Unlocking potential after lockdown
I was looking back recently at the Flowers of the Forest production photographs and thinking how proud I was to see Ardent emerge from this co-production into a distinct company in its own right – and one that has proven itself to be able to change shape in line with the demands of the time. This ability to shape-shift comes from the guidance and artistic input of Mark Sands and Andrew Muir who have led the company to discover and create a range of inspiring projects – they continue to do so in spite of the current challenges that lockdown presents. As a trustee, I was delighted when Mark secured the funding to begin work on Strike! by Tracy Ryan as the company had a long held desire to discover more about this text and wanted to see how it could speak to us now about the value of personal actions taken as a result of strongly defended political viewpoints. Fortunately, Tracy has been open to this discovery process and we are so excited to keep working with Tracy and to find a new audience for Strike! - it is clear that it has a space in the demanding times we live in.
Then and now, world-wide events and decisions made by others shift our understandings of what the individual can achieve in the face of insurmountable odds. It is difficult to know what shape the artistic landscape will take when we come out of lockdown but we remain committed to sharing stories that inspire action to be taken and that give a voice to the overlooked or unheard. There is no reason to think lockdown will stop this process – in fact, if anything, it offers even more reason to push on with our mission to ‘bring outsiders in’. The reason theatre endures is surely to tell the story of the outsider. One of my clearest memories of Flowers of the Forest is the work of performer Debra Penny who took the role of the brittle and acerbic Mercia and quickly made her the beating, albeit bitter, heart of the piece – a chance we will offer again to as many performers as we can – once we are all free to step back into the rehearsal space.
#ardentvoices #CultureRecoveryFund