On Tuesday 16th November, Polly Creed gave a lecture on Art and Activism- Making Politically Engaged Theatre & Film. During the talk she delved into the practical aspects of pursuing a career in theatre, film, the arts, and activism. She also explored what it means to work in the current climate, and discussed the notion of a multi-faceted career, balancing different but overlapping skills and interests.
In the course of her English degree at UCL, Polly Creed began campaigning for the removal of Harvey Weinstein’s honorary CBE, and four years later in 2020 it was finally revoked. During that time she began her theatre company ‘Power Play’, combining activism, data analysis, and theatre.
From discovering a 60% wage gap between male and female performers at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, to getting Arts Council England to invest £2.25 million, campaigning was a challenging process. Creed introduced the idea of the 3 A’s of activism- awareness, advocacy, and action – as the most efficient way to enact real political change. Petitions are simply not enough, campaigns must include talking to professionals, MPs, or counsellors for change to occur.
Creed’s theatre company advocates for the abolition of the UK’s current prison system and a move towards community justice, and in order to raise awareness for this issue ‘Power Play’ have collaborated with the organisation ‘Daddyless Daughters’, as well as filming a documentary about Holloway Prison. Holloway prison has been the setting of pivotal events in the history of women’s rights in the UK, being the location of both the suffrage hunger strikes and the execution of Ruth Ellis. Its abrupt closure angered Creed, and so she decided to create a documentary about six female prisoners revisiting the site, and interrogating their relationship to it.
Photography by Mohamad Almasri
Her projects also include: writing ‘Humane’, a play about animal rights activism, and sponsoring a play called ‘Funeral Flowers’ about image based sexual violence. She is predominantly a playwright and one of her inspirations is the work of Lucy Kirkwood, who incorporates science and research into her creative projects, putting on shows at the Royal Court Theatre on issues such as nuclear waste.
The integration of activism and theatre for Polly was relatively simple; she says that ‘storytelling is a political act’. Whoever shares a narrative will do so from a certain angle or perspective, due to their beliefs and experiences, thus to incorporate political stories into a piece of writing or play, one must simply consider their audience and activism will come naturally.
Ending on the message that we are not obligated to have linear careers, she invited us to ask ourselves, what skills can we offer to make a change in the future?
Comments