| Activity | The Critics Group was a group of singers and musicians who met regularly with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger between 1964 and 1971 to explore the art and politics of performance and to provide criticism for each other. As well as exploring the development of folk singing, they took part in theatre projects such as the 'Festival of Fools' , giving annual performances based on political satire. They also recorded in 1966 as a Radio Ballad, a modern version of Romeo and Juliet for schools. Some of the group were also involved in the 'Folksingers against Vietnam' anti-war movement, and in the women's movement.
Topics discussed by Ewan MacColl with the Critics Group included society; love, sex, marriage etc; song analysis; instrumentation. Many of the Critics Group sessions use 'The application of the idea of if' - that is, the analysis of how to portray appropriate emotions in acting and singing; perhaps based on the method of acting developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, actor and director, born in Moscow in 1863, who created an approach to acting which emphasised emotional memory and personal experience in creating a character and developing the imagination to recreate emotions on stage. His system included the development of a belief in the imagined truth of the stage, which he called the magic or creative 'if'. Other sessions considered folklore in the ballad; the state of the folk revival; a programme on the theme of 'The Sea'; group singing; song writing; humour; story telling.
Members of the Critics Group included Frankie Armstrong, Rex Benjamin, Bob Blair, Brian Byrne, Jim Carroll, Phil Colclough, Aldwyn Cooper, Pat Creedy, John Faulkner, Doneil Kennedy, Ffloyd Kennedy, Sandra Kerr, Ewan MacColl, Jim O'Connor, Charles Parker, Brian Pearson, Shirley Peters, Buff Rosenthal, Peggy Seeger, Dick Snell, Phil Sweeney, Denis Turner, Jack Warshaw, Terry Yarnell. |