Checklist for designing a theatre project with an activism element: RAT LAB session #1 reflections

"In this room, there is an unspoken getting-it-ness."

What a pertinent statement on which to build the very start of our professional development programme.

It's something that permeates everything we do, and that makes our work so important. People living with post-traumatic stress so rarely find spaces in which they don't have to explain themselves down to the minutest detail, just to have a chance of being treated like an equal.

So a big question going into this next stage of our work is, how do we spread that getting-it-ness? How do we make spaces like ours the norm, so we have a fair chance of contributing to the arts and to social change in the ways that only we can? How can we get our insights and creativity and community celebrated and sought after?

That's an awfully big question. So in our first session, we spent some time breaking it down into the many, many other questions we are likely to need to ask ourselves and each other when designing an arts project with an activism element.

Funniest looking check-list you've ever seen? Yeah, there was no way we were going to be able to get this into a neat order. Partly because there is no single chronology to this: one process could have you asking some questions first, that in the next process you aren't asking until right near the end. Partly because putting them one after the other would suggest that you can only move on to the next one once you've answered the one before. And frankly, you'll probably find yourself asking most of these questions multiple times over the course of any project. Some of them you'll never be able to answer. Some of them you'd answer very differently if you did the same project in a different time or a different place. And that's kind of the beauty of it. (Yes, really. Even when you're bashing your head against them, just wanting it to be simpler. You'll cherish the memory of those moments at some point, honest!)

We categorised the questions according to five types: artistic, strategic, ethical, logistic, and personal. None of the questions fits perfectly into just one of those categories, and most of them could fall under three or more. The graph above is a rough reflection of where we thought the questions fit in relation to those types. Do you notice that the questions you care about most, or are most scared of, or find easiest/harder to answer, are clustered in similar areas of the image? Most of us did. It's a useful exercise for identifying where our strengths and confident areas are, and where we shy away, need more experience, or perhaps could do with a little help.

We had a go in the latter part of the session at testing how we might respond to certain common conundrums survivors face when trying to get projects off the ground. Someone wants to interview you about what you're doing, but they seem more interested in the juicy details of your story than they are in your art or your purpose. A venue wants to host your show, but only if you'll make significant changes to it that fundamentally go against what you're trying to do. Someone wants you as a lived experience lead on a project they're running to earn the trust of members of your community, but they won't shift at all on practices they're asking you to use that you consider damaging.

There are no right answers in any of these situations. There are gains and losses, relief and regret to be found in retrospect no matter what you do. But equipped with foreknowledge of the sorts of situations we might face, we can at least be in the best possible position to respond to them led by our values and priorities, rather than losing ourselves in a panicked rush.

There was a real mix of excitement and overwhelm in the space by the end of the day. When you're so unused to being heard, actually having the information in front of you about how taking action and getting your authentic voice out there might be done can make you quite giddy. But at the same time - it's an awful lot of work, isn't it?!

Yes. Yes, it is. And in our experience, there are very few people out there who are willing to help you do to it - even though there is an abundance of evidence of the appetite for survivor-led arts and activism. And that's why we need to band together, share the resources we have, and make the work happen in whatever form it can take at any one time. Often it won't look like work that is seen as less risky, less niche - but that can be a selling point rather than a loss, if we confidently treat it as such.

One of the main questions with which people were left by the end, was: how will I know when I'm ready to do this? Such an important consideration - again, with no easy answer.

The best reflection we can make on that, we think, is that "this" can take many forms over a long time. Maybe you want to produce a whole festival but for now you can just put together a scratch night. Maybe you want to stage an epic poem in an amphitheatre but for now it's a haiku you share at a table in a cafe with friends. Everything starts somewhere. And at any stage, anything can change someone's life.

As for being "over it" or "well" or "decided" enough on whatever topic you're addressing: personally, we think your work is likely to have less value if you have made any clear final decisions or reached a place of total peace on it. Because you might find yourself falling into the trap of giving your audience and participants the answers rather than inviting them to join the conversation or get closer to their own. Trauma and subjects adjacent to it don't go in straight lines and don't have end points: we can only reflect from wherever we are in any given time of our life, and honouring that is the most generous thing an artist can do.

So for goodness's sake listen to your body and please don't throw yourself into something you know is going to harm you - but when you can begin to see yourself starting to do something, that's probably a good sign that your journey can slowly begin. And remember, with RAT around, you have access to a community of getting-it-ness.

Enjoyed reading this? Our next introductory session is this coming Saturday, and we'd love to see you there!

This time we'll be focusing on facilitation skills and finding your style. We'll look at the different kinds of facilitation you might find yourself doing with different participants to a range of purposes, before going into a practical afternoon of working out what you have to bring as a facilitator, and what you can offer that nobody else can.

Sign up here if you're comfortable doing so: it does help us to know who's coming. But if you can't, rock up on the day and we won't turn you away.

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