ABSTRACT
Established in 1979 Clean Break Theatre Company create performance with – and advocating for – women with lived experience of the criminal justice system. This interview with Joint-Artistic Director, Anna Herrmann, explores how the company moved its Members Programme online and considers what modes of engagement this turn to digital participatory practice enabled. Alongside this, we consider how Clean Break’s collaborative commissioning practices might have worked to resist experiences of social isolation during 2020. In particular, we reflect on 2 Metres Apart, a project that paired 12 artists with 12 Clean Break Members to undertake eight weeks of creative co-creation. Finally, by reflecting on Clean Break’s production of a film (Sweatbox) and audio play (Blis-ta), the conversation illuminates the expanded range of creative forms practitioners utilised in response to the limitations the pandemic presented in 2020.
