Theatre event to venture outdoors

A UNIQUE event bringing together outdoor theatre and performance practitioners from Europe will be held in Waterford this week.

Designed to explore how outdoor theatre is practiced in Ireland and overseas, Perspectives ’07 is a research and development initiative presented by Spraoi with support from Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) and the Arts Council.

Speakers for the event include one of the members of Mayor of London Ken Livingstone’s team, Patrick Loy.

Mr Loy reports to the mayor on major public events and manages the New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations in London which bring more than 500,000 people on to the banks of the Thames.

Seen as a beginning towards introducing more formal programmes of learning and research in street theatre and other outdoor arts and performance disciplines, Perspectives ‘07 will include workshops this Thursday with three leading European practitioners.

Hâf Morgan from Natural Theatre Company; Uwe Köhler of Theater Titanick and the National Association for Street Theatre in Germany and Orit Azaz of NoFitState Circus will also take part in the event which features workshops at WIT’s College Street campus.

On Thursday evening, there will be a panel discussion hosted by Fiach MacConghail of the Abbey Theatre and featuring Pat Kiernan, Corcadorca; Dermot Quinn, Spraoi; Jo Mangan, the Performance Corporation and Chantal McCormick, Fidget Feet Performance Co.

A seminar on Friday — A Public Space to Play — will bring together street theatre and art practitioners with the planners and architects who help design the public spaces that serve as the stage and canvas for public performance.

This session will be opened by WIT director Professor Kieran R Byrne and chaired by Spraoi director TV Honan.

Prof Byrne said the Institute was delighted to support Spraoi.

“Theatre and the arts must increasingly come to the audiences rather than waiting for the audiences to come to them,” he said.