Tightlaced Theatre

When I started planning the Tightlaced sessions, my biggest worry was that the technique wouldn’t work, that Affectable Acting was powered by the particular alchemical talents of Aileen Gonsalves. It was one thing to assist Aileen and love her brilliant method of combining reality and imagination to create exhilirating performances. It was another thing entirely to bring it back to Edinburgh and say “I think this is amazing and I want to work this way, who’s with me?”, knowing I would have to train them myself.

I’m so glad I took the leap of faith. The training sessions may not have been running for long, but they’re already proving inspiring! It doesn’t take long to learn the basic exercises, and once you’ve got them down you quickly start seeing how the technique works. I’ve been delighted by the number of actors, both regular Tightlacers and newcomers, who have come along and then come back to keep experimenting, discovering and growing increasingly bold and trusting.

If you’re interested in the sessions and haven’t been along yet, don’t worry – each session starts with a recap for newcomers or anyone who feels they would benefit, and it’s actually really useful to have a mix of people of different levels of experience. They’re free to attend and I plan to keep them that way, partly because I know we’re a pretty broke bunch of people and I’d hate for financial considerations to put anyone off coming even once, but also because I don’t want to foster a teacher/student dynamic. I happen to be the one sharing this technique because I’m the one who had the opportunity to learn it from Aileen, but there’s a strong emphasis on everyone bringing what they know to the group. This technique fosters the idea of being creative equals. As anyone who has heard my lengthy and impassioned rants on this subject knows, I feel very strongly that we have to see each other as creative equals if we are to be a group of self-respecting theatremakers working towards common goals.

There’s so much more I want to say – about the working practice I’m aiming to build, the type of work Tightlaced will create in future, how self-respect is vital to solve many of the knotty problems facing emerging theatremakers. But it’s after midnight (because I’ve never learned to write blog posts at a sensible time – by this time of day my brain has unwound sufficiently to let me put my thoughts in order here) and since there’s a session tomorrow/today, I should get to bed. The most important things for tonight are said and the rest will wait. See you at the Fort!

— Jen