Today I had the pleasure of a trip to Manchester to check how much fun people there are having. Arts and Media had commissioned me to re-run a course I once ran in 2001 for New Work Network called “Are You Having Enough Fun?”. Then things had seemed to be in the balance and I had to keep a careful check that the “fun” quotient did outweighed the “infuriatingly soul-destroying” quotient. Now the answer is a simple ‘yes’ and I’m considering launching an “Are You Having Enough Sleep?” course.

An engaging and mostly voluble group had gathered at the Chinese Arts Centre and it sounded as if most of them were not anxious as to whether they were having enough fun, just whether it was possible to wring any further fun out of their already fun filled lives. I hope they weren’t expecting the actually training day to be fun.

I’m a theatre director not a trainer and so I spent most of the day feeling rather anxious. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear different people’s approaches to their artistic work, what they value and feel reward in, whose opinions they value and what makes them happy. I would be fantastic to see them all at work doing their thing.

Initially I was worried there was too much time for the material I had prepared but spending a long time thinking about something allows you to interrogate it closely, to move beyond the reflex answers and I ended up rather wishing I was on the course not running it.

James