ANNA ARTHUR

INTERVIEW: Anna Arthur, founder and director of Croydonites Festival of New Theatre

Anna Arthur is the founder and director of Croydonites Festival of New Theatre, which she established in 2015 to bring bold, experimental theatre and contemporary performance to Croydon. She studied theatre at Dartington College of Arts before building a career in arts administration and producing. Through Croydonites, she champions independent artists, nurtures emerging local talent and brings innovative performance from across the UK to South London, creating opportunities for new work to develop, reach audiences and grow beyond the borough.

Anna Arthur

Could you tell us about some of the productions at Croydonites?

We've done everything from stand-up comedy to immersive shows. The first show this year is called Turn Your F*cking Phones Off by Hannah Maxwell. She's made a show which draws on Russian  dis-information in how much they listen to us, and how you say one thing and the next thing you'll see an advert for it.

Another example is Sh!t Theatre. They made a show about Isabel Perón, the second wife of Juan Perón, who became president of Argentina after his death. She was deposed in a military coup, spent time in prison and was exiled. She now lives in Madrid. Sh!t Theatre went to Argentina, spoke to people about her and visited the Perón palace. There's lots of archive footage from the time. Then they discovered that she's still alive, living just outside Madrid. They went to her house and left a card and flowers asking for an interview, but they weren't able to speak to her because she's a bit of a recluse. That kind of storytelling is really imaginative but has a grain of truth in it.

We've also got James Rowland, who's an absolutely amazing storyteller. He's got a show called Ten Vikings. When he was growing up, he used to play Vikings with his friend James and another friend. When James was 25, he was diagnosed with heart cancer, which no one survives, unfortunately. He died, and he made James promise him on his deathbed that he would give him a Viking send-off. James steals the body from the funeral home, gives him a Viking send-off, and ends up with a suspended sentence. It's the story of how this happens, and it's beautiful. You laugh, you cry. It's really, really unusual.

You've also developed a structured pathway for local artists. How does that work?

We've been commissioning local artists for quite a few years now, so we have a commissioning pathway. We have an open-door policy for local artists. They can come and do 20 minutes of a new idea, and then the ones that we think can be developed, we give them a commission to develop it. The first year is called Croydon Bites, so it is little bite-sized chunks of new ideas. Then we have Croydon Builds, which is when we give them a bit more money, a bit of rehearsal time and a mentor. And then we've got the final stage, Croydon Beyond, which is where you end up with an hour-long work suitable for touring, so it can go beyond Croydon.

How does The Fringe differ from the main festival?

For the main festival, we invite the artists and pay them a fee. We hire the venues, we're responsible for everything, and we do all the marketing. They rock up with their show, and then they invoice us. For the Fringe model, there's no registration fee, no upfront costs, no marketing or venue costs, and the artists take 70 per cent of the box office.

What kind of impact has the festival had on the town centre?

The first time we did the fringe, we did quite a lot of research, asking people how much time they spend in the town centre, how much money they spend, whether they came and saw the show, and whether they went around the shops. People will often buy some food, get a drink in a pub, or think, "Oh, I'm here, I might as well go and walk around and buy a book." It's a great thing for Croydon.

Tell us about Croydon Writes?

Croydon Writes is an open call for anyone who wants to come and review shows. We work with two journalists: one who's the dance writer at The Guardian and another who's a theatre writer who works for The Stage and Exeunt. They come and do a workshop, which is about two and a half hours, introducing people to writing about theatre and performance. They do some little exercises, and then people come along and review shows. The reviews are published on our website.

Website: https://www.croydonites.com/whats-on