Learn your lessons well.

Things to remember while making work.

Number thirteen: Learn from previous work.

I'm about to say something that I expect will get me into some trouble with my classmates.

I did not enjoy the work we made for our workshop with Toby. I thought it demonstrated how we didn't learn our lessons from our previous workshops - specifically the one from last week with Clare and Duncan.

You know that expression? I think it's from the bible. "Learn your lessons well."

I found the work I watched today, including my own, to be tepid, lukewarm, flaccid, modest, un-urgent, conservative, et cetera.

Last week when we were given the prompt "you have five minutes - what's the most important thing you can do with that time." We made some of the best short-form exercise work we've made all year.

I expect this opinion to go down badly and i hope that if I have offended you that you will come talk to me about it.

Perhaps I'm tired of these short exercises. I want to sink my teeth into something and put up a piece when it's ready not when the clock runs out.

I think we need more time to talk about the work. These short post mortems where we run out of time to talk about the work just makes things worse.

We need to manage our time better.

We need the leaders of our workshops to know what we've done before so we stop repeating.

We need to hold ourselves to higher standards.

We need to foster rigourous critical dialogue

We need to be emotionally honest about what we are engaged by and what leaves us cold.

We need to hold miniature post mortems within each working group about the process.

We need the passion we have for the field to come through in our work.

We need to risk more.

Please respond - What do you think? Am I full of nonsense? Do you think I'm on the right track?

I look forward to the discussion.

happy new year

Things to remember while making work....

Number twelve: Be concise.

I was speaking to a blogger in another field and his first comment, when asked what made a good blog - be concise.

I think this is especially true in the process of making theatre collaboratively. When there are several people in the room, all with a point they're dying to make, it is darn-near imperative that everyone make that point as succinctly as possible.

There are two reasons for this: First everyone will have time to speak, and second, everyone will have time to reflect on the ideas that have been shared.

I understand that often there is the impulse, conscious or unconscious, to persuade the others in our groups to support our ideas. However, it is often detrimental to that end to speak longer than is needed on a given subject because after a certain amount of time people begin to stop listening.

I once heard a radio talk show host say that the length of time anyone can deal with one thought is 45 seconds. Whether or not that's true is probably indeterminable but it sounds good to me.

You now have my permission to cut me off after 45 seconds.