Читать книгу First Aid for the Artist's Soul - Christina Barandun - Страница 19

With this, all companies had a social mission.

Enter: the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Anybody mentioning the Safety and Health Act and its provisions in front of artists at the theatre will quickly be rewarded with exasperated moaning or a rolling of the eyes. Here, the (unfortunately still) instinctive gap between art and technology is deepened. Specialists in health and safety mainly come from a technical background, where a focus on safety at work has its natural origins, necessitated by the prevention of physical accidents, such as falling scenery. These specialists are often seen by artists as ignorant philistines trying to put the kibosh on fabulous ideas with their restrictions and prohibitions.

At all health and safety conferences I have attended, I was again and again impressed by the meticulousness and passion with which the technical personnel attended to safety and security on the stage, and behind the scenes. I met many dedicated people who were concerned with making possible what might seem technically impossible in order to guarantee health and safety. They are impressive artists in their own right who deserve the greatest appreciation for their work and who, like many of their artistic colleagues, are much-maligned for their efforts.

The main concern of these health and safety specialists is the welfare of the artists on stage, so encouraging a stronger, closer collaboration between them and the artists offers a great opportunity to find new and “healthy” ways to improve the well-being of everyone involved. Working out how to achieve something safely onstage can actually lead to more creative artistic choices: think of the stuntman as he trains actors to safely execute an onstage stunt – he will, because of his daring nature, unwittingly inspire a more truthful performance from them.