A bit of bite
New life has been breathed into political theatre in the South West with the emergence of Theatre with Teeth. Based in the People’s Republic of South Devon city of Exeter these Agents Provocateurs Dan Raynor and Charlie Whitworth have already produced Take Some of This at the Barnfield Theatre and are set to resurface in the autumn with loads more. Til then tho, here’s a little bit more about them when they spoke to us.
You’re trying to resurrect, or breathe new life into political theatre?
Yes, we are dismayed by the lack of new work that tries to tackle political and social themes. This has been also spurred on by what we have seen in our peers as a lack of political interest and understanding. As well as this, we are aware of the current political disillusionment in the British Public, poll turnouts getting lower and lower, and in the ‘dumbing down’ nature of today’s media.
For us, the challenge is to raise debate and bring greater awareness for our audience AND everyone involved in our piece. If we have got people thinking and asking questions, politically and socially, we have succeeded in our aim.
It’s just the pair of you?
Yes, the company is run and was set up by Dan Rayner and myself, both of us will take up roles as writer, director and dramaturg. We have got a lot of people involved from Exeter University and many more are interested in contributing, inside the Uni and out, but the company itself is just made up of Dan and me. We have big plans while we are still at university, and even bigger for when we are out.
What was the biggest barrier to setting yourself up as a theatre company?
As with any company I guess the biggest barrier has been money and a fear to invest in something that is young and new. However, we have overcome this hurdle purely through the huge amount of support and interest we have gained from people in the university and spread throughout the country in regards to our work. While money has been a problem initially we are steadily finding it to become less so as our profile increases due to the different kind of work we are creating and proposing. We are aiming to be involved in many different aspects of the social and cultural elements and factors that make up Devon and the rest of Britain.
Posted by Cptn
If you liked this story, you could buy us a coffee --------------------------------------------------------------------August 7th, 2007
