Eagle’s Nest Theatre is about to head off on the second leg of our Charles Dickens world tour. The tour began with 3 weeks in China and New Zealand. After Melbourne we are headed off to Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, Stuttgart, Penzance, Ulm, Paris, Manchester and Sarajevo. On the final leg of the tour we do a week in each of Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Beyond the actual tour our aim is to create a network of partnerships with international arts organizations that will facilitate the touring of independent theatre and performance works. Of course we intend to use these networks to our own advantage but our plan is to also use them to assist other artists to do what we are doing.
In practical terms over the past year we have been able to invite two groups of international guests to come and work with us in Australia and supported a Melbourne writer/director in touring her work to Europe.
In April 2012 theatre-in-der-westentasche from Ulm came to visit. While they were here Eagle’s Nest presented the Australian premiere of The Clown by Heinrich Böll, as well participating in the World Premier of a piece of lost text from Federico Garcia Lorca, Dialogue with Bunuel.
In July 2012 Colin David Reese from La Compagnie du Cèdre in Paris came to play. Again we got to present the Australian premiere of a show, Shakespeare unbound – A Gift to the future. While here Colin he also ran workshops on understanding and performing Shakespeare based on the working practices of actors in Shakespeare’s day and the use of cue scripts.
In September 2012 we helped Karen Corbett – a notable Melbourne Actor, Writer and Director to take Orphanage of the Animals to Europe for its world premiere before she returned to Australia for her season here as part of La Mama’s explorations.
Right now as well as touring Dickens we are also facilitating a three-way collaboration with Sartr theatre from Bosnia-Herzegovina and theatre-in-der-westentasche from Germany. In this project we will devise a new performance work based on the script of an An Actor Prepares – Songs of Love and Grief written by me and my partner Nela Trifkovic. Different versions of the work will be presented in Sarajevo and Ulm.
Just like the Dickens project, which began in 2003, An Actor Prepares has evolved over a long period of time. The script was first performed in 2005. At this time Nela, who is a composer, asked if she could collaborate on developing the script into a multi-artform music and theatre piece. This new work has now had seasons in Melbourne, Adelaide and New York to critical acclaim but it is the most recent opportunity international collaboration that is the most exciting development of all. We have realized is that this piece is not a static performance work but a dynamic and constantly evolving one. In years to come we may well find ourselves visiting theatre companies across the world and in particular in places where there has been some kind of conflict and using this piece as a platform for cross cultural collaboration about art and war.
What may be of value is to take a moment to offer some insight to other artists or companies who would like to peruse similar goals.
Believe in yourself and your ideas and be willing to work long and hard to achieve them. I have often thought that is was my stubborn unwillingness to give up that has been more important than my “talent”. The Dickens show survived the demise of two of my former theatre companies. For the first three seasons we had almost no success with it.
Persist. To give you some idea of the numbers game: to get our 2011/12 European tour of Dickens up (8 shows in 3 European cities) we cold-called or sent unsolicited emails to between 3000 and 4000 companies.
Be willing to constantly reinvent yourself and try new things – often you wont be able to see the value of an idea until after you have tried it. Eagle’s Nest Theatre has presented original works, developed a classics and schools touring program and supported the work of other independent companies. It has been our willingness to see the work change that has made our current international collaboration a possibility.
It is vital that you think of yourself as being part of an industry because every person you work with is part of your future network. Take every opportunity you can get to be involved in any arts project you can find and keep track of the people you worked with. Our Dickens tour of Malaysia was sent up by a writer who came to Eagle’s Nest two or three years ago with a script he wanted us to workshop.
Seek help. I learnt a great deal from La Mama. If I or Eagle’s Nest can offer you some support with your dreams don’t hesitate to get in touch.
And most important of all remember “Success in the arts is absolutely possible!” – don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. If you are not succeeding don’t let yourself get stuck in whining about how hard and unfair this industry is – it is a long hard game but for those who really want it success will come.
Charles Dickens performs a Christmas Carol will have an Australian season at The Athenaeum in Melbourne from 8 to 11 December.
