are set to return to Scotland with a revival at the Arches. Meanwhile. local company Highway Diner scored similar praise for their rnagnilicent Works of 'I'wnporury Sulur'r' at the previous Fringe. a moving and beautiful exploration of alienation in mass culture. They will host a theatre/gig event called HIiRIi at the Bongo Club. in combination with electronic band Swimmer One in December.
We asked both companies the satne questions about their politics and aesthetics. (‘o-artistic director Rachel (‘havkin replied for the 'I‘IiAM. while Highway Diner offered a collaborative response from four of its core members.
What led to your company forming in the way it did? Are there any significant moments that informed the path you have chosen?
TEAM: Most of us went to New York l'niversity together. and I had directed almost everyone in projects during school. In December 2002 all of its gathered at a tiny cafe in the Fast Village and I introduced the idea for A Thousand Natural Shocks [their other acclaimed Fringe piece] and we began planning workshops and benefits. We became the TIiAM or the Theatre of the Iimerging American Moment.
A significant moment?
TEAM: Probably winning the Fringe First! I‘m not sure that we‘d still be driving forward this way if the Fringe hadn‘t been such a success. Highway Diner: I suppose the catalyst occurred for us in that moment where you‘re sat in the theatre and watching something that is doing nothing for you and it makes you angry at the laziness of the people who made this work. angry at the audience for sitting there and accepting this bullshit. and angry at yourself for not doing anything about it. This kind of anger is a really useful catalyst; it helps you stay tip and rehearse late into the night. keeps you motivated when you‘ve got no money and only dreams of making something significant.
What is the most frustrating thing about the theatre world at the moment?
TEAM: In New York you go to the theatre. don‘t talk to the person sitting next to you. watch a play you may or may not get. and then go home. There is no connection between the performers and audience. and no opening for discussion about the impulses behind the work. So it spawns a very insular feeling where the audience feels stupid for ‘not getting‘ the play. and the artists are happy or trapped in a bubble of their own artistry. It‘s bad and it makes theatre feel dead and much less fun than a night at the pub. Highway Diner: MONIin It takes so long to get lodged into a system of support that
companies like us get lost in a kind of
bureaucratic black hole. There are four people working on this company full time. administrating. producing. making. but that‘s not clear enough for the bureaucratic systems. There‘s a real hunger for the work we‘re making just now. you know. a big audience of people who wouldn‘t usually even think of going to a theatre show. But at the moment there‘s a lack of faith in what we‘re doing from people who are in a position to offer support.
To what extent are you out to change things?
TEAM: We want to make theatre feel like a sporting event or rock concert: it‘s something we very consciously work towards. Theatres have to take responsibility for the role they serve in
‘OUR WORK IS ABOUT HOPE, ABOUT PEOPLE WAKING UP TO THEIR SITUATION AND ENDING AT THE BRINK OF ACT ION'
teaching an audience how to watch plays again and again. And then everyone of course going to the bar to talk about the work and society. I think that should be part of the contract.
Highway Diner: What we want to do is change
you. We want to affect a change in our
audiences. We want people to be moved to move themselves. to put themselves in the place of the artist and remember that every day of their lives they‘re making and remaking the reality of the world we all experience. We want people to be empowered and realise that they have control
over their world. We have control over the larger
politic of the world if only we could realise that
the power of one can be as strong as the power
of a million. If enough of us want something to happen. then it will.
There are many references to the mass media and our current political culture in your work. What do you think about this? TEAM: It‘s sad btrt totally understandable in a culture as isolated as suburban (and exurban)
THEATRE'S YOUNG TURKS
America: people turn to a box for companionship and for information. And this ties to current political culture of course because people are looking for truth about the world outside of them. and the media is giving back a very twisted story that leads to more fear and isolation. Where do you begin with current political culture‘.’ We‘re trying not to sink into pure despair and irony: that‘s already been done in the theatre. Our work is about hope. about people waking up slowly over the course of a play to their situation. and ending at the brink of action.
Highway Diner: Our work references mass media and globalisation because it‘s absolutely part of our contemporary landscape. We all watch The Office and The .S'impsmrs. and this builds part of our identity. We‘re homogenised. we‘re being made to be the same. Our work is about the tension between our identities as constructed by the media. by external influences of ordering of education. which hornogenise us as human beings; and the parts of us which are different. Difference is the most integral part of our work. Not just the differences between cultures and class systems. but differences of opinion. You‘re right to be different.
Give Up! Start Over!, by the TEAM, is at The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 18-Sat 19 Nov; Highway Diner are part of the Scratch Night at The Arches on Thu 17 Nov. HERE, with Swimmer One is at the Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Thu 8 Dec.
17 Nov 1 DOC 2005) THE LIST 23