Where do you go to perform when you don’t have a home? Easy … anywhere that will have you. That’s the message from Soapbox Theatre Productions on Queensland’s Gold Coast, one of the newest indies on the scene. If it’s on the steps of a chapel on a Golf Course … fine; a night-club in the heart of Surfers’ Paradise … fine. “You have to embrace the culture here – work with the Coast, not against it. It’s a strip; there’s no hub,” says Sarah McLeod, General Manger. She and Artistic Director Jessica Westhead are talking about their passion and engagement with a company fiercely committed to ensemble work. Their artistic vision goes like this:
Soapbox Theatre Productions encourages its artists to fully flex their creative muscles within a collaborative framework, without the traditional term of a ‘director’, and within all aspects of production. As a group of united artists, the members of Soapbox create their own work in fields of acting, physical theatre, technical operations, design, visual art, dramaturgy, dance and music and hope to inspire more artists to do so. Soapbox Theatre Productions not only strives to collaborate fully with its artists … but also work within site specific and new unexplored performances spaces. We aim to bring the highest possible entertainment to our audience as well as creating innovative performance opportunities to the Gold Coast.
I’m curious about their approach, especially their rejection of the traditional role of ‘director’ so I press them a little. “If we have a philosophy or a commitment, it’s to ensemble work,” says Jessica. “It’s the key to the way we work. We’re a close-knit group, currently a project-based company, and many of us have been inspired by the work of Dr Mike Foster from Griffith U. Mike’s love of radical, ensemble theatre-making has been a big influence.” They admit they aren’t like some of the other indie groups around the south-east corner. Soapbox doesn’t audition, for example, or at least it hasn’t so far. “I suppose you could say we have ‘connections’ amongst the group; we’re starting to get known, and people join us for our various projects.” I’m curious about how the collective works without a director though – Shakespeare, come on! Can it work? Jessica is emphatic: “We actually assign leaders to work on the development of aspects of our productions; it seems to work for us.”
Since graduation, the collective that is Soapbox Theatre Productions has worked on four Shakespearean productions. One was an outdoors production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2006 on the steps of the Chapel at the Royal Pines Golfcourse. “It was a terrific hit after we persuaded the management to let us work there, rather than in the grander venues of the place,” says Sarah. They walked around the Resort with one of the Managers, and when they saw the Chapel they knew that was it. I’m impressed. This fledgling company went out and persuaded one of the Coast’s biggest resorts to take them on – that’s pretty cheeky, isn’t it? “Well, you have to get out there and do it yourself,” says Jessica. “Actually just after graduation, I almost refused to take help. I was young and stubborn and ignorant of the business side of things. I didn’t want to approach funders; I went to private investors.” In time the reality of how the business side of theatre operates began to hit. “I learned a lot along that route.”
Soapbox has another production, Sophie Is currently in the accreditation process for a schools’ tour. Commitment to young women’s issues, and a growing confidence in their workshop-style ensemble creation led to this particular work. Sarah notes, “We were working on Wendy Harmer’s What’s the Matter With Mary-Jane? at the time. Our improvisational work started steering away from Harmer’s text, and we were starting to get our own take on the issue of eating disorders, and I suddenly thought – bugger it! This is good; let’s do our own, and we have.” Sarah adds about this project, “Our short term-goal for Sophie is to get it into the schools’ touring circuit. I want to give back what I got as a kid.” Jessica adds, “I want to keep Gold Coast actors in work.” Challenging goals, for sure!
I note the group’s strong female membership, the nature of their work – the women’s angle. Do they set out to bring a female perspective to their work, I ask them. There’s a brief silence and I wonder if they’ve ever been asked this before. When the answer comes, it’s cheerily positive. “Yes we do, a very strong perspective. We actually look after one another,” there’s a laugh from Sarah, “women’s business, you know!” She goes on to say that she’s had a baby in between various projects with Soapbox, and in fact as we chat, I hear the youngest member of the collective in the background. “We’re flexible in our roles,” adds Jessica. “We have to be.”
We chat a little about the company’s future aspirations, extending their indie status to include paying their actors – currently they operate on a co-op profit share model. “Space is a huge thing,” Sarah notes, “the Coast is such a stretch, there’s no hub, no centre for so many creative people.” I hear this again and again from independent theatre groups. So, space to work – anything else? “We also need training in business savvy. You so need a business head in this industry.” We talk a little further about asking business professionals to assist, perhaps on a small advisory panel. The idea is taken up readily.
Soapbox already has a website and we talk about how they use social media to connect, get the word out, and make new relationships. “Our Facebook event page is a thing of beauty,” laughs Sarah, and I suggest maybe Twitter would help get the word even further.
Break a leg Soapbox!