CMU School of Drama


Friday, April 03, 2020

Where Do We Go Next? review – theatrical idealism at a critical time

Stage | The Guardian: The six short films comprising Where Do We Go Next? were made by Bunker theatre to mark its closure, because of a proposed redevelopment of its south London site. Scripted by writers from under-represented groups, they were to have been screened at the venue before it went dark in order to offer both a creative stocktake on privilege in the ranks of the industry’s gatekeepers, and a look at the place of marginalised voices on stage. The films were released online instead.

3 comments:

Claire Duncan said...

It is strange how quickly cancellations felt normal. This article mentioned how these films were scheduled to take place in order to look at the actual and permanent closing of this theatre, but when it mentioned “going dark” it felt like the same type of closing that every single other theater and performance venue is going through right now. These films sound very interesting, especially because they were prompted by a permanent closing rather than a temporary one. Each individual piece looks very interesting in their own way, and although the article mentions that all of them were released online, it does not provide a link or any way of actually viewing them. I like that although they are all films, the article mentions their theatricality, so they act more like plays than films, which seems like a difficult thing to achieve on screen. I would be interested to see how all 6 films approach that style.

Claire Duncan said...

It is strange how quickly cancellations felt normal. This article mentioned how these films were scheduled to take place in order to look at the actual and permanent closing of this theatre, but when it mentioned “going dark” it felt like the same type of closing that every single other theater and performance venue is going through right now. These films sound very interesting, especially because they were prompted by a permanent closing rather than a temporary one. Each individual piece looks very interesting in their own way, and although the article mentions that all of them were released online, it does not provide a link or any way of actually viewing them. I like that although they are all films, the article mentions their theatricality, so they act more like plays than films, which seems like a difficult thing to achieve on screen. I would be interested to see how all 6 films approach that style.

Mia Zurovac said...

As the virus gains more power and starts to bring all of lifes simplest joys to an end, we as humans are forced to adapt to this new lifestyle, for however long that may be. It’s difficult to just up and change your life the way many people, most people, havehad to do because of this virus that has taken over so many if not all things in this world. The fact that people are still trying to find ways to keep hope, and be positive as well as make art in such dark times like these is really admirable. I’m glad that people are allowing this hard time to be a way to learn and grow from it but make sure not to forget it by creating art that stems from what everyone is going through currently as history is being made, unfortunately. The short films are asking some serious central questions that are probably floating around in everyone's minds of ‘where do we go next’?