Three's Company Blog

Work with Three's Company

2009-11-06T12:16:00.003Z

We are just now in the process of negotiating three weeks at a major London theatre for our first ever London season, this coming January. This should see the transfer of Play On Words alonside a host of play readings and exciting interactive experiements and talks.

More information to follow soon. But for now, we're looking for people to get involved and help us realise this ambitious plan. So here's our recruitment advert:

At this stage, we are particularly looking for:

Producers - for individual elements (including the three-day Interactivity Symposium) as well as the season overall, with responsibility for press, marketing, correspondance and liason, fundraising, team management, admin etc.
Designer, for Play On Words
Assistant Producer, for the overall season (open to those looking for work-experience of intern positions)
Marketing Assistant, for the overall season (open to those looking for work-experience of intern positions)

Three's Company are Yaz Al-Shaater (CSSD graduate and interactive theorist), Tom Crawshaw (award-winning playwright) and Michael Grady-Hall (RADA graduate and award-winning actor).

For more information about the company visit http://threescompany.co.uk

For more information or to enquire about any of the posts, email jobs@threescompany.co.uk

2009 Summer Tour complete (So long and thanks for the fish)

2009-09-05T15:16:00.001+01:00

Having to pay extortionate amounts to be ignored on public transport, people being thrown into confusion at the sight of Scottish banknotes, and... some days without rain...

It can only mean one thing: yes, it's the end of our Summer Tour for another year, and our return to London.

This year, Play On Words and Adventure Time visited the Buxton and Edinburgh Fringe - the fourth year now that we've 'done the double' (as we like to refer to it*). The award-winning, pun-tastic tragi-comic Play On Words had five performances in Buxton (at Underground Venues) and 27 in Edinburgh - where we were pleased to get a slot at the Pleasance (the undisputed home of new theatre talent in Edinburgh). After a warm-up in Buxton, we let the audience choose which of us played which part for the whole run. Adventure Time (episodes 3 & 4) also played for six nights in Buxton and was the invited to perform a special charity gig at the Pleasance to close the Fringe.

So how did it all go? Let's have a look:

Play On Words nominated twice for Best Actor (Michael Grady-Hall & Meriel Rosenkranz) at the Buxton Fringe Awards
Three's Company awarded the 'Fringe 30' award for their contribution to the Buxton Fringe
Play On Words called "undeniably unmissable" and Adventure Time "a hugely entertaining show" by Buxton Fringe Review
Critics in Edinburgh also had lots of lovely things to say about our flagship production Play On Words: "Outstanding" All The Festivals, "Wonderfully witty" Three Weeks, "Fresh and alive" Remote Goat, "Sophisticated and extremely funny" The Spectator
In Edinburgh we got our largest total audience yet, with over 1200 people coming along to join in the fun
Adventure Time saw seven audience members take to the stage to play the part of Miss Claret in our 'live' recording
6 roles of gaffer tape, 4 spare legs, 1 tube of wood glue and 3 heavy-duty clamps were employed to provide rolling support to our battered desks
We were pleased to welcome our first animal co-star - Chris the fish - who made an impromtu appearence in Adventure Time (ah well... cod move in mysterious ways)

Our thanks go to our wonderful co-stars Meriel Rosenkranz and Kayleigh MacDonald; our production team including Neil Keating, Bekki Coward, Ben Cooper; the staff of Underground Venues and Pleasance Edinburgh; all the members of our Support Scheme who made the whole tour possible; Beth, Derek, Colin and Caroline for their hospitality and, of course, the people of Buxton and Edinburgh without whom it would have been a bit of a waste of time...

Here's to 2010!

*Okay, only I like to refer to it as that. T

Secret Gig Announced!

2009-08-29T11:24:00.001+01:00

Our mysterious alter-egos 'Comedy Trio' appear to have followed us up to Edinburgh and have managed to wangle themselves a secret gig at the Pleasance at tonight!

In the guise of Martin Brady-Small, Jon Grimshaw and Jazz L Carter, we'll be staging a performance of A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time' - the interactive mock-radio-comedy show we've been developing this year.

Comedy Trio will be attemting to record - and stream live on the internet - two episodes of their new radio show: a murderously funny film-noir sppof and a murder mystery to die for. This spoof-tacular, pun-dimensional show looks set to be the perfect way to end the Festival on a bang - featuring missing actresses, audience voiced-aliens and rebellious technology.

Although it's a secret gig, we're announcing the details here on our blog. It's all kicking off at quarter past midnight (12:15am) tonight (Saturday 29th August) in the Jack Dome (Pleasance Dome). And entrance is free with the code-word "Scarlett".

Tell us about Play On Words...

2009-08-21T02:23:00.003+01:00

Seen Play On Words? Got an opinion?

As you know, we really like to hear what you think of the shows we do. Your feedback keeps our shows alive: criticisms mean we're able to keep improving and praise means we're able to keep happy!

So if you want to help us out, leave us some feedback on Play On Words. You can do so in the following ways:

Leave a review on the official Edinburgh Fringe website - it's quick and easy, and it helps attract us many more audiences.
Add a review on the Broadway Baby website - you can quickly sign in using your facebook login details.
Email us - feedback@threescompany.co.uk
Leave your mark on our facebook page, or give us a shout through twitter.
Meet us in Brooke's Bar after the show - we're always there from around 2.45pm for at least one beer...
Or, simply comment on this blog post!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...

Critical Acclaim for Play On Words 2009

2009-08-13T20:48:00.004+01:00

Well we're a week into our Edinburgh Fringe run of Play On Words at the Pleasance Dome and have our first reviews out. Great to see the show going down so well already.

Extracts below and links to the full thing.

Please feel free to add any reviews or feedback of your own as comments to this post.

"Innovative and enthralling... crackles with vitality and exuberance. Outstanding"
AllTheFestivals.com - read it here

"Sizziling with intellectual jokes and wonderfully witty puns... Three's Company are absolutely aware of what they're doing and are all the better for it!"
Three Weeks - read it here

"Finely constructed... fresh and alive. A graceful waltz through words and how they are used."
Remote Goat - read it here

"Sophisitcated and extremely funny... It makes great use of puns - luckily they're excellent. Crawshaw is the master of his materials." The Spectator- read it here

"Fine word play... well-judged and dark. I can tell you that all is explained, and the explanation hurts. Words aren't just to be played with, it turns out; words can lead to tragedy, too." Fringe Guru - read it here

A nice start to the festival...

2009-08-09T15:59:00.005+01:00

Just a quick one - happy to announce* that second day out of previews and we've had our first full house!

And if that's not enough, we've also got our first review - and it's five stars.

In other news, we're having a great time: the Pleasance is excellent, venue staff are lovely, our house is very nice (though leaky), and we've already seen some top shows. So all is looking pretty rosey for the month ahead...

Hmmm... I hope we don't use up our full allocation of good luck in the first week...

We'll keep you posted. Follow @ThreesCompany on twitter for more regular updates.

PS: Ticket sales for the days ahead are looking pretty good too, so book in advance if you're planning to come along.

*read: 'show off'

Farewell Buxton

2009-07-29T12:27:00.001+01:00

And so it is the end of the Buxton Fringe 2009 and the 30th Anniversary year of the glorious spa-town festival has been the best yet.

For us it's meant another two sell-out productions, as well as the chance to meet a huge number of performers from around the world at Underground Venues, and catch up with so many old friends from our wonderful home town.

We we're very glad to not only be able to preview this year's Edinburgh show - Play On Words - but also to try out our new interactive comedy Adventure Time. This seemed to go down pretty well and we look forward to taking the ideas further in London, so a big thank-you to all of those who came along for helping us develop it thus far.

We also need to thank all the Supporters of Three's Company who have allowed us to take the financial risks we are this year and will allow us to hopefully continue our work in London following the summer.

Remember you can check out the reviews we got in Buxton here - and also read about our latest award here.

Latest Award

2009-07-27T19:16:00.000+01:00

The Buxton Fringe held their Awards Ceremony for the 30th Fringe Festival yesterday with all the best shows from the last few weeks getting a recognition.

We were very pleased to receive two award nominations for our current production, Play On Words. Michael and Meriel were both nominated for Best Actor, Meriel for the part of Jen and Michael presumably for the three parts of Fred, Eddie and Jonnie (as we play all three this year!)

More special than this however, was an extra award made to Three's Company for Special Contribution to the Buxton Fringe - aka the Fringe 30 Award. This was in recognition of our many productions (as well as venue services) over the last seven years. Having grown up in Buxton, having seen many of our first shows and having learnt much of what we know from working on the Buxton Fringe, this award means an awful lot to us.

We're already planning Buxton Fringe 2010 but for now it's off up to Edinburgh for the Fringe there! ("Oh you take the high road...")

EXTRA PLAY ON WORDS DATE!

2009-07-20T18:17:00.003+01:00

Due to popular demand and high bookings, Three's Company will be presenting an extra performance of their award-winning Play On Words at the Buxton Fringe.

If you still haven't booked tickets don't fret, the extra date is this Friday (24th) at 2:30.*

Come and catch Yaz as Eddie and Tom as Fred. Don't miss this 'hugely enjoyable' (Buxton Fringe Review 2009) production.

*If this is the same time as your dentist appointment cancel it!

Combination One of Play On Words Opens

2009-07-16T13:00:00.003+01:00

Play On Words opened last night in Buxton with Michael as Fred, Tom as Eddie, Yaz as Jonnie and of course Meriel Rosenkranz as Jen.

Usually 3C would relax a bit, but not with this production!

As you know the three lead male roles will switch each night, this means last nights performance was only the first of six first nights.

Over the next week (before the next performance on Tuesday 21st) 3C and Meriel will be re-rehearsing the other 5 combinations.

To let you know the combinations in Buxton will be:

Tuesday 21st - Fred: Tom Crawshaw, Eddie: Michael Grady-Hall and Jonnie: Yaz Al-Shaater
Wednesday 22nd - Fred: Yaz Al-Shaater, Eddie: Michael Grady-Hall and Jonnie: Tom Crawshaw
Saturday 25th - Fred: Michael Grady-Hall, Eddie: Yaz Al-Shaater and Jonnie: Tom Crawshaw

The Official Buxton Fringe Review said of the first night of Play On Words:

'Michael Grady-Hall and Tom Crawshaw were hugely entertaining in the lead roles last night and Meriel Rosenkranz supported with equal assurance as Jen.'

'The set is the best I've seen at this year's Fringe.'

'Put simply, if you've not seen Three's Company's Play On Words before, it's undoubtedly unmissable. If you have seen it before, well, you don't need me to tell you then...'

Comedy Trio Have Arrived!

2009-07-10T12:40:00.002+01:00

Three's Company opened their latest offering to the Buxton Fringe last night.

Comedy Trio struggled through their latest episode of Adventure Time with the help of a brilliant Buxton Audience, and an excellent impromptu performance from our latest 'guest star' Neyire Ashworth.

Just to let you know Neyire is performing in her new one-woman show in Buxton and Edinburgh. Don't miss the remarkable Stolen Voices. 'A truly commendable performance!' BUXTON FRINGE 2009

Adventure Time has a few more shows in Buxton, so don't miss out. Comedy Trio return to The Paupers Pit on 13th, 14th, 23rd and 26th.

The Official Buxton Fringe Review said:

'Three's Company were on top form!'

'The hard worked script was delivered at Mach 1 speed and left me breathless but smiling. It was full of innuendo, satire and word play... don't worry if you miss a gem or two, relax and you'll hear the next one.'

New Jens please

2009-07-01T13:34:00.002+01:00

New casting developments here at our Wimbledon studio - none of them related to the sudden increase of ball games in the SW19 area.

A series of unfortunate coincidences have lead to us having to recast our leading lady for the upcoming tour of Play On Words. We are therefore very pleased to announce that one Meriel Rosenkranz will be joining us in the role of Jen this year.

More information about this exciting young actress to follow.

WARNING: Comedy Trio descend on Buxton!

2009-05-08T18:31:00.003+01:00

Exciting news, as well as bringing Play On Words back to Buxton, Three's Company will be bringing two new episodes of their interactive-comedy-radio-show A Live Transmission of Adventure Time!

3C's alter-ego Comedy Trio attempt to record Episodes 3 and 4 of their spooftastic radio comedy, but a late actress, broken CDs, script malfunctions and a large dollop of over-ambition see the audience dragged in to save the day.

Join Tom, Yaz and I (as Jon, Jazz and Martin (playing Nigel, Ronnie and Archie)) with a special guest appearance from Buxton favourite Kayleigh McDonald.

Click here to book.

This summer, Noir is the new Black!

Announcement: Summer Tour 2009

2009-05-05T01:51:00.000+01:00

After a hard month of negotiations, we're very proud to announce confirmed plans for Three's Company's 2009 Summer Tour.

By popular demand, 2007's award-winning, sell-out hit Play On Words will return, starring all three of Michael Grady-Hall, Tom Crawshaw and Yaz Al-Shaater. We're over the moon to be performing a full show together again for the first time since 2005! In an act of reckless hubris, we have further decided to rotate the three male roles (Fred, Eddie & Jonnie) so we each play a different part each night.

We are particularly pleased to announce that the show has been chosen to appear at the Pleasance Dome at the Edinburgh Fringe - a venue which has hosted such internationally famous acts as Cheek By Jowl, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The League Of Gentlemen, Bill Bailey, and The Mighty Boosh. We'll be there, as part of the world's biggest arts festival, every day from 5th - 31st August.

Of course we'll be bringing the show home to the Buxton Fringe in July as well - where we'll also be running a cracking line up at Underground Venues - and to London in June (venue tbc). There also plans to take the show further after Edinburgh.

We're very proud to welcome Mariam Bell (who you may have seen in our mini-play Dreams May Come) who will be taking the role of Jen for the tour.

This does not, however, mean that our other work on Adventure Time and the development of Auditorium has been put on hold. Workshops will continue over the next few months - so look for announcements soon!

Finally, our thanks to all those in our all-new Support Scheme - who have made, and continue to make, this work possible.

He's Been Through This Before

2009-04-16T14:34:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow night, Michael will be performing 'I've Been Through This Before' - the patter song from 3C's Plane Of Existence - as part of a concert at the National Theatre. It's all to raise money for artists living and working in countries where they can be imprisoned for writing or saying anything which the regime doesn't like.

He will be joined by the cast of Burnt By The Sun in what should be an exciting event and hopefully raise a lot of money. Head to the National by about 10pm (when BBTS finishes) to catch Mic in action.

And while, we're here, congratulations to Michael who will then turn 22 the day after. You can now write the ages of all of 3C without using anything but a number 2.

The Lost Work of Tom Crawshaw

2009-04-10T14:36:00.006+01:00

This Tuesday (14th April) at 7:30 a rehearsed reading of Tom Crawshaw's play Still Life will be performed at the Jackson Lane Theatre.Well to be honest, sections of the play will be read, so don't worry, you won't find out the full story until it is launched as a fully fledged production.

If you've been missing some of Tom's more conventional writing (and by this I mean, not directly linked to Three's Company's inter-reactive work... Tom's writing is never exactly conventional) then this is the perfect night for you.

Tom began work on Still Life in 2007 just after finishing his first draft of Play On Words, and whilst writing Auditorium and Adventure Time he has been re-shaping and honing this brilliant new play. Tuesday sees Still Life's first public outing of any kind. So come along to the Jackson Lane Theatre and see Tom's most recent play and two other new works in Artists Anonymous Theatre Network's Page to Stage. And it's only £3.50! Find out more at http:/artists-anonymous.org

(No geographical errors in this post! MGH)

Highland Word Play

2009-03-29T22:52:00.002+01:00

Tom's award winning play is to be performed again outside of Three's Company. After productions in London, Oxford, Texas and others Play On Words is to be performed by LTS Productions in Carlisle. After winning the Cameron Mackintosh New Writing Award, Tom's play has garnered interest across the globe.

After Three's Company's 2006 production, many companies have been interested in reproducing the work. If you want to see the play before it gets too expensive get along to the LTS Production!

The production runs in Carlisle on the 2nd & 3rd of April, so get along to The Green Room Theatre and see a bit of 'Stoppard for the Gondry generation'.

PS. Although I would have loved to, I have not been able to add a Macbeth joke in this blog post, I've reread the whole thing and couldn't find a thing, not even in the obvious Porter and Tomorrow speeches... but go see Play on Words.

Update 2/4/09: Michael intentionally hid a rather major geographic misconception in the above post. If you can spot it, you could win a cool prize! -3C

Audience To The Rescue In Sci-fi Adventure

2009-03-23T11:36:00.003Z

Adventure Time: Episode #2 at the Tristan Bates

Thanks to everyone who came down to see A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time' Episode #II: Attack of the Grabons and filled the house at the Midnight Matinees on Saturday. The show was a huge success and that's mostly thanks to the audience! For those of you that didn't, we got a video and two recordings, so you'll be able take a look and listen, and quietly sob over what you missed. A helpful chap on the front row took some photos with Yaz's camera, so you can also see photos of the show in our gallery, or check out our Adventure Time collection on flickr. Finally, we'll be blogging soon about the theory behind A Live Transmission of Adventure Time, and the experiments it's designed to show. Look out for that soon!

Inter-reactivity

2009-03-19T09:08:00.002Z

We've been talking a lot about the audience, interactivity and 'inter-reactivity' recently. We've got a new section of our website on the way about that. In the meantime, this blog post will operate as a sort of index to that work.

Theory

Interactive Thoughts

A series of blog posts about the theory and ideas behind our interactivity. Comments are - as usual - encouraged.

What is Inter-Reactivity? coming soon

We've been using the term 'inter-reactivity' a lot recently. An explanantion of what we mean, and our system behind it, will follow soon.

Shows

Shows following our principals of interactivity:

Auditorium

Our first major interactive work, and the world's first interactive farce!

A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time'

Our interactive comedy series, following the exploits of our alterego comedy troupe Comedy Trio

Alternatorium & Auditernative

Two big projects for this summer... you'll have to hang on for the announcement though!

It's Adventure Time - again!

2009-03-16T10:50:00.009Z

Adventure Time: Episode #1 at the Tristan Bates

Hey Three's Company fans!

If you hadn't already heard, we'll be onstage again at the Midnight Matinees this Saturday (21st March), at - you guessed it - midnight.

After the phenomenal success of A Live Transmission of Adventure Time - Episode #1: The Lady of FunnyHaHa, we've been invited back to the Tristan Bates theatre for Episode #2.

The show is another comedy, taken over by our fictional alter-ego theatre company Comedy Trio, and once again the audience will play an integral part in making it work.

If you want to be in that audience then call 020-7240-6283 or email boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk and ask for a ticket to the Midnight Matinee - just £5. Book soon, they're prone to selling out!

The Midnight Matinees are an acclaimed monthly showcase for new work, featuring scratch performances a time. So for your fiver, you'll also get to see a reading of a new play by Royal Court writer Dean Stalham and a performance by Total Theatre nominees Bottlefed Ensemble. Talk about value for money.

Finally, a sneak preview of our Intro:

Find out more here.

See you there!

England Person Inspire Controversy (we join the debate!)

2009-03-09T17:42:00.006Z

As I sat with Yaz outside the National waiting to go in for the 4th preview of Burnt by the Sun, I heard one of Hussain Ismail's companions telling the crowd "I represent the East End and I'm against Richard Bean's England People Very Nice! Obviously I haven't seen the production yet..." I knew the guys performing in the show would have some interesting stories after that evenings performance.

What a great thing it is to have a show like this at the UK's National Theatre. Inspiring debate, and showing up an audience's prejudice. As one of the actors said after that night's performance

It's always interesting to see where and when the audience laughs, 'cause it really does show which bits of all the shit we throw stick to them.

That is, it shows where their prejudices are.

I recently read Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's interesting article on the Independent's website. She asks why the National should produce this kind of work, admittedly not admonishing the fact the piece has been created as many others have. Surely, the answer is that the play is intended to reveal to the National's audiences their personal prejudice (in most cases after they have left the theatre and are on their way home) much in the same way Peter Nichols' Poppy attacked its - mostly middle class - audience's personal (and collective) latent racism.

Hussain Ismail's gripe (when I saw him) specifically with the National was that it was not having a real debate. Mr. Ismail later stormed Richard Bean's Platform on the 27th (calling him a racist) and called for a chair to be set for him and others and to turn the Platform into a 'proper debate'. He continued to argue his case for half of the Platform's allocated time and didn't let others speak, perhaps a little hypocritical of him? I agree debate should be encouraged, but shouldn't it include the whole audience, not just one outspoken objector?

Tom told me about Rabina Khan's letter to the Guardian saying she had read the script and after joining Mr. Ismail's protest, went to see England People Very Nice and found it considerably more offensive than she first expected. She says:

at one point a character in the play used the term "nigger" and everybody burst out laughing. My daughter asked why people were laughing at the word "nigger". She understood it to be offensive.

Tom pointed out that this was a strange reason to take umbrage with the production: it was the audience who were acting in a manner she found unacceptable, and which the creators of the work could hardly control. No matter how carefully a writer or director might choose the tone of such a controversial work, an audience with different views/experiences will always have the possibility to alter this - especially in a comedy where they necessarily make such a vocal contribution.

I thought this linked well to the ideas behind our work as a company. The effect our plays have on an audience and their reactions to what they experience have always been our primary focus. This is why comedy (where laughter is both the main aim and something react to) and interactivity (that obviously hangs on the interplay with the audience) have become major areas of our work.

So, a lot of interesting debate has been inspired. This is so essential for the development and continued importance of theatre. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Oh and come see me in Burnt by the Sun!

"The Immediate Future" (part 2)

2009-02-09T15:12:00.004Z

The continuation of an essay on the future of theatre...

This is one of a series of blog posts about interactive theatre and theory behind our work in this field.

A large amount of theatre about today, though highly impressive, enjoyable and successful, does not embrace, does not exploit this unique element - the immediacy of theatre. A typical play – by Alan Ayckbourne, David Hare, Arthur Miller or David Mamet – for instance, is obviously different from a filming or radio recording of the same events but does not capitalise on the fact the audience are right there in front of the actors. Good performers will live the performance anew each night and should be alive to the psychology of the audience on that night but, even in the best circumstances it is hard to see how this will have much effect on the actual events. The audience posses a very small number of acceptable audible reactions they can have, in order to communicate their feelings to the actors, who then have a very tight framework within which they can react to these signals. Although the audience are but feet away, the actors are much more directly affected by the script, the set, the director’s notes from the night before and their fellow performers on stage.

Even more experimental theatre – such as site-specific work – does not usually embrace this immediacy. Walking amongst the audience, and allowing them to move amongst the actors, merely changes the physical position between them and does not use this immediacy to any effect. In some site-specific pieces, the audience is so free that they can choose which characters - and which stories – to follow. Although such ‘interactivity’ gives a lot of power to the individual audience member and is an exciting development it still does not embrace the immediacy of theatre. Indeed, television, although completely removed from the person watching it, has this form of interaction in spade-fulls: one can now choose from potentially hundreds of different ‘stories’ and, in some cases, even what camera angle they are seen from.

This is not to say that any of the above are bad theatre and should not happen. Clearly, a wide range of people get a lot of enjoyment and are profoundly affected by such theatre and it is a means for communicating important issues of today. However, without in some way embracing immediacy, and clearly marking its territory as distinct from film, television and radio, theatre could easily become just “another form” of entertainment or storytelling. It is therefore important for at least some branches of theatre to explore and embrace the nature of theatre as immediate performance, immediate art, or immediate entertainment.

There are, then, a number of branches that do do exactly this. Comedy theatre capitalises on the immediacy of the audience. By laughing – or not – the audience at a comedy can drastically change a performance, making it a unique event, which the audience are a part of. In some comedy scenes, the audience literally plays another ‘character’ who interjects lines at certain points – saying them louder or for longer and in different places each night. Such a 'character' must be listened to carefully, and can affect the performance, almost as much as an actor in the piece itself.

Plays which include moments of ‘audience interaction’ also make some – limited – use of the immediate audience. Pantomime dialogue with the audience follows formulas but will change depending on what people shout out, and in some plays entire conversations are held with audience members. Just like the reaction of actors to a laughing audience, these moments could not happen in an art from which was not immediate.

Such types of immediacy are by no means a modern phenomenon – indeed they seem to be more common in British theatre's earlier stages. Soliloquies, it is thought, in Shakespeare’s day, were always spoken directly to members of the audience. Although there is no place in Shakespeare for them to respond – and tell Othello not to kill Desdemona – the effect on those individuals is important, noteworthy – and unique to theatre as an immediate art-form.

These features, although still present in many pieces of theatre, do seem to be comparatively rare in mainstream theatre today; they are often small aspects of plays and, more importantly, do not appear to be a part of the current movements of today’s theatre. Few modern practitioners appear to be concerned to create theatre which allows more opportunities for embracing the immediacy of theatre to its audience - and in more ways. Instead of merely talking to the audience at certain points or being receptive to their mood, theatre needs to include works that fully embrace the audience and all they can potentially do to an art-work. To embrace the unique feature that immediacy brings – that the work can affect the audience and the audience can affect the work.

As people increasingly turn to television and film for their dramatic stories and entertainment, it is precisely theatre which embraces its unique features that will remain relevant and necessary. Whist the full gamut of theatre genres is sure to remain, we should expect the newest developments to be in the area of developing and exploring immediacy. This might involve actors working to become more aware of their audience, it might involve a growth in live comedy – but it should also be expected to involve theatre performances (plays as well as less conventional performances) that make the most of the audiences presence, right there in the same place as the performance.

Which, incidentally, is about where our show for this year's summer tour comes in...

This is one of a series of blog posts about interactive theatre and theory behind our work in this field.

"The Immediate Future" (part 1)

2009-02-01T12:18:00.005Z

An essay on the future of theatre...

This is one of a series of blog posts about interactive theatre and theory behind our work in this field.

Despite the rise of television and film – so proficient in producing artistically complex drama and comedy and delivering it to people – predictions of the death of theatre appear currently to have been misjudged. The breadth of culture and the desire for new stories and experiences seems more than capable of supporting a wide range of art forms. It seems to me however that, in order to maintain a place as one of the main players in British culture, theatre still needs to develop an identity, distinct from television, radio and film. Furthermore, this identity is one which is yet to be fully embraced – and can give us the best indication of the future direction of theatre.

Despite its successful co-existence, the need for theatre to justify its existence in the face of television, radio and film can be seen in the history of the previous century. Prior to the prevalence of recording and broadcasting technology, the last major development in theatre was naturalism. Television and film however are a much better, if not perfect, medium for realism. Since the first emergence of popular film in the early 1920s, theatre instantly retreated from the pursuit of realism, with such practitioners as Brecht, Artaud, Dario Fo and Grotowski at the helm.

To identify the identity of theatre, as distinct from film, television and radio, we can start by considering what the distinct feature of theatre is not. It is not, for instance, theatre’s ability to convey and discuss complex philosophical, moral or political ideas. Certainly, theatre has a tradition for being more wordy and thoughtful than its bright, action-packed brothers - film and television. Presumably this is a result of the classism of the arts – with the middle classes and intelligentsia more likely visit the theatre (and opera) than the working classes for whom television and film are more relevant. This picture can be seen to be blurring today, with film and television clearly up to the task of delivering thoughtful and intellectually complex works. Certainly however, we must admit that there is nothing essential to theatre that makes it any more suited to complex or intellectual writing than any other form; if this is currently the case, it is the result of circumstance and we can’t necessarily expect it to continue.

Although commonly cited, the essentially live nature of theatre cannot be seen to be its distinguishing feature either. Certainly, theatre performances have a somewhat special quality because you know they are being performed as you see them – and the experience is therefore unique (at least temporally). The event you are witnessing is linked, inextricably, to the evening you have chosen to witness it. But theatre by no means has the monopoly here. Many TV shows are recorded the same evening they are broadcast and many, such as morning shows and the news – go out live. Most radio stations obviously go out live as well, giving the same sense of excitement and enabling phone-ins. A recent episode of ‘Two Pints Of Larger And A Packet Of Crisps’ was even broadcast live on TV – the result being as dull as any of the other episodes, despite the novelty that things could go wrong at any point. Technological limitations in early television in fact meant that all dramas had to be performed and broadcast live – and yet there was no danger that this would render theatre unnecessary.

Being a medium for intellectual ideas and being live, then, cannot be seen to be the key to theatre’s distinct identity. Which feature then should we be concentrating on? The best offer to me seems to be immediacy. All theatre performance is fundamentally immediate: it happens right before you, in the same room or area of ground. Immediacy is not only necessary (being live is at least necessary) but it is also sufficient and unique. Any artistic performance which is immediate must be some form of theatre, and such immediacy cannot be recreated by film, radio or television.

...to be continued...

This is one of a series of blog posts about interactive theatre and theory behind our work in this field.

Comrade Michael!

2009-01-21T23:35:00.004Z

Just five months out of drama school and we are proud to announce that Michael has got himself a part at the National Theatre for this spring season.

After a series of auditions involving Russian and very long sentences he has recently been offered the part of Andrushya (a tank officer) in Burnt By The Sun. The play - to be performed on the Lyttelton stage - follows a young tank officer as he struggles to... Okay, not really. It's about the personal struggle of revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov, in a country about to be overcome by the dark shadow of Stalin's purges. A good rib-tickling comedy we expect then...

You can read more - and book a ticket - here. You can also see Michael's name in the cast list - you know... in case you thought we were making it up...

We wish Michael the best of luck with the rehearsals - which luckily leave enough time for us to keep working on 'Adventure Time' - and our new show for this year - more details soon.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

2008-12-24T14:00:00.006Z

Three's Company wish you all a very Merry Christmas. None of us are in London over the Holidays, Yaz is in Edinburgh, Tom's in Denton and I'm in Chapel (just near Buxton). But work will begin anew in 2009.

The next year looks set to be a very exciting one for Three's Company. 2009 is going to be the year of inter-reactivity. The company will be exploring and developing the ideas used in Auditorium and A Live Transmisson of 'Adventure Time', with the plan for a spectacular new interactive show in Edinburgh in the early stgaes.

So have a great Xmas, and come back to the website in the new year to find out more about 3C's exciting new plans.

Three's Company Blog

Work with Three's Company

2009 Summer Tour complete (So long and thanks for the fish)

Secret Gig Announced!

Tell us about Play On Words...

Critical Acclaim for Play On Words 2009

A nice start to the festival...

Farewell Buxton

Latest Award

EXTRA PLAY ON WORDS DATE!

Combination One of Play On Words Opens

Comedy Trio Have Arrived!

New Jens please

WARNING: Comedy Trio descend on Buxton!

Announcement: Summer Tour 2009

He's Been Through This Before

The Lost Work of Tom Crawshaw

Highland Word Play

Audience To The Rescue In Sci-fi Adventure

Inter-reactivity

Theory

Interactive Thoughts

What is Inter-Reactivity? coming soon

Shows

Auditorium

A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time'

Alternatorium & Auditernative

See also

It's Adventure Time - again!

England Person Inspire Controversy (we join the debate!)

"The Immediate Future" (part 2)

The continuation of an essay on the future of theatre...

"The Immediate Future" (part 1)

An essay on the future of theatre...

...to be continued...

Comrade Michael!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year