The Collective: No 36
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A collection of interesting things by The Marketing Society’s editor, Elen Lewis. This week it’s all about theatre, the power of improvisation and Robert Lepage.
I went to see the most wonderful piece of theatre on Monday. The Blue Dragon by Robert Lepage , the visionary French-Canadian playwright, actor and director.
After the play, Lepage returned to the stage to speak with fellow theatre director, Richard Eyre.
Lepage is a master of improvisation. By his own admission, his plays evolve and change dramatically over their lifetime.
Working alongside his theatre group Ex Machina, Lepage will begin with an idea of an idea. But it is the performance itself that becomes a way of writing.
Lepage will invite an audience quite early on to see the early form of a play. Each of them must then write down what story they believe is being told. This is all fed into the creative process.
Then, on tour across the world, the performance will keep evolving, again and again, enriched by the audience’s reaction. “It is very thin when it starts, but then it thickens.”
Eyre recalled watching Lepage at work in his Quebec studio, years ago, playing with model men on the moon – the beginnings of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. Eyre said, “There was something enchanting about the process. It was about playing.”
Back to Lepage, “I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of playfulness. We have to get rid of that shyness and that only happens if we’re not serious.”
So what does all this mean for brands? Well, I have two thoughts.
1. Could your brand become ‘thicker’ if its development process was more fluid and your consumers were properly involved in the creative process?
2. Could becoming more ‘playful’ help you crack specific issues and problems? (This echoes the point Alex Batchelor was making last week about sprout racing and turning work into a game.)
(PS I must admit a vested interest in Lepage. My uncle, Michael Mackenzie is a playwright, also based in Quebec and he wrote the English version of ‘Dragon Bleu’.)
Posted: February 25th, 2011 | Author: elen.lewis | Filed under: the collective | Tags: elen lewis, improvisation, lepage, richard eyre, the collective, theatre | Leave a Comment »
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