Category: Writing
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High Tide Winter Retreat
6 December already? How did that happen? Terrifying. So I’ll ignore it and pretend I will easily make the year-end deadlines I’ve given myself… Let’s deal with the Now instead. Am back a day or so from the excellent High Tide winter retreat in Halesworth, Suffolk. Sixteen brave scribes [wrighters, rather than writers, we hope]…
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Quickies
Oh, it’s the end-of-year madness, which, like all other things seasonal, comes early. First of all, a massive grins all round as Venue Magazine released its judgement on the year’s best bits, rating May’s 24 Hour Plays at Theatre Royal Bath, run by the great Shane Morgan at Roughhouse as 2nd best play of the…
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A voice is for….?
“Tale Man tell me what’s wrong with my life, am I only here to question? No, sir, you are undoubtedly here to cajole and make suggestions.” Julian Cope – “These Things I Know” – ‘Black Sheep’ album Excellent day yesterday at the Soho Theatre, where they held (yet another) great training session for writers, in…
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Catch
The thing is, too much thought and too little ability to translate that into a regular blog post… A few fragments, then…Fresh from reviewing “Jigsy” – a Les Dennis one-man show at the Tobacco Factory. Last night was the “world premier”, tonight’s the last show! This was great theatre. My review for whatsonstage.com is here.…
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Putting on work = growing as tale-tellers
Well, yes, being a writer is all very well, but you’ve gotta remember (and we can forget!) that it’s ultimately about getting the drama onto the stage. The work can be as beautifully crafted as you like, but audienceless, it’s meaninglessly mute. I spent yesterday afternoon (+ will spend today and tomorrow) with the great…
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The Ustinov Writers’ Forum Moves to the Tobacco Factory
As you might have spotted if you read this blog regularly, I’ve been a member of a superb group of writers at the Ustinov. This group is now moving to the Tobacco Factory and this statement from the Forum explains the how and the why. If you would like to know more about what we’re…
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Theatrical Viagra / Talent Ahoy!
Ok, no, so we’re not talking about Nicole Kidman in The Blue Room. In case you were wondering. No. But I am fresh from having my full-production cherry merrily popped by Alison Farina’s Butterfly Psyche theatre company and the Rondo Theatre in Bath. Last Wednesday to Saturday was Water’s Not So Thick‘s first full-scale outing.…
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Gladiators, rrrready???
An Anaesthetic for Birthdays goes into rehearsals tomorrow for its rehearsed reading on Wednesday night and I’m very excited. This will be the first time it’s been “stood up” and the rhythms and riffs between the characters will take on a life outside my head / kitchen / early hour baby feeds. Am just reading…
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And Breathe…
Wow. Draft 3 of Anaesthetic for Birthdays has hit the director’s in-box. Water’s Not So Thick has gone into rehearsal (with a superb cast). I’ve left the house, reacquainted myself with the family and email. Not the real, paper-filled in-tray, mind you…..
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Quality control
I’m in one of those “funks”, as 1950s girls’ books used to call them – a mental fuzz, blur, mash or mess where I can’t see the woods for the trees or the good for the bad. Yes, it’s Draft Two time. The story so far: draft 1: too many pages of too much talk…
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Take a big STEP
When I was about two years old, I went to ballet and tap lessons. My parents still hoot with laughter at the memory of me reciting ad infinitum, “take a big STEP, take a big STEP,” as I practised my complicated routine by striding around the living room. That’s the posting’s title explained–kind of. It’s…
Gill Kirk, writer 