Battersea Arts Centre and the Guardian map out plans for A Nation’s Theatre

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/23/battersea-arts-centre-guardian-a-nations-theatre

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Theatre companies from all corners of the UK are to descend on the capital perhaps like never before as part of a year-long initiative to examine the state of the nation’s theatre.

Battersea Arts Centre has announced details of a project in which it hopes to host between 30 and 40 theatres and theatre companies and may even invert the fashion for beaming London theatre to screens around the UK. Hypothetically, could a production from Newcastle be live-streamed to London?

“It is a big project for us and perhaps a bit scary too,” said David Jubb, BAC’s artistic director. “But it feels like a good time to have this debate and ask what is the state of a nation’s theatre at this time?”

The Guardian will partner BAC to explore themes raised by the season which will be called A Nation’s Theatre – deliberately not the nation’s theatre given the debates around devolution, said Jubb.

The project emerged from work BAC has been doing with independent producers in Darlington, Gloucester, Hull, Yarmouth, Thanet and Torbay to try to introduce cultural scenes where they were tricky to find.

Jubb said the aim was to raise questions around theatre and statehood and politics. One will be - what are the opportunities for regional producers to bring work to London?

“There is no doubt that over the last 10 years, and this is a good thing, London’s theatres are bursting at the seams with fantastic, exciting programmes and a lot of that is curated and produced by the London theatres.

“We might also explore why some theatre companies don’t see it as a necessary or interesting thing to do to bring their work to London.”

Confirmed theatre companies coming to BAC include Birmingham’s Kiln with Lady GoGo Goch; Bristol’s Bucket Club, bringing Lorraine and Alan; Kaleider from Exeter with The Money; the Eggs Collective from Manchester with Eggs Collective Get a Round; and Ipswich’s Gecko with Missing. More performances from around the UK will be announced in the near future.

How live-streaming of regional theatre might happen remains to be seen. “There are a lot of things we’d hope to do but we don’t know how we’re going to do them yet,” admitted Jubb.

“If we were a big grown up organisation we would be vociferously announcing full details of the programme. The whole point of this is to ask the questions and see what comes up.”

It will be an initiative that is part-season, part-campaign and part-debate. “I’ve no doubt it will a rich and broad debate and probably have some scary moments and we’re looking forward to it.”

The project was announced this morning at BAC’s season launch, at which it was revealed that Palestine’s The Freedom Theatre would bring a new production called The Siege to London as part of its first UK and Ireland tour. BAC also announced a partnership with Wandsworth Museum, uniting as one organisation “to create a brand new home for integrated culture and heritage in south west London”.