Navigating a pandemic with a podcast!
Yes, we have navigated the pandemic with a podcast. But first, how did we end up here?
2020 – a year that will be long remembered. It has been difficult to find a way to write about the moment we are in. We have collectively witnessed the decimation of our industry, the suffering and hardship of many artists; significant stress, upheaval, abandonment of the structures (however imperfect) that cushioned our lives for unknown, undefined and less structured ways of living. And then, there has also been more room made for simply being, for doing less, for valuing what does exist. It has revealed the fragility of systems that seemed indestructible. It has revealed the resilience of many who were perhaps unsure of their strength.
Though we managed to get a show up for Midsumma at Gasworks Arts Park this year – a remount of our very successful play When The Light Leaves – it immediately followed the horror of the bushfire season. Now, like many companies and individual artists, our plans for 2020 including the world premiere of our feminist sci-fi spectacular Mara KORPER at Theatre Works have all been postponed until 2021. Grief is in the air, but also disappointment and a sense of timelessness. Hope too is in the air too, for the potential good that we might all do moving through and beyond this moment.
What I am most aware of for myself and in terms of how Citizen Theatre navigate this moment is two things: the enormous opportunity for new online platforms, forms and ways of reaching new audiences; and the equally enormous feeling of exhaustion and resistance towards having to adapt one’s lifelong work in one form into something completely foreign. Bravo to those who have the hunger, energy and creativity to venture into these new online forms. Bravo to those too who have identified the need to rest, preserve and sit in the unknown without their practice as they knew it, for now.
Personally, I am not inspired or motivated by online forms right now. Perhaps this is surprising given a project we created a couple of years ago called The Female Subject was an online livestream project. However, that still required collaboration and a lot of face to face time and rehearsal, which is not possible in these conditions. Without embodied collaboration in a shared space, without sharing energy and making decisions non-verbally – by just ‘feeling it’ – it’s just not that appealing. Perhaps this will change as I become more acquainted with the possibilities of online work. It’s not impossible, I just haven’t found a way (yet) that feels phenomenologically satisfying.
The Citizens have started meeting online, training via Zoom once a fortnight and reading plays the alternate weeks. We’re exploring the body as laboratory, as fieldsite, rather than focusing on the ensemble’s dynamic and the energetic interaction between company members to create magic. The focus has gone more inward. The possibilities for sound making are different, the space for speech is different. Zoom seems to favour bite-sized, shorter exchanges. Longer exchange requires too much blinking, too much risk of disengagement, disembodiment and the risk of internet glitches getting in the way. We are learning what this form is. And it does make one reconsider what we thought we knew about the ‘in person’ form of performance.
In short, we are attempting to stay connected, welcoming back Citizens who had been off on professional tours and personal journeys, and now whose worlds have come to a halt. Those who have been more involved recently have kept the energy around the company alive, sharing the developments and learnings with the returning members. And new people of course coming and going as they always do in our group. In case you’re wondering, we do always welcome new people and really encourage diversity. If you’ve been following us you know we have a particular ‘flavour’ – particular content, aesthetics and processes we work with – but if you identify with it and have experience either professionally or have trained at a drama school, don’t be afraid to get in touch. If it feels like a mutually good fit, we get straight to work.
Despite the challenges of the first half of 2020, this period has affirmed the strength of the group and we have lots to look forward to in 2021. In the meantime, we are using this time to play, rest and reflect. Part of this has involved looking back on our impressive body of work and collectively celebrating what we have created as a community. The culmination of this process has been the creation of The Citizen Theatre Podcast.
This podcast has been expertly created by Citizen Tom Parrish (Forgotten Places, When The Light Leaves) and Citizen Imogen Cygler (Resident Composer and Music Director). Tom takes listeners on a thoughtful and invigorating journey of honest and joyous conversation with some of the active Citizen Theatre collaborators. There are stories of the early days of Citizen Theatre, the processes our creatives undertake when designing or preparing for a show, the other projects our collaborators have been working on and how they found themselves working as independent artists. He is a natural conversationalist and is able to weave in great questions at just the right time with a voice and personality made for the sound waves. Imogen treats us with her magic sound wand yet again, providing transportive introductory sounds and a professional touch throughout. I am truly proud of the work they have done getting this up and cannot wait for you to hear it.
You can start to enjoy the podcast on the day we were to have our first performance of Mara KORPER – Wednesday 20th May 2020. Jump on the link below or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Stay safe Citizens! We look forward to seeing you in theatres eventually, in the new world that awaits.