We were delighted to be asked to run a workshop for students at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) last month. It was a real joy to spend time with such supportive staff and engaged, thoughtful and creative students. The session used elements of our Eco-Lab structure, alongside overviews of our seven principles, the Ecostage Framework and the wider context of sectoral transformation in which we work. Running the session on the stage of the school’s theatre also added a sense of drama!
We challenged the students to take everyday items apart and consider their materiality, and we were struck by the diversity and creativity of their responses. We also invited them to develop theoretical projects using the Framework, which again led to an impressive array of ideas.
The session was led by three of our co-directors: Andrea Carr, Kira Curtis and Paul Burgess. For Paul, it was a return to RCSSD after giving a talk a couple of years ago on Ecostage and Dysbiosis, a project inspired by queer ecology that he initiated and co-leads.
We always end these sessions wishing we had longer. In Bangkok, the lab we co-ran with BIPAM and the Thai Theatre Foundation ran for five days, and that felt like barely enough time! But the work we, our sister organisations and countless individuals are doing to bring ecological thinking to the performing arts sector is long-term and gradual, in tune with centring wellbeing and growing beyond the throwaway culture of ‘moving fast and breaking things’. The category of ‘things’ in this formulation includes, of course, people, planet and a great many principles. So, although that particular workshop is done, we very much hope many of the students will connect with us again in future, as partners in carrying this work forward.
If your institution or organisation is interested in us running a workshop or a lab, or coming to talk about our work or the wider context of sectoral transformation, do please get in touch.
