Development
Prototype
Prototype is Tobacco Factory Theatre and Theatre Bristol’s forum for the development of new work. It is programmed 4 times a year by Theatre Bristol Creative Producer Katie Keeler and features work from a mix of emerging and well-established companies from both the local area and more further afield. Each Prototype night presents between 4 and 6 pieces and is followed by a facilitated question and answer session during which the audience is encouraged to give feedback on what they’ve seen.
February 2010 See the downloads section of this page for a recent feature in Venue Magazine about Prototype.
Prototype and the Tobacco Factory Theatre
The Tobacco Factory Theatre is not only as a place of performance, but also one of creation and development. As such it is becoming a home for an ever-increasing number of both established and emerging artists. Through Prototype artists are able to develop their work and thinking, start a relationship with the TF and feel legitimised in their undertakings.
Prototype and You
We want Prototype to become part of artists’ processes. Its framework is designed to make you feel supported in the development of your work whilst also offering an all-important deadline to work to. Often the first problem artists come up against when making new work is how to get it out of their heads / bedrooms / rehearsal rooms and up in front of people. Prototype gives you that opportunity; it’s a way of moving something along and taking it to the next level.
Prototype and Your Work
Prototype is not a showcase evening! Of course we understand the desire to present something you are pleased with, but pieces must be at a stage of genuine development to work well; artists have found that the feedback is more useful if they have not done too much work. You will probably also want to think about the length of what you would like to show. Very short pieces seem to work well, as the audience is completely engaged and left wanting more. Another important thing to bear in mind is that your piece will likely be sitting alongside very different types of work. The mix of work is one of the great things about Prototype, but it’s also quite odd, and you need to be comfortable with that and sure that the context suits you. Of course, these are just guidelines, and there are always exceptions…
Prototype and Your Audience
I was amazed at the number of people who turned up. I’ve done a mass of scratch nights across the country, including some of the most well know ones, and I have never seen such a large audience. Seeing so many people supporting up coming and unfinished work with their time and money (even if it was only £3 on the door) is really encouraging and it shows how committed and engaged the audience in Bristol is.
Ed Rapley on Prototype 1
‘Work in progress’ evenings aren’t easy for artists and we worry all the time about how to make sure the feedback from audiences is useful. We believe in the artists presenting work keeping the power, as it were, during the feedback session – artists ask questions of the audience, not the other way around. The Prototype audience is usually quite large, quite vocal, and made up of fellow practitioners, other industry professionals and regular theatergoers. They care about new work, making new work and making new work better, and are getting better all the time at not revealing their own agendas when answering artists’ questions. In the main, they are immensely supportive, well informed and there to help. We work with artists to make sure that their questions work really hard for them, giving rise to as much helpful feedback as possible.
What next?
If you’re a theatre-maker involved in creating and developing a new piece and want to have a chat about how Prototype might work for you, then contact Katie Keeler at Theatre Bristol.