Its all just a little bit of history repeating...

None of what I’m about to write is new (there’s an irony to this opening that I hope will become clear.) All of what I’m about to write has happened before, been noted before, been documented before. Still, as I’ve witnessed it occurring on this specific occasion it has inspired me to want to note and document it all over again.

As followers of my artistic ventures may be aware, a new piece of theatre created with my youth theatre will be performed as part of the miner’s memorial service at Wakefield Cathedral this weekend. The piece was commissioned by the Yorkshire branch of the National Union of Mineworkers and they wanted to specifically focus on a local tragedy – The Lofthouse Colliery Disaster. Now, I was honoured to be asked to create this piece of theatre from the outset, but as my research and exploration of the story has progressed and my understanding of the situation has developed my sense of honour has grown immeasurably.

In addition to this revealing and fulfilling personal journey, a significant aspect of working with local history has come to my attention. As rehearsals have progressed and the young people performing have explored this historical event, they have begun talking about it. As they have started talking about it they have found points of connection with people where they least expected it. The Lofthouse Colliery Disaster occurred on the first day of spring in 1973, so it is relatively recent history, whilst talking to others about the project they’re involved in cast members have discovered neighbours who can remember the eternal and ultimately tragic wait to see if the lost miners had survived. They’ve realised that they have relatives who knew men who escaped from the torrents of water that flooded the mine and close family members who stood watching from their bathroom window as the floodlights from the rescue operation lit up the night.

These animated conversations have given the cast an insight into the things that older members of their city, their community, their family have seen. With that insight comes a curiosity and a point of contact, richer conversation and an opportunity for connection that wasn’t there before. It’s a wonderful thing to watch, as actors turn up to rehearsals full of the next discovery they’ve made, a discovery that then gets invested back into the production as a whole. It doesn’t stop there, the understanding and empathy this process of discovery encourages enriches their own performance…and their own self…

And just to think, a month ago they had no idea of what had happened on the 21st of March in 1973…

Responses to Responsibility

I’m tired of people not taking responsibility for their mistakes, their oversights, their forgetfulness, their wrongs... This fatigue announced itself to me the other day when I watched two cars nearly collide (as near misses go it wasn’t that dramatic, both had time to stop) and immediately a car horn sounded out aggressively. Now firstly, the fact that in a moment of threat and danger the first instinct of someone is to sound the horn rather than take evasive action or make sure everyone is alright is sad in itself. However even more significant is the fact that both of them were equally to blame or in fact not to blame. A mistake was made by both of them that resulted, thankfully, in no harm done. This didn’t stop the noisy accusation of fault coming through the airwaves loud and clear.

Obviously this is a trite example, but it illustrates my wider point. I find myself, some days, around people who are far too eager to blame anyone and everyone for their circumstances or actions. It has come to the point where it is a refreshing change to meet someone who is prepared to acknowledge their mistakes therefore give themselves the opportunity to move forward. There seems to be three general reactions to getting something wrong…the first is to play the victim, often exceptionally eloquently. Instead of an acknowledgement of what has happened, or what they’ve done they instead present a list of all the things that have gone wrong for them and therefore caused whatever is the centre of concern…often these issues have nothing to do with what is being discussed. The second is utter denial - despite all evidence to the contrary, the perpetrator of whatever it is denies having anything to do with it, and again this denial can be more than eloquent. Finally, and the one that really irritates me, there is the aggressive response. Here the person at fault ricochets away any responsibility with their shield of sometimes violent belligerence.

Now I’m not pretending that owning up is easy and all of these behaviours are more than understandable. Equally the tragic and relentless circumstances that some people find themselves in are more than reason to want to cast around for anyone to take some of the weight of their reality… My concern is this, with no acknowledgement of responsibility there is no power to change anything and then the same mistakes are repeated again and again…Where, as a practitioner, I see the most exciting developments is with those people who have a clear vision of self and actions and in addition the impact they and their behaviour have on the wider world. I’m happy, eager even, to take on the responsibility of facilitating an environment where that can happen…hoping that people are prepared to meet me half way…when that happens everything feels a little more right with the world…