Company of Angels was founded on the following manifesto:
1. Theatre ‘for young people’ is sometimes depicted as if it were itself
a ‘junior’ art form.
2. The political and emotional centre of social change revolves around
children and young people.
3. Cinema and television seek unanimity and passivity from this sector. 4. Theatre has a counter-cultural identity when it is prepared to
leave its familiar audiences and buildings behind. 5. Theatre to young ‘non-theatre’ audiences in ‘non-theatre’ spaces can
stimulate avant-garde work of originality and beauty.
It was named Company of Angels not only because it would have to multiply on a wing and a prayer, but because I thought that Angels could turn up anywhere at any time – a school dining hall at 10 am, for example. Its stated mission is to broaden the definition of theatre for young people through experimental projects and new productions of a high artistic standard.
The company found an excellent range of partners from the beginning (Channel Theatre Company, the Tron Theatre, macRobert, the Arcola Theatre, Polka Theatre, Quicksilver, Caird Company), as well as a number of established European playwrights whose work had not been seen in Britain before (for example, Helene Verburgh, Joël Jouannaeu, Marco Baliani, Ad de Bont, Henning Mankell and Lot Vekemaans). David Farr’s Crime and Punishment in Dalston produced at the Arcola in East London in 2002 was also a big hit for the company.
The ingenious ways in which we chose to ‘umbrella’ new work from Europe helped greatly; Young Europe and Theatre Café excited attention as theatrical events. Theatre Café is a kind of bohemian space for plays, part-chamber, part-catwalk, in which – as one critic put it – ‘extreme readings’ took place, script-in-hand. It presented 12 European premieres over as many days to young people and to theatre people on the lookout for new work to bring into their repertoire. All the writers visited Theatre Café in person and participated in forums and discussions. In 2007, with a generous Culture 2000 grant from the European Commission, the project happened in four different countries: Holland, France, Estonia and England.
A new company has to work overtime to survive. We did so by stringing together a host
of project grants from Trusts and Foundations that just about sustained sufficient monthly income to keep a functioning office. The real breakthrough came when Teresa Ariosto joined as Producer in January 2002. Teresa had worked for the Italian Theatre Institute in Rome and for the Blickfelder International Theatre Festival For Young Audiences in Zurich. She knew the repertoire of plays extremely well and she spoke the languages in which the plays were written. Five years on, Teresa has greatly expanded the network of partners with whom the company works and she steered the company towards its status as an Arts Council revenue client since April 2004.
The funding that we receive is essential to us and it has allowed us to expand to a
staff of four and to develop projects like Young Angels. The aim of this programme is
to impress upon theatremakers and the industry in general that new work for young audiences is an exciting arena for artistic innovation and experiment. We continue to work with a wide range of partners; it would be impossible to fund the work we do on our own.
In a way, the necessity of finding partners has been the best thing that happened to Company of Angels. Instead of becoming a small company enclosed within its own aesthetic and culture, we have had no option but to win others round to what we do.
It has widened the Company’s network greatly and, most important of all, opened
us to fresh ways of thinking about what we do.
John Retallack
Artistic Director
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