Hello all, just a quick entry following the rehearsed reading of Eismas in Stoke Newington last night, a massive thanks to Scary Little Girls Productions for the opportunity, and the hard work of the following people:
Ona – Sally Mortemore (pictured)
Dominic – Nick Afka (pictured)
Stage Directions – Sharon Andrews
Direction – Rachel Warr (pictured)
It was really brilliant to see a scene from this piece on its feet, the actors and director were wonderful, that director really seemed to get the heart of the piece and the characters straight away (which is reassuring for my writing). And the actors were lovely, Nick really got hold of the frenetic impotence of Dominic, and Sally the lonely strength of Ona. The audience had some really interesting reactions to it and I have lots of scribbled notes which will be useful in a redraft (Eismas is currently only at first draft stage). I still haven’t quite got used to real people playing the words that I write, it was really moving to see this scene in particular played out as it is kind of the crux of the first half of Ona and Dominic’s emotional journey. It’s also still very interesting to see how audience react to (for want of a better genre) speculative fiction on stage, some people really seem to click with the political intent of the piece, and thought that the emotions drew you in, but the future setting distanced you enough for analysis, whereas others felt too alienated, or thrown too far into the deep end (though admittedly we did choose a highly emotional scene, halfway through). All in all a brilliant experience, I unfortunately had to leave straight after the formal feedback section and didn’t get a chance to chat with people afterwards, but Becca, who runs SLGP, said she’d be in contact soon, so I’m looking forward to that!
Also, one extra piece of brilliant news is that I’ve been offered a commission! How brilliant, with a proper workshopped reading and a commission under my belt I no longer feel a fraud when responding to ‘what do you do?’ with ‘I’m a playwright’. Here are some details about the commission:
[Box of Tricks Theatre Company are] currently developing plans for our Autumn/Winter season, and are looking to programme Word:Play 3 – one word, six new plays. The premise, as ever, is to give six playwrights a word of inspiration and commission them to write a 15-minute play in response.
The last one was at Theatre503, so quite well known venue possibilities. I’m so happy about this, and not just because it’s specifically brilliant news, but also before, more generally, that I keep on pushing a little further, get long listed, then short listed, get readings and small commissions, it means I’m getting better, and that It’s worth trying. It can be hard to tell sometimes, with half a year between submission and feedback, whether you should keep trying, or whether you’re self-delusional. Hopefully this is another step forward, and the trying should continue. So yes, watch this space for more exciting news on that!
Finally, just a little nod to all on Twitter who offered support and travel advice throughout the day yesterday! I am actually beginning to worry that I like my twitter friends a lot more than I like my Facebook ones, which is a tad worrying, as twitter is made mainly for people I’ve not met IRL! Mind you most of my best friends seem to be tech-challenged and aren’t on either (or don’t use fbook very much). And I think adding people on twitter is more about people who you admire or are interested in, whereas Facebook is about people you’re photographed or went to school/uni with… Hm. Maybe it’s just because Twitter is only bout the words/joke/sentiment, and it’s just an expression of character which appeals to me more? I wonder…
Must be off now, my lovely friend Jon visiting this weekend for wine, lasagne, board games and films, so must get to the shops and stock up on the essentials (for example, I don’t own Scrabble! :-o) All best, and watch this space!
