Plan B

FRANK MCCONNELL traces the origins and current directions of the Black Isle-based dance company

Mission Statement
 

plan B was formed in 1989 by Frank McConnell and Caroline Docherty to explore new ways of creating and presenting dance and theatre in performance. The company has always been committed to a bold and imaginative style which is innovative in its devising and accessible in its delivery.

To date the company has produced eight presentations, most of which have been created in isolated rural communities, and some of which have toured nationally.

As a company we have always recognised that although we claim to be creating new work, this is, in fact, a very old practice. But it is a profound need to look for alternatives, other paths and creative solutions that has fuelled the company from the early years.

And underlying what we hope is a very personal approach to dance/theatre making is a guiding principle which is applied as much to the creative process as it is to the finished work, namely – to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Current Production or Work-in-Progress

plan B is currently working on several projects relating to the theme of parallel universes, which will culminate in a national tour with professional cast, due to premiere in August 2008.

The Company has just finished producing two performances as part of DNA 2007:

Inside-Out:
a double bill of brilliant dance, which included a specially commissioned solo from Louise Marshall – Re: Newal. The piece was an exploration of the parallel world of pregnancy and developed with dancer and expectant mum Rachel Crowley. With new music played live by Claire Campbell, the piece was performed by Louise. Far Horizons, a solo from Frank McConnell with Fraser Fifield’s music played live by five of Scotland’s finest jazz musicians, looked at the inner meditations when we are all able to float away.
 
Fork In The Road:
The second project was both promenade and site-specific in nature. Created and performed by a cast of 18 young people who took to the streets of Inverness with the colossal energy of youth. The audience were led from site to site by text message. Sites included Abertarff House, Rose Street Car Park (which included accompaniment from Steve Sharpe’s Happyness Drumming group), The Market Brae Steps, The Balcony at the Tourist Office and the serene views of the river from the Castle. Videos of the performances will appear on the company’s website in the coming months: www.planbcreative.org
 

Fantasy Theatre

Isn’t all theatre a form of fantasy? In an ideal world there were would be substantial funding to allow people of all ages and abilities in the Highlands access and opportunities to participate in dance in many different styles. The day will come when we have healthy dance ecology in this part of the world and employment for many in the sector.

Golden Moment

The Golden Moment is that both Frank McConnell and plan B are as excited about the creative work they do now as they were twenty years ago. And that, regardless of all the pitfalls and lack of arts funding over the years, there is still a genuine excitement and a fair degree of inspiration in the people we meet and the creativity and communication which follows. Being awarded multi-year funding from the Scottish Arts Council in April 2007, which has allowed the company to base itself in the Highlands and to develop our work with communities here, was pretty special too.

And Not So Golden Moment

Touring the production of ‘Love and Pocket Money’ before it was ready, and without the resources to do it properly.

Highland Theatre – Is There Such A Thing, and If So, What Is It?

One of the reasons I decided to move to the Highlands, after years of touring with dance and theatre companies, was a realisation that as an artist you could engage in fulsome debate with members of the audience after a show. And the discourse would lead to all manner of ideas from politics to culture and Scottish history. And the audiences were both very astute and clearly educated about contemporary theatre practice.

I suspect this was due to the fact that the theatre companies touring at that time (20-25 years ago) were all at a cutting edge, innovative but also entertaining; and this was a staple diet for most audience members in the Highlands.

In the expansion of the arts and venues across the Highlands this is much less evident today. Would that the clock reversed some years we might have been able to answer the question of what constitutes Highland Theatre.

Perhaps all I can say with clarity is that there a small community of artists and companies which have lasted the test of time, and shown their commitment to the Highlands through their own poverty and financial subsidy of themselves and the artform. And it is this which has enabled art and theatre to survive in the Highlands.

Having spent so much time recently thinking about the existence of parallel worlds, one wonders where exactly we might have been without Lizzie MacDougall, Betty Bradstreet, Jean Urquhart, Willie Wilson and Kate Martin who had the initial vision to establish theatre in the Highlands.

© Frank McConnell, 2007

Links

• Plan B