The Notion And Presence Of Failure Within An Ensemble Company.

Failure is intrinsically bound up with the artistic production and, by extension, the figure of the artist... in art failure opens up a fruitful, tragicomic ground where subversion and resistance can be tried out or rehearsed. (Bailes 2011 p.3)

Generally speaking, the everyday use of the word 'failure' signifies a negative and undesired result of an action or event. For example, a crop failure is the result of an insufficient harvest or a power failure is when the intended function of an electrical item falls short. When it comes to the world of failure, I feel that despite commonly being considered as a negative condition, we should be aware of the positive potential that failure brings to the theatrical industry. In the theatre, failure can in fact be identified as a provocation for success. Bailes supports the strong presence that failure has within an artistic environment, discussing how failure is 'bound intrinsically' into the foundation of art, whether that is through the artist or the art itself. (Bailes 2011) Failure is ever present within the foundations of theatre-making.

Last Chapter.

Despite discussing our final failures, it can be argued that failure in performance is something that is almost unavoidable. By having aspects of theatre that fail, we are able to strive to succeed. We are inspired to open doors and experiment with innovative ways of creating material. Bailes states: In the composed articulation of the structure of the attempt and the hazardous, provisional openings indexed by attempts that fail, performance offers the possibility to reach into the impossible idea of a journey without "an" end, an event without foreclosure, and to practice the suggestions and permutations that arise instead. (Bailes 2011 p.201)Without reaching an end, or 'the perfection' of a performance, failure is always present. In theatre it can be said that there is always something to new to strive for. With that in mind, we can understand that failure is always present as a stimulus for further success, for further opportunities and further theatrical creations. Failure allows humanity to learn from certain accidents which shall be improved the following time. John Keats supports: Failure is in a sense the highway to success, in as much as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points our some form of error which we shall avoid. (Keats in Ganesan 2001 p.9)

Failure creates a sense of united idealism; there is something incredibly intimate about failing as an ensemble. By failing, we connect to one another; we are spurred to support one another, and are driven to strive for mutual success. In the words of John Keats, failure allowed us to reach the highway for success and enabled us to understand, analyse and portray an aesthetic that in turn supported Stephen's text and brought Wastwater to theatrical existence. Failure has certainly paid more attribute to Forgottensilence than we had first predicted and will certainly continue to be embraced throughout our rehearsal periods, so as to reach success in our final performances. I hope and anticipate that in the future Forgottensilence continues to pursue Beckett's motto: Ever tried, ever failed. Try again, fail again, Fail better. (Samuel Beckett in Szafraniec 2007 p.178)