Latest from Noises Off
“We’re not all diving off the same diving board”
I have:
I am:
Am I the audience for Scrubbers, as someone who knows very little about drama school and, if I did want to go, would fit the bill appearance-and-socioeconomic-status-wise (even if I definitely would not get in due to a complete lack of talent)?
(Yes. Absolutely everyone is welcome!)
Scrubbers practises what it preaches. Even just as a viewer of theatre, I’m often swept up by the atmosphere of sophistication and ‘high art’. But this show is actively friendly, safe and inclusive. For someone a bit afraid of interactive theatre, very tempted to say “hello, I’m just here to review, please no one look at me”, I felt by the end that I would have done some improv if they’d asked me to. And, ultimately, it is this stress on theatre as creative, fun and experimental which makes it one of the best quality performances I’ve seen so far.
And it does so while making important comments about the ‘rat-run’, ‘name-dropping’ environments drama schools often are, feeling comfortable only for people fitting into a certain identity (we all know what that is).
When Lydia and Caitlin from Scrubbers told me not to worry if I don’t get something that’s meant to be ‘High Art’ (especially because it might just be shit), and then proceeded to make me laugh for 40 minutes, I felt how they wanted me to feel: part of a safe, fun environment.
To Caitlin and Lydia: thank you for making me laugh —and think— so much today. I promise to check the GC’s Instagram every day and tell myself I am that bitch.
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