In a dark, dark house…

Did you do this rhyme at primary school? “In a dark, dark house, there’s a dark, dark, door. Through the dark, dark door, there’s a dark dark room. In the dark dark room, there’s a MONSTER!”

I’ve loved the creepy and the uncanny since I could read. And – in a relationship that keeps banging into odd, odd coincidences – I had a very exciting conversation with the smart, thoughtful director Alice Butler, from Tidy Carnage, about the dark and uncanny places in our latest project.

We have a creepy script that I developed at High Tide’s winter retreat in Suffolk, about a man, a barn, a machine and a girl. We have – gorgeous to discover – very similar imagination wallpaper: if what we can see of each others’ minds were pinterest walls, they’d be pretty alike (but with excellent new discoveries for each).

And it’s all growing into the LOST theatre space and showing 15-17 June. It’s going to be a very exciting month…

What Dali can, Su-bo can’t? Artist / audience gap

An artist works, gives their sweat and soul to communicate something in a form that is somehow different to the everyday-expected. The audience engages, pays, comes, listens, studies. Different activities. If these two then disagree on the art, whose opinion matters more? Which one defines the “art”?

When there’s a jarring chasm between what an artist aims to communicate and what the audience receives,  it’s either the “wrong” audience (in time, space, culture or other demographic) or it will never get one. The bigger that gap (disagreement), the harder the personal hit (unless you made no effort and are now being hailed as a genius, in which case, this blog comes with a price; please email me.) And the harder the hit, the bigger the questions for the artist. …Perhaps, the bigger the solution.

This is an interesting space: the gap between art(ist) and audience has to be subjective interpretation, an individual’s reaction; their experience. It might be laughter, joy, confusion, boredom, anger, frustration.

But there is something in this subjectivity about the wrapping that the audience’s experience comes in: a trendy gallery v a church hall; an 85-year old past-master v a 25-year old wag; a £50 ticket or three-for-a-fiver. Dali is permitted where Susan Boyle would not be allowed to do precisely the same thing; Shakespeare gets away with a lot, because he is trusted to make it good, if not in this piece, then in Hamlet/Lear/Tempest. Many a writer feels Waiting for Godot wouldn’t get past a literary manager these days. It might be true; it might not.

So is art about intent or reception? The transmission or what is heard, experienced? This is the home of great potential pretentiousness, where people get cross about “I know what I like,” and “I don’t understand art,” vs. “they just don’t get it.”

Isn’t it clear that if “they don’t get it” then you’ve singularly failed to communicate? Art can’t exist in a vacuum; it must have reaction to have meaning: it must have an audience – hopefully, the “right” audience. And if that means donning a mad moustache or charging £50 to make your art be valued, is that justified, or is it just a case of new togs for the Emperor….?

 

Knots: undo, remake, procrastinate

Today’s one of my two days a week to write, toddler-free. And this is the state of my desk.

I’m halfway through my first draft of the C4Screenwriting pilot/spec script and found some mega-weaknesses.

I’m now trying to weave some irn-bru strength girders through the plot, with the help of Massive Attack’s Heligoland (a haunting album) and a lot of coloured pens and post-its.

I should not, of course, be posting procrastinatory pictures and alliterating away like this.

Seems to help, though…

 

 

 

Be Stung by Beestung!

Congrats to  Annabel Wigoder and Lucy Ter Berg of Beestung Productions who pulled off a smashing night at London’s Old Red Lion theatre on Monday night (2 April).  Sold out early on, the show featured six pieces, including my Passion (dir. by the superb Alice Butler and performed breath-takingly by Scott Reid): Annabel’s own The Get Out Clause, Lucinda Burnett’s Give Generously, Eddie Robson’s Public Image, Gregory Skulnick’s Flynn and Atiha sen Gupta’s Toilet.

I’m delighted to have been a part of it, to have seen such great writing, directing and acting in one very short evening. Watch out for everyone I’ve been able to name-check here and many actors and others I couldn’t. Top stuff.

From fulfilment to survival

A superb two weeks of Broohas’ production of Away with the Fairies is now over. A fat and happy thank you to the Broohas team, director Eleanor Fogg and the Alma Tavern Theatre in Clifton, the Adepts of the technicals and ten chuckling audiences.

Tomorrow, the focus shifts from the seeming wimsy of Fairies‘ world of Rufus the invisible troll, to the hellish inner torment of an ex-squaddie, back from Helmand.

This is Passion, a ten-minute monologue which first took breath as part of Eddie King & the Death of Rave last August at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory. It’s part of a great night of shorts run by Beestung Productions at Islington’s Old Red Lion pub theatre.  Director Alice Butler has been hard at work rehearsing in Glasgow with the team – I can’t wait to see what they’ve developed.

Reviews for Away With The Fairies

Away With The Fairies opened on 20 March and runs ’til March 31st. Here are some of my favourite reviews:

4 stars * * * *

WhatsOnStage.com

“The strong all-female cast deliver the snappy dialogue with real energy. Kirsty Cox in particular is excellent as the put upon daughter as she has to deal with the two strong willed older women. Eleanor Fogg’s pacy direction alongside the script’s broadly drawn characters/scenarios gives the production the feel of a superior sitcom and it was refreshing to watch a play which had the primary intention of making the audience laugh rather than a play with just a few funny lines thrown in.

“With a light comic touch, Gill Kirk’s witty script manages to deal with exploring the complexities of human relationships, questioning the true value of money and art, while at the same time never forgetting to make its audience chuckle.”

4 stars * * * *

Bristol Theatre Review

“Yet another wonderful production staged by the Alma Tavern Theatre in Clifton…a short yet fantastic evening’s entertainment… With a brilliant script and immensely talented actresses, I could have most happily sat through more.”

Guide2Bath:

“Gill Kirk’s script is well observed, clever and imaginative with some lovely little touches that evoke a variety of emotions. Director Eleanor Fogg has taken the script and designed a wonderful performance…Jasmine Darke, Meg Whelan and Kirsty Cox each gave a strong performance…an interesting and enjoyable show.”