This follows on from the mirror thing; the fact that you must have need of a mirror in order to choose to look into it.
So back to finding a language with which to express the social value of the arts: it should be collective, this language. Like storytelling, it should be collective, but in a way that serves everyone, anyone. The pop music way, the Barack Obama way, the open space way.
A way to say that ‘freedom of expression’ isn’t what it seems to be: there is responsibility there too. As we talked about at another D&D4 session, on putting some of the spirit of the 60s back into theatre: you can’t be an anarchist unless you’re prepared to accept the consequences of your anarchy and take on responsibility for your actions.
‘Freedom of choice’ isn’t what it seems, either. It comes with marketing attacks on our time and space, and manipulation…
Manipulated emotions
… where all we really want to be
… is free to feel.
This is what hit Phelim in the heart when I asked him what he gets out of organising D&D. It reminds him, he said, of who he is. Of what he does, and why.
By doing Devoted & Disgruntled, he gets to give people freedom, which unlimits them.
By working with writers and actors, I get to give people freedom, which unlimits them.
By being a storyteller, I get to give people freedom, which unlimits them.
We do this because we have, at some point and in some way, wanted freedom and felt limited. Even felt unentitled to it, like we didn’t have the right.
Me, I mean. I felt – I feel, sometimes, often, like I don’t have the right to be unlimited.
This leads onto stage directions.
