TOLD BY THE WIND--A practice-led interrogation of 'quiet theatre' as a site for making and reflecting upon post-dramatic, intercultural theatre.

In this practice-led research project, a director/actor, dancer/choreographer/performance artist, and playwright/dramaturg will create a new piece of intercultural, post-dramatic theatre-TOLD BY THE WIND. Drawing inspiration from a variety of traditional and contemporary sources from both East and West, such as Japanese noh and butoh, and the work of such contemporary playwrights/performance makers as Samuel Beckett, Tadeusz Kantor and Heiner Müller, this project will examine how to create a performance that draws from diverse cultural traditions, and is experimental or 'post-dramatic' in its structure and dramaturgy. The production of TOLD BY THE WIND will be used to reflect anew on theatre that is made between cultures and that involves alternative dramaturgies.

As a practice-led research project with multiple public outputs including work-in-progress showings, live performances, as well as distribution of DVD-video, web, and print outputs (script/score and essay), the research has the potential to be disseminated widely and to be of direct benefit to theatre audiences in the UK and Berlin and theatre and performance artists including playwrights and dramaturgs in the UK, Europe, and internationally. The project also has the potential to benefit UK Arts Council officers, government arts policy-makers, and producers who view the work.

For example core-artist playwright/dramaturg Kaite O'Reilly, has a national UK and international reputation. Working on TOLD BY THE WIND is providing her with an opportunity to consider and explore alternative dramaturgies from a non-Western perspective as she co-creates new theatre work. Her exposure to Japanese noh, butoh, and the work of Ota Shogo will no doubt expand her dramaturgical vocabulary and her understanding of how to construct dramatic action and performance structures from alternative perspectives. This practice-led work with non-western aesthetics and performance structures will find its way into her national work as a tutor/mentor of new writers, and perhaps also have an impact on her own future writing. It will no doubt expand her awareness of issues of intercultural theatre practice and how they interface with Western post-dramatic practices.

Similarly, those who attend working-in-progress showings, performances, or who view the DVD-video or read the script/score when it is published, will be prompted to reconsider issues of intercultural theatre practice. These practical outcomes will provide working models of intercultural theatre practice as it meets post-dramatic practices and aesthetics.

As the Arts Council of Wales is in part funding the initial work-in-progress showings at Chapter (Cardiff), at least one or more ACW officer will see TOLD BY THE WIND. Artistic directors of venues where TOLD is shown, including James Tyson (Chapter, Cardiff) and Bernd Scherer (Haus of World Cultures, Berlin) will be see and discuss the work as well. Their thinking about issues of intercultural theatre and how it is defined vis-à-vis Western practices will be challenged and/or expanded. Via these institutional links with officers and directors, cultural policy may be affected.

Each public showing of the work (Cardiff, Berlin, and the third showing in the UK) will involve at least one post-showing/production discussion so that there will be direct interaction between the PI, the two main artistic collaborators, and interested members of the public.

While the PI already has a working relationship with Chapter Arts Centre, this project initiates a collaboration with the Berlin Haus of World Cultures. Hopefully both these relationships will be strengthened and developed through this project so that future intercultural work exploring other models of intercultural performance practice can be shared with these venues and their audiences.