Every time you walk down a street and toss a coin into the hat of some well-deserving busker, keep in mind that you are not only supporting the individual artist in their creative endeavors, but you’re also helping to keep alive the rich and long-lived British tradition of the patronage of the street performer. Truth be told we often take for granted the vast landscape that is the UK arts scene. Unaware of just how privileged modern audiences really are in our ability to access the arts on both a local and a global scale and how different the case was in our nations past.
In medieval times, when isolated villages and castles relied on word of mouth as a means of garnering tales of the outside world, travelling performers, such as bards, minstrels and travelling shows, were instrumental in the dissemination of the cultural and political news and events of the day. Feted by kings and commoners alike, minstrels and bards were amongst the most picturesque figures in medieval history. Travelling from town to town, castle to croft, armed with lute or lyre, they were always warmly welcomed, ready to entertain the masses and hopefully garner the support of a wealthy patron. In many ways these artists of the day acted as a bridge between the classes.
Through song and spoken verse they entertained and informed an often largely illiterate audience on themes as diverse as the miracles of the saints, the stories of Scripture, and most popularly the legends of heroes and villains, both real and fictitious. Needless to say, bards and minstrels, two of the most foremost historical examples being Taliesan & Beowulf, could also wield not inconsiderable influence in the shaping of public opinion with nobility and commoner alike.
Likewise, through the staged works of the immortal William Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre in London, audiences from all areas of the social spectrum were exposed to what were initially conceived as medieval soap operas. Touching as they did on history, political trends and social mores, however, the production and performance of these pieces had a profound social effect on audiences of the day. Rich and poor alike mingled at the productions of his plays, something that rarely happened in any other scope of social life as it then existed, where it was often the case that only the nobility and the wealthy had any access to the performing arts.
Thankfully, times have changed and British audiences across the economic spectrum have a wealth of great art and performance literally at their fingertips. And one of the more exciting cultural events bringing the arts to the masses is the upcoming National Theatre’s Watch This Space, which kicks into action on the 18th June.
In an enlightening interview with Festival Director Jonathan Holloway, it quickly became evident just how much things had changed in for the better in the UK Arts landscape. Having worked as a theatre director and programmer for about eight years before joining the National in 1997 to set up its Events Department ‘… just after the rebuilding works in which a lovely new square had been created between the National and the river’ as Holloway explains. His first priority was, he says ‘to create a festival to transform that square and bring new audiences to the National Theatre’.
As Holloway tells it, now in its seventh year, ‘Watch This Space first began in 1998 and was made up of six weeks of events, three days a week. It attracted around 20,000 people and was basically seen as a great success. Over the years it has grown into a 10-week event, six days a week with audiences of well over 100,000 people.’
In creating the festival, Holloway says ‘the aims (were) threefold: to bring a new audience to outdoor performance including the National’s very arts literate attendees; to bring a new audience to the National Theatre, an audience which reflects the diversity of London and to develop new work and invest in the quality of street arts in the UK. The fact that this both animates the National’s public spaces and give people somewhere to hang out on the South Bank are great bonuses,’
With street performance gaining increasing recognition around the world for being on the cutting edge, Holloway noted that, ‘street arts in the UK are getting better and better. More people attend street arts events than football matches.’ However, a definite concern with public perception regarding the genre of street performance is, as he says, ‘that the art form doesn’t have the same investment so it can suffer from being a poor cousin to other art forms.’ Thankfully ‘showcase events such as Manchester’s Xtrax Festival and Elemental, the UK project at Europe’s leading street theatre festival last year in Chalon are helping to challenge preconceptions about the quality of UK work.’
Garnering financial support for street arts in the UK can be a challenge, say the least, and as Holloway pointed out ‘Our climate and funding system means that our work is often less well developed that Spanish and French work, but that is constantly being challenged through the commitment and talent of UK street artists.’ Notably, for the fourth consecutive year, the Watch This Space festival is being sponsored by the globally influential finance company Bloomberg which is widely renowned for its philanthropic support of the arts worldwide. As Festival Director Holloway commented, ‘Our relationship with Bloomberg has been brilliant and we very much hope it will continue for the next four years! They have a wide program of sponsorship of cutting edge and contemporary work and them sponsoring Watch This Space was a natural fit. We are also programming a short series of events in Finsbury Square next to their offices, to take a bit of the National into the city.’
As in previous years, the Watch This Space festival will offer audiences a incredible array of talent to choose from. The opening weekend, as outlined by Holloway, features a theatrical hairdressing team from Barcelona and a club night from the cream of British Asian talent. On 2&3 July, Circo para Todos is a show performed by 20 young people from the shantytowns of Colombia. On 15 – 17 July check out the first appearance of the National Youth Theatre at the National Theatre and on 24 July there will be a late night performance of Bantu rituals and African rhythms from Manchester-Paris based Nzi Dada. On 29 June there’s the Shyam Brass Band from Jabalpur and on the final day, 21 August, legendary and anarchic street company Cacahuète ends the festival. Along the way over 50 bands and more than 60 street theatre performances are all waiting to be checked out.
And for the first time, in this year’s festival, audiences will be able to experience Waterloo Cines a highly innovative endeavour in which the National’s Lytteltown flytower will be used a massive projection screen in what Holloway calls a Cinema Paridiso-style experience with 3000 square feet of classic cinema. Hitchcock’s 1926 classic The Lodger will screen accompanied by The Matrix Ensemble playing a live soundtrack composed by The Divine Comedy’s Joby Talbot.
As Holloway notes, ‘It will be an extraordinary experience that people will be able to see from Waterloo Bridge and the other side of the river and we’ll also project the film onto a smaller screen on Theatre Square for those people who can’t fit on the terrace.’
It goes without saying that through the staging of such exciting and innovative events as the Watch This Space Festival, Britain’s key position in the global street arts firmament is all but guaranteed. With audience commitment growing exponentially with each passing year, it stands to reason that with increased support and funding, countries around the world will no doubt soon be looking to the UK and its cornocupia of great talent, as a benchmark of how great art is created and presented to a culturally dynamic and intellectually discerning global audience.
For more information on the ‘Watch This Space’ Festival CLICK HERE .
