Quay Conversations
Tonight in Glasgow we recorded the first of our Quay Conversations - a new series in which Janice Forsyth interviews some of Scotland's movers and shakers. First up was Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of the . She spoke with candour and passion about her job and the pressure she feels in serving the audience. She went as far as to say she loses sleep worrying about the impact of her various choices.
The series is also being filmed and video clips will soon be available on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ radio Scotland website. The presence of cameras didn't deter the audience from asking some hard-hitting questions. One student raised his hand to ask if a publicly-funded theatre company would be shy of staging productions which criticised the Government.
Vicky sugested she wouldn't give such things a second thought, so long as she believed in the artistic integrity of the play. In fact, she said, she would relish the moment that such an issue presented itself.
This series is one of many in which we hope to use the various spaces within Pacific Quay to allow audiences to take part in programmes. In my introductory welcome speech I'd given the building a bit of a puff, describing the world-class facilities etc. etc. Well, that's my job.
A good counter to that was when Vicky apologised for some "Stalinist thinking" .
"It must be the architecture, " she said.
Ouch.
