Told by an Idiot: An idiots' guide to happiness
Freddie Machin
Friday, October 1, 2021
Clowning around up and down the country, Told by an Idiot theatre company are adapting their productions to suit the needs of their many participants, as Freddie Machin finds out
Manuel Harlan
If you have ever seen a Charlie Chaplin film you will know that the character he portrays is a jack-of-all-trades. He will try his hand at anything. Any opportunity that happens to fall into his lap, trip him up in the street, or even glance vaguely in his direction he will have a go at. This is a defining feature of a true clown – they will claim to be the master of everything, adapting to any situation life might throw at them.
It seems all too appropriate then that the theatre company Told by an Idiot are themselves masters of adaptation. Inspired in part by silent movie legends such as Chaplin and Buster Keaton, they have, over the last 27 years, adapted to an ever-changing arts landscape and continue to find pleasure in the chaos of the world.
Dedication to inclusivity
Despite the pandemic, they have recently completed a successful tour of their latest show Get Happy, with a series of participation opportunities to accompany it. In each town that the show toured to, the company would arrive early in order to engage with the community. Elements of what was created in these engagement workshops would then be woven into the fabric of the show itself.
This dedication to inclusivity is what the company is all about. Their creative output is aimed at ‘anybody who breathes', believing that all of us have an ‘idiot’ inside us, just as curious and playful as any of their shows and the actors that perform them.
For almost as long as the company has been in existence, they have offered a wide range of workshops and creative development opportunities designed not only to share their skills with participants but also to learn from those taking part. Every participant is regarded as a theatre-maker, whether they are actors from underrepresented groups looking to broaden their devising skills, or primary school students building a performance from scratch. This includes a range of bespoke schools-focused workshops and projects that are designed to enhance and enliven students' learning.
Each workshop is bespoke to ensure that they can not only meet the aims of the session, but also make it as meaningful an experience as possible for the participants. That said, they do have a handful of core workshops which they run regularly – Building The Chaos and The Way Of The Idiot – which for the first time this year they have adapted to be delivered online.
Embracing failure and success
The term ‘idiot’ not only reflects the anarchic sense of humour, playfulness, and curiosity which defines the company's performance style but also has a much deeper meaning. It speaks to human vulnerability, embracing our capacity for failure as much as success.
The company offer a variety of ways to include anyone who feels that traditional theatre might be inaccessible to them. For instance, every performance of Get Happy was regarded as a ‘relaxed performance’ – not a single occurrence over the course of a run of shows but a permanent part of the presentation. The website also offers a range of accessibility options including a picture guide to the performance, and options to make the website audio described.
Many of their workshops are ‘pay what you feel’; there are free places for under 25s who would not otherwise be able to afford them, and free places plus support costs (such as support workers, BSL interpreters) are offered for D/deaf and/or disabled participants.
Reaching audiences
The creative development of their work is born out of spontaneity and thrives on restrictions so, although recent times have been inexplicably tough, they have nevertheless enjoyed wrangling with the challenge of continuing to reach audiences.
This last year has also seen the beginning of the official Told by an Idiot podcast, as well as a 20-minute documentary detailing the unique challenges of adapting a performance to a COVID compliant outdoor theatre space.
The need to perform, engage an audience, and spread laughter has seen the company adapt and broaden its offer, but the core principles at the heart of their work remain unchanged, and they continue to try and reach as many aspiring theatre makers as possible, no matter the barriers to engagement.
Regrets, I've Had a Few: The Told by an Idiot podcast featuring interviews with the likes of Emma Rice, Kathryn Hunter, and Omari Douglas. Listen at www.toldbyanidiot.org/Listing/Category/regretsivehadafew
Dedicated to Chaos: A 20-minute documentary about the company adapting to outdoor performance in September 2020. www.toldbyanidiot.org/dedicated-to-chaos-a-documentary
Jack Thorne: His recent MacTaggart lecture on the failure of the performing arts to employ disabled artists and what should be done about it. Watch at bit.ly/2W6aepL
