect you all had, that you were giving the audience a treat, letting them into a secret. The Lit & Phil & Mining Institute was very much a player in the piece, a star performer. Over the weekend I read a review of the current Scottish National Theatre production. As you'll know they don't have a theatre, this piece takes place in a forest. It was being raved about. There are obvious parallels with what the NPC have done”

Pauline highlighted the issue of relationships to places. The NPC enabled the audience to “see everything differently” and brought unknown places such as the Mining Institute library to the fore. The “Place” was a key player in the NPC and this is what made it such a precious experience – it couldn’t have happened anywhere else.

Cinzia Hardy reiterated that making theatre in a site-specific context takes time – in this case a planning, development and production period of 18 months. Taking time to build the necessary relationships is important and can be enormously rewarding. However, to reproduce the NPC elsewhere would require time to respond to a new locality, so as to root the performance within a new context. It was also important to remember that making site-specific theatre was just different to, not better than working inside a conventional theatre. But as Pauline Beaumont said, the removal of the 4th wall of the theatre can make for a more intimate experience. In this case, the small number of audience (15 per performance) also made for a scary and rich experience. The value of the hand made objects (i.e. the personalised book boxes and the afternoon tea installation made by Nicola Gartland and Anna Hedworth of xsite culture) also largely contributed to this personalised experience. 
 
“I think the possibilities of regarding the region as a stage are endless so thank you for making this wonderful piece and for raising the questions we need to be asking about an additional new direction for theatre in the region” (Pauline Beaumont).

Finally, Geraldine Pilgrim spoke about her experience as an artist who has been working in a site-specific context for some time.  Geraldine specialises in performance installations in unusual buildings. She uses the architecture of a site as the narrative, gradually revealing memories, atmospheres and subtle essences. The performances appear to peel away different layers of wallpaper, releasing the ghost of the building’s past, whilst being aware of its present condition and imagining its future. Geraldine described some of her most recent projects, including Dreams of a Winter Night, an installation commissioned by English Heritage as part of Picture House at Belsay Hall, Deep End in Marshall Street Baths, Soho, Sea View at the NRLA Glasgow and Spa at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, Euston.

In December 2007, her Enchanted Parks will see Newcastle's Leazes Park and Gateshead's Saltwell Park brought to life with atmospheric installations, light, sound and mesmerising live performances.

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