An Alchemy of Living Culture: Collected Writing on Double Edge Theatre
Stacy Klein
Preface by Jonathan P. Eburne
Methuen Drama: Theatre Makers
ISBN: 9781350449374 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781350449381 (ePDF)
ISBN: 9781350449398 (ebook)
272 pages
Review author: Aubrey Mann
Stacy Klein’s An Alchemy of Living Culture: Collected Writing on Double Edge Theatre is a masterclass on self-awareness and community building. The book takes writings from director notes, journals, letters and more to share not only the history of Double Edge Theatre but also the personal journey Klein has taken, not only as an artist but also as a community member and activist. Klein speaks to the idea that art can change the world while also reckoning with the nature of the world we live in and the complexities that exist within it. She does this by taking readers through the ongoing lifespan of Double Edge Theatre, several productions and personal explorations. This book is not a ‘how to’ but more of a digest of self-reflecting questions we, as artists, should be asking ourselves in our own work.
The book opens with a preface written by Jonathan P. Eburne, celebrating Klein and her work around the world. Eburne points out the magnificent ability of Klein to world build in a way that helps us root ourselves as audiences and artists in the real world we so often try to remove ourselves from. He acknowledges the collaboration needed for this type of work and how Double Edge Theatre’s process is about the search and not necessarily about the answers. While they trained together for years and speak the same language in terms of their artistry, their work is not the ‘Double Edge Method’ but one approach of many explorations of justice, community and culture.
Chapter 1, ‘Search Determines Form: Foundational Writings’, is focused on the history and development of Double Edge Theatre: specifically, the intentional underrepresentation of women artists and the efforts of Klein and others to showcase and uplift these contemporary artists. While this chapter looks to the formation of Double Edge it contains artist statements written throughout the years reflecting on her commitments to collaboration. This is a section that truly shows the journey that Klein continues to be on as an artist as well as showing the roots of the feminist political path the work has taken. Chapter 2, ‘An Artists’ Ensemble: On Autonomy and Collectivity’ explores radical creativity and ethical commitments to lived experience that Double Edge and its artists exemplify. This is done through letters and essays written by Klein to Double Edge artists and her community. This chapter takes us deeper as readers to understand the strength and self-reflection that is needed as an artist, especially one foundationally rooted in community and action.
The next two chapters I believe are the most important to the reader’s own practices. Chapter 3, ‘Each Person Must Ask Why They Are Here: Training and Performance Creation’ is a broader focus of the training done at Double Edge. This section challenges us to look at the way a group of people and, specifically, Klein have gone about making their own work and what their values and morals are and how these connect to our own morality. It shows a growth through the writings that artists go through within their own work: from where artists start in their craft and in their views of the world and how over time these grow and evolve. Chapter 4, ‘Art, Living Culture, Art Justice’, looks at the broader mission of Klein and Double Edge in the social and political spheres that their work comes from. If there is one section that is a must and can be used in courses or other trainings this is the one. These are the roots of the work and the reason that Double Edge has grown into what it is today. It also gives us questions to ask ourselves when thinking about the purpose of our work. Chapter 5, ‘A Hidden Secret: Double Edge in and as Theatre History’, reflects on experimental theatre and how Double Edge fits into that history; and leaves us with ways to think about our own working going forward into the unknown of future histories.
Overall, An Alchemy of Living Culture: Collected Writing on Double Edge Theatre is a celebration of the work of Double Edge Theatre through the writings of Stacy Klein and gives us an insight into her mind and the heart of the work that she and the Double Edge ensemble are doing. It also offers us, as readers, tangible examples of political devised theatre, as well as leaving room for us to imagine the work that is to come.
