Visionaries and deliverers

I have - inevitably - been thinking about the read across between my colliding lives this week and which skills are needed in both and what politics can learn from creativity on a shoestring.

The cast and crew (me) of Four Weigh-Ins and a Funeral. L-R Emily Vinnecombe, Nance Turner, Maurtrice Wagner, Berny Baretto, Emma Burnell, Lou Mellanie Hutchings

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On Tuesday of this week, a group of six women - most of whom had never met in person before - got together to create something together. By 7 pm on Thursday night they had delivered that something to an appreciative audience. Because I am an overthinker and a natural blogger, I haven’t just been thinking about this piece of theatre and what might (or might not) come next but what I learned from the experience and what I think might apply to politics.

Some might question this. After all, we hear endlessly that politics is too ‘North London’ and that will be the inevitable criticism of thinking about politics through the lens of putting on a fringe theatre show.

But we also hear endlessly about needing more outside experience in politics - especially from business. And here’s the thing - 90 per cent of putting on a theatre show is about getting the mechanics right so that the art can flourish on the night. And I think there here there is an awful lot to be learned.

First of all, of course, it is worth crediting the pre-conditions that existed before Tuesday. In many ways, this week has been the equivalent of the ‘short campaign’ - the period between an election being called and the morning the new PM and cabinet are appointed.

So, for example, the script was not just written, but written, polished and locked in a month ago. Because the piece was delivered with captions this was an essential condition that meant that I could not tinker with the writing up to the last minute as what was on the captioning screens had to - as much as possible - match what was being said on the stage. This was a really good discipline for an otherwise sometimes undisciplined writer. To be fair to those who needed to read the captions, those words could not be changed. For good or bad, they were what we had.

This is not the same as a manifesto, which - of course - is written and rewritten and negotiated right up to the last minute. But, it is the same as the policy platform on which that manifesto is based. Those negotiations and that writing have to take into account what has been said before. It cannot, generally, come from left field (just ask Theresa May how that works out).