We sat down with Andy Wood from Man Alive Theatre Company to talk about their latest workshop, The Life of Dads, part of Norwich Theatre’s The Shape of Family season, coming to Stage Two on 8 November. Andy chatted to us about using theatre techniques to get men talking about this important stage in their lives, exploring fatherhood as a theme, and, of course, why Daddy Pig earns the title of worst TV dad.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and Man Alive Theatre Company?
Hello, my name is Andy Wood. I’ve been running men’s groups in Norfolk for over 20 years. I trained as a drama therapist in 2001, and since then I’ve been using a particular drama therapy technique, the theatre of self-expression, with groups of men. I’m also the founder of Men’s Craft, a Norfolk charity that supports men’s well-being and development.
My colleague is Tom Bailey. He’s a professional theatre director and actor. He’s currently directing Spamalot at the Pavilion Theatre in Gorleston, which is why he can’t be with me to make this recording today.
So Tom and I have been working together for about 10 years now. We set up a Man Alive theatre company a couple of years ago to continue offering workshops for men on the issues we face, to stage plays that highlight the challenges they present, and to raise public awareness and debate about them.
We are delighted to be offering this workshop, The Life of Dads, as part of Norwich Theatre’s The Shape of Family Creative Matters Season, which will dive into the idea of fatherhood as a life stage.
Tell us a bit about the workshop.
A five-hour interactive workshop, using the Theatre of Self-Expression, to explore the theme of modern fatherhood, focusing on participants and their experience of becoming and being fathers. The workshop offers participants the opportunity to reflect on and explore the complex topic of modern fatherhood through drama techniques.
What are our approaches to making men feel comfortable in our workshops?
Well, we understand that men are not always comfortable in group settings. So we do lots of warm-up activities that help participants feel relaxed and begin to trust us, the facilitators, in the process, and the other people taking part. So they feel able to air their emotions and voice thoughts they might feel uncomfortable sharing in other contexts.
So we don’t dive straight in. Using drama is an oblique approach to uncovering feelings because we can create characters who enact those feelings and thoughts for us. So the workshop is aimed at new fathers.
But let’s say dads with children under three, but that’s not an absolute given. If it’s for dads, whatever the age of their children, who might feel moved to explore and express what that journey into fatherhood actually felt like. I know I still have very vivid memories of those early days, even though it was a good 40 years ago.
Do I need theatre experience?
Anyway, you don’t need any theatre or drama experience. We’re not creating a play. We’re just using these techniques to express those thoughts and feelings.
Why has Man Alive Theatre Company decided to explore modern fatherhood as a theme?
Well, for men who become fathers, it’s such a momentous time of life. One that will challenge and change us one way or another. And for many men, this challenge is embraced wholeheartedly and brings great joy, but for others, it can be a real struggle.
And in society as a whole, we don’t really give men much chance to actually, or space even, to talk about those joys and challenges. So this is an opportunity, we felt, to give men the space to explore and show their deep feelings. And just to actually be able to express how those feelings affect and change us. So drama is a good medium for doing this.
What techniques will you use?
One thing we’ll be doing is creating vignettes to show both good and bad experiences. And sometimes, when a protagonist watches a part of his story enacted back to him, it can create a level of distance from the experience, allowing him to more readily reflect on and integrate it. And there’s a lot of evidence-based research showing that drama is a key way to process thoughts and emotions by having them acted out by a third person.
Have you done this before?
This isn’t our first foray into things to do with fatherhood. Man Alive has done several projects. Tom performed the one-man show Three Kings in 2003 and 2004. And I was part of the team that created the play How’s Your Father, which was an earlier part of Norwich Theatre’s programme.
What kinds of questions will we explore in the workshop?
First of all, how did you first feel when you knew you were going to be a dad? What was the impact of that on your relationship, and what did you perceive in terms of where your life was heading? How was the birth experience for you? That can sometimes be quite a troubling as well as joyful experience. What was it like in the early days of fatherhood? Did you bond well with your baby? How did it affect your relationship? Were you a hands-on dad, or did you have to work even longer hours to provide? Did you think about what your roles and responsibilities would be as a parent before your baby was born? And did things work out how you expected them to? And if not, how did you feel the first year of fatherhood went for you, for your baby and for your partner? So was this transition in life a straightforward and positive one, or was it a traumatic one, or somewhere in between?
What do you hope participants will get out of the workshop?
So what we hope you’ll get out of this is a sense of belonging and validation as a father. I think by working with other new dads, we share our stories and our experiences. We feel less isolated. We share the joys, but we get a greater understanding from the sharing of problems and challenges.
So how would I describe the session in three words? I would say playful, emotional and affirming.
What do you think about the media’s reflection of Dads?
Not a lot, to be honest. Perhaps the worst TV dad is Phil Mitchell from EastEnders. Or my favourite worst TV dad, in fact, is Peppa Pig’s dad.
Best dad on TV?
Well, most recently, I think the father in the Netflix programme, Adolescence, takes the crown for me.
And what is your best Dad joke?
Well, how about this? My dad eventually let me see inside his tool shed, saying he had something he needed to tell me about his own childhood. This is my stepladder, he said. I never knew my real ladder.
Man Alive’s workshop The Life of Dads is at Norwich Theatre Stage Two on 8 November. For more information or to book, visit norwichtheatre.org or call the Box Office on 01603 630 000.
