We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emma Gibson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Emma, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
People working in the Arts have notoriously low self-esteem and confidence. What other job has you reviewed, critiqued, and judged publicly after every performance? The paradox is that the work itself requires a vulnerability and sensitivity. When the currency of the work is emotion, it is hard to be unemotional!
Over the course of my career I have ridden the wave of rejection, bad reviews and criticism like everyone else. To help me navigate the emotional rollercoaster that it brings, I have found the following to be helpful: Dedicated preparation, hard work, and counting on a few close collaborators only for detailed feedback on my work. Additionally, as each job completes, I ask myself the following questions: have I worked as hard as I can? Have I been honest and truthful in my approach to the work? Have I treated others with kindness and respect? If the answer to all three is yes, then I have done my job and the opinions and reviews that follow will be what they are. It helps (a little!).
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I have been fortunate that my career has allowed me to work in many aspects of theatre. From being a stage electrician, to working as a journalist for The Guardian, to establishing my own theatre company (Tiny Dynamite), to acting and directing work in both new writing and classical theatre, to writing plays and working in theatre education.
I am passionate about how we tell stories and how we can find new ways to entice audiences back to the theatre. Not an easy task post-pandemic when multiple streaming platforms compete for audience’s attention and come with a cheaper price tag and easier access. But I truly believe that there is nothing more important than live Art. Now more than ever we need to witness stories and access world views from people and cultures that we would never experience otherwise. We need to viscerally reconnect with what is means to be human and experience that in a live arena with other people.
That desire informs all of my work, whether as a writer, a director or an educator. Maybe even as an electrician 🙂
Currently I am directing a production of an Irish play, The New Electric Ballroom by Enda Walsh, at The Hedgerow Theatre in Media and in April I will be performing in a British play by Tim Crouch. One of my own plays is slated to have a production in July in WV and I continue to work with students, guiding them forward as they navigate their own paths in the Arts.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Passion and Compassion.
I love that those two words are connected. I am passionate about the work I make in theatre, in writing and in education. I also care deeply about the people I work with. I hope that the passion I have for my own work energizes and inspires others. It feels like an important responsibility to pass on and share.
Patience.
Sometimes we want results immediately and that is not always possible. In theatre education we always stress that the process is what is important, and not the end product. The same applies in a professional context. I have found that a connection I make will suddenly surface with an opportunity years later. You just have to keep going.
Imagination
Do everything you can to keep your imagination alive. Don’t stick with the discipline you are immersed in. Watch dance performances, listen to rap music, observe street art, read books, listen to conversations and imagine them as dialogue in a play, see a bus shelter and imagine it as a set on stage. Keep working that muscle. Do not pigeon hole yourself in making only one type of Art. Keep yourself open and receptive to the ever changing collaborators you are working with. Dream that anything is possible.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Simon Stephens – A working diary.
Simon Stephens is an established playwright, based in the UK who also works as a mentor for young writers, actors and directors. In this book, through diary entries, Stephens details his practices, philosophies and work in theatre. Two quotes that feel particularly resonant are as follows:
1) “Every time I write a play it seems in some way to fail. This failure is exactly what gives me a need to try and write another. Because I never get it right.”
What a great reminder that failure is such an important part of the process of creating Art and navigating life. And how reassuring to hear this from such an esteemed and established Artist. If he can accept his failures, then surely we can too. Perhaps it is okay to strive for perfection and yet not achieve it. As long as you keep trying…
2) “I am reminded of the exceptional event that is the creation of a new play. When those writers write, they imagine something previously unimaginable. They carve nights in the theatre out of their perception of the world and they control the energy and the language, the narrative and the imagery of those nights with singularity. In doing so they create metaphor. It is through metaphor that as audiences we come to understand ourselves. It is through metaphor that we examine our empathy. This examination is, finally for me, the key function of theatre. It is an empathy machine. Its machinations make us better at being human. ”
Contact Info:
- Website:www.britishemma.com & www.stagerightcoaching.com
- Instagram: emmagibson24
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emma.gibson.7967
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emgibson/
- Twitter: emmagibson24
Image Credits
Kate Raines Mark Garvin Mark Tassoni
