So I have spent the last 3 weeks working on a new wee comedy called 'Love 2.0' with Sam and Molly at the RCS. This was a great wee chance to start from nothing and work with some actors in creating a brand new play. Molly Veevers as Suzie and Sam Keefe as Gary The idea behind the play was that social networking, Facebook in particular, has very little to do with being social. In fact it could possibly have the opposite effect. One of the characters, Gary, creates a completely false impression of himself online that then attracts the attention of Suzie. Everything looks like it's going to be a perfect match until they finally meet, and then have no idea how to actually talk to one another. We had a great wee audience who laughed throughout and I'm now looking at ways of bringing this and my other comedy, Lucas Petite, to the stage. There seems to be a huge gap in theatre for 20 somethings/late teens. Maybe the audience isn't there...
The last few weeks I have been working at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, teaching on their new 'Introduction to Actor Training' course . This is a credited 5 week course for those who are looking to study acting on a full-time basis. Due to schedule clashes and what-have-you I found myself teaching the bulk of the course for the first few weeks and it has been a fascinating experience. I really enjoyed going back and looking over the various techniques that I had learned whilst studying at the RCS. This blog was a good starting point as I had documented a lot of our work at the Globe. When you are in the middle of it all though it is sometimes hard to reflect on what you're learning and how to apply it in, so now was a great time to really chew things over. I was now finding things that I struggled to understand the first time round extremely simple and, using the RCS's fantastic library, I was able to delve deeper into the subjects than I ever did as a student...
Opening night for my latest play, Battery Park, has come and gone. I'm sitting here, exhausted but exhilarated after a fantastic rehearsal process that led to us making what I think is a great show. I started this blog as a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where I studied directing, as a place to reflect on my practice, and over a decade later I haven't kicked the habit. So here's a reflection on my process as a director - but also as the artistic director of Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company. It will be of niche interest to some I hope, and will be a resource for myself looking back. Battery Park is about a group of young people from Greenock who form a band and attempt to become bigger than Oasis in 1990's Britain. We know right from the off that they didn't succeed and we watch the main protagonist now - a 47 year old man - as he grapples with the choices made by younger him and how they still affect his life. Around a year and a half ago I appli...
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