Interviews

Brief Encounter With … Chelsea Theatre’s Francis Alexander

Sacred – Chelsea Theatre’s annual season of
contemporary performance, theatre and live art – has become a byword for
innovation and excitement on the London fringe. Now in its third year, it
returns on Wednesday for another month of experimentation from across the
UK and Europe. Artistic director Francis Alexander co-programmed this
year’s event with Thomas Frank of Vienna’s leading new performance space, brut. Alexander, who oversaw
Chelsea’s transformation from community centre to fully-fledged theatre, gives us the gospel on Sacred 2009.

What led you to establish Sacred in the first place?
I was given a sabbatical by Chelsea’s wonderful board and worked for the
British Council as a cultural attaché out in Vancouver. Previously, I’d always
been about theatre with a small t. I liked structure and new writing. I thought
once you had structure as a playwright, you were there. In Vancouver I
discovered people who were interested in all kinds of non-narrative
performance, the kind of visual and emotional work that we don’t usually see
within the traditional structure of British theatre. I’d always known there
were artists doing this, but I suddenly felt a huge kinship. So I decided to
start Sacred.

How did this year’s collaboration with brut come about?
brut is probably the leading presenter of innovative and radical contemporary
performance in Europe today. I first met Thomas Frank the year before last and
we started talking about the kinds of things that are important to us, such as
the desire to move away from traditional types of drama. He then came to London
and saw what we were doing and together we have programmed a season of work
that we both think is funny, inspiring, important – and magic.

Do you intend it to be a cultural exchange?
Most of the UK artists will go out to Vienna to perform next spring. But there
is another thing we are looking at: the extent to which where you come from
influences and inspires what you do. Take Oleg Soulimenko’s piece, Made in
Russia
. How might it differ if it were made in Hackney? We want to look at
these geopolitical differences behind the work. To ask: what is it to be
Russian? What is it to be Austrian? What is it to be a Londoner?

Do we still have a lot to learn from our European
colleagues?

I think something important is changing in Britain at the moment. The cliché
about London audiences is that they only want to see West End shows, or else
something radical at a new writing theatre. You can be at the Avignon Festival
and hear audience members go: ‘Wow – that was really weird. Didn’t understand a
word of it. Let’s go again.’ Until relatively recently in London, it would be:
‘That was really weird. Let’s not go back.’ But the work of Spill,
Barbican Bite and Fierce is really helping develop audience
tastes and a more European sensibility. People are now seeking out new kinds of
performance through those festivals and those venues.

How does this year’s programme differ from previous
years?

Well, after all I’ve said, this year we actually have classical ballet and
opera in the space, but both in a completely new way. Made in Russia is
about the clash of Russian performance with the need to sell the work to
western audiences; whether Russian artists have to prostitute themselves and
their art to the money of the west. Is nationalism parochial and small-minded?
Or is loyalty to the forms of performance in one’s own country true to the
artistic impulse?

Then we have Frank Lehár’s Merry Widow, which sounds
incredibly traditional until you hear it has been cast and adapted for a troupe
of Polish cleaning ladies who are exploring what it is to be an outsider in a western
European city today.

The return of David Hoyle, aka The Divine David, is quite
a coup.

David Hoyle is a genius. I’m a regular at his performances at the Royal
Vauxhall Tavern and he’s intellectually, musically and performatively totally
challenging. I try to see as much as I can around London. To programme with any
level with success, you have to. David is supremely successful in the work he
does so it’s a real thrill to have him in the building.

And, finally, cabaret. The duo Frisky and Mannish were a
primetime hit at the Edinburgh Fringe – not so avant-garde then.

Yes. But they’re fake Austrians! All the real Austrians are thrilled that
we’ve got them on the bill. However interesting and deep you’re delving, it’s
nice to have a bit of light-hearted fun.

Sacred runs at Chelsea Theatre from 21 October to 22
November. For more info, click here.