In Conversation with Alex Oates and Esther Huss

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Rude Health tackles diverse aspects of health such as mental health, aging, women’s health, and environmental issues. What inspired you both to structure the festival around these specific themes, and how do they reflect the needs of the Northumberland community?

The part of Northumberland we live in is the most deprived in the region, it’s in the top 5 percent for deprivation in the UK, therefore there are many challenges facing people here. It may seem superfluous then to some to spend money making culture when people are choosing between heating and eating. We believe that culture can raise the mindset of entire swathes of society and, if used as a force for good, can have a long-term impact. So we decided to think about the most pressing challenges within our community and pair them with brilliant artists able to hold a mirror up to them. Mental health is something people of all walks of life struggle with, but in our area, it’s a clear problem leading to addiction problems, crime and all sorts of preventable issues.

Lack of economic prospects means that those with great potential often move away in search of jobs, so consequently, a high proportion of the community is ageing; the social structures that existed alongside the industry that was stripped in the 80s were replaced with very little – maybe Wetherspoons. This means a lot of older people are lonely and isolated in their homes; it’s something we felt we had to explore. Women’s health is something we both feel passionate about. Many women have children very young around here, and after having children ourselves, we had our eyes opened to how women are treated in an often patriarchal medical system. Of course, the health of the planet is one of the most pressing issues all of us face, and so it seemed essential we covered that. There are many more issues we could have
looked at and maybe will in the future!

Mental health inequalities are a significant issue in the Northeast, how do you hope the first week of the festival, focused on mental health, will bridge the gap and create lasting impact for the local community?

We have Tim Dalling and Maggie Nicols taking the reigns for that week; they’re bringing workshops and performances that will be joyous and life-affirming. When Alex was a teenager, he got the theatre bug from seeing Kneehigh tour one of their early productions; this led him down a theatre rabbit hole, which brought him to where he is today. Tim Dalling was an early member of Kneehigh, and so we asked him as a way of bringing in a childhood hero; Tim in turn asked if he could invite his hero – Maggie Nicols, a feminist pioneer of jazz improvisation – so effectively that week is heroes
squared!

I think what we’re trying to say is that our approach is two-pronged: small picture and big picture. The small picture is that we hope someone will come along and feel lifted, nurtured, heard in a workshop, or just experience the transformative power of great music and shared experience. The big picture is some people come along, bring their youth, maybe explore more culture, gain a greater sense of empathy, nurture others to participate in culture and develop empathy and if more
individual people go on that journey then maybe the societal needle will move back away from the right.

Transforming the old miners’ welfare institute into ‘The Tute’ was a huge step in creating a cultural hub in Cambois. How has the space evolved since 2020, and what role does it play in shaping the artistic vision of Rude Health?

We ended up in the miner’s welfare by accident; we’d just moved up North from London, where we had met, Esther’s German-born, and Alex is a native Geordie; we’d both moved to London to pursue the arts in our late teens. Esther is a dance artist, and when lockdown hit, she felt trapped within the walls of our home; she was looking for somewhere to move about. We came across the derelict miner’s welfare institute and contacted the person who’d recently bought it.

The second we stepped inside, we fell in love with it and agreed to take out a lease on it and find a way to make it work; there began a steep learning curve in funding bids, charity registration, etc. The fact that it’s a mining institute is so significant that our area still carries the scars of the hasty de-industrialisation of the 80s. These buildings were the centre of the community; they had reading rooms, and people would get together and perform shows –a bit of this spirit we try to capture in our work.

In the third week, your performance HIPS&SKINS addresses sexism and ageism in women’s health through a mix of dance, performance art, and humour. How important is it for the arts to engage with political and personal narratives, especially in underserved communities like Cambois?

We believe it is vital that the arts engage with personal and political narratives! Since
moving to Cambois, and beginning our work at The Tute, we witness first-hand the
disconnect between personal lives and politics. One of our neighbours walked 1.5hrs to their local GP while 8 months pregnant. She was to be seen as demanding when asking if she could be home visited instead, due to very poor public transport links. 
When developing our performance work ‘Hips&Skins’ around women’s health, Jacky Lansley and I found that, despite our 30 year age difference, we share many of the same experiences and concerns.  Last year Jacky went through a full hip replacement, while I was pregnant with my second child post a previous c-section. During this time we found great comfort in sharing our experiences, including the ‘comedy’ of some discussions about medical decisions with consultants. Like my neighbour, we were both made to feel we were a nuisance if we asked questions – a common experience for many women. Some of this is due to exhausted, overworked staff within the NHS, which has been systematically run down by the previous Conservative government; it also reflects sexist and ageist attitudes embedded in our society which deny women a voice.
Being located in the heart of the Cambois community, we have a great opportunity to give voice to personal and political experiences within that community – and provide a dynamic cultural platform outside of mainstream or populist theatre.

The festival’s environmental week highlights local heritage and the climate crisis, including a tribute to Sycamore Gap. How do you hope the performances and workshops focused on environmental health will encourage the community, especially young people, to engage with these pressing issues?

We’re working with Bedlington Academy for this side of the project. The brilliant sound artist Jeremy Bradfield and incredible facilitator/local author Hilary Elder have been working with students at risk of dropping out of education. When we started meeting with the group, we were surprised at how little the group thinks about the climate crisis. When we asked them to record some sounds at home, we realised that most don’t live in homes with access to recording technology, even phones, and most of them have significant caring responsibilities to manage in their spare time. These young people are already dealing with so much that it seems naive of us to waltz in there and expect them to be ready to head off to an extinction rebellion protest. However, the more we’ve worked with them, the more themes they care about have emerged: the streets’ litter and the air’s fumes. Slowly, they’re beginning to think constructively about the issue.

Similarly, the family show we’re bringing about, Sycamore Gap, is going into primary schools and being performed for young audiences in our space. We’re hopeful that the big-picture/small-picture approach will kick in there, too. Some kids might think about the importance of nature, and some may go on to want to spend their lives making a change.