Discussion is what is on the menu at this dinner party -
The ‘long table’ is a variation on the more well known academic ‘round table’. It was originally developed by performance artist Lois Weaver as an experiment with using the private form of a dinner party as a structure for public debate. At the long table everyone is welcome to pull up a chair – so the table may get longer – ask questions, offer statements, write or draw on the (paper) tablecloth, make sculpts with the napkins or simply sit, listen and watch. In this way there is no fixed division of ‘experts’ and ‘audience’ but participants can chose and change their own role in the context of an improvisation which has a more informal and familiar atmosphere.
I facilitated or hosted a long table event on the theme of arts and health for the The British Association of Dramatherapists conference in 2015 'Cultivating the Field’.
Physical artefacts created during the session (writings, drawings, sculptures) may be shared with the wider conference through installation or exhibition, and/or with the wider dramatherapy community digitally online as appropriate.
