Michael Jameson's Blog

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December 18, 2011 by Michael Jameson

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September 23, 2011 by Michael Jameson

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Todstock 2011 Axis Sound

August 8, 2011 by Michael Jameson

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#wyptransform

Saturday 11th June - My contact with this day begins online with this tweet from Marcus Romer of Pilot Theatre Company

"Still waiting for @WYplayhouse to sort out the IT ports to go live #wyptransform will keep you posted #shifthappens"

It reads as a coded kick up the arse to the West Yorkshire Playhouse to look lively and catch up with a world that is changing outside the front doors of it's Quarry Hill home.

I watch livestreamed short interviews with theatre people. Then the live stream goes mute and it's like watching a West Yorkshire Playhouse version of Big Brother, surely there must be other things I should be doing on such a lovely day. I minimize the screen and it plays in the background. An interview with Lemn Sissay and another with Kevin Fegan - grab my attention. Hearing Fegan speak about his work, instantly makes me want to see it. The livestream needed more content and structure through the day and there was a missed opportunity not to use it with, or as a piece of work, but it worked!

In the afternoon - I head to the theatre - I have been engaged you might say. I see a friend Maya Chowdhary "ah are you coming to see the play she asks?" She kindly offers a spare blue wristband and I say "Yeah". I'm in.

We see Handbag - a 10 minute dance piece, which fills the Courtyard Theatre with women dancing around handbags. Simple. The beauty of this, is that these are real women of all ages, shapes and sizes not actors or dancers. The Transform festival starts to feel like a takeover and I imagine Playhouse staff locked in cupboards with gaffer tape around their mouths.

We watch Jane Arnfield, Lemn Sissay, Maya Chowdhary and Kevin Fegan present solo pieces of work. Each piece at a different stage in it's development. They are all important stories.

We head to the bar. Three 12 year old girls in our party are totally involved in Lemn's story. "That's him then?" "That's really his story?" We talk together about school, care, Leeds, family. Thankfully there is no need to ask the usual post theatre question "did you enjoy it?"

For a theatre that is exploring how it can Transform, Sissay's play provides the answer and it's quite simple - Tell really important stories that matter to ordinary people's lives and your theatre will be full.

June 12, 2011 by Michael Jameson

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