Passion, not pitching

Last week I took part in a roundtable discussion at the National Theatre with BAC's David Jubb, the National's Nick Starr, and playwright Dennis Kelly, organised by the German theatre magazine Theatre der Zeit. The mood was upbeat despite the fact that everyone was in agreement that if the current government gets another term then subsidy will decline and theatre will have to be leaner, more inventive and cannier if it's going retain the ability to take risks and surprise.

Kelly talked passionately about new writing, and said that there were some very good plays around, "but fewer plays that piss people off." He reckoned that there was a danger in playing it too safe and explained that when he started writing, he made himself the rule that he should never write for money but only write what he believed in.

"I don't want to see playwrights who think that writing is a career; I want playwrights who see writing as a creed. I want to see plays that have earned their place on stage. We shouldn't be pitching to theatres, we should be saying 'this is the play I need to write more than anything in the world, and if I'm going to die tomorrow it is the last thing I want to say to the world.'" Well said.

'Immersive' is theatre's new buzzword

Immersive theatre is, of course, nothing new. All theatre involves some form of interaction between performers and audience. All good theatre makes us believe in the world that has been created. Theatre that is genuinely immersive and makes you feel as if you've fallen, Alice in Wonderland-like, down a rabbit hole into another world is rare. Though not according to the marketeers who seem to be applying the term "immersive" to practically anything that isn't a play by David Hare. Over the last week I've been lured to Wilton's Music Hall, Toynbee Hall and the Roundhouse with promises of immersive theatre, only to discover that's what's meant by the term is a bit of blackout, some tired design and an opportunity to dress up and party like it's 1922. The only genuinely immersive experience I've had all week has come courtesy of the weather, which has drenched me thoroughly several times.

Audience investment

Last weekend in the Observer Susannah Clapp began her review of Close the Coalhouse Door by saying "I have never been in a theatre where an audience so totally claimed a show as their own." There is something extraordinary about sitting in a theatre with an audience who are completely invested with what is going on stage and where it feels as if a real dialogue is taking place between the stage and auditorium. One of the reasons I love going to the Theatre Royal Stratford East is because the audience often treat the characters on stage as if they are personally known to them and will happily provide running commentaries and even helpful life advice. At the Hindi Twelfth Night, part of the ongoing Globe to Globe season, on Friday, the extended family sitting near me savoured each joke as if it had personally written for them. It was watching them as much as what was going on stage that made the experience so enjoyable.

Playwrights don't need rules

Browsing in the National Theatre Bookshop I picked up Lisa Goldman's The No Rules Handbook for Writers which seemed full of sensible advice. But what really caught my eye was a quote from Philip Ridley whose extraordinary Tender Napalm is being revived and sets out on tour from the Curve in Leicester next week: "You don't discover anything if you have a map. You've got to sail into the night and risk shipwrecks to discover an island no one's seen before."

Last word (maybe)

Yes I know I've banged on about Sea Odyssey at length, but I'll leave the last word to Catherine Bennett, who was clearly underwhelmed by the programme announcement for the London 2012 Festival and who suggested how the money might have been better spent. "The organisers of the Olympics could have done worse than spurge the full £100m (approx) cost of the Cultural Olympiad on inviting the giants back, to any industrial cities outside London, any time they were free to return."