Creative Starvation; Woe is me!

Well, you can probably guess from the title where this one is going.

I have reached something of an irritating temporary hiatus in my play writing escapades. Which, frankly, isn't saying much, as I have only been escapading these past not-even-two weeks, so I have disappointed myself. I seem to have hit something of a wall. I shall ramble some thoughts out into this post and see if it makes things any easier for myself. Perhaps removing some of the thoughts will allow my brain to function more clearly? I'm sure that's how Dumbledore uses the big bowl of swishy thoughts he keeps in a cupboard in his office that Harry Potter falls into...

 I started in the middle you see; I'm writing about a magician, so, logically, I started with the magic show. Apparently its advisable to start wherever you fancy, so that's ok. Then, going backwards chronologically, I wrote the scene where local children are given tickets to the magic show, by said magician. Then, defying sense, I decided to write the opening scene, so I did, and the opening scene decided it would end with three parallel monologues, which were exhausting to write. I'm trying to keep the whole play down to four actors (three men and one woman)and this involves a good deal of doubling between parts, but the monologues were for what I consider to be the 'primary' characters each actor would be playing, and so were important in terms of back history and character development. I found it strangely difficult to try and 'get inside the heads of' three different characters in such a short space of time, and found I was naturally inclined towards the female character, which is interesting. I wonder if this is through an inseparable curiosity as an actor about playing the (as yet unwritten) part. I also found that persuading the three monologues in question to mirror each other was strangely satisfying, though I had no idea why I was doing it. Is that a good reason for doing something? A lecturer earlier this year said that as long as you have a reason for doing something, you can do it, and I suppose this reason would be symmetrical pleasure. I also have found it interesting the speed at which different bits of writing progress - with the aforementioned monologues, it took the best part of two whole days to get two pages done, but with a dialogue scene between three smaller characters, half an hour put four pages on paper.

The problem I seem to be facing now is a sort of brick wall affair every time I try and sit down to write. I have written out in detail everything that will happen in the first half of the play, at least, so that the scenes I have written will have a framework to fall into, but my brain seems unwilling to cooperate all of a sudden. It also seems daunted by the prospect of the end of the play; I know how the play ends and it is how the play must end, but the second half of the play remains entirely untouched, not a single word written down yet. All of this, and a mere nine days left to go until 'First Draft' hand in. Back to York tomorrow, to spend my Sunday in a dark corner of the library.

Ah, woe is me...

Shakespeare's Sister

I have decided that the fitting return to blogging for me is definitely an exploration of my Dissertation this year - that is, the somewhat self-imposed task to write a whole play. It sounds like fun, and to an extent it is, but I think recording the experience as I go along, for posterity, and because I have the terrible ability to forget important details of things, is the way forwards. The title of my chosen MA is 'Theatre: Writing,Directing,and Performance' - my sole aim when I started the course was to get more experience in Directing, and so naturally one would be led to assume that when presented with the option choices for Dissertation - which were, er, Writing, Directing, or Performance... - I should have gone with the Directing option. However, it's been a tough old year in the Oliver household, and frankly, the course wasn't quite what I wanted in terms of support and camaraderie, so I opted for something which would allow more freedom and let me work on my own - writing a play. The course gave us some limited experience of play writing, in the first term - we were set plays to read every week, then discussed these in seminars, before being given small writing tasks, culminating writing in a half-hour play. Unfortunately mine didn't go particularly well in the academic sense, due to me laboring under the extreme misapprehension that being funny is a good thing. Not so. Theatre is a serious place don't you know. Not a place for mad old ladies on buses. I passed, with a moderate mark, but that was me told. Undeterred, I swaggered into the main arena, armed with false confidence and the knowledge that 'Funny is not ok' - so my dissertation piece is about as far away from 'funny' as you can possibly imagine. I won't go into what it is about today, as I have now been sat in the study room in the library for the best part of an hour having not even opened the play document yet (Procrastinaton - 1, Kayleigh - 0) but rest assured, I will fill you in, dear reader, on that, and the odd problems I find I am facing as I try and put some semblance of order into 50 to 100 pages of mind boggling confusion. Til then, adieu.

Once more on the scene of my former triumphs!

The title of this entry is a quote from the Gilbert and Sullivan show 'Patience' and sums up perfectly my evening. Due to Little Brother being affiliated once more with Hull University Gilbert and Sullivan Society, I came to be invited back this year to Stage Manage their show. It has been three years since I left HUGSS, and two since I saw a show of theirs, but seems much longer. It was cathartic to see how the Society has changed.

I joined HUGSS in 2006 as a fresher, met some amazing people, played my first female G&S role, and immensely enjoyed being both a committee member and the resident alto. We went through Pinafore, Iolanthe and Pirates before being cast out into the real world. In 2010, we all returned after a year absence to HUGSS 'Ruddigore' starring Little Brother as Sir Roderick. The show was a success, and we were all proud to have our legacy upheld. In 2011 I could not make it to The Sorcerer; second-hand reports about the show that year were not so favourable and I feared that HUGSS had dropped the ball. Little Brother re-joined the cast this year as the moustachioed Colonel, and subsequently my involvement grew from nothing to wielding curtains and controlling The Cans Of Power.

The first thing I was struck by tonight was the youth of the cast - was I ever that young?!? Don't get me wrong, I am under no delusions that I was ever that small, but it is bizarre to me to be able to tangibly feel the difference in age. I don't mean this in a negative way, far from it, only it felt rather bizarre. Perhaps the mind is playing tricks and I do not look so wildly older as I think, or they so young, but its fair to say I wasn't expecting it.

I usually enjoy the perk of joining in with a little singing from the wings, but today marked the first time I felt unable to. For a start the cans prevent one from hearing oneself, but also I felt very self-aware that my heavy mezzo would tamper with the sweet and clear balance of the girls. I very much enjoyed listening to them; HUGSS have been blessed this year with a very nice collection of voices, none of which stick out sorely and - for possibly the first time in my G&S career - the alto line was more than catered for. It was refreshing to know that sometimes that happens!

Likewise, I was impressed by the talent in the cast. We were never short of talent ourselves, but there are usually a few odd casting choices. Biased as always with favouritism for Little Brother, who is nothing short of excellent, I was pleased to see the other lead men (five, out of seven men all together!) easily keeping pace with him. HUGSS also enjoy wealth of promising young female voices; the show must have been difficult to cast.

I was most struck by the venue. The Middleton Hall, pride of Hull Uni Music Department, is a large venue seating around 300-350, with a good stage and more than adequate tech facility. When performing as an Undergraduate, the stage seemed absolutely enormous and excitingly terrifying, but today it seemed almost quaint. The venue also previously enjoyed the lighting box tyranny of 'Bob' but the atmosphere is now gloriously lifted by the rule of straight talking Tony. The sprawling orchestra arrangement seemed much bigger than I remember, and I know not a single person sitting there. Unsure of if I have simply forgotten the reality or blurred the memory of Middleton Hall, I like that the stage seems small, I feel some pleasure in thinking I may have outgrown it. Saying that, it did also feel delightfully comfortable and familiar, and slightly thrilling to occupy the Stage Manager area.

Review to follow post-show. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.

Return to Blogging

Now, as you have probably noticed, it has been some considerable time since I formulated any sort of blog post. This, naturally, is very disappointing for everyone, and so today sees the recommencement of my blogging!

The reason my blog has seen no action over the last few months is thus wise; I moved to York. York being a medieval city, it lives in the dark ages and it took no less than 7 weeks to get the internet installed in our house. It did occur to me then to start up blogging again, but life intervened, and I didn't get around to it until today.

My absence has been so that I feel I must fill you in on some background information of my now-life, in order that future blog posts may have a reference point. So!

YORK
York is interesting. It was always one of my favourite places to visit when I was a lowly undergraduate student, but living here is not quite the same sort of affair. It is truly a beautiful place, and is much nicer to invite friends to visit than, say, Hull, but it is perpetually full of tourists, which is a little wearing. It is also very cold and the area I live in is not the nicest; hopefully summer will bring good things.

COURSE
Being a student again is hard work. It is absolutely nothing like I expected it would be - unless you count me still having my Christmas decorations up, like a true student - and I have been struggling to reconcile what I'm doing with what I wanted to do. The course is not what I wanted; the prospectus seems to have been misleading and I have ended up on a theory-based course. Which I am sure will stand me in good stead to get jobs, but just isn't what I was aiming for. However, some of the modules are very enjoyable.

LIFE
Life is going alright in the general sense. Little bit of a tumultuous few months for the Olivers; my Uncle died unexpectedly and my Daddy isn't well, as well as Grandad's Hospital Holidays. However, Little Brother is doing very well at his studies, and Kitten has settled in very well with Grandma and Gramps. Friends are doing well; plans for the future continue to press on in all circles. Some of my best friends are moving house, one moved to another country, some more are getting married, some have moved back to the NE, and one is an Edwardian. Have acquired a gentleman friend, but he teaches Maths, so the less said the better.

THEATRE
This has been an odd one. Moving to York presented lots of opportunities. I made the horrendous mistake of auditioning for Cabaret - for which, after SEVERE pain on the dance audition, I was told my singing was too 'polished'. I dabbled in the Drama Society and the Uni G&S Society but decided neither was to my taste (or flexible enough for my time pressures!) and alighted on Jorvick G&S as a more mature model. I will be directing HMS Pinafore (again! I know!) for them, to be performed in September. Dauntless seems to be going well, and I eagerly anticipate casting ready for Buxton. I shall not be going to Buxton other than with Dauntless this year, having made the executive decision that it is unhealthy to be so involved.

OTHER STUFF

I can thoroughly recommend Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip as an excellent dvd box set investment, as can I the BBC 'Sherlock' series. I know more about Doctor Who than anyone could ever need to know now, after writing an essay on it. Ben Aaronovich is my new favourite author; 'Rivers of London' and sequel 'Moon Over Soho' are both amazingly gripping reads. I have rediscovered a love of baking. Oh, and I am now an expert knitter!

More posts, some back dated and others, will follow shortly. Until then, adieu!