Ah… writers… some of my favourite people. And playwrights – my favourite – whom I refer to as “sociable hermits.” Playwrighting is one of the most difficult writerly forms because it is so collaborative.

One playwright recently wrote on my Facebook Wall: “Why do plays take such a long time to write?”

And I responded with two thoughts:

“Because the voices in your head keep squabbling?”

“Because there are 26 letters in the alphabet and you’ve only got 8 fingers (and 2 thumbs?) – if you had 26 fingers I think it would be 3 times faster.”

Being a writer is quite a solitary act. Being alone alot can result in paranoia and self-interrogation and over-thinking and insomnia. Combine that with a rehearsal room full of attractive, ambitious, talented, intelligent actors and director – and it can be extremely challenging.

Being a playwright takes great audacity, great vision and sturdy self-awareness. It also takes time and people skills.

So I’m a fan of writers – I direct them, I produce them, I review them. And I am honoured to be talking on a couple of panels at the NSW Writer’s Centre’s Playwriting Festival… It’s on the 3rd March, I hope to see you there!

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The blurb of the Writer’s centre goes like this:

“The NSW Writers’ Centre is a government funded not for profit organisation that exists to promote writing-based culture and the rights and interests of writers in NSW. The Centre provides a dynamic program of activities each year including writing workshops, course for writers, publishing seminars, festivals for writers and writing competitions, as well as providing mentorship opportunities, manuscript assessments and providing support for writers and writing organisations in Sydney and across New South Wales.”

The blurb of the Playwrighting Festival goes like this:
The first in our festival program for 2012 is the Playwriting Festival curated by award winning writer Kate Mulvany.

The Playwriting Festival will bring together some of Australia’s best and brightest playwrights, dramaturgs, artistic directors and reviewers including Van Badham, Vanessa Bates, Wayne Blair, Jane Bodie, Fraser Corfield, Duncan Graham, Kevin Jackson, Andrea James, Leland Kean, Mark Kilmurry, John McCallum, Tony McNamara, Tommy Murphy, Debra Oswald, Lachlan Philpott, Polly Rowe, Diana Simmonds, Sam Strong, Augusta Supple, Alana Valentine and more to be announced.

The program will cover the craft and business of playwriting with panels on the changing face of Australian playwriting; the pros and cons of working with directors and dramaturgs; what mainstage theatre companies are looking for; working in the fringe theatre scene; the reviewed versus the reviewer; and the playwright’s role in the production process. A full program will be released very soon.

There will be script sales, gourmet food and coffee, plenty of free parking and you are welcome to join us on the veranda at the end of the day for a complimentary post-festival drink. NSW Writers’ Centre members also receive a generous discount on festival bookings.

Bookings can be made from 30 January. NSW Writers’ Centre Members $55 / Concession Members $45 / Non-members $80.

Kate Mulvany

Kate’s play The Danger Age was shortlisted for the Sydney Theatre Company 2004 Patrick White Playwright’s Award and she was the winner of the 2004 Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award, for which she was commissioned by Belvoir to write The Seed. The Seed went on to win the Best Independent Production and was nominated for Best New Australian Work at the 2007 Sydney Theatre Critics’ Awards. It was also nominated in 2008 for an AWGIE Award, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and received a honourable mention in the Asher Awards. After two sell-out seasons at Belvoir The Seed went on to tour Australia and in 2012 it makes its Melbourne premiere for Melbourne Theatre Company. In 2009, Kate’s play The Web was co-produced by Black Swan Theatre Company and Hothouse Theatre Company. In 2010, her play The Wreath was developed for Bell Shakespeare’s Minds Eye initiative, and she completed a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which toured Australia in 2011 for Bell Shakespeare.

CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE: http://www.nswwc.org.au/?page_id=1613

Well thank goodness that’s over! I don’t know about you, but 2011 was a weird one.

It was a melee a hubbub of choices, realisations, conversations, applications, squabbles, offers, acceptances, approaches, debates and near misses. I had cleared the decks – ended my long-term relationship with one of the nicest botanists Canada has produced, left a job I loved, stepped away from my much loved annual projects, and decided that 2011 would be a fallow year for me.

A quiet year.

A year off.

Instead of my usual large scale multi-playwright productions I decided to sit back and see who of all the playwrights and artists I have worked with/commissioned/coffeed who would come to me. I decided to dedicated myself to being available to be approached by any/all artists… and I decided I would try just reviewing… or even try to get a job at a theatre company (end my years of hard-slog independence – after all I felt in the need of shelter after a fairly tumultuous upheaval of job/love/life/identity)… I decided 2011 would be small, quiet and I would not launch anything big. I decided that I would spend a year listening and watching… a year of reading and inhaling.

In 2011 I saw 134 shows and wrote 128 reviews (that’s approx 120,000 words). I directed 11 playlettes in 3 months (equating to nearly 3 hours of stage content). I wrote 10 columns discussing the Australian cultural landscape. I met with many people about starting a Writer’s Theatre in Sydney. I held three play readings in my living room. I was nominated for a Sidney Myer Fellowship by some of my industry heroes. I wrote two lots of rehearsal observation for Michal Imielski. I was quoted nationally and internationally about cultural stuff I ranted about – mainly to do with theatre criticsm, sexism/ portrayal of women in plays, the culture of new play development. I was flown to Brisbane to the Australian Theatre Forum to “blog.” I commented on the National Cultural Policy. I commented on the Reg Murphy Centre. I hosted artists and crew and Adelaide’s lady Blogger Jane Howard in my spare room. I celebrated Currency Press’ 40th Birthday. I ate breakfast with Bruce Beresford and Noni Hazelhurst. I maintained my duties as a Board member of Shopfront Theatre AND was a founding advisory board member a brand new artist-run visual art gallery in Dank St Waterloo called Kaleidoscope Gallery run by the delightful Sami Mitchell-Fin. I helped plant a vegie garden in Granville. I surrendered to a new and terrifying relationship which breaks my Cardinal rule of “never date someone in The Industry!” I taught at NIDA (weird!). I delighted in regularly eating cheese and chatting with Kevin Jackson at opening nights. I joined a gym! I attended the National Play Festival. I was befriended by Anthony Skuse and fell in love with him and his partner and their life. I met regularly with Olivia Satchell and Shondelle Pratt for theatre/career discussion coffee catch ups. I visited Vanessa Hughes and Alan Logan in the Blue Mountains. I finally got my drivers license (after being too scared/busy). I started working with 7-On playwrights. I shot a short film. I wrote 14 letters of support/references for artists and organisations.

I ended the year by the river in Karuah, playing guitar with Michal Imielski and singing impromptu songs to a star splattered sky.

That was my year.

That was 2011.

Anyway. What you want to hear is my summary of 2011 in the world of theatre/culture/performance/art.

As you all know I don’t believe in competition in art. The act is pursuit enough.

Also, I’m not in the Sydney Theatre Critics circle. There is no award. I think that the notion of the Theatre Awards (Helpmans and the Theatre Critics Awards) is a bit weird, especially as not ALL theatre, nor ALL performance is attended or assessed by all of them. The shows that are eligible for nomination by the Theatre Critics must be seen by all reviewers – which really only encompasses 20% of actual theatre happening in Sydney – and predominently that of the main stages. And frankly, I don’t really think the main stages need awards and accolades – isn’t getting a wage and being resourced enough encouragement? The people who DO need the encouragement, the in-writing “thank you for your work” are the independent artists, the fringe artists, the emerging artists.

And look, I’ll admit it, I’m not really a critic. Not a proper one, anyway.

I try to respond to a show on it’s aspirations and context, more than my own. I also make work with the people I write up. I never claim to be an authority – but I always try to give credit where it’s due and ALWAYS find something to like about a production.

Here’s a thank you to all those unsung artists who kept me inspired and afloat, interested and curious in 2011 – one pf the weirdest years ever.

Thank you for the discussions, the conversations, the perspectives, the dreams, images, plays, installations and moments of surprise and delight. And thank you to all those who attended shows with me and all those who approached me to work with them – Alana Valentine, 7-On Playwrights, Vanessa Bates, Phil Spencer, Luke Carson, Katie Pollock, Lousie Fischer. It meant more to me than you’ll know.

Here’s a list of some of my favourite memories in theatre from this year.

New Australian plays worth noting and celebrating
Zebra by Ross Mueller
Sprout by Jessica Bellamy
This Year’s Ashes by Jane Bodie
Silent Disco by Lachlan Philpott
Aleksander and the Robot Maid by Caleb Lewis
Transparency by Suzie Miller
Dirtyland by Elise Hearst
Cut by Duncan Graham

Brave work by Emerging or independent Artists
Freshly Squeezed by Stagejuice Collective
Bare Boards Brave Hearts by Subtlenuance
Bite Sized by IPAN
How to Lose Sight by SHH
Cut Snake by Arthur
Confessions of a Grindr Addict by Gavin Roach
Bully Beef Stew by Sonny Dallas Law, Colin Kinchela and Bjorn Stewart
Bonfire by Sime Knezevic
Ama and Chan by Effie Nkrumah and Alan Lao
The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer by Tim Watts

Outrageous things that happened in the industry
* MEDIA RELEASE: No Richard Burton Award for New Plays to be awarded in 2011 because there weren’t any “outstanding” plays submitted.
* Short and Sweet being given $1.5 million to continue to exploit, er I mean “expand” their business, er, I mean, “playwriting in Australia”
* ArtsNSW short response grant disappearing THEN reappearing unexpectedly
* Realizing all the literary managers in Sydney are either British or have worked in the UK
* Tom Wright claimed in the SMH: ”There’s patently been a glass ceiling that women directors have hit … I can’t see a similar issue in the realm of playwriting.”

Great online discussions
From www.augustasupple.com -
Whose story is this anyway? The rights and the wrongs of theatrical storytelling.
A small note: Do Good and You Will Be Happy | Phillip Johnston & Hilary Bell
Who reads reviews? Who cares? Why bother?
From www.theatrenotes.blogspot.com -
Review: The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself
From www.noplain.wordpress.com -
Adelaide Critics Circle Awards 2011
From my facebook -
Who do you prefer Billy Joel or David Bowie?
Who gets to call themselves an artist?

Who I read regularly this year:
www.cameronwoodhead.com
www.jameswaites.com
www.missclaraklemski.com
www.kjtheatrereviews.blogspot.com
www.crikey.com.au/life/culture/stage
http://noplain.wordpress.com/
www.shauntellebenjamin.com/
(and there are others I should mention I read – but let’s face it – I don’t think people who write under a pseudonym and conceal their identity deserve/or want recognition, do they?)

Talks and Forums
Tom Stoppard in coversation with Jonathan Biggins
Currency House Arts and Public Life Breakfast at Victoria Tea Rooms
Novemberism Panels hosted by John McCallum – especially Writer and Director when is it war and when does it work?
NIDA Sunday Playwright Forum: Old Worlds, New Horizons
John Malkovich in conversation with Jim Sharman

Artists to watch who debuted/made a splash in 2011/Who to watch
Zoe Norton Lodge (Writer, performer, producer, curator)
Gavin Roach aka “Felix” (Actor)
Erica Brennan (Performer)
Grant Moxom (Performer)
Pollyanna Nowicki (Actor, photographer, artist)
Sama Ky-Balson (Director)
Mark Rogers (Director/writer/devisor)
Helen O’Leary (Actor/writer)
Doug Hansell (Actor)
Bjorn Stewart (Performer devisor)
ISM Playwrights Collective (writers/event organisers)
Paige Rattray (Director/devisor/tour de force)
Vanessa Bates (Playwright)
Katie Pollock (Playwright)
Luke Carson (Playwright)

OK. Let’s talk about new work.

There seems to be a bit of discussion around plays – new plays and old plays, adaptations, reinventions, notions of “Australian” work, “new Australian plays”, the issues of the development of plays, the question of new play production. Discussions about women playwrights and their representation in main stage theatre programs… there’s even discussions about classic plays – and the Australian canon…

Belvoir loves a forum… Tom Wright even popped up in a recent panel discussion as a part of Sydney Uni’s Verge Festival…. and now, instigated by the ever vigilent Kevin Jackson, NIDA has presented a forum and the blurb went like this:
“The changing landscape of new Australian writing for theatre as new forms and new technologies beckon, new writing for the stage is blossoming and booming, but where are the ‘spaces’ for new work to emerge? And are we heading in the right direction? The panel discusses great plays, grand changes, possible futures and the many voices of Australia.

This forum will launch a season of new work at NIDA that will include the premiere of Rare Earth a new play by Ian Wilding, commissioned by NIDA. The season will culminate with the five Graduate Diploma in Playwriting students presenting their graduation pieces.”

The panel covered a lot of questions about “first successful creative acts,” “what it means to be an Australian writer,” “writing for home or writing for the international market,” “how plays are developed,” “the idea of the Australian voice – is there something that makes Australian plays unique to other international plays?” “the role of the director/dramaturg in play development,” “issues around writing and re-writing and Australia’s obsession with premieres,” “when is a play finished – especially in reference to Ray Lawler re-writing The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for the upcoming Belvoir production.”

But most interestingly was the discussion around culture and Australian-ness. And there was a comment made that since the mid-90s Australia no longer has cultural cringe and that the identity has been sorted out “we are multicultural and therefore have many identities.”

There was also alot of discussion on what makes an Australian play Australian – is it location or subject matter? In the case of many Australian plays I have read, or heard about the place is sometimes neutral or even set in another country. For me, I settled my definition of an Australian play in 2009 when I had to ask myself if recent arrival from Scotland Phil Spencer could be included in Brand Spanking New (billed as a celebration of New Australian Writing) – and the answer I arrived at was this: if the play was written for Australian audiences, in Australia by someone who lives here – it is an Australian play.

The issue of Australian-ness of the Australian theatre scene is something I am particularly fascinated by – in particular the appointment of the Belvoir Literary manager (who though Aussie, had been working at The Bush in London)… or the Fresh Ink Manager of ATYP who had been at the British Council in Singapore before his recent appointment, or indeed Playwriting Australia’s top chick who hails from the UK as does the STC literary manager… ALOT of UK influence in the companies that are engaging with new Australian plays, and Australian writers. Jane Bodie, head of Playwriting at NIDA (also an ex-pat Brit – now identifies as an Australian playwright) admits when she arrived that she was quizzed on what the UK was doing as far as new writing went. I think this is interesting.

What is it about the UK that Australian playwrights and Australian theatre companies are so fascinated by?

Are we over the cultural cringe?

I love a forum. I do. I particularly like forums that dive in and say things. On this occasion the forum was tame. Perhaps that is because there was a lot of self-censorship by the writers – perhaps because they were on show at the National training institution, (a possible employer?) or perhaps because two of the most powerful and significant playwriting gatekeepers were in attendence – namely the lovely and ever generous and astute Chris Mead (AD of PWA) and Sam Strong AD of the Griffin (one of two theatre companies in OZ solely dedicated to the production of Australian plays).

I wonder what this forum would sound like if it was just playwrights. On their own turf. Probably something like 7-ON’s Seven Deadly Sins of Writing (as presented at the Playwrights Muster a few months back which you can check out here if you missed it.)

There’s alot of change at the moment- well- I am sure there is always alot of change- its just I have the time to notice it at the moment. There are movements in the theatre sector- Artistic directors announced, seasons launched, programs developed and changes- the theatre, the biological microcosm that it is- is expanding, dying off, burning, growing epicormic shoots, and its all in the natural course of things- natural selection.

It would be terribly amiss of me not to acknowledge one significant change I will feel the loss of and that is the ceasing of the regular (and not so regular) writings of Nicholas Pickard aka Sydney Arts Journo.

It seems that sometimes in the land of blogs/ e-pistles/ “the blogosphere”/ online journalism/ electronic commentary (whatever you call it) that there are a thousand voices making contributions that range from “wow I love the wallpaper I just bought” to “Britney spears is a bitch”… and amongst all the dross and the self-reflexive narcissistic junk, there are little windows into significant and intelligent discussion… My list of people I read regularly are- James Waites, Kevin Jackson, Theatre Notes, Sydney Arts Journo…. and I bounce between these bloggers and more refined online websites- and less refined…. I’m no snob- I’ll read it all!

And in the last little bit , Alison Croggan aka Ms Theatre Notes has said-
“Over the past few months, it’s become very clear to me that TN is unsustainable. I love doing this, but it eats me up; and I can’t delude myself any more that it isn’t at the expense of my own work. I haven’t finished a single project now for more than 18 months, and that is beginning to weigh heavy. I’ll be considering a number of options, but I might as well warn you that one of them is ceasing blogging (if not theatre going) altogether next year.”
http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com/2009/10/packing.html

Sustainability is a tricky one- on one hand Alison Croggan is purely independant- sans funding or sponsorship to contribute to the landscape of theatre culture as she has been- but writers can’t live off air and sunlight. What is the cost of independence? What is its value if it can’t be sustainable? I think in the case of Croggan- it remains true- just because she is not paid does not mean it has no value. In fact I believe it has more- her contribution means more because it is an ulitmate gift of time and energy…. which is missed and appreciated more than she may know.

But when you are giving so much… something’s gotta give. Croggan should pursue her own writing- her own career- as she sees fit. Nick Pickard should pursue his noble aspirations… and I am sure there will be a time for me too…

Sydney Arts Journo also has declared its now time to move on, to take up the position of Arts Policy Advisor to the State Government. Which is wonderful as I have found Nick to be highly intelligent and passionate arts advocate (how can he NOT after 3 years of supporting theatre through documenting and reviewing). And as Nick moves on- I wanted to thank him for always fighting for the little guy- the independent and the local practitioners. I’d like to thank him for leading the discussion, leading this online platform… for the casual chats we’ve had at The Fitz or at Belvoir or Griffin. He is, as I’ve said, a top bloke who has been honest and supportive of arts discussion in Sydney.

Sydney Arts Journo’s blurb says : “The Sydney Arts Journo blog is designed to bring praise, criticism and discussion to the performing arts and cultural industries of Sydney. It’s a place to share ideas, voice concerns as well as being a forum to provoke consideration and passion.”

And this is a vital part of our theatrical and cultural landscape.

I believe in discussion, debate, conversation as the key to a diverse and therefore healthy theatre eco-system. We need robust thinking, confident and compassionate voices- talking about how/ what/ where/ who. SAJ has been an historian of the Sydney scene for the last few years- and many voices have been added to the chorus and we need to keep this going.

Personally, I’ll miss Nick around the traps -and the use of the phrase “to Nick Pick” something…. but his new opportunity is brilliant- for him and the arts and I wish him well.

I hope that for you out there (if you do exist), that you can be inspired to engage with bloggers et al about the arts- that we can disagree still speak articulately about what we want from our arts, what culture means to us and why it is important. For we need everyone to join in the conversation- punters, practitioners, journos, critics- so that we have a strong and robust arts culture.

So thanks Nick Pickard- for encouraging debate, for provoking thought and for allowing a space to share ideas and concerns- I’ll miss you!

http://artsjournalist.blogspot.com/