Adventures in Amateur Dramatics

I often don't give a full account of my working week in these blogs - I might mention in passing that I'm directing something somewhere and then don't say much more.  Well, this week I will only talk about the world of amateur dramatics (forever known on my CV as 'community' productions) rather than about progress on Storyteller 2012.  This is partly because I haven't got very far yet (I've mostly been re-reading things) and because other than arty stuff I've been mostly doing admin work and getting the accounts ready for the end of the financial year.  So, amateur dramatics.
In my mostly year round exile in Suffolk, amateur dramatics is the only extra outlet for drama available to me.  Storytelling is a mostly solitary pursuit, so getting the chance to act in or direct a play with a cast of people in it is fairly novel for me these days.  There are two local groups I promiscuously flit between, the Lavenham Players and Sudbury Dramatic Society.  They are two good examples of the amateur sphere as they demonstrate the two poles between which societies exist.  Lavenham Players is a proper community group, run for the village and by a committee with strong ties within the area.  It performs in the Village Hall when it seems appropriate and puts on plays that will appeal to the local community.  Sudbury Dramatic Society (SDS) is a based in a theatre (a theatre it founded) and produces six plays a year, operating more like a repertory company than an amateur society for a far larger constituency.  With a regular number of plays each year SDS makes an effort to programme a balanced season, including a Pantomime, comedies and serious drama which it risks losing money on; so a season can fluctuate wildly between a Francis Durbridge and a Howard Barker.

I am currently in a production of A Woman of No Importance for SDS, am about to audition a cast for The Admirable Crichton (no relation) for Lavenham Players and in March audition a cast for The Passion for SDS (again).  So, a percentage of my time at the moment is engaged in rehearsing with a company (woo-hoo!) and preparing for two sets of auditions and the productions that will follow.  That's what I do when I'm not writing, re-writing or editing etc, which is my current occupation.
That said, this year will be my last in the amateur sphere - I knew that this year, until the Olympics finished, I wasn't going to get a major production up and running in London or further out, so I'm indulging in a last orgy of community entertainment.  The Passion will be my last directorial bout for SDS, with whom I have performed and directed a lot over the last decade plus, but next year I'm planning to do a few more shows of my own and won't be around to produce anything locally.  In fact, if 2012 goes well I will leave my economic exile and return to London early 2013, so I won't have much choice but to move on.
Until then, lines to learn, scenes to block, crucifixions to organise... and you should see the risk assessment on that last one.

A Woman of No Importance performances from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 10th March at 7.45pm at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury.  Box Office: 01787 374 745

The Admirable Crichton: Auditions will be held on Thursday 2^nd February at 7.30pm at the Angel Gallery in Lavenham. Scripts available on request via email.  Performances 27, 28, 29 April 2012

THE PASSION:  Auditions are on Wednesday 14^th March at 7.30pm in the GKR at the Quay Theatre in Sudbury.  Audition scripts are available from the Quay Box Office, or on request via email.  (This is the audition script, there is a slight possibility I will re-jig the text following the auditions to adjust to larger/smaller cast size.)  Performances 10 - 14 July 2012

Any enquiries email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Feeling Round The Edges

I've got a lot of fragmentary writing to do at the moment and it's doing my head in.  There's edits and re-writes for Ghost Storyteller (note it's no longer GhoStoryteller - it confused people and no one ever got it right, so it's Ghost - take a breath - Storyteller) as well as blurb and policy documents, re-writes on The Examiner of Beauty, planning the texts for the two new stories this year and I really want to write a play that's bubbling away...
Ideally you want to work on one project at a time, really get into it, finish it and move on.  Sadly, life gets in the way and my business model (did I just use those words in earnest?) demands a high turn around of material.  But... and this is what gets in the way, I have no solid deadlines yet.  So, all I'm doing is flicking on the computer / opening my notebook and doing little things.  The job doesn't get fully done and so I'm just feeling round the edges.  In a week or so there will be deadlines, a schedule, and I will have fewer outside distractions.
So, other than little gobbets of writing I'm researching equipment online.  I've already ordered a lectern for my readings (something I've always improvised into being before) and looked at sound and lighting things - mics, loop stations, projectors and the like.  The reason why I ordered the lectern and just looked at sfx/lx stuff is I could afford the lectern as it was very reasonable.  The sfx/lx gizmo's were a tad bit pricier and so need a. justification other than "but they're so cool!" and b. because I have yet to set a budget.
That's another element of writing for this week, writing the funding proposal.  Haven't started yet, that's this weekend, but I will soon be looking to go cap in hand for some hard currency.  I want to do some quite ambitious things with The Examiner of Beauty, or the 2012 loss leader as I affectionately think of it, and that will require more than a great script and a fantastic cast, it needs stuff.
I did also spend a fair amount of time looking at DVD's of The Clangers, so my time online wasn't wasted.

I've also done some light design work - including a rejigged poster for Ghost Storyteller.  It's a bit like the old one, just with a more inviting font.  Even though it's not coming back till October I do need to finish the rewrites on the show now as well as rewrite of the opening for the audio CD so that it's scarier for the listener at home.  Especially as that'll go into 'studio' hopefully quite soon.
Incidentally, if you know of or are any small venues that might be interested in some ghost story action in autumn I'm a gun for hire.  You don't have to be a theatre, pubs or other random places work well for the show.  I was thinking of libraries, but I doubt there'll be any left open by October.
I'll have another pass at The Pickwick Papers poster (see last blog) later, it's the right idea but it hasn't come out right yet.  Might change the font, which I don't want to do as it took ages to space it all out.  Again, that's not doing anything till May, but I'm already running through the text for an hour each day to hunt out good excerpts for the future. 
As I've been doing that I have had some discussion with myself over whether I want to do a reading of the Complete Pickwick Papers for my run at Barons Court Nov/Dec.  I like the idea of picking out sections for one off performances but the more I play with it the less inclined I am to go the whole hog and once again Nicholas Nickleby leaps ahead as a favourite for the job.  Luckily I am under no pressure to decide one way or the other until March. 
But then again, to return where this blog started, the lack of a deadline is perhaps the reason for the uncertainty.  If I had to decide tomorrow, I would have decided.
Next Blog - Adventures in Amateur Dramatics...