I thought the best work at Hive left plot, character and conflict in the dust and concentrated on what was happening between the audience and the work. Best examples of this were: Theatre Conspiracy's 21st Century Peep Show, The Chop's 2 Truths + 1 Lie = Proof, the New World piece and the Radix piece.
The work that relied on familiar conventions - even some of the great stuff like Theatre Skam and the Electric Company - still left me feeling distant from the work. The Electric Company's piece, while displaying incredible technical virtuosity, only managed to dazzle me but not particularly move me. The pieces I mention above did both. So, to answer your question, I'm tired of playing pretend and nothing in Hive changed my mind about that.
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A highschool math teacher one told us that he could see no point in studying literature because the stories were just made up. I couldn't have disagreed more. The truths about human nature we can learn from make believe scenarios are profound. Apart from imagination, perhaps equally or even more important is the quality of the writing, which can either make or break the play for me. What are the key ingredients of good interactive theatre if it's not about imagination? Is there a role for the writer? (Susan Stevenson)
i think what i'm talking about just opens up the idea of what is "writing." just like the verb "to read" has been expanded to include interpretation - to "read a text" to "read a film" to "read a situation" so, too, can the term "write." So, here we have social impresarios writing events that bring together the real in entertaining and unexpected ways.
I should also point out that i'm just talking about artistic equity. the problem in theatre is that classical forms and make believe and all that stuff happens to completely dominate the landscape not to mention funding. it's a total hegemony. I'm just advocating for a little space to be given to other ways of approaching things. there's no need to ask about the "role" of the writer as if there's any threat of the writer losing their privileged position.
also - i would distinguish between 'the imaginary' and 'imagination'. there's lots of imagination in relational work but not too much pretending.
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