Luke
Barnes 
Writer, Dramaturg and, occasional, Director
Theatre, Film and Television
 

In a slight tangent to my usual posts about Art I just wanted to write something really quickly about the Labour Party. As you, probably, know the ballot is now open for selection of the next leader; the choice is Rebecca Long-Bailey, Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy. This is one of the most important elections we can be making as the membership; last election we lost a load of traditional labour voters; if the next election comes and they feel like they can't vote for the Labour

This weekend I had a chat with 2 directors here in Liverpool who I have seen the work of and rate as better than the vast majority of directors their age in London. Both of them have assisted or associated at major institutions in London and both of them, on the back of their credits as makers and assistants and their ideas of the impacts they want to have on their communitie, deserve to get the opportunity to make work for other people and be hired as associates and assistan

I'm going to start by saying this; this is to inform the work I want to make. You might want to do something different and that's cool. I am very aware that my perspective on this is a 32 year old, very handsome, straight, white, male, living on a niceish road in a rough part of Liverpool. You probably will be something different. You will have different experiences and different traumas and different rages... And that's cool. See what I'm about to say as something to respond

I really don't want to get into reviews and the like; I'm writing about this show because I felt like I learned something really important in watching it. This isn't a review. I go to the theatre loads and most of the time the take away is that I'm impressed with form or unique perspective or hot take or some such and as a result I think I've taken that to mean what "good theatre" is. I've been of the oppinon that "good theatre" is your truth, in a form that is you that refle