Once in a lifetime...

The BBC recently broadcast a series detailing the history of musical theatre. Having fallen in love with musical theatre after seeing 'Starlight Express' at the age of 11, I was intrigued to see behind-the-scene snippets of various productions that I have seen on stage.

The first episode looked at British playwrights trying to "make it" on Broadway and the history of theatre in the 1960s/1970s. One milestone in theatre came with the arrival of the "American Tribal Love Rock Musical" - HAIR - a show which pushed the boundaries of censorship in various ways.

In 2004 I participated in a production of HAIR in a cast of only 19 people. All members of the cast were on stage for every song and in on all the "in jokes". It genuinely was like one large family.

Still to this day I get shivers when I hear the music, in particular the part in 'flesh failures' where the company sing under Claude:

 Claude                                                                                Company

Manchester England England
Manchester England England                                         Eyes look your last
Across the Atlantic Sea                                                 Arms take your last embrace
And I'm a genius genius                                                And lips oh you the doors of breath
I believe in God                                                            Seal with a righteous kiss
And I believe that God believes in Claude                       Seal with a righteous kiss
That's me, that's me, that's me                                      The rest is silence
                                                                                   The rest is silence
                                                                                   The rest is silence

©Jim Rado and Jerry Ragni

Every so often, when the old cast discuss upcoming shows/projects, we reminisce about the unique experience of being involved in HAIR. In such a small cast, we became very close and there had to be respect and trust amongst the cast in order to perform the nude scene with the required dignity, humanity and innocence. There was occasional talk about doing a revival - but on the condition that the same cast was involved. Drunk on nostalgia we talk about how rare the experience was and how we would love to re-live it.

But can such an experience ever truly be recreated?

Sadly, I think not. It was what it was because of who we were as people at the time and inevitably, we all have changed over the years. Therefore, an attempt to recreate that unique rapport between castmembers could be difficult, and should it not fulfil expectation our memories would be tarnished rather than filled with the recollection of the extraordinary bond we shared at the time.

Despite performing in several other productions over the years, HAIR still holds a special place in my heart and memory. In many ways, it's impossible to put into words how it affected me.

Beads...Flowers....Freedom...Happiness

It was a 'once in a lifetime' production... And maybe, that's how it should be.

Solitude vs. Collaboration

Keith Sawyer, a psychology and education professor in the USA, writes an intriguing blog regarding creativity. A recent post critiqued an article in the New York Times, written by Susan Cain, which stated that "people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption". It has caused quite a stir and I've come across more criticisms of her article than support. It is worth noting that both Sawyer and Cain agree that a balance between the two is necessary - but then Cain appears to disregard this completely by writing a one-sided pro-solitude piece which Sawyer then neatly pulls apart.

The online debates surrounding the subject of 'introvert vs. extravert'/ 'solitude vs. collaboration' got me thinking about where I would position myself in the argument.

My instinct would say I prefer solitude. But rather than due to the peace of being alone, it is through fear that my ideas could be taken by someone else before I have had time to fully develop them! (Yes, I need to work on calming my paranoia!)

Then I thought about the things I have done so far this year and considered if they were truly independent paths I had taken or not. The result is a resounding "NO".

Through interaction on blogs/websites, particularly creativeeveryday.com, I have delved more into creative work than I had previously done in years! Although the shading of a drawing was done alone, the stimulus came from ideas presented by others (such as the themes in Challenge 2012) or discussions with friends and colleagues.

Looking back I think my negative view of collaboration stems from doing group projects at varying levels of education and feeling like the driving force a lot of the time. If I believed in an idea I would be behind it 100%, which sometimes lead to, or at least felt like, me doing all the work that others got credit for.

So the trick to it is to strike a balance, and the web can help achieve this. Having an online facade allows people to engage with others, but not necessarily give away all the details about what they are doing. It is a blogger's choice what to upload/ discuss, how much to divulge or keep hidden, and with that - to an extent - collaboration with others is possibly manipulated to suit individual needs. Nonetheless, individual work and teamwork seem to go hand-in-hand when it comes to creativity.

"T"(eam)work

Have you ever heard of "T-Shaped People"?
No?
Me neither.

There is a lot of discussion concerning collaboration as a tool to enhance creativity. (I will return to that subject another day). Earlier I stumbled upon this interesting blog. I believe that the idea of "T-Shaped People" is a fantastic way to consider group dynamics - in any teamwork situation. I have copied the final part of the blog below:

Specialists are “I-Shaped People” – people who have depth of expertise, without breadth of skills

Generalists are “Minus-Shaped People” – people who have a breadth of skills, but no depth of expertise.

Specializing Generalists are “T-Shaped People” – people who have depth of expertise in one area, combined with a breadth of skills across many areas.

What an interesting way to think about teamwork!