ID Code: TED05

4/1

Year:

2006

Tennessee Williams, the celebrated American playwright, came in for much criticism, as well as acclaim, because of the tense exposures of life beneath outer appearances in his plays. In 1960, yet again under fire, he said that, ‘The theatre has made its greatest artistic advances through the unlocking and lighting up and ventilation of the closets, attics and basements of human behaviour and experience. No significant area of human experience should be held inaccessible, provided it is presented with honest intention and taste, to the writers of our desperate time.’

Throughout recorded history, somewhere or other in the world has been in the midst of a ‘desperate time’. The same is true of today, perhaps more ‘desperate’ than ever before, given the chaos unleashed by global capitalism with its attendant economic imperialism and ecological degradation, and the current American and British imperialism, or state terrorism as some see it. As you will read, neither of our two interviewees ducks from these issues.

Barrie Rutter, actor, founder and Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides Theatre Company, and, now, too, adaptor of Shakespeare, and Madani Younis, playwright and Artistic Director, since its inception four years ago, of the Asian Theatre School, part of the Red Ladder Theatre Company, have both contributed significantly, in their different ways, to the ‘artistic advances’ of theatre in this country.

Barrie Rutter is, as he describes himself, ‘a fish-dock boy from Hull’, now in his sixtieth year. Madani Younis is a tender twenty-seven years of age, the son of a Trinidadian mother and a Pakistani father, and represents the first generation British-born children of immigrants. Very different backgrounds, evidently, neither normally associated seamlessly with the world of theatre. That they are both successful theatrical pioneers is a tribute to their drive and hard work in a sometimes hostile milieu, let alone that of wider society. Working with very different material and in very different styles, the two share a passionate commitment to the power of language as the propellant of any production.

Both, too, have, and continue to have a close personal and artistic relationship with people who may be described as ‘mentors’. In the case of Barrie Rutter, that important role is played by the distinguished poet and classicist, Tony Harrison, who has written and adapted works specifically for the ‘northern voice and specifically for Barrie Rutter’s voice. For Madani Younis, Seamus Finnegan, playwright and teacher, assumes the mentoring role and is currently developing a script for the Asian Theatre School in collaboration with Madani.

Barrie Rutter established Northern Broadsides, in 1992, to portray classical works in ‘northern voice’ and to play ‘non-velvet’, ‘found’ spaces, such as one of his favourites, Skipton Auction Mart. The impact was immediate, reaching audiences who might never have experienced conventional theatre. The reach was physical: going out to the people; and theatrical: familiarising people with Shakespeare and the Greeks, heard, for the first time, in their own rhythms, cadences and accents. The idea was simple – as brilliant ideas often are – innovatory and effective. Although Barrie Rutter had no idea of the future beyond the first production, Richard III, here he still is, thrilling audiences in the North and as far away as Brazil and India, (and the South!).

The repertoire of Northern Broadsides is classical: principally Shakespeare and the Greek classics. As Barrie Rutter says, the ‘whole stuff of human conflict’ is to be found in the great, classical plays and, therefore, they are abidingly relevant to the contemporary world. It is also arguably the case that the minimalist character of Northern Broadsides’ staging and their pioneering use of unusual spaces, has enabled theatre more widely to ‘open up’. Would it have been possible without the trail-blazing work of Northern Broadsides, I wonder, for the very recently established National Theatre of Scotland to open with, as Mark Fisher described in The Guardian (27.02.06), ‘no grand building, no red carpet…’; instead, to take ten productions to the people in a variety of locations, including ‘a high energy performance in a former Nissan hut near Inverness’?

Madani Younis and the Asian Theatre School, whilst playing conventional stages, address up-to-the-minute issues, such as institutional racism (Silent Cry) and international terrorism (Freeworld). Madani Younis’ plays form the body of the School’s work. They are anything but polemical in character. The stuff of his plays is located in intense, personal situations deriving from true stories, researched and discussed with the real-life protagonists. On these bases, the script is written and then modified during a long, collaborative process with the actors.

Such is the success of the Asian Theatre School that many of its actors have moved on to professional acting careers in the mainstream. This is not a marginalised or marginalising organization and it is no fluke that Madani Younis was awarded the Arts Council England decibel Award at ITV’s tenth annual South Bank Show Awards on the 27th January, this year, for ‘work that contributes to the development and promotion of a more culturally diverse arts sector.’ We extend our sincere congratulations to you, Madani!

Readers, you have a treat in store! The long and wide-ranging interviews with Barrie Rutter and Madani Younis draw a wonderful picture of their special characters and the nature of their work. Halifax, where Northern Broadsides is based, and Bradford, the home of the Asian Theatre School, are blessed, indeed, to have such different, fertile and resourceful artistic practitioners in their midst. Thank you, both, for your generous offerings!

Finally, thanks, too, to all our other scintillating contributors, several of whom are previously unpublished. Readers, please send your views of the contents of this issue. We would like to choose the best new young writers, who will receive cash awards, in the light of our readers’ opinions as well as that of the editorial team.

Enjoy!