March 15, 2008...12:44 pm
cool stuff and not so cool
Got in early and found most of the set in place and it looks fantastic. The bar is sturdy, imposing and it can and will be jumped on and yet the whole set can be in and out of a venue in a day. How clever. As I was alone I went behind the bar and spent some time walking through the doors in and out of the set. I have always found theatre sets magical.
Had a half hour chat with Psyche about developments and possible changes before the actors came in and then watched some of the stuff that had been developed since last time.
In the play there is a song which works as an inner monologue for the character John which is played on the pub juke box. The lines I came up with have been transformed into a proper song by composer Simon Oakes. The CD was played and the actors went through the scene when the song is played. I loved what they had done and I loved the song. I asked to listen to it and watch it twice. I am going to get a CD copy of it. I wonder if I can put it on here?
More cool stuff, seeing the University Challenge teams, King’s and Durham go head to head. Watching Lewis and Asram interact in the quiz and seeing the relationships between John and Pete and Bethany and Cathleen develop layers upon layers. New ideas were tried out with James coming up with a new response for Lewis at a pivotal moment which has given me a lot to think about in terms of how that change might filter through Lewis’s responses at the end of the play. It is about an internal change, an act of empowerment which would change the balance but could work very well. Joe (Geoff) had picked up on an error in how I had played out the Who Wants to be A Millionaire scene - they get the questions first, not after their decision to play on and Helen (Bethany) caught a reference which needs to be moved back to act one. All of which was useful. There are also a couple of scenes where I need to look at pacing. I knew that I wouldn’t get those scenes right on the nose until they were off the page and I could see how the actors nailed the dynamics and interaction between their characters. There is an energy that is brought to particular scenarios which cannot be anticipated (by me, at least) until the actors are in place and in those cases I know I have to see what has been ‘found’ and match the writing to it rather than vice versa.
Despite all the cool stuff today was also hard for me. I promised that I would be honest on this blog about the process but I am also not anonymous. This is a problem for me today, so I am going to say a little as I like to keep my promises and to pretend it was just a great day for me would be less than honest.
* after some reflection, consideration and conversation I am feeling positive and feel it is best to edit out rest of the post aaprt from this:
People have different ways of working, of responding to the frustrations of not immediately finding what they need to in a piece and if I am going to truly respect other people’s craft and creative process I have to accept that part of it too - no matter if my ego gets momentarily squashed during their creative process. I shall have to get a cat to kick. )
Please note, I would never kick a cat.
writing is hard, and you get protective over your babies
Leave a Reply