By James Hadley in London

Last week I spent three days visiting Bristol, with a side trip to Bath. In retrospect, the main question to be stirred by the visit was how similar is the theatre industry of a major UK city to its equivalent in NZ? I'll tell you about some of the companies I met in this blog, and next week tell you about the rest of my visit, including a glimpse of theatre's future in one of the most cutting edge adaptations of Shakespeare I've ever seen.By James Hadley in London

Last week I spent three days visiting Bristol, with a side trip to Bath. In retrospect, the main question to be stirred by the visit was how similar is the theatre industry of a major UK city to its equivalent in NZ? I'll tell you about some of the companies I met in this blog, and next week tell you about the rest of my visit, including a glimpse of theatre's future in one of the most cutting edge adaptations of Shakespeare I've ever seen.Why visit Bristol in particular? I've been told that the South West region of the UK is where much of the participatory theatre-focussed companies emerge, in part due to the experimental theatre teachings at Dartington College of Arts at Falmouth University. I also had a list of Bristolian theatre-makers to meet, thanks to the generosity of Wellington-based creative producer Briar Monro.

Until around a year ago, Briar was working with Theatre Bristol, so thanks to her kind introductions they were my first port of call. Theatre Bristol is described as a 'partnership between people involved in theatre in Bristol, Arts Council England, and Bristol City Council.' Straight off the train I had a meeting with the company's co-ordinator, Seth Honner, who told me about the company's exciting plans as I got stuck into helping make signage for the Open Space forum they were holding the next day. It would be fantastic if we had an organisation like Theatre Bristol in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. As I understand it, they're like a team of creative producers and advocates for the local theatre industry, who consult with local practitioners and think strategically about what needs to happen for the industry as a whole to reach its potential. Alongside Seth, there's a Web Editor, an Administrator and three Creative Producers; each with their own specialist area. What they offer in terms of development is tailored to whatever is most needed, mostly by emerging professional theatre companies. Seth and his team have a wonderfully 'can do' attitude, which I imagine is a real source of encouragement to the companies they work with. They're currently poised to move into a new phase of development where they hope to be more involved in actually producing some of the projects they develop through their early stages.Their website includes a directory of all the companies and individuals active in the Bristol theatre industry - this is an enviable bit of information infrastructure that's crucially missing in NZ, due largely to our lack of a centralised organisation focussed on the theatre industry in general.

My next meeting was with Heather Williams and Hilary Davis, founders of Bristol's Myrtle Theatre Company - their website gives some good insights into the resourcefulness with which they run their company. To say they work in Theatre in Health Education doesn't seem to do the breadth of the company's work justice. What impressed me about their approach to making work is that they exercise shrewd business sense from the beginning of each project's development - considering major new government health and education policies as possible provocations for new works. Recent past productions have responded to issues like inappropriate touching of young children, young offenders, teenage pregnancy, and new legislation affecting children in foster care. What struck me as clever about these works was that they not only tour around schools or the niche community audience about whom the work has been developed, but are also performed for government departments, healthcare providers or other groups as a way of giving fresh insight and perspective as a result of the company's consultation with those on the receiving end of health and education policies. Most theatre in education shows I've seen have seemed a bit didactic, being made to communicate a message (from authorities, at young people). Myrtle Theatre seem to be respected for subverting the hierarchy, positioning young people's concerns centrestage, and working from their realities, rather than from 'the official message'. Various local government commissions have resulted from the company's approach, and the high production standards which they insist upon in their works - they were quick to assert the importance of working with fully professional actors and technicians from the company's very first production onwards.

Heather and Hilary come from a professional theatre background at the Bristol Old Vic (the city's mainstage producing venue), and having already established their networks, knowhow and reputations was clearly a big help to the establishment of the company. No less helpful was the fact that they found a financial patron for the company, rather than having to rely upon arts funding - the first independent theatre company I've come across to enjoy this sort of independence. It definitely seems an enviable situation! They're based out of the Tobacco Factory complex - a converted factory which houses a flexible theatre venue and various arts organisations, giving them access to rehearsal rooms and other such resources within the same building as their office. Further evidence that the more local government and arts organisations pool resources, the more chance there is for independent companies to thrive.

No less inspiring was my next meeting with Richard Headon and Jon Beedell of Desperate Men - one of the UK's leading street theatre companies. Desperate Men started in 1980, so are quite an established company now, and this shows in the breadth of their repertoire of entertainments which can be hired in for corporate or civic events and the like. Theirs is another website I'd highly recommend you browsing through - the inventiveness of their ideas is clear from the descriptions of some of their recent productions, like the Severn Project, where they collaborated with city councils and communities bordering the Severn River to create a series of performances along its banks which draw on local heritage and stories. They've also developed a range of what they call animations - often roaming street theatre performances, like 'the Rubbish Heads' who have lots of rubbish tied to them and go wandering down the street dropping litter, followed by other characters who move along picking it up. A simple idea, but genius in terms of how it provokes people to consider the dynamics of littering. My favourite was the 'Dancing Bear's Cheese', which I'm told evolved out of an improvisation around a piece of cheese. The act is now a group of cheese farmers who can be hired out to food festivals to sell their specialist cheeses, manufactured by milking bears who have been rescued from circuses - the cheese is a byproduct of their 'anti-dance therapy' !

Like Myrtle Theatre, what most inspired me when talking to Richard and Jon was the way they would rework their major street performances to operate on several different scales. Sometimes this was a matter of tailoring a show to a venue, but often a show would have several different components which are performed concurrently. In one project they had developed a performance environment installation which public would wander through, sometimes interacting with characters, and then there would be a sideshow type performance in one specific area, and within this a few individuals at a time could enter a car which was used as part of the show, and experience an intimate puppetry show within that interior. They claim not to start from any kind of ethical message they want to communicate, but listening to them talk about their various projects I was impressed by the way they develop ideas into performances which seem pure light entertainment, but with subtextual undercurrents about the mutual responsibilities of society, ecological issues and the like. All too familiar though were their tales of the adversity of being reliant on project funding. With so much of their work being outdoors, the company is comparatively inactive through wintertime, though this is a prime time for planning ahead. While many of their shows are co-commissions for festivals or events, it would seem an area of the industry where you have to continue generating future opportunities yourself, regardless of how established the company. Clearly though, these 'desperate' men are also passionate about what they do and thrive off the witty interconnections that their work creates. I look forward to getting the opportunity to see one of their shows!

Read previous Sets and the City blogs

Feel free to get in touch with any questions (or if you're planning a London visit and want some theatre recommendations) to jamesstuarthadley@gmail.com

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28/07/08