Royal Court – Page 2 – Hannah Nicklin

Sometimes I don’t half wonder if just sacking it all off and doing a PHD wouldn’t be a hell of a lot easier. But that’s just the draft 1 blues talking- I don’t know enough of my play to be comfortable with it, and I haven’t got the confidence and experience to know for certain that I’m traveling in enough of the right direction to find it. I seem to have started writing a love story. So far nothing else has come into it. I know there’s lots of stuff simmering away, and it’s really good that I’m approaching it character and feelings first, but it’s hard to feel like it’s going to come together into saying something new, I feel like I’m like trying to give a boulder a transfusion, if you’ll let me take the metaphor to an extreme. Ona has become much more bolshie than I remember, well not remember, imagined, in my head, there’s a stoicism in her which would make you wonder why she didn’t just run away, but I think they keep her drugged a lot. And not every woman that gets trafficked can be a defeated mouse, people react in different ways don’t they? I think a lot of why I feel particularly weird with this draft is that before I’ve been very plot heavy to begin with, and this time, the characters are just talking, getting to know each other, and in a way that makes me feel vulnerable, as a writer certainly, and as a general control freak doubly so! I should really get back to it, think I’ll do some on the train tomorrow because that means no internet, and no internet means no hours of endless distractions. In the meantime, do check out the following wonderful things that I have found during hours of procrastination:

Sarah Haskins. She’s amazing. Yoghurt, Cars, and Chick Flicks particularily worth a look, but heck, they’re only 3 mins long each, and all hilarious.
Outnumbered – back for a second series, and just as brilliantly understated and true as ever, loving yet acerbic semi-devised script, and just the right amount of precosiousness make this worth looking out for
Icanhascheezburger cheers me up, every time
Swearing in Lithuanian – this was technically research, and so I didn’t even feel that bad! my favourite? Kad tau ezhys kelnese ishdygtu – ‘let the hedgehog appear in your pants’.
Trevor Goose and His Dark Night of Lights – which I’m going to see in Warwick in a couple of weeks “Is it a gig? Is it a panto? Is it a misjudged Danish cabaret? Well, it’s all three, as local heroes Talking Birds bring to Warwick Arts Centre a Christmas Show for those who want their festive entertainment skewed and a little bit heartbreaking.” Well looking forward to it.

So yes… back to writing I guess, I just struck upon the idea of using seasons, as well as Ona’s varying baby-bump, to let you know where you are in the story… might talk more about the struggles of temporal structure another time, but for now,

Adieu.

Back from London again, another interesting session – and a trip to the Science Museum (which was awesome, loads to see! Might go back next week). I’m just going to do a short round up of what we did here, plus some other character work I’ve been doing, because it’s getting closer to this weekend now, and more planning is needed! So we did two halves to the session this week- the first half was written, and the second was less so. First exercise was drawing! We were asked to draw the first scene; I struggled for a second or two, trying to decide what I wanted the first scene to be, because I’d only just decided to open up the closed space form into at least 2 more places – the brothel, and a hill. I settled on the first scene being in a room in the brothel for now (where Dominic first meets Ona – see the end of this post for new character info!) and drew away- then we were asked to draw characters, including the contents of their pockets, their clothes, where they’re from etc., new/old… see pictures for some of the work. Then we wrote the first 10 lines of dialogue, and then rewrote, trying to garner different reactions from an audience- we had to shock, tickle, educate, bore, excite, intrigue and hypnotise… all very interesting- thinking about impressions of characters and spaces, creating a whole, solid world, and also thinking about how you have a direct effect on an audience- not just a piece of paper, or a story.

Second half was a little bit hippy, but interesting nonetheless- we all lay down, closed our eyes, and Leo talked us through watching our play, really interesting, and good also that you weren’t allowed to break out and write things down, watched it a few times and I discovered some key moments, big parts in characters, felt like Dominic was emerging as a lead character- even though he was only a week old- interesting but not necessary a bad thing- as when I thought of his part in the story I definitely felt like it was coming together- so yes, really interesting.

For homework some more interesting stuff – bringing in a small bit of writing from this play (not a problem as I’m writing it this weekend!) watching a film that in some way is influencing your thinking or has something to do with the piece, and burning a soundtrack to it! Having fun, just wish the train journey back wasn’t so long… read on for new character stuff.

Characters.

Maria

29, but looks older, f, upper middle class, white. University educated- but has only worked as a secretary – she met her husband at the paper company where he is a director. Maria was her husband’s third wife, he left his first wife because she couldn’t have children, and he left his second because she gave birth to a girl. Maria’s private doctor discovered a rare heart disorder in her unborn child just before its birth, so far he has been housed in a special room and because of the privilege of their healthcare, very few people are allowed to see him, Maria has discouraged her husband from seeing him until he ‘recovers’. Maria intends to swap her terminally ill child for a ‘black market’ baby. She loves her handsome, well kept husband more than anything. Georg was put in contact with her for an extra fee when the doctor informed her of the abnormality and she broke down. The doctor assured her the ill child would be well cared for until he died.

Ona

26, but looks younger, f, working class, Lithuanian. Ona was tricked into the sex trade- her father sold her, though she thought she was going to the UK to study at a university there. She was raped and beaten for weeks by those transporting her in order to make her submissive to her eventual owner, Georg. Ona is strong mentally, though quite slight, and although submissive is prone to attempts at escape, and ‘trouble making’. She has been told that she can leave after she has paid her travel costs, she pays her way by selling at least 5 babies. Ona has given away 2 so far, she suffered from post natal infection and depression after the first, and in a fever tried to kill herself. Ona still intends to study. She intends to become a politician or a journalist- to make people aware of the trade – to stop it. She has been talking to a journalist posing as client. She has fallen in love with him.

Georg

31, m, very good English but hint of Eastern European. New money, flashy, good looking, stubbly, and broad. Georg is a pimp and a trafficker, he came into the business as a client, but spoke to a pimp about it and took interest, he saw much potential in his home-land as an ‘un-tapped resource’ and began trafficking from Lithuania. He was one of the first pimps to see the opportunity for a baby trade, and has bribed many doctors in on the business. He has many premises which pose as farms. He grew up in small town Lithuania, but inherited his father’s land and made life miserable for his tenants until his urge to make more money, and to go west got the better of him.

Dominic

Dominic is a journalist for a well known liberal broadsheet, he is planning to break a massive news story about the corruption at the heart of the baby black market. He has been posing as a client of Georg’s brothels- becoming a regular- in attempt to discover what he believes to be the other half of Georg’s business. Dominic has, however, fallen in love with Ona. He fell in love with her when he first saw her, and is willing to risk his whole operation in order to get her out.

Plot.

During the meeting to sell Ona’s 3^rd child, Dominic plans to create a diversion at the baby farm in order to ‘rescue’ Ona. However Maria stops her leaving, and Dominic gets caught.

Tag: Royal Court

Draft 1 Blues

London VII