Arts & International Affairs Volume 5, Number 1, Summer 2020 | Page 19

ARTS & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
未解决的、创伤后的、具有后共产主义性质的恐惧。因此 ,
一个坏的可能性则是 , 本文可能是对一个遥远的、痛苦的、有待克服的过去的一种偏执反应。但也有可能不是这样。
关键词 : 戏剧 , 公共参与 , 多样性
1. Introduction
Nu Nu Theatre was established in Bristol, UK in 2012 by two Romanian professional
theatre-makers. Ileana Gherghina and I were both born in communist
Romania and spent most of our youth in the much-detested and much-contested
period of transition from a communist to a capitalist society. In 2008, we two theatre-makers
decided to move to the UK for good. Here, we begun to timidly produce
theatre work and as such, have several times applied (under Nu Nu Theatre’s banner) for
funds from the Arts Council England (ACE). Such funds were expected to cover production
costs, artists’ wages for specific periods of time, and unexpected production-related
spending. ACE expects all projects submitted for funding to fulfil specific criteria. Most
importantly, the applicant needs to convince the funder that the proposed work engages
with, is relevant to, and includes at some point during development, creation, and
presentation as many and as diverse members of the wider public as possible. Particular
attention is given to participants coming from disadvantaged backgrounds and to people
with very little prior engagement in/with the arts. In the words of an ACE representative,
what is expected is that the funded project will engage its participants in life-changing
experiences: “For example, a workshop has the potential to be life-changing for its
six workshop participants” (Kapadia 2019). ACE’s candid ambition for life-changing
experiences (in exchange for funding) in the short space of a few workshops (how many
workshops can an artist conduct when, for instance, the funding for an entire small-scale
theatre production is around £10,000, including artist fees?) is somewhat bewildering
through its apparent mercantilism. On the other hand, the expectation that the funded
artist will shake the participants’ conscience (even though they may not have had any
prior contact with that art form) brings to mind Eugene Ionesco’s bitter exchange with
the reputed theatre critic Kenneth Tynan:
I beseech you, Mr Tynan, to not attempt�with art or other means�to
improve the fate of man. I am begging you! We’ve had enough civil wars
up to now, and blood, and tears, and unfair trials, and “just” executioners,
and “vile” martyrs, and dashed hopes and prisons. Do not seek to
improve man’s fate, if you really wish him well. (Ionesco 1992:126)
It is by now probably evident that the funder’s expectations vis-à-vis public engagement/
relevance and diversity have awoken in us, the artists of Nu Nu Theatre, feelings of sus-
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