Copyright

Paul Farmer

Published On

2023-09-27

Page Range

pp. 95–104

Language

  • English

Print Length

10 pages

8. A39 Into 1986: The State of Things

  • Paul Farmer (author)
Chapter of: After the Miners’ Strike: A39 and Cornish Political Theatre versus Thatcher’s Britain: Volume 1(pp. 95–104)
A39 enacts ‘point of action’ socialism: the conditions of Thatcher’s Britain means that every day is a crisis for a socialist and the members share experiences of the organised Left that render us wary of its shortcomings and pitfalls. A39 makes decisions by consensus. We insist on the right to communicate and to create, not just for us but for everyone. Art is where we can postulate our predictions and our prayers for the achievement of all that humans might be. Theatre too is for everyone, a fundamental aspect of human communication: we find ourselves in demand to work with people with learning difficulties, often through Artshare Cornwall.
We form links with other Cornish theatre companies in the form of the Cornwall Theatre Alliance. At first this feels like a somewhat uneasy truce. Footsbarn Theatre’s departure for Europe has left a creative vacancy: which company will be supported to fill it? It becomes apparent that we are witnessing the beginnings of the inexorable rise of Kneehigh Theatre. But the CTA sustains to mount two substantial festivals and is a context in which lots of misunderstandings can be re-understood and collaborations initiated. Later it will transmute into the Cornwall Theatre Umbrella with links to statutory provision.

Contributors

Paul Farmer

(author)
Associate Lecturer at Falmouth University
http://www.farmerart.co.uk/

Paul Farmer first worked in Cornish arts as an actor/musician/bus driver with Miracle Theatre, then co-founded A39 Theatre Group, later becoming artistic director. As a freelance playwright he wrote a number of plays for Kneehigh Theatre Company and for Cornish community events and celebrations. During the mid-late 1990s Farmer was one of those who established the Cornish film industry, as a writer, director and producer. An increasingly experimental film practice would lead to a number of projects exploring digital image work in a literary context. He was a founder member and company manager of the live literature collective Scavel An Gow, then one of the three artists who represented Cornwall in the European Regions of Culture initiative, leading into work in a fine art context in performance, moving image and installation. He holds an Honours degree in Theatre from Dartington College of Arts and a Masters in Fine Art: contemporary practice from University College Falmouth. From 2014 to 2022 he was a lecturer in film and theatre at Falmouth University. In 2000 he was made a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow ‘for services to Cornish arts’.