[Mb-civic] Globalization (And Show Business)

[Jim Burns]

Ravenhill is wrong when he so easly dismisses
some of the efforts of Webber and Mackintosh,--particlarly, whether you
like it or not, the devotion Webber poured into PHANTOM, but there are
some interesing points, here.  

(His perspective is also askliter, in that the first great multinational
hts FIDDLER, HAIR..., were clearly the happy prouct of love, talent, and
craftsmanship....)

JB
________

"My first play turned me into a global brand. Does that mean I now have
to write bland, boring money-spinners?" 
Mark Ravenhill 
Monday February 6, 2006
The Guardian 

A few years ago, researching my play Some Explicit Polaroids, I went
with a couple of actors to interview Charles Saatchi. We wanted to ask
the art collector, advertising guru and architect of successive Thatcher
election campaigns about globalisation. His company had, he revealed,
identified globalisation as the future several years before and had made
many key decisions in the light of this. "But," asked one of the actors,
"is globalisation good or bad?" A smile twitched on his face. Actors, he
seemed to be thinking, bringing these strange words into my office.
"Good or bad?" he said. "You can't say globalisation is good or bad.
It's like the wind or the rain - it just is."
 
I grinned back. "Typical free market delusion," I thought, "to see the
economy as some independent entity free of all human decisions." 
I thanked Mr Saatchi for his time - and based a charismatic but rather
evil character on him.

I tend to think of globalisation as sneakers made in sweatshops in
Malaysia, McDonalds's golden arches in Turkestan or call centres in
Delhi. I've come to realise, though, that globalisation is an increasing
force in my business, the business we call show.

The first great global theatre machine was the Cameron Mackintosh
musical, a production line that pumped out international hits throughout
the 1980s, from Cats to Miss Saigon. Created in this country, each
British production was always little more than product development and
market research before the brand was launched on Broadway and then
franchised out across the world. It was a hugely successful operation,
with many of the shows earning more money than the biggest-grossing
Hollywood movies.

Visiting European cities, I've seen the giant warehouse structures -
Ikea theatres - where coachloads of eager Danes or Swiss are deposited
to witness the wash of emotion and spectacle that is Les Misérables or
Phantom of the Opera. There seems little need for new product in this
market: ever since Martin Guerre refused to be a hit, the days of the
blockbuster musical have been numbered. It was announced this week that
The Woman in White will be closing in the West End and - after a very
short run - on Broadway.

But there seems little sign of such weariness in other parts of the
theatre ecology. In his latest piece, The Andersen Project, now playing
at the Barbican in London, the Canadian theatre-maker Robert Lepage
acknowledges wryly the world of international festival funding that
makes his work possible. Lepage is very much part of the globalisation
of the theatre, creating packages that will bring financial support from
governments, corporations and festivals across the world. And it shows
in his work. Whereas the first piece that brought him international
recognition, The Dragons' Trilogy, was a thrilling exploration of the
specific, complex cultural experiences of the city in which it was made,
his subsequent work has relied on some hazy thinking, generalised
cultural references and a great deal of spectacle. Not a million miles
away from Cats, in fact, even if the audience is posher.

Hearing the American theatre-maker Robert Wilson give a public lecture,
I was aware that his work had followed a very similar trajectory to
Lepage's. Wilson talked at length, and with great love and attention,
about his early work - work that was seen only by small audiences in his
own country. But when it came to describing his international career,
the lecture became a list of international co-productions, with slides
speeding past at such a dizzying rate it was almost impossible to keep
up. The unspoken story of Wilson's lecture was that he'd spent the first
part of his career developing a theatre language and then the rest of
his time selling that language as an international brand.

The market leader in international theatre is probably still Peter
Brook. Having established his brand dominance in the 1980s with The
Mahabharata, Brook now has the dulling facility to reduce any play or
narrative to the same bland hippy event: a few scatter cushions, some
oriental rugs, a lot of generalised acting. And although I find his work
as boring as a bad episode of Hollyoaks, I suppose it must be that
generalised nature that makes it such a saleable commodity for those
booking international festivals.

My first play, Shopping and F***ing, was produced all over the world.
This was hugely exciting and I took up many invitations to see
productions - some good, a few terrible - in different countries. I soon
got bored with seeing the play, but it was fascinating to meet
directors, writers and actors from other cultures and to get a glimpse
into their world. Sitting down to write another play after these
experiences, however, was overwhelming. 

Would this line mean something to someone in Helsinki? Would they relate
to this character in Johannesburg? Was this funny in Sidney?
I realised that I'd become a global brand - and I didn't like it. Good
art has to be concrete. It is better to risk being local than to be
generalised. 
I wrote Some Explicit Polaroids simply about England. It's had as many
international productions as Shopping and F***ing and people in eastern
Europe and South America tell me it's about their country. Which is
hugely gratifying - and pays the bills.

This year I'm playing the international festival circuit, performing my
monologue Product. The challenge is going to be the same: enjoy the
cultural exchange but, when I sit down to write, block out the
international chatter.

© Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006