Please allow us to introduce to you (with great pleasure) the fantastic Quarantine, a
Manchester based theatre company making work across forms for a range of
audiences. Quarantine’s work takes the shape of theatre, installation, creative
conversations, knowledge sharing and much more. Their work embraces stories and
experiences of persons from all walks of life, engaging a diverse range of performers
and audience to create fascinating, accessible and moving performance work. We
asked them a few questions about their practice and outlook.
What do you do (in a nutshell?!)
Quarantine make theatre, performance and other public events in the UK and
internationally.
What are you are proud of?
Quarantine has made 21 original pieces of work of varying scale and form. There
have been family parties, shared meals, radio broadcasts and journeys in the dark for
one person at a time – as well as performances on stage for audiences in seats. We
also run a knowledge exchange project for artists, called Graft.
Although the form varies, Quarantine’s work has an identifiable set of contradictory
qualities that somehow coalesce – fragile, clumsy, intimate, knowingly-subjectivelybeautiful, banal. Our approach embraces ambiguity, serious intentions and doubt –
and is driven by asking questions for which we have no answers. Dialogue is always
what makes work interesting and we think we’re good at maintaining that ethos; and
not being afraid to fail.
Have you always wanted to be in the arts?
We’ve always wanted to find ways to say things about the world, and to ask tricky
questions.
If you had to give a younger you advice, what would you say?
Oh, loads of advice…
Do what feels right, because it generally is.
See as much work as you possibly can when you’ve got the opportunity.
What sums up your philosophy on life?
When we start making work, we begin with the people in the room. Where they come
from varies, but material is found in their personal histories, beliefs and possibilities.
We are as curious about who people are as about what they can do, as interested in
collaborating with experienced performers and artists as we are with people who
haven’t done anything like this before. People in Quarantine’s work are not
interpreters, but individuals, each with their own story. We’re drawn to working with
those whose voice is rarely heard. Our process is lengthy and discursive, a mix of
rigorous practice, seemingly aimless conversation and moments that somehow stick,
apparently discovered by accident.
What has made you angry in the last week?
The systematic dismantling of the welfare state, hitting the most vulnerable hardest,
the death of the NHS, and in the arts, having to deliver to prescribed agendas, no
matter how much the words ‘risk’ or ‘creativity’ are used.
Can you describe one of your favourite projects to date?
We’re proud of our show, Susan & Darren –what we thought would be a show that
ran for a week at Contact Theatre in Manchester in 2006 went on to tour across the
UK in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 we performed it in Europe. In 2010, we re-visited and
re-invented Susan & Darren, taking into account the changes in their lives over the
past 4 years. Susan & Darren had its 100th performance in 2012, has been seen
across Western Europe, and continues to garner interest from festivals and theatre all
over the world.
What do are you good at?
We think this quote from Joyce MacMillan, on See-Saw, one of our earlier shows,
sums up what we strive to achieve with our work:
“It just reminds us, in the most potent way possible, that behind every face we pass in
the street there beats a life of infinite complexity. In other words, it makes us see
others afresh, with a new intensity, humanity and respect; and you can’t ask much
more from theatre than that”.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
We have a varied set of interests but we all share a love of food, and cooking; and
sometimes doing things that have very little to do with theatre. Family time is
important to those of us with children.
What have you got coming up?
We're currently developing or delivering a number of projects on different scales.
There is a new theatre piece, The Dyas Sisters, in development, commissioned by a
number of different European partners, which will be premiered at Contact,
Manchester in early July, then tour the UK, Ireland and Europe in autumn 2013 and
spring/summer 2014.
We run a monthly curry conversation event - No Such Thing - at Kabana, Manchester
city centre - really simple, we buy you curry in exchange for a conversation. In
partnership with two Beijing based artists, we'll be re-presenting Kitchen Project at
Spring Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht (Netherlands) in May. This project began
in 6 different people's homes in Manchester in March last year, and is about cooking,
cultural identity and tourism, and the search for the 'authentic'. Our knowledge
exchange programme - Graft – has come to an end for this year; we've spent time with
5 UK artists, all at different moments in their creative lives. It's been an interesting
exploration and helps us reflect as artists, and we'll be making plans for the next
incarnation of Graft in early 2014 soon. We've got lots of other projects in
development, including the next pop-up mobile version of Between us, we know
everything... our live and digital knowledge sharing project which we piloted at The
Royal Exchange Theatre last year.
Is there anything you’d like to offer PANDA members?/Is there anything you
would like from PANDA members?
To answer both questions – opportunities to see each other’s work; to provide
opportunities for people to exchange knowledge – we have a website that is full of
resources, or people can come and engage with us via No such thing, or Graft as and
when we advertise the next incarnation of it.
Why did you join PANDA?/ What do you like about PANDA?
We think its important to be networked with other artists around the North West – and
PANDA is in touch with people who might want to engage with us on a variety of
levels – from artists who might want to find out more, to producers and promoters
who may be interested in presenting our work.
What 3 key things would help you get where you’d like to be in your career?
Time, space and money…!
With a new show going into development, finding affordable rehearsal space presents
a challenge in Manchester – as well as finding affordable accommodation for
performers who may come from outside the city.
Is there anything PANDA could do to help with this?
An online ‘digs’ list available through the PANDA website might help – or details of
members who have spare rooms and may be willing to host artists.