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Cressida Brown\u00a0is the\u00a0artistic director of Offstage Theatre. The views presented in this guest post are the author’s own.<\/em><\/p>\n I have been asked to write about why I decided to initiate Walking the Tightrope<\/a>, and explain why I think a project exploring how politics and art interact is important and urgent now.<\/p>\n The answers to both those questions lie in the very experience I have had in putting on this festival of strongly opinionated plays which touch on art censorship, cultural boycott, offensive art, and accusations of racism. Throughout I have genuinely felt as if I am walking a tightrope. And now, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, this feels more so than ever.<\/p>\n Nerve racking questions have stayed unanswered; Should I censor a play about art censorship if it is offensive? Might it offend people? How can I make sure we get a balanced sense of opinions? Is it possible to be neutral hosting these explosive plays? How can I get a debate going but avoid a backlash? How do I make sure I don\u2019t get anyone in trouble, including myself?<\/p>\n The fact freedom of expression seems so complicated to negotiate at the moment is exactly why I think we should raise it.<\/p>\n Last summer I did not feel so cautious when I posted the question \u201cHow can this be seen as anti-Semitic?\u201d on to my Facebook timeline. I was referring about the Tricycle Theatre<\/a> offering to replace Israeli funding of the Jewish Film Festival. I assumed that everyone I was friends with, especially those who were in the arts, would agree with me.<\/p>\n A couple of hours later my page had exploded in over 60 warring comments about the Tricycle but also about the Underbelly decision to cancel an Israeli government funded show.<\/p>\n And then I did something that triggered my eventual decision to initiate this festival. I deleted the entire 60 strong thread from my wall. I had worried how my opinions might be regarded by others. Or whether my politics were going to affect my relationships in the art community. I had self-censored.<\/p>\n Hot on the heels of the Tricycle came the Exhibit B<\/a> affair. It suddenly started to seem very unwise to post a political view online about what an art venue should or shouldn’t do.<\/p>\n Why was I so worried about others seeing my opinions? Shouldn\u2019t this be what art is about, passionately asserting an opinion? Why had I never found out what my peers opinions were on these topics before? How had I never realised what a thorny and perhaps paradoxical thing Freedom of Expression can be? Why was it that it took 3 controversies hot on the heels of one another for me to begin to ask these questions to myself? Why should it only be in the heat of the moment that I debate these issues with my peers? Why did that debate initiate online and not in person?<\/p>\n I am well aware how explosive this subject can be, and also that it may explode in a very bad way directly back onto me. However I have dedicated my life to this industry, I need to unpack what happened. I can\u2019t have this debate by myself. Now, with some distance from the events of last year, I have decided to do this the only way I know how: theatre.<\/p>\n During this event’s shared experience, the audience responses are just as important as the artists\u2019 vigorous plays. The post show discussions are geared towards replacing a fury of warring tweets with facilitated conversation on Freedom of Expression. The plays are meant to offer a springboard for the post show discussions to leap from. By the end of these festivals I want all of the audience to have listened and experienced greater understanding of their opponents, and considered positions they had never perhaps done before.<\/p>\n Several months have passed since those particular triggering events. I had wondered at times whether the conversation would still be relevant at the beginning of 2015, which seems now like a ridiculous concern. As I write the Charlie Hebdo attack has created solidarity across the world in the defense of free expression and society is left with a mine field of explosive commentary and grief. In other recent news American director Ari Roth<\/a> has been fired for \u2018insubordination\u2019, BP have been told to reveal their funding of the Tate, and Sajid Javid<\/a> announced his opposition to cultural boycott.<\/p>\n Who knows how these other controversies will have unfolded by the time we are actually performing these plays in front of you\u2026<\/p>\n My hope however is, is that we will continue to meet these controversies with a renaissance in political theatre, discussing liberty through live, tangible art and conversation.<\/p>\n