Miniaturists 33 January 31, 2012

Coming up on Sunday 5th February at The Arcola is The Miniaturists, a collection of short plays that have been written by playwrights who have been invited to do so. And I have been kindly invited to write one and do so. Working alongside my brilliant director Abigail Graham and the superb actors Geraldine Alexander and a Josh Darcy, we’ll be airing an experiment of an idea that I really want to explore further. The piece is called ’18+’; Tom and Lily’s daughter was a porn actress until she was hit by a car. Tragic. The only way they can remember her is watching her back catalogue. It was her job, they are very proud of what she achieved. Disconnection of intimacy and how grief can alter our relationships with each other not just with the person in question. It’s a snapshot of a larger idea that I want to spend time really delving into, but at the moment I want to take the idea out for a spin to see if it’s got legs. And what better way to do it than this.
 
I’m in good company with the other invited writers being Jon Brittain, Brierley Thorpe, Kate Russell-Smith and Al Smith. I’m really looking forward to this short being put in front of an audience. The last few short pieces I’ve written have been a step apart from what I usually write in terms of chronological narrative and style, but I’m really enjoying this approach.
 
There are two performances, one at 5pm and the other at 8pm. Do come along and say hallo.
 

MINIATURISTS 33

5 February 2012

Arcola Theatre

£12/£9

5pm and 8pm

 

Simone Workshop January 19, 2012

Natalia and I will be presenting a creative writing workshop in tandem with the Simone exhibition that’s at Oxford House. Do feel free to come along as,
 

a) it’s free

b) it would be nice to see you
 

and
 

c) we’re wanting to get people collaborating, like we have, in different mediums.

 

So if you’re a shy writer who doesn’t feel like they have what it takes to write a full length story… Come and see if there’s a photographer who could help you collate one. Or if you’re a painter who has dabbled but only does it behind closed doors… Maybe see if there’s a fellow painter who wants a stimulus from month to month. The main objective of the workshop is to discuss and experiment with responses to different mediums and how to generate ideas. Not only is it free, but it’s in a nice place and you’ll get to see the exhibition too as it will take place in the cafe. Give us a shout if you’re coming along and if you can’t make it, feel free to pass it on the someone who can. Here’s the blurb:
 

‘Consequences’

Creative Writing Workshop

by Katie McCullough & Natka Studio

Café Gallery, Oxford House

Wednesday 25th January 2012

7.30 – 8.45pm

All Welcome!

Katie McCullough and Natka Studio collaborated in a creative version of

‘Consequences’ to create their project, ‘Simone’, which is currently displaying

in the cafe at Oxford House.
 

Merging the written word and illustration they have forged a unique

collaboration. Using simple exercises and exploring their approach to the

project they will be discussing how you too can forge creative relationships.

Materials will be provided and the workshop will be free of charge.

Exhibition takes place till the 31.01.2012, in the Oxford House cafe.

 
Katie Mccullough – Writer

www.katiemccullough.co.uk

 
Natka Studio – Illustrator

www.natkastudio.com 

YARN Catch-Up January 16, 2012

Well apparently the audience were laughing which was a huge weight off my mind. Due to the nature of the piece I was worried it would come across as pretentious theatre clap-trap, BUT people liked it. Which was nice*. 

Below are some shots from the night kindly taken by Gemma Mitchell, the mistress at the helm of YARNfest and I’ve also added a bonus segment of the (very dark, lo-fi and altogether quite shonky) rehearsal video I managed to capture. It’s a few excerpts so don’t expect to make much sense of it, but you definitely get the beginning. Lots of appreciation and thanks go out to Poppy Corbett, James Pellow, Shamaya Blake and Trevor Murphy for their sterling work, faux sex and Lion King re-enactment. To be parry to this short rehearsal process has been a charm with the actors hitting the script perfectly and straight from that bat. Kudos to the lot of them.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
YARNfest are always up to something, so please check out their website and keep an eye on anything else that they may doing in the near future.
     
*Fast Show reference intended.

Simone Exhibition News January 14, 2012

The exhibition was a success! And because I was so busy shoving wine into people’s hands and urging people to eat I didn’t manage to get any photos of the folks walking around looking at Simone. But I took one before it got busy and, because I’m chuffed with all the canapés I made, mostly of the spread. Because I know you want to see what I made.
 

 

 

 

 
Limited Edition prints are now available online. We’ve already made two sales with our Limited Edition prints, one on the night and one the very next day. This pleases myself and Natalia a whole load of lot. I thought I’d take the opportunity to say thanks to those who came (about 40 over the whole night) and to urge those who couldn’t make it to go see it now. It’s on at Oxford House till 31st January and it’s in the cafe so you can grab yourself a nice cuppa/java and stroll around. It’s a great building tucked away off the main road and it’s always got stuff going on in there as well as other artwork.
 
If you’d like to buy a Limited Edition print the information is below:
 
Style – Giclée print
Paper – Hahnemühle Photo Rag (308)
Size – 420mm x 520mm
Limited Edition Run – 50 of each image
 
They are for sale for £90 (which includes p&p) and you can browse them here.
 
And we’ll be doing a workshop in conjunction with the exhibition in the next week or so and we’ll have more news on that soon. No doubt I’ll be hollering on Facebook/Twitter/this blog here nearer the time.

Regina V Cooper Footage January 4, 2012

Another blast from the past! Unfortunately a lot of the footage for Regina V Cooper was lost, but myself and cameraman Matthew Farman have trawled through what we have and compiled what we’d like to call a trailer for the piece. And when I say ‘we‘ trawled, what I really mean is I gave Matt notes and he did all the hard work.
 

So here it is…

 

 

No One Writes (Them) Like That Anymore January 2, 2012

This is the name of the short play I’ve been asked to write for the YARNfest night as part of the London Short Film Festival. And the great news is that it’s been cast!   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

The role of Terry (the half-hearted suicidal man) will be played by James Pellow, Gareth (the hen-pecked argumentative husband of Suzie) will be played by Trevor Murphy and Suzie (slightly bored housewive of Gareth) will be played by Shamaya Blake.

 

 

The film above is the piece I’ve written my response to. What I like about Alex’s visual and aural representation of the letter written by Vittorio Gassman is that we can subconsciously relate glimmers of what we see to a narrative we are being fed. It’s a psychological dot-to-dot for me and further underlines the power of the written word and how fertile the human imagination is. So I’ve approached my response in a very surreal fashion, but I’m quite proud of it. Lifting the idea of how we treat silence and noise within relationships I’ve set the piece in a grotty B&B where the walls are thin. I’ve also explored the influence of popular culture through the TV set and how we relate this to memories subconsciously. And how nobody writes letters anymore and the influence of technology having an effect on something as straightforward, such as the suicide note. As I said, it’s a whole collection of surreal ideas presented in a bizarre manner.

 

Wednesday 11th Jan

YARN presents… An Evening of Cinematic Soliloquies
Starts 7pm
£6 tickets, available in advance here