A Message From the Performance Arts Pathway Leader at The Central School of Speech & Drama

The Accidental Festival has become an annual meeting place for discussion, debate, controversy, friendship and innovation. It has become an opportunity for international schools, students, artists and performers to meet, exchanging ideas, values and possibilities. I am proud of what has been achieved over the past four years since our very first Accidental Festival, and I’m so very pleased that you will be joining us at this year’s event at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. We look forward to welcoming you.

Once again we wish to challenge and re-think assumptions about the creation and understanding of live performance through the work presented at The Accidental Festival. This year our emphasis has been upon the intercultural and the interdisciplinary, on learning and enhancement through the programme that we present, and through participation as we aspire to bring the festival to those who may be experiencing such work for the very first time. Most importantly we are focusing upon excellence, where it is already proven in the more established companies and also where it is being sought, by our new younger artists.

With each year of The Accidental Festival the number of people wishing to present their work continues to grow, and the quality of the performances exceeds all of our expectations. Not only do those who are new to the cultural industries wish to participate, but also established leading figures from around the world.

At this year’s Accidental Festival we are very pleased to welcome Kevin Khulke from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, to open this year’s event, again in the spirit of international collaboration and achievement. Khulke has previously performed with Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, Mabou Mines and at prestigious New York venues such as La Ma Ma, PS122 and The Franklin Furnace. It is a pleasure and great tribute to the Accidental Festival to have him join us.

We will close the festival this year with a discussion with Richard Forman, founder and Artistic Director of the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre in New York. Five of Foreman’s plays have received OBIE awards as best play of the year, and he has received five other OBIE'S for directing and for 'sustained achievement'. He has received the annual Literature award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN Club Master American Dramatist Award, a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, and in 2004 was elected officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of France. It is a great honour to close this year’s festival with this rare opportunity to meet Foreman himself and hear this discussion of his work.

Finally, I must take a moment to thank the people who make the Accidental Festival possible. This year special thanks must be given to Roma Backhouse who has guided and mentored the students who run the event with such panache and flair, the event would not be what it has become without her support. It is also important to thank Lisa McFarlane and her team from the second year Performance Arts and BATP cohort for working so tirelessly to make this event happen. We must also thanks Emma Quinn from the ICA for yet again allowing us to use such a prestigious venue, everyone at the ICA always makes The Accidental Festival so welcome and we are most grateful to them. This year’s event is very kindly supported by The Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre, and so we wish to thank Sophie Nield and the CETT team for their assistance. Finally everyone at the festival would like to thank Gavin Henderson, Jessica Bowles, Tony Simpson, Ross Brown, Susan Emmanuelle, Joseph Lowe, and Adam Parker at The Central School of Speech and Drama.

I hope to get the chance to talk to you in person at this year’s festival; I always welcome your comments and suggestions. Most of all please do enjoy the event, it’s a chance for a conversation about performance and I look forward to starting it with you.

Karl Rouse, BA (HONS), MA, BFSA, FRSA
President of The Accidental Festival
Pathway Leader for Performance Arts
Senior Lecturer in Alternative Theatre and New Performance Practice
The Central School of Speech and Drama
The University of London
http://www.cssd.ac.uk
k.rouse@cssd.ac.uk