Arches Live is with us again, and for the next ten days the whole of the Glasgow venue – from playroom to first aid room to Midland Street outside – will witness more than a score of sharp new works, many of them by young artists emerging on to the theatre and performance scene.
When the Arches artistic director Jackie Wylie describes them as "the artists who will shape the future of Scottish theatre" it is no overblown claim. Previous participants are already making their mark. Rob Drummond, whose Bullet Catch was awarded a Bank of Scotland Herald Angel at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, is to re-stage the show for the National Theatre in London.
"We supported Rob through different stages of development, including the making of Bullet Catch," notes Wylie. "Now, after the Fringe ... the interest in Rob's work is tremendous. Nic Green, Kieran Hurley ... lots of really strong talent has come out of Arches Live."
There's no set theme that artists have to respond to, but each year does throw up specific issues and shared strands. This year there's a buzz about the impact digital technology is having on people's lives and sense of identity.
Sarah Bradley, a recent graduate of Glasgow University's theatre studies degree, has fixed on online dating. "Update is about how we project ourselves online, how we present an idealised version of ourselves – and where that can lead," she says. "I'm interested in seeing how we can bring that experience into a theatre space where an audience can see the performers and vice versa in real time."
Bradley has never tried online dating, but her two performers are willing to take that plunge. Michael O'Neill and Rob Jones have, in a way, already made contact with their audience through an online construct Sam, the user-friendly face of the neednothing campaign (www.neednothing.co.uk). This enterprise will culminate, towards the end of Arches Live, in a seminar where "Sam is going to change your life". Both Jones and O'Neill are clearly relishing the interactive possibilities of the website, but there's no need to visit the neednothing.co.uk site before you see the show.
Rosana Cade's solo, My Big Sister Taught Me This Lapdance, is anything but virtual. Cade, a Buzzcut co-founder, returns to performing with a frank look at gender identity that channels her sister's experience of working as a lap dancer and in sex clubs. Cade, a feminist theatre-maker with a catalogue of pieces about sexuality, is keeping details of this performance under wraps.
"It's a very personal challenge," she says. "It's as much about my relationship with my sister – whom I've always loved and looked up to – as it is about our attitudes to lap-dancing and the women who dance. I'm not sure how audiences will respond, but that's a reason for doing it." And that, perhaps, is the underlying motto that drives Arches Live '12.
For programme and booking details, see www.thearches.co.uk
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