Latest / The Downing Arts Podcast / ET26.5 Ten Good Years

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ET26.5 Ten Good Years · The Downing Arts Podcast

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Welcome to the Downing Arts Podcast.
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Week five is upon us as is a bit of a heat wave. It seems
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things have slowed down as exams begin, but the chapel choir gave a beautiful rendition
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of Bird's Mass for Four Voices as part of the Pentecost celebrations on
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Sunday. My guest this week is Downing's
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very own Director of Drama, Mr. Steve Bennett. Welcome, Steve. Hello Louisa.
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Good to have you on the show. I know we're really lucky to have you
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at Downing, but you've had a varied career. What kind stuff did you
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get up to before you were involved in college? Well,
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I started off as a teacher, a school teacher. My first job was running
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a pottery in inner city Manchester, a boys
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school, which could have been a disaster, but it
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turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done. It was great,
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I really enjoyed it. But a long story. I moved on and
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eventually found myself involved in theater,
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in youth theater initially, which took
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me to America. Then from the youth theater side of it, I got involved
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in the professional theatre in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which is
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a big theater festival every summer. Worked with
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a lot of famous names over there. And then I came back to England,
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did short spells at the National Theatre and at
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the the Globe when Mark Rylance was the artistic director.
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Trevor Nunn, funnily enough, Downing alumnus, was artistic director
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of the national around that time. And from there I
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kind of accidentally, at the request of a friend
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of mine, wrote a television script. And to
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cut a long story short, it got me lots of work. And quite
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soon after that I did my first television job, which was London's Burning in the
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final series. Those two things aren't linked. My first and
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the demise of London's burning, at least I hope they're not. And then from there
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I went straight onto Coronation street where I wrote about all the
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various spells on there, wrote about 70 episodes of coronation
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street in between that I did a lot of Emmerdale, about 200 episodes
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of Emmerdale and all kinds of other one hour Sunday
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night things that were popular at the time like where the Heart Is and the
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Royal and Peak Practice and that kind
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of thing. So then I came, I went back into
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theatre partly through coming back to Downing by,
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well, not coming back to Downing but by starting to help out with
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the revival of Downing Dramatic society in about 20,
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2012. Amazing. Wow.
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So, so is your, has your involvement mainly been writing as opposed
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to acting? Oh, I'm, I'm certainly not an actor,
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as my performances in American musicals would, would prove.
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If only they'd been Filmed, which fortunately they weren't.
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So no, I, I'm much more, more of a director than,
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than an actor. And that's what I was doing at the national and the Globe.
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I was teaching directors. I did a lot of acting
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workshops, classes mostly about movement
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technique on stage, but for the most part
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I was, I've always been a director and I'm
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very much, I lean towards, in terms of what,
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what I like to work on classics. So I do
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like working with Shakespeare. Wow. So you've been with us what, 12, 14 years?
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I mean, we love having you around and you must enjoy being here and
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doing a lot of work with the students, is that right? Yeah,
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it's interesting because obviously for the most part it's kind of a
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three year cycle. And so you get one year when
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you have a lot of enthusiastic students who really want to put plays on
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and then another year when you've got to be looking to find things to
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enthuse them rather than waiting for them to be self starters.
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And so it changes. But generally the quality of the work that we've
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put on stage has been very high. And I like to think that some of
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the stuff we've had on at Downing is as good as anything that the ADC
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put on. And we also established very early on things
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that would make us unique in Cambridge as a,
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as a drama society. And having worked in America,
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I'd seen a lot of new writing festivals,
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short plays mostly done script in hand,
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which is how we started our festival of new writing here.
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I wanted to try and establish the same kind of thing
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and see if it would work. And now we've done
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12 of them, so it's become an annual thing.
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It's well known in the Cambridge theatre scene as being the
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new writing festival, the best of and the most organized and
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prestigious of them all. I think there's quite a few since we started have
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taken up the idea and are doing really well. But we still have industry
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professionals coming to offer advice to the playwrights
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and to the actors and directors. And the standard's gone up.
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Students now want to bring things that are
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much more complete and well rehearsed. And we've
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spent more time with the writing, we work on edits with them and
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that's kind of, I suppose it's a cliche, but for the
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drama side of things at Downing, that's the jewel in our little crown.
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Basically brilliant. And I know there's the annual Shakespeare.
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Well, it's become, become Shakespeare. I don't know, is it always deliberately Shakespeare? No,
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not really. It's interesting that, because we started and
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thought, could we, could we get away with this? And I think we've
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done something like five outside now. We started outside the Master's
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lodge and did a couple there and the last two we've done
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in the East Lodge garden. Again, that's become almost a tradition,
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a short one, because it's something like four or five years now. But it seemed
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that Shakespearean comedies were the thing to do outside for
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all kinds of reasons that set and lighting isn't that
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important because basically they were done in broad daylight anyway
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when they were originally written. And so they were written with that
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sense of the words will do the work rather than having elaborate sets
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and scenery. So they're perfect for that and
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that's why I think they worked. And also because we
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do slight adaptations, but not. I don't mess with the language too much,
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but we will cut stuff and we will make it more, more amenable
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to an outdoor vibe. You know, kids come and people sit in for
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two hours and, you know, and it's sunny and we don't want to be,
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we don't want to be subjecting them to any kind of physical hardship.
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So we, we cut them down a little bit and we try to make
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them as, as big and funny and lively
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as we possibly can, which I think, I don't think, you know,
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were Shakespeare around, I don't think he would mind. I think he'd be all
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for that. So, so they've been very successful and
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we get lots of people wanting to be in them. And this, this term,
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in a few weeks time, we're going to do the Merry Wives of Windsor,
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which should be riotously funny, I hope,
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and involves smuggling
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bodies, live bodies, in, in laundry baskets and all
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that kind of thing. All that top quality slapstick stuff with full
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language over the top of it. Do housekeeping know about this? Not yet, no.
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The gardeners know about it. We've, we're. We're auditioning body
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bags as we speak. Those big. I think we're going to use
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those big leaf bags. You know that the, when they cut a tree down,
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they have huge, four handled plastic bags,
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basically strong plastic bags. And we think that if we can get away with that,
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that would be great. Otherwise, we're going to steal a little truck from
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housekeeping. They definitely don't know about that yet.
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Well, I fear your secret may now be out if any of them listen
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to this. Oh, no. Anyway,
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yeah. Wow. And I know you mentioned the weather. You said it was Sunny.
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I have very definite memories of it not being sunny. How did you
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get around that? Oh yes, we did have the famous Was
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it Much Ado About Nothing deluge outside the Master's
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lodge. The bizarre thing about that was
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that it had been scorching hot and sunny. And then suddenly
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the biggest thunderstorm appeared seemingly
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out of nowhere and lasted about 15 minutes. It completely
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drowned out the whole thing. And there were lakes.
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It wasn't just puddles, but between the Master's lodge and the
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paddock was literally a shallow lake. And it
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carried on a little bit, but we had to make a decision. So it shows
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how adaptable these outdoor Shakespeare productions tend to be.
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So we had the audience after sheltering under the
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in the portico at the side of the Master's lodge, we asked
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the audience if they would go under the handily
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placed tent which just happened to be across the way,
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ready for the ball, for the May
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Ball. And it was empty and it was just a cover, but it kept the
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rain off. So we did the last act of Much Ado About Nothing in
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Under Tent Cover with the audience just sitting around
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or sitting on the floor. And it was great. Everybody had a great time.
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We all got soaked, we were drenched. But the audience were too. But it
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didn't seem to make any difference. It all seemed to be part of the entertainment.
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So as fun as it
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was, we're hoping not to have to repeat that this side. But I think
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if one goes to an outdoor show, there's sort of inherent risk,
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especially in this country. Yeah, exactly. Brilliant.
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Well, amongst all the drama and stuff that you do,
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I know you've also recently taken on the role of keeper of the Hyun Gallery.
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How's that going? It sounds very grand. Doesn't it keep on
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gallery or it sounds like something you do in a zoo, but. Well,
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that might not be entirely inappropriate at times, but yeah, it's going great.
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I think we've had this last year, even though they
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weren't set up by me. We've had some really impressive exhibitions which have
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tried to help bring people in and have other
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events connected to them. We had Gap
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in the Clouds, which was the one about landscape
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and our relationship, spiritual relationship with landscape,
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which included works by AI Weiwei and by
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Edvard Munch. We had three Edvard Monk paintings in that one which brought a lot
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of people in. And so having the opportunity
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to put world class art on those walls really brings people
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in. And it gives us a great reputation as a gallery, even though we're only
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small. And then we've had other stuff which
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seemed a bit left field at first but proved hugely popular.
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We had an exhibition called Tudor Contemporary that's just finished,
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which connected the kind of portrait and
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narrative painting of the Tudor period, of the Elizabethan
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period, and brought it
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up to present day with reinterpretations of that
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kind of costume and that kind of stately elegance that they love
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to see in paintings then. And it connected it to the empire
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and to immigration and to trade,
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mainly from India with the East India Company.
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And we had paintings by the Singh brothers, massive, great big paintings by
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the Singh brothers, who work out of Liverpool.
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And their work draws on that style with
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velvet and jewels, and it's all very colorful and
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flash and connects it to contemporary
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life in the northwest of England, or in England generally,
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in terms of how a lot of the style of the Elizabethans,
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funnily enough, went over to the east, to India,
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to Bangladesh, to Sri Lanka.
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And the colors and costumes
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are now just as almost, they're more
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identified with that part of the world than they are with where
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they came from. It's really interesting. It was fascinating connection. We had a fabulous animatronic
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head of Elizabeth I. Oh, that was terrific. Which really freaked people out
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because they would approach it and think it was some kind of sculpture until it
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winked at them and opened its mouth and just sort of gave them a
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little sideways glance. So that was fun.
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And it was very popular. We've just had the Twine
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and Geddington Prize event, which is the
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student art prize again with short exhibition, which.
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Which was great. The quality of the student art is astonishing.
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It's really good. And we had a fabulous event to kick it off, I think,
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which featured, of course, the now legendary yes
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Recorder Trio, of which I'm
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sure you've probably dealt with that one in a previous podcast.
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Yeah, well, it was you that mentioned it, actually. Yeah. Was it? Right. The chaplain,
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the Direction of Music, and the Graham Robertson research fellow who formed a little recorder
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trio. No, it was fun. We enjoyed doing it. Oh, yes. And as I said,
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we rehearsed regular, regularly, at least. At least once a year. That's right.
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I won't say you need it, but there you go. No, it was great.
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And it just.
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The whole thing had a kind of light hearted positivity
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about it, which I think the students really appreciated because it was about them,
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it was about their work and they were seeing people who
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were just as prepared as they are to pitch in with some kind of contribution.
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And I think that's really important in terms of, you know where
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we are with the arts at the college, that it's like there
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is an engagement, whether it's fellows or
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staff or students or whoever, that it's there for
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everybody. The gallery's there. If you just want to go and sit in it and,
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you know, and nod off, then it's just as relevant as if
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you want to go and study it. A piece of, you know, world famous
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art. So it's a space for that, does a lot of work.
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Quietly, I think. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
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And the next exhibition is it 10 good years? 10 good
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years, yeah. Celebrating 10 years.
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The reason it's called 10 good years is because the sponsor
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or the collection we had in our first exhibition was the
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person who owned that collection was Sir Alan Bonus, who'd been the, the director of
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the Tate. And he'd written famously about
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a generation of artists he sponsored after the Second World War.
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British post war modernists. Ben Nicholson,
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Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Terry Frost,
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Peter Lanyon. All mostly associated with Cornwall,
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but all very now famously established names
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in the canon of British post war art.
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And that was his collection in our first
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exhibition. And he'd said that there were specifically 10
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good years of creativity in post world British art, which went from 1955-65.
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But he also said that it was 10. Every artist,
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every one of those artists probably had 10 good years to establish their reputation.
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And if they missed it, then they probably wouldn't be as famous.
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That's a kind of shorthand way of describing, you know, the double sided
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meaning of that statement. So we thought, perfect, if we,
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if we bring some of that stuff back in after 10 years is the perfect
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title for it because we've had 10 good years in the gallery.
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And so this one brings back half of that collection,
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maybe a little bit more things that people have seen before, but also brings in
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contemporary artists, artists,
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painters, sculptors,
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ceramicists who were working in that same tradition. They're working
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down in Cornwall, inspired by that whole light color,
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space, atmosphere thing that the Cornish landscape
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seems to offer. And so it seems like an appropriate way
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to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
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gallery opening in 2016. And so what can
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people expect when they come? They can expect the
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kind of work that a lot of people love. It. It's very
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similar to if you were to go to Kettle's Yard and see some of the
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abstract expressionist stuff, the modern and contemporary stuff that
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they have on the walls at Kettle's Yard. It, it will be a similar
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vibe. It's very, it's very difficult to, to Describe what
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an, an exhibition of mostly abstract work brings.
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But it's, it will be colorful,
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it will be challenging just in terms
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of do I like this or what? What does that mean? What's that
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about? Do I know enough about it? But there was a brilliant thing,
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there's a little podcast series on in America and
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they've, they have famous people going around galleries and talking about
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pictures they like. And a couple of weeks ago, Steve Martin was
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on the Comedian and he said, it's. I can't persuade anybody to
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like the things that I like and I can't persuade anybody to,
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to like some of these paintings because I don't know that much about them.
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But the one thing I would ask people to do is rather than condemn
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something out of hand because you don't get it, because it might be like a
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Rothko, it might be a color field painting of red going into orange with
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a black line in the middle that you don't condemn it out of hand.
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You just sit with it for a while, just look at it and let it
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sink in. And after a while you'll start to see things
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that you probably missed on a cursory glance and it will start to
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speak to you to a certain extent. So you might see
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things and importantly feel things about it that you
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might not have done if you didn't give it chance. So basically
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what he's saying is try and have a bit of a conversation with
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an artwork that you don't understand. Just look at it, let it tell you things,
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and you might go away with a slightly more enriched
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or enhanced view of, of what the
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painter was trying to do, you know, because the painter can't tell you, you know,
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the painter can't say. What I meant was this. All they can
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do is ask you to have a reaction. And some people have reactions where they
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go, that's just rubbish. And some people will, will say,
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I don't really get that, but I really like it,
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you know, and, and that's, that's great.
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We can't have somebody looking over your shoulder saying, ah, but what they meant to
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say was this, because that's not what it's about. But I think visually it
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will be a stimulating exhibition full of color and
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full of interesting takes on what
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it's like just to be inspired by light
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and color and landscape
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and weather as well. For Cornish, artists are very,
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there's a very weather conscious thing going on, you know,
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and also for so many modern artists, I mean, who was it?
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Was it Bonnard or Utrillo? I can't remember which one said,
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you just can't have enough yellow if you. If you're not sure what to do,
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just paint it yellow because it looks great. You know, I can't remember who it
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was, but. But it's a good idea, I think. Wow.
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And so when is this exhibition on? It starts. It opens
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on the 29th of this month and the gallery's open Wednesday to
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Sunday. Wednesday to Sunday, 12 till 5.
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Brilliant. Cool. Well, it's been great to chat to you.
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I'm a little nervous. Sorry I talked too much.
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It's all good. No, it's been great to hear about
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your career kind of up to this point, because obviously we will see you around
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college, but. Oh, yeah, thank you. Yeah, you've done. Done a lot of stuff before
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you came to us. Brilliant. Well, thanks so much. Thank you. And,
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yeah, see you soon.
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This week in college, there are a few things going on. The chapel choir will
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be joined by a brass ensemble for Sunday evensong at six in the chapel and
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take a break. Choir is back on Monday at six in the music office this
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week singing music from Les Miserables. As we heard from Steve, the new
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exhibition opens in the gallery tomorrow. Do pop along and be inspired by
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10 good years. Good luck if you're sitting exams this week and thanks for
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listening.