Forced Entertainment

Forced Entertainment
Formation1984
TypeTheatre group
LocationSheffield
Artistic director
Tim Etchells
Websiteforcedentertainment.com

Forced Entertainment is an experimental theatre company based in Sheffield, England, founded by Tim Etchells in 1984.

Details and history

Forced Entertainment originally focused on making and touring theatre performances before expanding to long durational performance, live art, video and digital media. Their work has been presented throughout the UK and Europe as well as Australia, Japan, Canada and the US. They develop projects using a collaborative process – devising work as a group through improvisation, experimentation and debate. Their core members are Tim Etchells (artistic director), Richard Lowdon (designer and performer) and performers Robin Arthur, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O'Connor, who have all been with the company from the start.

A book was published about them in 2004, "Not Even a Game Anymore": The Theatre of Forced Entertainment. In 2012 BBC Radio 4 aired a programme following their creative process developing, writing and rehearsing The Coming Storm.

Projects

  • Jessica in the Room of Lights, 1984, theatre performances
  • The Set-up, 1985, theatre performances
  • Nighthawks, 1985, theatre performances
  • (Let the Water Run its Course) to the Sea that Made the Promise, 1986, theatre performances
  • The Day that Serenity Returned to the Ground, 1986, theatre performances
  • 200% and Bloody Thirsty, 1987, theatre performances
  • Some Confusions in the Law about Love, 1989, theatre performances
  • Marina & Lee, 1991, theatre performances
  • Cardboard Sign Photographs, 1992, photography
  • Emanuelle Enchanted, 1992, theatre performances
  • 12 am: Awake & Looking Down, 1993, long durational performances
  • Club of No Regrets, 1993, theatre performances
  • Looking Forwards, 1993, photography
  • Red Room, 1993, gallery/installation
  • A Decade of Forced Entertainment, 1994, theatre performances
  • Dreams' Winter, 1994, site-specific works
  • Speak Bitterness, 1994, long durational performances
  • Ground Plans for Paradise, 1994, gallery/installation
  • Hidden J, 1994, theatre performances
  • Hotel Photographs, 1994, photography
  • Nights in this City, 1995, site-specific works
  • Showtime, 1996, theatre performances
  • Quizoola!, 1996, long durational performances
  • Pleasure, 1997, theatre performances
  • Frozen Palaces, 1997, CD-ROM/interactive
  • Dirty Work, 1998, theatre performances
  • Filthy Words & Phrases, 1998, film/video
  • Paradise, 1998, CD-ROM/interactive
  • Nightwalks, 1998, CD-ROM/interactive
  • Disco Relax, 1999, theatre performances
  • Who Can Sing a Song to Unfrighten Me?, 1999, long durational performances
  • Spin, 1999, CD-ROM/interactive
  • And on the Thousandth Night..., 2000, long durational performances
  • Hotel Binary, 2000, gallery/installation
  • Scar Stories, 2000, site-specific works
  • Rules of the Game, 2000, gallery/installation, text/photographs
  • First Night, 2001, theatre performances
  • Instructions for Forgetting, 2001, theatre performances
  • The Travels, 2002, theatre performances
  • The Voices, 2003, theatre performances
  • Imaginary Evidence, 2003, CD-ROM/interactive
  • Marathon Lexicon, 2003, long durational performances
  • Years 0 – 20, 2004, photography
  • Bloody Mess, 2004, theatre performances
  • Exquisite Pain, 2005, theatre performances
  • The World in Pictures, 2006, theatre performances
  • Spectacular, 2008, theatre performances
  • Sight is the sense that dying people tend to lose first, 2008, theatre performances
  • Void Story, 2009, theatre performances
  • The Thrill of It All, 2010, theatre performances
  • Tomorrow's Parties, 2011, theatre performances
  • Although We Fell Short, 2011, theatre performances
  • The Coming Storm, 2012, theatre performances
  • The Last Adventures, 2013, theatre performances
  • Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, 2015, performances of all 36 plays
  • Real Magic, 2016, theatre performance
  • Out of Order, 2018, theatre performance
  • To Move in Time, 2019, theatre performance
  • End Meeting For All, 2020, on-line digital film series
  • How The Time Goes, 2021, on-line digital film series
  • Under Bright Light, 2022, theatre performance
  • If All Else Fails, 2023, theatre performance
  • Signal to Noise, 2024, theatre performance

Awards

Reception

Joyce McMillan, writing in The Scotsman, called Forced Entertainment "legendary". David Tushingham, writing in the Financial Times, called them "The best group of stage actors in Britain". Robert Avila, writing in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, considered them "internationally successful and storied". Lyn Gardner, writing in The Guardian, has said that "Beyond these shores, however, the company is regarded as one of the greatest British theatrical exports of the past 20 years. ... It is this ability to smash through the pretenses of theatre that has kept the company ahead of the game." They have been described in The Guardian as having "produced some of the most exciting and challenging theatre of the past few decades". Marie-Hélène Falcon, director of Montreal's Festival de Théatre des Amériques, said of Speak Bitterness that "I had never seen anything like it before, a piece that was so political, provocative and poetic because it was a group of artists speaking about their lives – and therefore our lives – in the most direct way," "To this day, Speak Bitterness is one of the very few experiences that have radically changed my understanding and vision of theatre". The British Library claims that the group "continue to tour widely and to great acclaim throughout the world".

The British Library holds a large collection of video and audio material documenting their performances and talks.

Publications

Numerous books and journals on theatre have included chapters and essays about Forced Entertainment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Forced Entertainment". BBC. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Fairweather, Shona. "Experimental Theatre: Provoking Ideas". Aesthetica. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Avila, Robert (4 December 2012). "London diary". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Brennan, Mary (7 October 2013). "Forced Entertainment Storm back with two shows". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gardner, Lyn (25 October 2004). "The crazy gang". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Forced Entertainment – Performance in Profile 2010". British Council=. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Forced Entertainment Ltd". Arts Council England. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 McMillan, Joyce (12 October 2013). "Theatre review: Tomorrow's Parties, Glasgow". The Scotsman. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gardner, Lyn (23 February 2009). "We are waging a war". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  10. 1 2 "Not Even a Game Anymore": The Theatre of Forced Entertainment. ASIN 3895811157.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Peacock, Keith (1999). Thatcher's Theatre: British Theatre and Drama in the Eighties. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 206. ISBN 9780313299018. Retrieved 20 November 2013. Foremost amongst such groups to emerge during the 1980s was Forced Entertainment which in the context of the urban landscape, confronted contemporary cultural mythology. The company was founded in 1984 and based in Sheffield. Its first "show" was Jessica in the Room of Lights (1984). This was followed by Set-up and Nighthawks (1985), Let the Water Run its Course To the Sea That Made the Promise (1986) and The Day that Serenity Returned to the Ground (1986), 200% and Bloody Thirsty (1987) and Some Confusions in the Law About Love (1989)
  12. 1 2 3 Quick, Andrew (1994). "Searching for redemption with cardboard wings: Forced entertainment and the sublime". Contemporary Theatre Review. 2 (2): 25–35. doi:10.1080/10486809408568296.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Helmer, Judith; Malzacher, Florian (2004). "Not Even a Game Anymore": The Theatre of Forced Entertainment. Berlin: Alexander Verlag Berlin. pp. 293–316. ISBN 978-3-89581-115-9.
  14. ↑ Diez, Georg (24 November 1997). "Forced Entertainment". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  15. 1 2 Venning, Dan (2012). "Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure: Forced Entertainment, Goat Island, Elevator Repair Service, by Sara Jane Bailes (Book Beview)". Journal of Dramatic Theatre and Criticism. 26 (2). Department of Theatre, University of Kansas: 246–8. doi:10.1353/dtc.2012.0020. S2CID 191461687. She goes on to suggest that contemporary theatre groups such as Shefeld-based Forced Entertainment (founded 1984), Chicago-based Goat Island (1987–2009), and New York-based Elevator Repair Service (founded 1991) have used and constructed failure as an integral part of their performances.
  16. ↑ Cranitch, Ellen (13 July 1994). "Theatre / Quiet please, mayhem in progress: From off the wall to off the shelf: Forced Entertainment's latest theatre piece takes a leaf out of the Manchester Central Library. Ellen Cranitch reports". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lehmann, Hans-Thies (2006). Postdramatic Theatre. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9780203088104. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  18. ↑ Bayley, Clare (8 February 1995). "New stages: Fighting over their share of the cake". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  19. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic (19 December 1996). "Theatre: Showtime; ICA, London". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  20. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (5 March 2013). "Who wants to see Quizoola!, a 24-hour play?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  21. ↑ Gray, Louise (22 October 2000). "It's only a game show – and then some, Louise Gray previews 'Quizoola!', a performance that changes the rule-book". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  22. 1 2 "Live Culture: Organisers and participants: Forced Entertainment". Tate. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  23. ↑ Aggiss, Liz; Cowie, Billy (2006). Anarchic Dance. Routledge. p. xv. ISBN 9780203016572. Retrieved 20 November 2013. Deborah has written about performance and contemporary culture for a number of anthologies and media, including texts for Forced Entertainment's Marathon Lexicon of Performance (2003)
  24. 1 2 "Reino Unido, invitado de honor". Colombia Aprende. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  25. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (3 November 2004). "Bloody Mess, Riverside Studios, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Becker, Tobias (15 May 2010). "Theatertruppe "Forced Entertainment": Starlets in der Manege". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  27. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic (4 November 2004). "When the title says it all". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  28. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (3 November 2005). "Exquisite Pain, Riverside Studios, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  29. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (4 February 2009). "Sight Is the Sense That Dying People Tend to Lose First, Arnolfini, Bristol". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  30. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (24 April 2009). "Void Story, Soho, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  31. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (27 October 2010). "The Thrill of It All – review, Riverside Studios, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  32. ↑ Bowie-Sell, Daisy (29 October 2010). "The Thrill of It All, Riverside Studios, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  33. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (24 October 2013). "Tomorrow's Parties – review, The Junction, Cambridge". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  34. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (22 June 2012). "The Coming Storm – review, BAC, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  35. 1 2 "The Children's Choice Awards". Ruhrtriennale. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013. Die Show mit den verrücktesten Leuten, verrücktesten Klamotten und der verrücktesten Musik / The show with the craziest people, craziest clothes and craziest music: Forced Entertainment & Tarek Atoui: The Last Adventures
  36. ↑ "This Magic Life: Forced Entertainment cast their spell", totaltheatre.org.uk
  37. ↑ "Real Magic review – devilish gameshow is a Forced Entertainment tour de force" by Lyn Gardner, 13 February 2017, The Guardian
  38. ↑ "To Move in Time review – hypnotic tale of the time-traveller's strife" by Mark Fisher, 21 August 2019, The Guardian
  39. ↑ "Hölle der Geschäftigkeit" by Dorothea Marcus, 25 March 2022, nachtkritik.de (in German)
  40. ↑ "If All Else Fails review" by Ben Kulvichit, 10 November 2023, The Stage
  41. ↑ "Forced Entertainment @40 International Season", 5 February 2024, theatreweekly.com
  42. ↑ "Międzynarodowy Festiwal Teatralny "Kontakt"". Instytut Adama Mickiewicza / Adam Mickiewicz Institute. 23 September 2002. Retrieved 16 November 2013. 2. nagroda Quizoola! Tima Etchellsa w reż. zespołowej, Forced Entertainment z Sheffield;
  43. ↑ "National Review of Live Art 09". A space for live art. Retrieved 16 November 2013. NRLA Honorary Associates: Robert Ayers, Neil Bartlett, Mary Brennan, Forced Entertainment, Paul Hough, Lois Keidan, Richard Layzell, Alastair MacLennan, Michael Mayhew, Stephen Partridge, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anne Seagrave, Ian Smith.
  44. ↑ "Sheffield's Forced Entertainment win International Ibsen Award". BBC News. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  45. ↑ David, Tushingham (18 October 2004). "We go in and see what happens". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 26 October 2013. The best group of stage actors in Britain are Robin Arthur, Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O'Connor.
  46. ↑ "Shockingly brilliant – 25 years of theatre company Forced Entertainment". The Guardian. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2013. Their experimental style has been dismissed as too messy and chaotic by some – wilfully baffling by others – but British theatre company Forced Entertainment have produced some of the most exciting and challenging theatre of the past few decades
  47. 1 2 "Forced Entertainment collection". British Library. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2013. The British Library holds a large collection of video and audio material documenting the performances and talks of Forced Entertainment.
  48. ↑ Kaye, Nick (1996). Art into Theatre: Performance Interviews and Documents. Psychology Press. pp. 235–252. ISBN 978-3718657896. Art into Theatre investigates the processes of hybrid forms of performance developed between 1952 and 1994 through a series of interviews with key practitioners and over 80 pieces of documentation, many previously unpublished, of the works under discussion. Ranging from the austerity of Cage's 4′33″ through the inter-species communication of Schneemann's Catscan and the experimental theatre work of Schechner, Foreman, and Kirby, to the recent performances of Abramović, Forced Entertainment and The Wooster Group, Art into Theatre offers a fascinating collection of perspectives on the destabilizing of conventional ideas of the art "object" and the theatrical "text".
  49. ↑ "TheatreForum: TF26". TheatreForum International Theatre Journal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2013. Struggling to Perform: Radical Amateurism and Forced Entertainment by Sara Jane Bailes
  50. ↑ Staging the Screen. Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 19 November 2013. The use of film and video is widespread in contemporary theatre. Staging the Screen explores a variety of productions, ranging from Piscator to Forced Entertainment, charting the impact of developing technologies on practices in dramaturgy and performance.

Further reading