Forced Entertainment: Concept Behind the Name

I've stumbled upon a company called Forced Entertainment, as they're pushing the boundaries here in Vancouver. They're dubbed as the most experimental Theatre company in the UK. And you can be a part of it. Their associates at memelab imparted on me a snazzy little event. A social evening and informal screening of Forced Entertainment's ABLOODY MESS, alongside a chat/Q+A with Cathy Naden, who is in town facilitating a workshop from Nov 5-9 2007. The whole thing is put on by the PuSh International's Performing Arts Festival and Theatre Replacement but, guess what, it's secret. The location and other details I cannot disclose to you. You have to write to them, (politely) and maybe you'll be invited ;)

Central to Forced Entertainment's practice is the belief that work can begin from any number of sources, found or invented, but that work never starts out from a pre-determined theme or agenda. Another central tenet is that in a social setting as hyper as that of the (post)modern one, surely there are new ways of discussing and representing lived experience in the world. The company has a saying, "Let the material dictate what the show wants to be," echoing a kind-of-a McLuhanesque cum-Derridaean approach to performance. And it is in this spirit that the workshop will experiment, taking concrete ideas and exploring the sometimes false, sometimes unexpected, and sometimes very exciting directions that can (and often do) lead you in.

Cathy Naden is a founding member, performer, and deviser with Forced Entertainment. This five-day workshop will take a practical trip into some of the concerns and approaches that the company has pursued through its long history of work at the cutting edge of contemporary performance. Drawing on text, the possibilities of space and the creative limits of rules and game structures, the workshop will focus on three often inter-connected areas: (a) how to create frameworks for material, (b) what it means to be in front of an audience and (c) the relationship between process and product.

Suffice it to say, if you'd liked to get in on this shinanigan, please email the memelab and they'll just see about that: memelab@telus.net.

PICTURE CREDIT: Dan Cordle's photostream