Going Forward, Leaving No-one Behind: Arts In Reading Beyond Lockdown

As we gradually emerge from lockdown, arts organisations across Reading reflect on how they were able to innovate and engage with audiences of all kinds. One major takeaway from 2020 was an increased focus on vulnerable communities as both recipients and participants of the arts, with many local organisations rising to the challenge or building on existing work in that area. We spoke to StrikeUp Theatre artistic director Rachel Mary and participation professional Vicky Berry.

Class Apart

Launched in the spring of 2019 with the aim of fostering, nurturing and supporting quality work in Reading, StrikeUp Theatre were a month off marking their first anniversary when lockdown was initially introduced. Their debut, Arts Council-funded show Silent Generation had been a verbatim piece about the British Elder community, so producing engaging art for and with older people was already a focus. The first area where a new approach was suddenly needed was the StrikeUp Education adult acting classes, part of the group’s mission to make knowledge often only available at drama schools more accessible. The courses went online on a pay-what-you-can basis.

“We evolved really quickly, because we are so new it felt really important that we were present,” Rachel explained. “It was an experiment for us all, everyone brought into it.” Specificity is at the heart of StrikeUp’s training and the first three weeks had been allocated to camera work, which took on an extra level of meaning coming at the same time as the nation was quickly adapting to video calls. Participants worked on monologues from their homes, using Zoom functionally and artistically, having fun with the limitations and finding creative solutions, with a notable rise in confidence as the weeks progressed into sections on writing and clowning. To make the weekly classes stand out from other video calls the students were encouraged to, as Rachel described, “protect your space, put a sign on the door, turn up at the class wearing something bright, have a drink with you, turn up and leave again”.

And rather than get waylaid by social distancing, StrikeUp emerged from the first lockdown with the film Clownspiracy that manages in its 15-minute run time to blend slapstick, satire, silent movie tropes, modern video skills and engaging acting – all accompanied by a BSL performance from Total Communication. It sets out to challenge perceptions of older people with its humorous script, spirited performances and use of upbeat pop hits.

Accessible Art

Furloughed from her role as participation co-ordinator for the prestigious Royal Court, Vicky found herself available to help Reading Fringe in its bid to offer not only its first online festival, but its most accessible one yet. In a typical year the Fringe works hard to bring its wide range of shows to the widest range of people by keeping ticket prices low and presenting performances in busy town centre areas. Reading Fringe Digital immediately went even further, with over 60 events available to watch online, wherever audiences were.

Organisers wanted as many potential viewers as possible to feel included, which is where Vicky came in. Whereas many venues are often only able to offer one audio-described performance over a show’s run or in the Royal Court’s case once a week, the Fringe set a target of making at least half of its content accessible and ultimately was able to offer captions or audio descriptions for two-thirds of the events. “It’s by no means an established thing at most theatres, so lockdown really amplified the need for it,” said Vicky. “As long as there are people who want to use it I think we should push for it.”  With little in the way of training for the specialised skill of live captioning she had a crash course with some test events, before adeptly captioning the festival’s daily live panels. Feedback showed that as well as those with hearing issues people dealing with sensory management or lifestyles that see them constantly on the go also appreciated this option. In addition to live and post captioning, audio descriptions were created for the three exhibitions by local photographers.

Lockdown upsides

“It’s not the same value as live theatre and sharing the space with someone but it showed it is possible to find new things and I think that the best thing we did was to let exploration be part of that and be ready to not know the answers,” added Rachel on StrikeUp’s experiences of virtual theatre and online courses. Vicky agrees that despite the financial toll taken on arts organisations this year, there areas where we could be coming out stronger. “Lockdown has put it in people’s heads that perhaps we should subtitle and live stream everything. It’s opened up the conversation of ‘everything is possible’, so even though theatre looks like its crumbling into the sea, there is a lot be said for positive thinking and talking about these things.”