Nothing to Declare … or is there?

The Director’s Cut Company under Heather Ward has called for writer’s submissions of 5 to 7-minute monologues/duologues for the Director’s Club Showcase at Southwark Playhouse, London. The deadline is in pdf format by 6pm on Friday 19th May to: scripts@directorscutttheatre.co.uk

From the website but please read the brief carefully. There is much more to it than this short teaser …

NOTHING TO DECLARE

Or is there?…

She is a free spirit.  Constantly moving, from one European country to the next.  Embracing culture and people from all walks of life.  She likes change, adventure, risk and discoveries…and she chooses when and what she gives away.  Once you encounter her your life will never be the same again.  Are you ready?

A moment with her is all you have.  And then, she is gone.

WRITER’S SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!

This is a unique and exciting concept, we are looking for stand out pieces that respond to the below brief.

We envisage Nothing to Declare to be a play about humanity, culture, connection, encounters, self-discovery, anonymity, love and freedom.  This woman, whose name or nationality is never mentioned, and who you only hear about from the people who have met her, moves freely and spontaneously, whenever she chooses, from one European country to the next, picking up different jobs, sharing in random and meaningful, sometimes life changing encounters, meeting people from all walks of life, remaining interested and curious, impacting those she meets, and unraveling their story…as well as her own.

Please read the brief carefully before applying.

We are looking for:

• Monologues and duologues 5-7 minutes in length …

For more details go to http://www.directorscuttheatre.co.uk/writers/

 

 

Reviewing the Situation

Tags

book reviews, British Census from 1801, dog training, Jane Austen, Roger Huchinson, Shelley DeWess, The Beatles, the Brontes

I am a review junkie. Before an anticipated purchase I will be found scouring other people’s opinion. Often the project is then abandoned and money is saved. However, I glean an insight into new characters who produce their praise or venom often sans punctuation, sans capitalisation. I visualise those who say, ‘I loved it so much I bought it in every colour. I haven’t worn it yet,’ with their wardrobes, colour-coordinated, of course, awash with identical outfits.

Then there are book reviews. Reading some, I feel I know the story and so why bother? But recently, for the first time in a long life, I immediately ordered two books, both non-fiction. The Butcher, The Baker, the Candlestick Maker by Roger Hutchinson is an account of the British decennial census since its conception in 1801 by John Rickman. Fascinating for anybody who has dabbled in family history or is interested by the changing demography of society, it is a book of facts and figures amongst which are snippets of interest and amusement.

In the 1841 census in Liverpool, four families gave Ireland as their place of birth: their surnames, McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starkey.

There are accounts of well-known families, among them Marks, Macmillan, Flora Thompson, and the unknown: the bigamist and those who truthfully gave their occupations as prostitute, brothel keeper, beggar. Later the suffragists would enter “domestic slave” or simply “slave” as a protest at being disenfranchised.

In 1881 when women were recruited as enumerators they were satirised by imaging a conversation between the  female enumerator and the lady of the house. Neither could keep to the point, but discussed the carpet, their clothes and pudding recipes. “I must be getting on. I haven’t done but three families all the forenoon.”

The second book is Not Just Jane by Shelley DeWess who, eagerly, awaiting a dramatisation of Pride and Prejudice, was devastated to find where she had “seen erudition, subtle wit, and quiet country vistas the director had seen flirtation and farce”. This set her on the quest to discover the now, but not in their own time, lesser-known contemporary female writers of Jane, Charlotte and Emily. (Anne, “the forgotten Brontë sister, who refused to wear rose-tinted glasses”, she places in another category.) Invariably the seven authors whose lives and works she describes turned to writing for economic reasons, usually caused by feckless husbands. Denied the cosy corner of a paternal vicarage, they laboured to feed children and to liberate husbands from a debtors’ prison. No longer household names they were once highly-regarded by William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, Dr Samuel Johnson. Now “They are not remembered, they are not canonized….What I came to understand was that, first and foremost, the game of lasting fame is an inherently unfair one.”

Skipper, of the canine literati, unprompted, reviewed a dog-training manual. His opinion was entirely subjective.

Playwriting course led by Philip Ayckbourn starting April 6th

‘I can speak for all 20 or so members of the autumn playwriting course that we found it really quite wonderful and that Philip is such an excellent tutor.  We’ve decided as a group to continue to meet independently and develop our work.’ RM, Course participant

10 Week Playwriting Course with Philip Ayckbourn

(www.philipayckbourn.com/writing-course/4589874103)

Philip is leading a 10-week playwriting course at the Lewes Little Theatre, Lewes, East Sussex, starting 6th April 2017 to 15th June (NB not 18th May).

Each session last 2hrs on Thursday evenings 7pm-9pm. The course includes a written assessment of your play by Philip and entry into the ‘writenight’ showcase (if chosen). The total cost is £130.

Explore the fundamental elements of play construction such as character, motivation, conflict, subtext, theme and plot. This practical course will help you discover the tools needed to craft and shape a play. You will be encouraged to produce a 15/20 min piece by the end of the ten weeks. There will be a ‘writenight’ showcase post course (29th July) where six of the best pieces produced will have a public performed reading at the theatre with local actors. The course is open to writers of all abilities.

To book a place, email Philip at: leweswriters@yahoo.co.uk

Away With Words

Tags

tigers, Ulysses, words

1966 and England won the World Cup. Football, that is. Now there are world cups for all sorts of activities – ludo and macramé, probably.

2016 and many of those six years of the Common Era (AD in old money) have become zero anniversaries. The Battle of Hastings, the death of Shakespeare, the Easter Rising, the Battle of the Somme, the birth of Princess Ellizabeth and Sir David Attenborough. An assortment of celebrations.
Old money? You wouldn’t say that in 1966.
Lots of things you wouldn’t have said in 1966. Internet, Instagram, Google. Girls from Essex were no different from girls from Devon or Middlesex. We did have dolly birds.

Paramount was a Hollywood film studio, not a politician’s go-to word.
Yes, Middlesex.
Brexit, newly minted.
Go-to. Must-have. You must have your own words to go-to.

Now we have our own zero year, five zero.
‘How do you want to celebrate?’ he said.
‘With a new bathroom,’ I said, ‘Yourself?’ (I’d have said ‘You’ in 1966.)
‘Not with a new bathroom,’ he replied.

Brexit means –
??????????????????????

‘I’d like to see tigers in India,’ I said. ‘There’s a tour in this brochure.’
‘Yes, but I’ll search around, go online.’
OMG, I thought, delaying tactics.
I didn’t really think OMG. It was probably WTF.
Not in common use in 1966, despite Philip Larkin. We didn’t fuck in 1966, golly gosh no. Now it’s obligatory, ubiquitous.

Anyway 2016 was a year of celebrations for us whenever we took time out from the gloom of the year, the Referendum, the US Presidential Election, Syria, and personally the passing of dear friends.
Easter saw us in Ireland, visiting the relations, joining in the Dublin celebrations, forever grateful to Robert Gogan for empowering us to an understanding of Ulysses with his dramatisation and punctuation of the book.
We toured the battlefields of WW1 and witnessed the nightly Menin Gate ceremony. Later we went to Scotland, first time in 35 years, and saw the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, one for the bucket list.
Bucket list? Probably not in 1966.
Several visits to Spain.

Our eldest grandchild became an adult, the rest will follow soon. Now she can vote. She couldn’t do that in 1966. Our children are middle-aged, unless they live to 120.
We won’t, of course.
But if we run out of words – and there’s no silver bullet – then:

😀 😃 😄 😁 😆 😅 😂 ☺ 😊 😇 🙂 😉 😌 😍 😘 😗 😙 😚 😋 😜 😝 😛 😎 😏 😒 😞 😔 😟 😕 🙁 😣 😖 😫 😩 😤 😠 😡 😶 😐 😑 😯 😦 😧 😮 😲 😵 😳 😱 😨 😰 😢 😥 😭 😓 😪 😴 😬 😷
Simples.

They think it’s all over.

We are going to see the tigers.
And the plumber’s been to measure the bathroom.

Not quite.

Fear of long lists

Sarah, I’m practising blogging but wanted to again say how thrilled I am that your talents are being recognised.
Love, Jane

No favourite books?

Tags

favourite books

At lunch recently three friends agreed that it is impossible to have a favourite book as different books become special at various stages of one’s life. I was the only person who admitted to having three favourite books dating back to schooldays. I’ll tell you mine, if you say yours…

Of Human Telling

Today is publication day for Tanya’s new novel Of Human Telling, the second to be set in the fictional town of Wharton. The novel follows the hidden struggles of three families, beneath the smooth veneer of middle England. Jane, a music teacher coping with recent heartbreak, finds herself the thread linking them all together.
This is a subtle, perceptive study of family conflict, which manages to be devastating, funny and ultimately hopeful.

The book can be purchased on Amazon, or at any good bookshop.

(Eight of the ninevoices)

We said we wouldn’t…

Tags

dog training, puppies

…but we did. After eight dogless months we decided that was enough, and Skipper came into our lives.
Both Skipper’s parents, Mum bichon frise and Dad cavalier spaniel, are classed as toy breeds. Skipper, if he were required to reveal his ethnicity, would probably state “lupine.” As he howls into the darkness of the garden chasing away all phantoms and hobgoblins he proves he is no lap dog.
Now we no longer focus on the day-to-day needs of children or grandchildren, our Benjamin pup has established himself as the centre of our lives. We buy his expensive food – no supermarket cheapies for him – in bulk to economise (ha!). He has three winter coats and it seems he will embark on a grooming regime that surpasses our own.
Skipper goes to training classes and workshops. Our previous dogs learnt from their older companions, but Skipper is an “only” and demands the best. The classes that involve a pocketful of treats are tolerated until ten minutes before the end when Skipper’s body language says, ‘I’m out of here.’
He’s been here six months now. He’s just announced, ‘Mum, I’m a teenager now. Leave me alone. You can get back to your writing now. I’ve distracted you long enough. There’s a bird in the garden that needs chasing. Yohoooooo!’

Children’s Christmas Story Competion by Amazon

Amazon has launched the search for a modern day version of Twas The Night Before Christmas, as a gift to families for bedtime reading this Christmas Eve. The winning author will win a prize package including professional illustrations of their story that could be read by millions on Christmas Eve, a £2,000 Amazon gift card and a top of the range Fire tablet.

Details here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?node=11875736031&linkId=31308657

How to Make Absolutely Sure That Your Novel Gets Rejected

Reading a somewhat belated obituary today about the legendary agent, Carole Blake, I was stunned to learn that a desperate author once posted a manuscript to her UNDER THE DOOR OF THE LOO CUBICLE IN WHICH CAROLE WAS SITTING at a Book Fair.