The Power of a Collective

As our Winter Warmer, hosted digitally at the Omnibus Theatre, came to a close, our director Catherine Boyle shared some thoughts on what we’d achieved, on the many people we wished to thank, and the power of making work in a collective community.

Throughout this week we have been reminded how central to our work it is to grow a community around us. Out of the Wings is dedicated to theatre research, translation and performance, and integral to that work is a commitment to becoming a part of other communities where we might contribute a little, learn a lot and reflect on our work as it is inserted into local and global worlds.

Thank you to those who have joined us throughout this last year, as we’ve felt our way through doing what we love and creating our community of theatre-makers. 4 March 2020 saw us in Omnibus Theatre, wondering whether we could really be together, already unsure about being together in an enclosed space. We have had, of course, to abandon some plans, most notably our Festival at the Omnibus in August 2020. But the power of a collective is that when one – or some – feel that they haven’t got the energy to plan, to make things happen, others feel that they can, and we all build a different plan together. We hope, we trust, that we will be at the Omnibus Theatre in the British summer this year, and we hope we will see you there. And we are determined not to lose what we have found and created this year, so we are already looking at ways to include our growing global community.

‘An Evening with Out of the Wings’ at the Omnibus Theatre in 2020. We will meet again!

Thank you for joining us for our week of Winter Warmers. It has been our way of keeping the energy of Out of the Wings alive and of inviting you into the Collective. We hope that, over this week, you have enjoyed being part of our work, from testing new translations and giving space to emerging translators, to our first book initiative, a promenade through our monthly reads and connecting with our work in research and practice. And, of course, making new connections. Above all, we hope that you have found a space to share the many aspects and experiences of theatre translation. Please join the Out of the Wings Collective, to be part of our growing community. You’ll be very welcome.

The Out of the Wings Winter Warmer was held digitally at the Omnibus Theatre, London, from February 23 to 27, 2021.