Welcome to the Training Grounds for this issue, packed with rich practitioner-scholar voices, perspectives and reflections across our following four sections.
The Answer the Question (ATQ) section for this issue asks the direct question, ‘What has the city trained in you?’ Our three contributors (Bill Aitchison, Alistair O’Loughlin and Nesreen Hussein) offer very different perspectives. Aitchison, taking in London and Nanjing, explores the tensions and contradictions of the differing roles it is possible to play in a city, and how these roles and their location shape and inform making urban outdoor work. In contrast, O’Loughlin sets out the fundamental lessons of the Urban Playground’s 2PK training, a set of maxims that define and shape the performer’s interaction and movement across the urban landscape. Lastly, Hussein details the pull between Cairo and London – the negotiations that need to be made in charting her pathway through these two contrasting cities. Despite these apparent differences, all three share a common thread of the way in which cities affect, alter and shape our perspective: shifting what we look at, how we look at it, and where we look at it from.
Our Postcards in this issue similarly address the relationship between cities and training. Both Giuliano Campo and Ellis Pearson, currently working respectively out of the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Perth, reflect on the influence that these cities’ close proximity to nature exerts on them and their training. As captured in their accompanying images, Pearson describes how green spaces in the city release his students’ imaginations, while Campo reflects on how the prominent proximity of nature in the city of Rio augments his actors’ memories and creative energies. Ivor Houlker and Esther Pallejà Lozano speak about directly embracing the urban. For Houlker, his text and image speak to how Hong Kong has become a partner in his training, a partner to be met with open arms. Pallejà Lozano meanwhile articulates in her text and image how, amongst the turmoil of the Catalonian capital Barcelona, her training has moved to the streets with a new sense of urgency.
In this issue, we have two Essais. The first, by Adelina Ong, explores her complex and conflicted relationships to the cities of London and Singapore and their youth, through her practice of parkour, art du déplacement, breakin’ and skateboarding. The second Essai by David Overend considers the art of training theatre audiences to become effective and engaged participants in a ‘new dramaturgy’ that brings audiences into his rehearsal spaces. Overend believes that this opening up of the creative process allows theatre-makers to ‘try out ideas, discover new relationships, and adapt to the reactions’ that they encounter from the very start.
We conclude Training Grounds for this issue with Stefan Aquilina’s review of A Director’s Guide to Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis. Including the Formative Essay on Active Analysis by Maria Knebel by James Thomas. Aquilina notes that Thomas’ book is an important contribution to understanding Stanislavsky’s directorial approaches to whole productions, while also throwing light on wider discussions about contemporary rehearsal processes.
Training Grounds is committed to providing an interdisciplinary space for practitioner voices within the context of an academic journal. We are always looking to find new dialogues and continue to invite submissions from across disciplines. Please get in touch with any of the Training Grounds editorial team if you would like to contribute.