Chemnitz Salon
The Fence is an international Network of playwrights, dramaturgs and freelance theatre makers across Europe and beyond. The Fence was founded on the core principles of:
- the importance of the playwright to culture and wider society
- that in practice, diversity and mobility are the same thing
- and that through engagement with others our own work develops.
The network exists as a space to think, to be and to do. The founding aim was to create a network based primarily on relationships, rather than scripts and translations, that would enable people to come together and work out for themselves what they wanted to do together. Established in October 2003, the network in 2021 comprises 250+ members from 50+ countries. Created originally in the UK, as of 2018 The Fence is based in Stockholm, Sweden. The Fence network meets on average twice yearly - these typically feature 15-50 participants, and last between 5 and 8 days. Fence Membership is via recommendation from existing members and has grown organically to its current level from an initial gathering of 25 in 2003. There is no membership fee. We come together to collaborate, co-operate and generate projects. The network focuses on individuals and works with institutions to make face-to-face meetings happen. In this way institutional power and resources are accessed to support individual playwrights, dramaturgs, theatre translators and cultural operators.
The network also works in a variety of modes with Fence members collaborating on diverse initiatives:
The Fence has, since 2017, been developing a strand of work entitled All Our Tomorrows. In this, the playwright is recast as a public figure in which theatrical production is but one manifestation of the significance of the artist in public discourse. We began with Ireland has struck Oil in partnership with King’s College, with Gabriel Gbadamosi as the lead playwright, in London. This is being followed-up by Greece is Gone with playwright Andreas Flourakis in partnership with Trinity College in Dublin, and our recent presentation of Andrei KureIchik’s Insulted, Belarus(sia) is a further iteration of this strand.
Together with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the United Kingdom and Dutch Performing Arts, we are collaborating on Boom! A diverse group of 3 UK and 4 Dutch playwrights / theatre makers are - across 6 pieces - exploring the shared colonial heritage of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
The International Dramaturgy Lab (IDL) is an experimental initiative developed in collaboration between an international array of dramaturgical organizations and networks, including The Dramaturgs’ Network UK; Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) USA, Canada, and Mexico; The Fence; STOD Finland; and the Danish Dramaturg Network. The aim is to connect dramaturgs, directors, playwrights, theatre makers, and thinkers around the topic: What does it mean to work dramaturgically across borders? 85 people drawn from the above organisations divided along areas of intersecting interest into around 15 Groups of about five people each, are working together. This project will culminate at the LMDA conference in Mexico City 2021.
Plays for Young People 3 is in planning with AFTEC in Hong Kong for Autumn 2021 Plays for Young People brings together emerging translators in Hong Kong to engage first-hand with international playwrights drawn from The Fence. As a bilingual Life Learning Theatre with a special focus on youth development, AFTEC has created this event to draw together those with a shared passion for theatre and the understanding of the need for quality plays written specifically to be performed by young people.
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