Research trail- Lloyd Newson, DV8 and how they use their production to
address various socio-political issues and problems.
Holly
Smith 2277198s
Throughout
this research trail blog, I am going to explore the theatre dance company DV8
with a marginal look at their director/choreographer, Lloyd Newson. The
specific questions I will be attempting to ask and answer are, who are DV8? Why
did Newson feel this form of theatre was the best way to communicate the
conflicts he sees in our multicultural world? What socio-political conflicts do
they contest against using their form of theatre? And what influence did Pina
Bausch have on Lloyd Newson’s directing and choreographing?
Dv8
was originally founded by Lloyd Newson with the help of Michelle Richecoeur,
and Nigel Chernock in 1986. The idea was to combine staged theatre and dance, later
including verbatim (using the exact wording in interviews conducted either face
to face sit down with professionals, or stopping people in the street) to their
productions. By using the real words from these interviews, DV8 can express the
views and tell the stories of people that might not otherwise have been heard,
and by expressing it through dance and complex physical movements, they grab
the attention of different kinds of audiences. ‘This kind of physical theatre…
‘was formed out of a desire to enable the development of the dancer as a
creative artist with something to say’ (Chamberlain and Yarrow, 2002 pg. 7) …
and the rejection of choreographer- dominated forms in order to emphasise the
creative autonomy of the dancer in the process’[2]. Newson began his
university life studying psychology and social work at Melbourne University. It
was whilst he was studying that ‘he became interested in dance, a fascination
that led to a full scholarship as London contemporary dance school’[3]. Newson then went on to
dance for various dance companies before creating his own company, DV8. Other
than the first piece of work created with and by the company, ‘My Sex, Our Dance’,
Newson has been the sole director and/or choreographer of all of DV8’s work,
however, in January 2016, he announced that he was ready to take a break from
DV8 in order to think about the future, during which time, all future DV8
productions are out on hold.[4]
‘My
Sex, Our Dance’ was the first performance recognised as a DV8 production. It
was a co-devised piece between Newson and fellow founder, Nigel Chernock, both
of which were also the two performers in the piece. ‘My Sex, Our Dance’ aimed
to represent male relationships. ‘After opening in London in 1986, toured in
the UK on a shared bill with eLeMeN t(h)ree sex in 1987, then toured in the UK
and Europe on a shared bill with Deep End in 1987 and 1988. Premiere on the 14th
July 1986 at Battersea Arts Centre, London’[5].
‘My
Sex, Our Dance’ is not the only production focusing on homosexuality that DV8
have created. One particular set of performances is called ‘To Be Straight With
You’. Nothing in this production is fictional, all of the verbal communications
are taken from interviews that Newson held as part of his research for the set.
A lot of the performances in this set challenge the homophobes and people who
protest again certain gay rights, showing that even in this modern age, they
are not completely free from societal prejudices, or religions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvctLx8H8xs[6] This particular
link will take you to a video and stage performance showing Christian
protestors arguing their reasons as to why a gay couple should not be allowed
to adopt, including reasons to do with how it could lead to cannibalism and
other immoral and unethical things. This next link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AB-rFzq9Ro shows an actor
playing a 15 year old gay Muslim boy. He talks about how his mum and dad are
Muslims and how he came out to his parents. With a mother that understood but a
father that believed he is a sinner, he ran away from home until his father and
brother found him and stabbed him for being gay. He survived and moved away
from Hull where his family lives. Many of the arguments provided against
homosexuality shown within this production are all to do with religion, mostly
the Christian and Muslim faiths, and how the people interviewed in the street
believe that God didn’t agree with homosexuality and therefore it was wrong.
You Tube offers a wide range of clips from
DV8’s work. Another set is called ‘Can We Talk About This?[9]’. Through the use of both
simple and complex dance structures, and the interview Verbatim, Newson wanted
to explore conversations based on the Islamist culture and how a lot of the
discussions are censored within western world media and everyday conversations.
‘ ‘Can We Talk About This’ … includes more global controversies that foreground
the same issues of sacrificing the freedom of speech on the altar of cultural
realism’[10].
Some of the verbatim used in these particular pieces are taken from government
officials. There are human rights representatives, UK labour politicians and
people not involved in the government at all. One interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVPumETpuA) was with ex UK
labour politician, Ann Cryer. She argued against forced marriage in 1999 and
was accused of being a racist because of it. This interview was a way to
explain she wasn’t racist she just didn’t agree with the way some Muslim women
were forced into these situations and wanted to confront the problem without
affecting her career. Another (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUIRyM8g9-0) was a Muslim
woman who was supposed to enter a forced marriage but instead ran away from
home knowing her father and brothers would try to hunt her down in order to
kill her. This meant she needed to be put under witness protection and into a
home with a panic button. It is important here to express once again that these
are all true stories, none are fictional however, the western world finds it
hard to listen to what is going on away from their cultures and that’s why
Newson wanted to use his form of theatre as a way to make a larger audience
listen. ‘He focuses particularly on these areas where the deference to
antidemocratic practices appear to be the most egregious: shariah councils
functioning as a quasi-legal system with the British one, forced marriages,
honour killings and Muslim antipathy towards homosexuality’[11]. By focusing on the most
outrageous and shocking stories and viewpoints, Newson’s job of getting people
to pay attention is marginally easier. ‘DV8 physical theatre’s work is about
taking risks, aesthetically and physically, about breaking down the barriers
between dance and theatre and, above all, communication ideas and feelings
clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to be radical yet accessible, and
to take its work to as wide an audience as possible’.[12] This is exactly what Newson
has managed to do, taking DV8 to various parts of the world, showing as many
people as possible that there are problems within the 21st century
that need to be addressed and discussed.
Dv8 is considered the ‘most travelled of
the physical theatre companies in Britain…’[14]. Newson has taken DV8 to
many places in the world including The Sydney Opera House where ‘Can we talk
about this?’ premiered, Haus Der Berliner Festspiele, where ‘To Be Straight
With You’ premiered (later touring in the USA, Canada and UK), and The Lowry,
Salford Quays, UK, where ‘The Cost of Living/Can We Afford This’ premiered before
touring the UK and Europe and also adapted for a channel 4 programme.
‘The Cost Of Living/Can We Afford This’ follows
two men, Dave and Eddie, as they explore their lives through dance. Dave is a
double amputee dancer who challenges an audience’s naivety by showing there are
only restrictions of the mind when it comes to dancing whilst maintaining
individuality. Eddie is tough and can appear aggressive, he believes in justice
and fairness, so as he hates his job and the little pay he gets, he becomes
very vocal and his dance moves are more jerky than that of Dave’s. ‘The idea of
values, not financially but metaphorically’[15]. One of the main problems
with society and politics today is the misguided obsession with material gains.
The value of a person based on their financial substance, the value of a
decision based on what it gets the decider personally. Newson uses ‘The Cost of
Living/Can We Afford This’ to show that not everything you have in this world
is physical. The value of you and your life isn’t always based on what society
can see and use for their benefit and your fall. In this scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgUT0Ufmkbk [16]. We see Dave join a
ballet dancer. Prejudices say he can’t possibly dance with her when he has no
legs, he will embarrass himself, but true to Newson’s nature, this scene
emphasises the whole point of this production, to make the audience realise
that there shouldn’t be judgmental boundaries and prejudices just because it’s
something you haven’t seen before. ‘Instead of excluding Toole from dances he
couldn't perform without legs, in one scene, his body set the standard of
movement and ability as other dancers attempted to move like him, crossing the
stage on their hands. These `able-bodied' dancers, with their legs dragging
behind them, were less agile, less strong in the arms, and ultimately less able
than Toole was at this kind of’[17]. There wasn’t just the
social prejudices of less limbs confronted in this production, Newson also
addressed the preconceptions of weight, gender and age and how each of these
can make us different and how we get judged by them, yet this production shows
the audience that none of that should matter, society shouldn’t brainwash you
to believe there is just one set way for everyone, just because you have no
legs or arms does not mean you cannot move gracefully and dance, just because
you are ‘over weight’ does not mean you can’t move gracefully and dance, just
because you are a man in heels does not mean you can’t move gracefully and
dance. ‘The following companies, writers and performers, within diverse
theatrical languages, have all sought to explore matters of gender and
sexuality: Pina Bausch, Dv8…’ [18]
Even if this form of theatre isn’t yet the
mainstream, they have still had an influence across theatre as a whole; and
even those that don’t practice theatre in the same sense and style, still
praise the work of Newson and DV8. ‘its sheer physicality makes it
exhilarating; his willingness to go out on a limb with his subjects has been
matched by dancers who have been willing to risk their limbs’[25]
The guardian wrote a review saying ‘as always with DV8, the physical side of
the show is impressive: one female performer illustrates the determination to
escape a forced marriage purely through sinuous hand and hip movements’[26]
but also goes on to add ‘But intellectually, the show is full of holes. The
idea that people are afraid to speak out about Islamist extremist is disproved
by the very existence of this production…’ Showing that although DV8 can be
seen as astounding and massively influential, and despite their many years of
hard work and seemingly successful performances and productions, some may
believe they are not quite doing the research that would be expected for their
levels of standards. However, can a newspaper review be evidence enough to
learn what audiences think of DV8 and their work?
Bibliography
Articles:
Michael Arditti DANCE / At the theatre of blood and bruises: DV8
tread a fine line between athleticism and masochism. Their new work, MSM, goes
one step further. Michael Arditti reports November 6th 1993
Michael Billington Can we talk about this – review March 13th
2012
Books:
Alex Mermikides and Jackie Smart, ed., Devising in process, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire UK, 2010 (pg.
10)
Christopher B. Balme The
Theatrical Public Sphere (Cambridge University Press, UK) 2014 page 195
Theodore Shank, ed., Contemporary
British Theatre Macmillan press ltd, 1994 (pg. 10)
Jen Harvie DV8's Can We
Afford This: The Cost of Devising on Site for Global Markets (International
federation for theatre research, UK) Page 70
Simon Murray and John Keefe Physical
Theatre’s: A critical introduction (Taylor and Francis ltd) 2007, pg. 31
Websites (Mainly for the pictures:
YouTube.com searches:
‘To Be Straight With You’- DV8
‘Can We Talk About This?’- DV8
‘The Cost Of Living’- DV8
Pina Bausch
[1] http://granerbcn.cat/wp-content/uploads/fallback.png
[2]
Alex Mermikides and Jackie Smart, ed., Devising
in process, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire UK, 2010 (pg. 10)
[3]/4 https://www.dv8.co.uk/contact-dv8/lloyd-newson
[5] https://www.dv8.co.uk/projects/archive/my-sex-our-dance
[6]
Youtube.com searches: DV8 To Be Straight With You
[7]https://www.dv8.co.uk/media/images/galleries/to%20be%20straight%20with%20you/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-25%20at%2015.29.37.png
[8]http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/servlet/file/store5/item102705/version1/fileservice770/102705_770_preview.jpg
[9]
Youtube.com searches: ‘Can We Talk About This?’
[10]
Christopher B. Balme The Theatrical
Public Sphere (Cambridge University Press, UK) 2014 page 195
[11]
Balme, 194
[14]
Theodore Shank, ed., Contemporary British
Theatre Macmillan press ltd, 1994 (pg. 10)
[16]
Youtube.com searches: ‘The Cost of Living’
[17]
Jen Harvie DV8's Can We Afford This: The
Cost of Devising on Site for Global Markets (International federation for
theatre research, UK) Page 70
[18]
Simon Murray and John Keefe Physical
Theatre’s: A critical introduction (Taylor and Francis ltd) 2007, pg. 31
[21]
Youtube.com searches: Pina Bausch
[22]
Youtube.com searches: Pina Bausch
[25]
Michael Arditti DANCE
/ At the theatre of blood and bruises: DV8 tread a fine line between
athleticism and masochism. Their new work, MSM, goes one step further. Michael
Arditti reports November 6th 1993
[26]
Michael Billington Can we talk about this – review March 13th
2012
