Hello Mairin O'Grady from CARAVAN/ON/FIRE/COLLECTIVE. You are presenting your new play HAWK/HARE at THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON: Vol II next week. Tell us what you think of the MACHINE and of SIDE 1: DEMOTAPE...
I’m a writer this year in THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON VOL: II. For the first volume I was writer and director. And living in stress city. I feel like I’m liking the sounds of VOL: II more already. Even if it is still in progress. The Machine of Theatre has shrunken somehow into a more comfortable position for a small one like myself. Last year I was silly. And a year younger. In my work I felt I was throwing theatre from the void into the void. (This will always be the case in some ways – where does art come from/go to?) In VOL: II the void has disappeared. (I know yiz all now). And it’s no big scary mystery.
A year ago I felt I should DEFINE my work. That it was my job to make it clear what kind of work it is that Máirín O Grady and CARAVAN/ON/FIRE/COLLECTIVE make. So that everyone would then, and now, and in fifty years would be able to see clearly the direct pattern ALWAYS present in my work. I viewed my route of learning/progress as an improvement of the same themes rather than a mish mash and a discovery.
Now rather than pushing for definition I’m enjoying the freedom of constant experimentation. I want the making of my theatre to mimic theatre itself. Made of a million roles/characters/personas that I can step in and out of to figure out the ones that fit me best. I want the process to be more than a means to an end – I want it to help explore the landscape of the constant experimentation.
The DEMOTAPE slot is completely perfect for me in my life right now. It’s a showcase that’s teasing out the process as much as the finished product/production. Myself and Aoife Courtney (the director of Hawk/Hare) are not only working individually and collaboratively on making the best production, but we are also working out how we work together, and how we might work together in the future.
DEMOTAPE has given us a home to make an event. It is ONE NIGHT where it all either comes together or falls apart. And the audience only sees thirty minutes of all the hours we’ve pushed through together. The generosity of spirit in this ephemerality is it what astounds me about theatre. As we (the artists) are trying to break through into which role, and which method, and which madness, suits us best we’re breaking ourselves open for the audience to view in a tiny segment of time. The platform is ONE night with seventy people and if we’re lucky they’ll feel blessed they were one of them.
There are a million reasons that we can moan or smile about in relation to why we’re not all getting six week runs in The Abbey. One of the benefits though is not being saddled with the responsibilty of such concentration. (I mean like concentrated formula not on concentrating with your mind) A demotape is something new bands make before they sign any contract. We’re young and we’re learning and we can make and move one.
THANKS Mairin!
HAWK/HARE is at 6pm on Tuesday 15 Feb
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