Definition: The place where a writer stores drafts of work which isn’t ready, didn’t catch fire or anyone elses’ attention and which may be returned to at a miraculous future date which never seems to come.

Here are five from mine….

1. THE PINK ANIMAL

During the tallships era the depressed Captain Hamilton is lured back to a tropical island by a captivating and mysterious pink animal left on his doorstep in a tea chest in the middle of the night.

Post an eventful sea voyage he’s back on the island which inspired his melancholia and re-discovers his lover Louise who he thought had died but who had instead been captured by rogue pink animals. He frees her. He emancipates the pinks (the non nasty ones, the bad ones get their comeuppance). Happy ending.

Joseph Conrad meets a politically correct Enid Blyton and shares an espresso martini and goat curry pasty. Adventure, fighting, sailors and quirky characters in period costume this novel for 7-10 year olds may become a musical with animatronic characters.

And may not.

2. LET’S PRETEND

The play I half wrote before I wrote another play entirely with the same title because it had already gone to brochure and this one wasn’t working.

An over ambitious piece featuring mistaken identity, burglary and child abduction (not the best thematic choice for a comedy) it strangled itself to death with plot twist bind weed just before the end of act one and has thrashed about in uneasy half life next to the blue tac for over 20 years.

A dark, pretentious and confusing surburban fable playing on fears of loss and exploring greed and status, in need of far superior craft and care than that evidenced up to the point where I gave up and did something else instead.

Perhaps when old enough to have any idea at all of the central characters I’ve written I’ll give it another shot or it may just lie permanently in the folder marked ‘too clever for its own good’.

Or be burned, this may be best.

3. JOANNA THE MAD

Historical stage drama, jam packed with ambassadors and trumpets and castle battlements and paranoid  schizophrenia.

Joanna La Loca climbed the curtains and ended her days incarcerated in a nunnery, its a great role and a great story, so great that another writer and company beat me to production but hey we can never have too many epic dramas featuring powerful women can we?

Nearer the front this one, next to the Polos.

4. DREAM KITCHEN

A commissioned sit com pilot for a series which never got made about a family with a gadget fetish.

Quirky, three gags a page, about aquisition and definition through objects without stating this in any way which meant anyone would understand it to be in any way about that, obscure and vaguely charming.

Comedy ages badly. Funny then. Not now. Birdcage or litter tray lining.

5. BLISS

Or ignorance. You decide!  Yeah! Whatevs!

Play for radio. Girl next door gets accelerated into superstardom via a TV talent show. Fame followed by destruction followed by spiritual awakening followed by loss of faith followed by a return to base.

Unoriginal rock myth given uplift by virtue (possibly) of entirely made up vocabulary/language which made for an interesting exercise but a suspiciously odd read and probably a very hard listen.

In the drawer for a reason.

Whats in yours?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Doodling ideas in anticipation of the pre rehearsal draft of A MAN WITH DOWNS SYNDROME TALKS ABOUT LOVE AND TELLS A STORY, with apologies to designer Pip Leckenby who will ultimately interpret and wave her far superior visual wand over the story.

Its a writing thing…

I find it helpful at this point to have an idea of how the play might work in a theatre space, or spaces of various sizes and shapes, as is the case with a tour.

In the later stages of crafting a play for an audience, the ‘wrighting’ (manipulating the emotional centre of the characters and the plot) happens in tandem with the pragmatics of space and time.

Having a really bad drawing to refer to actually helps…

 

 

Pressed at an event, a well known theatre director isolated ‘class’ as a possible driver behind his premature departure from a high profile post.

An inability to understand a Latin word used during a board meeting marked his card, denoted his rank and, he suggested, may have started a process which led to the door.

A producer, known for excellent work in promoting diversity and with a desire to represent people with learning disabilities, posited casting actors with mild learning disabilities .

‘Learning disability lite’ as she put it, meant minimal or no adjustments to text or issues with on set communication but meant she was still ‘ticking the box’ by ‘cheating a bit’.

An award winning actor with a non R.P. accent, waits for a resurgence in Irish writing on the London stage to secure employment, knowing that casting directors won’t see her for roles unless they are specific to her dialect.

Is it time to break the tyranny of words and language in theatre?

 

“Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.”

Samuel Beckett

 

The Silent Approach offers a route into accessible, universal theatre for playwrights, directors and actors,  making work which includes the talents of actors who aren’t verbal or cognitively usual and mines a rich seam of story telling offered by exploring characters and worlds invisible.

If words create hierarchies of sound and language then why not leave them at the door?

No theatre maker I know works to a process where one collaborator is afforded more artistic value than another but we let the language we use and the way it sounds determine status.

A highly accomplished verbal athlete working the most complex of text needs another actor to listen to him, both actors are in the scene, one can’t exist without the other.

 

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”

Aldous Huxley

 

For many years Arts Council England has encouraged board diversification for theatre companies and although progress has been made there’s still some way to go.

Formal language can act as a major barrier to the advancement of individuals not versed in the (usually archaic) lingo of the board.

How about re-thinking governance, aiming for accessible language and removing linguistic signifiers constructed to seek out and define social status?

 

“Silence is so accurate.” 

Mark Rothko

 

And finally, must all roles be cast according to an idea of acceptable accent?

We’re all accustomed to bumping into people from all over the UK and all over the world in many different contexts.

Its dramatically unnecessary to explain why the guy running the corner shop is Welsh when the soap is set in Newcastle or why a character in the Cherry Orchard has a Ghanaian accent (Does everyone else sound like Putin? No).

Can we give actors a break and move our imaginations in tandem with their talents?

The world may suddenly look a lot more interesting, and realistic, on stage.

 

1. Collect data.

Aside from evidencing everything you do, numbers of creatives, participants, audience etc. related factoids and statistics from trade papers, general media and specialist organisations can be helpful. 

Its neither interesting to write about nor fun to do but nothing values your proposed work better than a clear need for it evidenced by a percentage.

 

2. Compare and contrast

Learn about the work of peers in your field, make friends, have coffee, share experiences, tips, support and mutual respect.

You can then ensure that all of your planning and output clearly defines your differences and flags your USP. 

 

3. Make facetime meetings

Being in the same real world space with another human being is invaluable, theatre is a people-focused creative process and the dynamics between people at each point in the journey to the work inform the work itself.

4. Learn to predict

It takes a long time for any theatre project to reach the stage. Content is anticipated months or years before its delivered.  Research current and upcoming productions for trends, consider the world and politics and anticipate, as best you can, the space your target human psyche is likely to inhabit at this future time.

You can then generate work appropriate for this imagined future.

 

5. Chase the dream, not the funding

Projects cost what they cost to realise.  Hitting a figure because its available reads to a funder like hitting a figure because its available.  It needs to feel important and stimulating enough to do without any money being involved at all.

Its art, not a transaction.

 

6. Know the difference between persistence and being a pest

 

Not everyone wants to work with you. Read the signals. Stop just before someone is likely to give you a definite ‘No’. Keep doors open for next time.  Don’t be irritating. Radiate happiness and positivity.  

You’re privileged to be doing something you love as your job, most people aren’t.

 

7. Expect timelines to stretch

Time gives air and space to projects, new collaborations form and artistic content gets richer.  Fight any urge to do anything quickly and relish time taken thinking strategically, its never wasted.

 

8. Offer something

In kind contributions and cash investments are of great value to projects, clarity about what you’re offering and what value you’re bringing in return is vital.

Your theatre work has to give something useful, enriching and unique, know exactly what it is and be ready to make that case.

 

9. Review sent and received email

There may be a positive response you’ve forgotten, an invitation to be ‘updated’ or an email you sent which was never replied to which warrants a follow up.

Your future may lie in your past.

 

10 .Embrace the long term view

None of it is now, its all tomorrow and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

Opportunities to make theatre are rare.

In the realm of venue-based work the theatre maker needs to dive into a commitment to a vision, attract allies with an original idea and then push up and through a series of waves to eventual production.

A show is the consequence of persistence and alchemy, the right idea plus the right money plus the right people at the right time.

It’s a long game.

Where the aim is to reflect our society dramatically (as it most usually is in theatre which speaks to general audiences) prediction of zeitgeist, and hitting that trend before its passé, or before its even happened, requires almost psychic levels of precognition.

And luck.

And courage. Or lack of a fear of failure. AKA taking a ‘risk’.

There are two main areas of risk in theatre, financial and creative.

Common sense dictates that high financial risk equals bad and that high creative risk equals good but both come with modifiers.

Some financial risk, for investors from funders through to ticket buyers is desirable. The unknown’s of a theatre experience make for excitement, the more intriguing the concept and story, the ‘what if?’ the surprising casting and the buzz around the show the more risks investors will take.

Conversely all creative risks need parameters; who wants the play to not speak to anyone in the audience at all or for the stunningly designed glass set to dazzle the audience when lit?

Finding the boundaries for both kinds of theatre risk is hard right now.

Money for most people is very tight and opinion on virtually everything is unpredictable, party lines no longer apply, bigotry calls itself patriotism. The choice feels like put up and shut up or risk approbation but the consequence of rattling cages and challenging the status quo is rarely empty houses.

Theatre history indicates that agitation and dissent in dramatic format has acted as focus and catalyst for change, provoking it or mirroring and amplifying movements in society.

Ibsens’ DOLLS HOUSE, questioning female subjugation caused outrage but lit fires, THE CHILDRENS’ HOUR, TORCH SONG TRILOGY and ANGELS IN AMERICA addressed injustice and drove gay rights forwards and BEHTZI questioned abuse and violence veiled by religious impunity.

In an era where much that is progressive in terms of equality and emancipation is in jeopardy drama representing the journeys, status and values of people with learning and other disabilities can speak volumes to people of all kinds trying to make sense of a skewed current reality.

Funding cuts and Crowdfunder fatigue don’t have to equal a retreat into known theatrical formulae. Creative risks can get bigger.

If the fields are on fire why not bet the farm? Why not spit in the eye of political meltdown with a pot boiling musical about a modern day UKIP voting Boadicea and her daughters?

In an uncertain and volatile political climate, when we’re aiming to make work for a society split in two, its vital that theatre deals with contemporary UK life, with its division, prejudice, shocking poverty, nostalgic self-delusion, neglect, resurgent class distinction and simmering anger and ensure that people with vastly different opinions are able to sit next to each other and consider alternative stories, with cathartic endings, offering views which lead to a vision for a better future.

If theatre of contemporary societal and political relevance becomes too hard to countenance for fear of upsetting one side or the other then we’re all the poorer.

The loss of an agitating and provocative theatre experience for a disparate and diverse audience is the biggest potential risk of all.

Sent to over 150 National Portfolio Theatres, drama schools, organisations and individuals, read the Separate Doors 2 report here:

Separate Doors 2 report Vanessa Brooks

 

Juvenilia…

The School Pencil

Achingly hard edged and dryly H graded when a dash of B would have assisted with colouring in doodles on the bottom of maths notebooks, the school pencil acted as an early introduction to the joys of displacement activity by virtue of the….

Teachers’ desk sharpener

Positioned on Misses desk and accessible to all not as an embodiment of shared ownership but as a demonstration of hierarchy; entry to the larger, sharper opening only bestowed on the favoured, alongside the privilege of autonomous handle turning. 

 

Learner fountain pen, coloured pencils and ink

 

 

 

Leaner fountain pen: perfect for pretending to smoke and shoot with, less effective for writing with a tendency to splash Rorschach patterns all over your tectonic plates essay.

Coloured pencils: the tools with which to become an internationally renowned artist once you’ve worked out how to do perspective and draw hands.

Ink: blue black so rich in the jar you want to dive into it. Classier design than anything anyone could ever write.  An object to look and marvel at.

 

Sticky tape you can write onto

 

Anything is now possible.

Including expletives on the back of peoples’ blazers.

Maturity…

The Manual typewriter

You are a writer because you have one of these in a case with a handle which makes it PORTABLE.

It makes a proper Virginia Woolf style NOISE when you bash away at it and everything else on the desk jumps into the air.  It is imperative to chain smoke when using one. Demands carbon paper as there is no such thing as photocopies yet. Make one mistake on a page of dialogue and you must start again. Encourages thought before pressing keys. Makes hands hurt and heart pound.

 

A word processor actually, what do you drive?

 

 

 

Welcome to the mid 90’s.

You now have a screen on which you can edit 3.5 lines of dialogue before you then press a button and it rattles out really fast onto the page like a telex machine type thing while you sit back and light a fag.  Smoking is still necessary.

A MAJOR INNOVATION is the CORRECTOR ribbon inside. It is now possible to make mistakes and go backwards over the word with white stuff on a reel and it almost looks like no mistake was ever made. Brilliant.  It has a handle too and is just as portable at 5 kilos as the manual typewriter.

 

Transitional period…

From treasury tags to Acco clips, or trombones, the means with which to secure pages in a script gently and imperceptibly shifted from the rope to the metal age.

 

 

 

And today…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You are most powerful when you are most silent. People never expect silence. They expect words, motion, defence, offence, back and forth. They expect to leap into the fray. They are ready, fists up, words hanging from their mouths. Silence? No.”

Alison McGhee/Author

 

 

“Theatre is a mirror, a sharp reflection of society.”

Yasmin Reza/Playwright

“If you want people to come to the theatre you have to make theatre inclusive. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.”

Catherine Tate/Actor

 

 

‘Theatre is a way of showing us lives far beyond our own experience; but it lets us into those stories by reflecting our own lives.”

Mark Shenton/Critic

 

Click on the link below…

Separate Doors 2 report Vanessa Brooks