Theatre of Actuality

Banner is a theatre of actuality. Actuality for us is people's experience, captured by the tape recorder. Used either verbatim or as a source, it is at the heart of Banner's work. We use people's voices because vernacular speech is powerful and dramatic, and people present at a deep level their beliefs and values in the jokes, stories and anecdotes they tell about themselves. Our use of actuality literally gives people a 'voice' in our productions.

Banner Theatre uses actuality as source material for script writers to develop characters and scenes, for song writers to develop rhythmic, melodic and thematic ideas and as a live theatre resource, played through our P.A. system, to complement, contradict and counterpoint action on the stage.

Each of Banner's productions engages the company in a multi-faceted dialogue with people in their communities. The process starts with initial recordings within a community. These recordings then become source material for the ideas which shape the show. Initial script ideas are taken back to key interviewees for comment and criticism to further develop the shape and content of the final production. A typical Banner play such as Sweat Shop (1995 production) involved the recording of over 60 people including: home workers, unemployed people, academics and factory workers. Some of these people's voices featured in the play, other people organised performances for their communities and most of them came to see the final production.

Political Theatre

Banner is a political theatre company. We see ourselves as part of that tradition of theatre which has its roots in the Agit prop theatre of the Russian Revolution, the Blue Blouse troupes of Germany in the 1930s, the work of Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood in the early days of Theatre Workshop and the explosion of radical theatre companies in the 1960s and 70s.

As part of this tradition, Banner uses the characters and plot in its productions to expose and illuminate the political forces that overshadow and control so many aspects of our existences. Banner does not spend a lot of time examining the psychology of individual characters for their own sake, although we do believe that the social determinants of power profoundly shape the psychologies of all individuals. Our prime focus is to expose hidden political and social forces. We are, of course, interested in issues of power between individuals whether based on class, gender, race, sexuality or disability and we seek to make the connection between these relationships and the wider political, historical and economic environment in which these relationships are shaped. For example in Sweat Shop we told the stories of real people working in sweat shops around the globe. Through these stories we examined why it is that predominantly black and women workers end up working in these sweat shops. We then went on to show how, behind the sophisticated advertising campaigns of multinational corporations like Levis, Nike and Ford, there lies a vast web of exploitative sweat shops employing workers ranging from child labourers in Costa Rica to Asian women homeworkers on a pound an hour in Handsworth. Our objective was to make the invisible visible and to show how all of us are caught up in and compromised by (if we wear trainers, jeans and T shirts) this hidden exploitation. Through this process Sweat Shop aimed to raise fundamental questions about the kind of society we live in.

Theatre of Resistance: Let Us Eat Cake!

We are not a theatre of doom and gloom. There is plenty enough of this kind of theatre to feed the stages and television studios for many years to come. Our theatre is about fighting back and reclaiming power for the powerless. We don't want the crumbs, we don't even want the cake, we want the whole cake factory! We live in dangerous times; massive changes are taking place across the globe which have the potential to profoundly change our lives for the worse. We believe most of these changes are well beyond the control of Western style parliamentary democracy. Rio Tinto Zinc are answerable to no one but the very rich who control their board rooms. The road lobby cares little for the local or global environment and even less about the survival of public transport. IBM has no interest in employment for the people of this country or any other for that matter; they'll move to where they can pick up the fastest buck.

However Banner's experience researching its shows in many communities of resistance over many years shows that people fight back. For every sweat shop employer there are thousands of workers around the globe who are prepared to say "no we're not taking any more". For every motorway contractor there are hundreds of young people prepared to risk their lives standing in front of the bulldozers, and for every fascist calling for violence against black and migrant communities there are countless numbers of ordinary people prepared to fight back. These stories rarely make the headlines and when they do the resistance is usually written out. We see part of our role to be a living newspaper telling stories of resistance long forgotten, and new stories about action today as it happens.

Preaching to the Converted?

Mention political theatre and a common response is, "Aren't you just preaching to the converted?" Well in some ways maybe we do, in so much as we believe in supporting those people who are fighting to level the injustices and inequities of our times. Why waste energy talking to Tories? We focus our energies on talking to friends and potential allies, sharing information, celebrating points of solidarity and providing a focal point for vigorous debate. But if our audiences are converted, what are they converted to? It would be hard to discern what the common faith of even the activists might be. Yes, most would probably call themselves socialists, but start exploring the issues - from sexual politics, to Ireland, to fighting racism - and there are as many positions as there are people. If they do al! share a common creed, there's a hell of a lot of sinners.

Banner provides "Entertainment for a Change". We don't believe that we have the power to convert unconverted Tories to Socialism. However, we do take stories from one dissident community to other dissident communities, and then further afield to a wider audience in schools, youth clubs and community centres. Many shop stewards didn't know about Nike sweat shops in the Philippines, and Reclaim the Streets supporters may not have been aware of the dock workers on strike for 12 months in Liverpool. Our collective experience after 23 years of writing shows based on people's direct experience of resistance is that every interview reveals a new reality for us, as well as hopefully for our audiences. Each new project involves a continual process of digging beneath the media representations of reality to find out what is really happening in people's daily lives. This reality is frequently revealing, often shocking and always an education for us. It is after all a privilege to be able to reflect on these concrete experiences, and to take these experiences, combined with our own reflections, to a wider audience. If, as part of this process, we can help to make connections between people and ideas, that's one thing; if we can clarify issues along the way, that's something else; if we can boost morale and help to develop solidarity and mutual support as well, then we're really getting somewhere. We don't pretend to provide cog wheels for the great machinery of progressive change, merely a few drops of lubrication oil.

A Popular Theatre

We play in and to the communities few other theatre companies never reach. Most of our audiences would not see themselves as theatre goers, but they do expect powerful, challenging entertainment with a sharp political edge. An important part of our audience has been trade unionists. Over the years, we have supported the struggles of many union members, ranging from miners fighting for the survival of their communities, through to health workers fighting to save the NHS. This has meant producing theatre for picket lines, rallies and street corners, as well as major documentary productions offering a more considered analysis. In a rapidly changing world, our audiences and the subject matter for our shows is now changing. Our 1996 show Criminal Justice focussed on the experiences of anti-road protesters, new age travellers, animal rights activists and Irish people victimised by the Prevention of Terrorism Act. This year we reached many new audiences like: the No M11 road protesters in Wanstead, the Exodus Rave Collective in Luton, and Turkish and Kurdish people in Hackney. As well as developing new audiences, we continue to return to old friends like the Labour Club in Nuneaton, or the Unemployed Workers Centre in Warrington. We meet our audiences on their own ground and on their own terms, which means performers chatting to audiences before and after shows, negotiating for a bar to be closed during performances or no smoking until the interval. Many of our audiences see us as friends and comrades and see our theatre as connected to their lives. They do not see themselves as consumers of art and culture - even less as customers or stake holders in Banner Theatre.