Today I’m off to Devoted and Disgruntled #DandD10

Posted on January 24, 2015 by lucyaverywrites
Paula Rego by John McEwen

Paula Rego by John McEwen

Today I’m off to Devoted and Disgruntled 2015, a theatre conference or network where you spend the weekend talking about theatre and meeting other like minded people which is held in Open Space in York Hall in East London.

It’s a very special event as the content is totally led by the participants and anything can be discussed, from how do we make theatre greener? To, has anyone got any tips for this project I’m working on? Last year was quite significant for me as I led a session asking for help on how to position my work in the theatre market called Does anyone like Dark Plays? That led to my making this website and also making connections with networks where I’ve met collaborators for my projects in development.

It’s also a great place for thinking about what you want this year from yourself and your creativity. I received this book (pictured above) on artist Paula Rego in a session I attended last year, and a part from the images inside directly inspiring The Debra Project, the image on the front cover has constantly been in my mind:

It looks like a woman howling a call, not dissimilar to the position a dog may take when howling. It’s reminded me that when writing alone at your desk it may feel like you’re sitting howling out your own problems over the page, but actually there are networks of people who feel the same and find value in what you do because you’re talking about a culture we’re all living in. You don’t need to hide from your audience.

So today and tomorrow I’ll be away from my desk connecting with my theatre community and making some plans for this year, as it’s never too make goals for your work. And more importantly, it’s never too late to make friends.

If you’re going I look forward to seeing you there!

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Who is Daisy Scarlet?

Posted on January 20, 2015 by lucyaverywrites

…and can 3 playwrights successfully write a play together?

Groups of writers seem to write for TV but there are only a handful of examples I can think of where more than one writer has written a successful play (and that doesn’t include musicals where it is common for the book, lyrics and composition to be written by different people). The most recent piece I saw was Greenland written by Moira Buffini, Matt Charman, Penelope Skinner and Jack Thorne, about climate change. I know both Moira Buffini and Penelope Skinner’s work (and am reading Jack Thorne’s plays at the moment) and sensed which sections Buffini and Skinner may’ve written, although I don’t know how they split the writing. The show was stolen, however, by the entrance of a polar bear which, unlike Shakespeare’s ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’ in The Winter’s Tale, was properly a part of the story and a joyous moment for the audience.

I mention this because myself and 2 playwright friends Marianne Powell and Annette Brook have set ourselves the challenge of writing a play together, or rather writing a triptych of scenes that share some commonalities. These commonalities are:

  1. The scene/scenes each of us write must be no longer than 20 minutes in total
  2. We have a maximum of 3 actors each, though they can play multiple roles
  3. It must be set now

We then decided on a few restrictions and we all have to use the same object, lyric and image as inspiration/within the piece. These are:

  • Object: A small pink cocktail umbrella
  • Lyric: “You know my wandering days are over, does that mean that I’m getting boring?”
    Here’s the song it’s from:

  • The image we’re using is the one at the beginning of this post by photographer Norman Parkinson

We talked our #TriptychChallenge over at a cafe over brunch and just to make sure we had an unknown element, we asked the waitress her name and that would be a character in the plays.

And so Daisy Scarlet entered the stage.

Our deadline for a first draft is Saturday 4th April which gives us all time to work our writing around our day jobs and try out a couple of ideas before we submit the inital drafts to each other. We’d then be looking for a director interested in developing the project with us for all 3 pieces to be performed together.

I find my initial thoughts looking toward Simon Stephens’ piece Harper Regan, which is about a woman who leaves her family one day in search of her father. That might be because I was already thinking about it as inspiration for another play I’ve been thinking about starting… Now I have a deadline set, my focus will move towards who or what is Daisy Scarlet?

I’ll let you know when we’ve found out. 🙂

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Where do you find your inspiration? New adventures in playwrighting

Posted on January 8, 2015 by lucyaverywrites

Hello and Happy New Year!

I’ve not posted for a while because I’ve been busy working on the new draft of The Debra Project after the workshop days we had at Brockley Jack Theatre Studio in November. It’s very nearly finished now and I’m looking forward to the next step of development with the director and creative team: I’ve got as far as I can on my own. I now need a steer on which elements of the story work and which don’t from people less emotionally involved in the actual writing.

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I also have a very exciting announcement regarding my other project Godless Monsters that I hope to share with you soon, but you’ll have to wait until it’s all confirmed…

Where do you find your inspiration?

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to see more plays and read more plays by playwrights I’m not familiar with. I read my favourite plays quite often and I usually see work by writers that I know and admire. These have all become key influences in the work I write. For example when working on The Debra Project I’ve looked to

Re-reading these pieces has helped me really think about the topic I’m writing about in theatrical terms, and has also made me think more about what I’m trying to say with the play. It’s inspired by pre-existing journals, but my exploration of them has, I hope, found a story that looks at the situation in an unusual way and brings you closer to understanding the subject.

20150107_222220 I’ve also found inspiration from Simon Stephens’ new play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (an adaptation of Mark Haddon’s book of the same name) which I saw just before the new year. It’s a great theatricalisation of the book (with some lovely theatre tricks) and adheres to the advice that I’ve heard Alan Ayckbourn gives to writers: if there’s something important that the audience need to know tell them 3 times and they’ll get it. If an important plot point or important information isn’t mentioned, illustrated and then referred to again the audience won’t get it. (I hope this paraphrase has got it right). With something as complex as Asperger syndrome (which the main character has in the piece) the play introduces it very well to the audience and ensures we not only saw it, understood it but also got inside it from the main character’s point of view so no one could leave with any confusions about the disorder.

New adventures in playwrighting: 12 new playwrights in 12 months

20150107_222320 As reading and seeing plays is just as important for developing your writing as creating them, I’m going to set myself the challenge of reading or seeing a play by a playwright I haven’t read or seen before every month this year to gain some new inspiration for my work. I was given this collection of Jack Thorne’s plays for Christmas, and although I saw his play 2nd May 1997 a couple of years ago and I have read his radio play People Snogging in Public Places (which is brilliant and I’d suggest everyone read it whether you’re a writer or not), I’ve never actually read one of his stage plays. He writes a lot for television now but has had a new play on at the Royal Court Theatre this month so looking at his plays is a bit topical too.

I’ll get reading and let you know any insights. If you have any playwrights you’d like to suggest I look at do get in touch!

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Why sometimes a shadowy hand is better than a monologue

Posted on November 18, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

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Summer seems very long ago now and my residency at 57a feels like a dream. Since then I’ve continued to work on the scripts for both my projects in development and last week I had two very successful days of workshops that To The Moon held at Brockley Jack Theatre Studio working on The Debra Project.

It was really good to be in the rehearsal room and finally hear the play aloud! We looked at the more visual elements of the show, working through the stylistic conventions we’re going to be using and tested out ideas for puppetry with the actors.

One of the recurring questions that lies at the centre of this play is ‘how do you defeat a monster?’ And it looks like each monster is going to be taking a different form… It was during a moment of shadow puppetry that I realised that a whole paragraph of actions I’d written for a scene was no way near as good as a slow moving shadowy hand gliding over a piece of white cloth (reminiscent of the film Nosferatu). Words are going to have to work a lot harder in this production to make sure they don’t get upstaged by two giant dolls or a rabbit created out of an old coat and hat!

That’s something I love about theatre though, the ability of stage, set and performer to come up with moments that are truly magical. Often these moments are without text. So I guess it’s my job to give the script enough space so those moments can happen. I got a shiver as I watched them rehearse, and with the kind of work I write, if I get a shiver, I know it’s going well.

I’ve now got 2 months to work up a new draft of the script for some more development days next year. Hopefully we’ll have something to share soon and you’ll be able to see what I mean.

Don’t forget to check out the Pinterest board here to see how our ideas are developing.

 

 

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To be given the space and time to create is sacred

Posted on July 13, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

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This is a beach hut I saw on Tankerton beach yesterday. Isn’t it great?! It looks exactly how I feel: it’s up in the clouds having some time out, giving itself space to breathe. Who knows what’s going on behind the locked door?

This residency at 57a has been very special: I’ve been free to create with no limitations other than those I’ve set myself, and I feel very lucky to have been given this time and space for my work. I hope to take some of this magic back to London with me.

Both plays I’ve been working on feature unreliable narrators who’ve lost agency in their own story. Each main character goes on a journey to find their power with differing consequences and outcomes. The nature of truth and how stories get mangled to suit the powerful are important themes to both pieces,  and in a society where we’re constantly questioning the truth we are given by politicians and the media, these plays feel as important to write as ever. How can we challenge the truths we are given and the stories we tell ourselves if we don’t create stories that do that? Both lead characters are female and neither solves their problem in ways I’d recommend trying, but I hope when produced (I’m still looking for a producer for my 2 act play so please contact me if you’re interested) will inspire debate, giving there’s characters and their stories a little more power after the lights have gone down on the stage.

Check back here for updates on both projects as they evolve.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped me over the last 16 days in creating two exciting plays. Jennifer Lunn at Culturcated for her dramaturgy, the wonderful actors I’ve worked with and Sharon Burrell at To The Moon for continuing to update our Pinterest board ensuring my ideas for The Debra Project are current. And of course I cannot thank Katie at The Expansionists enough for giving me this residency and truly helping me expand my creativity and practice!

For the writers reading this, these are 3 essential things I’ve learnt whilst here:

1.  Just get the ideas down, figure out the order of scenes later. You’ll be surprised how you’ll instinctively add something that you think may not initially have a place, and then this random addition becomes the answer to everything.

2.  Writing scripts feels more and more like collage. If you’ve got an early scene that isn’t working, work on a later scene and you may find out what that earlier scene needs.

3.  Dialogue works best when heard read by an actor. See my note about voice recording your reading in my previous post. It’ll help you when your alone writing again.

Ok that’s felt like a long post but I’m sure you can see how inspired I’ve been at this residency. To be given the space and time to create is sacred. Give yourself that gift for whatever you enjoy doing. You’ll be amazed at the results!

From a magical 57a,

Lucy x

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Surely the best rehearsal space ever?

Posted on July 11, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

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So we spent Tuesday morning on the beach working on bringing the first 4 scenes of my full length (2 act) play into one and it worked really well. They had always felt like 2 sets of beginning scenes (if that makes sense) and they were very easy to splice together via a split stage. As one character in Africa speaks to a person the audience can’t see, the other character in London is listening to what someone is saying to them (who also isn’t seen by the audience) and visa versa. It was lovely and warm and there were no noisy seagulls in sight so it also felt like a bit of a treat while we worked.

The afternoon included working on the beginning of the second act -which worked really well- and then we went back to the first act to find out what wasn’t working in another scene… All in all we did a good lot of work in a short space of time and now I just need to type up the amends, write a speech for one of the characters who didn’t have one, and then it’ll be ready for rehearsal! So if you know anyone interested in a play that involves goats, God and an exploration of how a disenfranchised woman can gain power let me know 🙂

Since then I’ve been working on the Debra Project: relooking at the journals that are inspiring the play and what the story is trying to say/explore. I’ve nearly finished my first draft (!) and have just over 30 mins which I’ll be ready to share with the director which we’ll be able to start developing and workshopping from. The White Rabbit is still in it, but some how butterflies and lightening seem to convey the message and metaphor of the piece more clearly… There’s a bit of singing and dancing too as the monster under the bed tries to battle it out with the main character for her soul… well that’s the story so far. Take a look at the Pinterest board for more images we’ve been uploading as thoughts have expanded over the week.

I’ve got 2 more days in residency here and then I’m back to London! I can’t believe how quickly it’s gone. It’s felt like a very special time to really engage with my process and my ideas and what really interests me in my writing. I’ve actually found a new part to my process: voice recording the actors as they either read or act (after we’ve rehearsed) a scene and I’ll be playing these back to ensure I’ve got my amends right… If you write, try it. I can’t listen to my own voice but recording the actors and listening back has really helped -it’s a way of hearing the text without being involved in it so you can really hear what works and what doesn’t.

Anyway, I’ve still got some work to do on The Debra Project but I plan to have some time off tomorrow before I head back to the busy city on Sunday. It’s not quite such a lovely day here, weatherwise, but I’ve had another productive day workwise.

I hope it’s sunny wherever you are.

From an inspiring 57a.

Lucy x

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So the reading went well last night…

Posted on July 8, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

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but they miss some of the lightness from the previous draft!

Looks like I’ve been too concentrated on the story/plot lines and less on the finer points of the relationship between my characters… Oh well, that’s what the drafting process is all about!  That’s also what today’s for, and we’re going to explore how the split stage may work at the beginning (where scenes in both Zambia and London take place on stage at the same time) and then look at the power shifts at the beginning of the second act.

That’s something I love about theatre, the writing isn’t just done at the desk (here’s a picture of the desk I’ve been working at whilst here, isn’t it lovely?). The play will keep being rewritten even in the theatre, up to the closing night of performance, by whoever directs and performs it. Theatre is above all a ritual: house lights turn down for the magic on stage, and hopefully you’ll see something of the world you recognise as the stage reflects your world back to you, and the show will have a slightly different sense about it every night. Ok you may not know the finer points about goat farming or being a Pastor. Maybe you’ll learn something along the way. But you’ll also, hopefully, see two characters in a predicament you recognise, and you’ll have an opinion about what they should or shouldn’t do in the interval, and you might argue about how it played out on the way home.

These are the thoughts and hopes I hold dear today before we start work. They remind me not to be too precious with what I’ve written so far and to stay open to developments as they happens via the actors in front of me.

Thoughts from another sunny day about to start at 57a.

Lucy x

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Goats, God and how to get what you want

Posted on July 3, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

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So I’ve been in residence at beautiful 57a for 6 days now and I’m having a great time. What’s better than having the space and time to pursue the one thing you love to do? No TV, no internet (except for the cafe where I’m writing this post), no distractions, just me and my pen/paper/laptop, oh and a book of writing exercises in case I get stuck.

I’ve just finished the 3rd draft of the full length play that I’m working on. It’s only 40 pages but it’s stuffed full of intense psychological drama, dramatic moments of tension and a few complicated, but if pulled off, beautiful stage images if I do say so myself. Edward Albee isn’t the only person who can write a goat into his play 🙂

This play is mainly set in Africa and it looks at a young African girl who want’s to be the Pastor of her church. However, due to traditions her father upholds and the local community she’s reduced to the role of caretaker and general assistant. But then, Graeme from London starts as trainee Pastor and when she’s passed over for promotion things escalate… How far would you go to get what you want? Especially if it feels like no-one will help you, and the whole world is against you? What would you do?

‘I place before you the head of my godless enemies.’

Yes, before you ask, blood is spilt, but hopefully in an imaginative and provocative exploration of how the disenfranchised and the duped can gain power… or at least that’s the idea.

The actors with Jen are arriving on Monday for a new read-through and a day of investigation. Does what I’ve written hold-water? We’ll see. (Part of it’s set in a river so that’s probably a bad joke).

Anyway, I’ve finally got the evening off and then I’m working on the Debra Project tomorrow. Director Sharon Burrell from To the Moon and I have a Pinterest board so we can share our ideas. Currently I’m thinking a lot about rabbits, Alice in Wonderland, and how difficult it is to find an easy way out of the ties that make us look backwards rather than forwards into the light. Take a look at the Pinterst board here. I’ll let you know how I get on.

From a sunny and warm 57a

Lucy x

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The countdown begins!

Posted on June 15, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

In 13 days I’ll be at a writing residency courtesy of The Expansionists in Whitstable Kent working on the third draft of my full length play with the help of Jennifer Lunn and the first draft of a new project I’m working on with To The Moon. I’ll have 2 weeks of unadulterated writing and development time! I can’t wait! Check back to hear about my progress and any inspiration I get whilst I’m at the seaside!

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Welcome

Posted on June 12, 2014 by lucyaverywrites

andys drawing of me

Hello and welcome to my new website where you’ll find updates about my work and ideas in development. Follow me on Twitter @lucyaverywrites

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