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…
So The White Room’s run is over. We’re not sure what’s next, let alone me. I’m tired and emotional for allsorts of reasons to do with production. I felt physically sick for the most of it and nervous when familiar faces turned up. The more I saw it the more I wanted to tweak and edit. The things I were worried about I needn’t have and the things I thought were fine needed work. But this is the game – trial by fire and do it again. I’m so tired so don’t want to dwell on this chapter too much as there’s still life in the project but it’s a waiting game at present. I can’t reveal too much because there’s not anything solid to reveal yet. I’ve already started the inklings of the next idea which wasn’t intended to be the next idea but hey the emails have been sent now. Again, I wait. And Glasgow is next week for The Fielding Programme where I start the initial workload for the next play (the planned one, the reason I’m going.)
I’ll leave you with a few odds and sods from The White Room and I probably won’t be around these parts for a while as I prepare mentally and pack a bag for Glasgow. I’m thinking of starting my video blog side of things once I’m there, seeing as I started it up there the first time round….
It’s coming up very soon. So here are the details if you so wish to come and see it. It would be nice to see your face there, I may even stroke it. In all seriousness there’s a Q&A with myself, the director and the two actors involved after the final evening performance on the Sunday.
There’s a Facebook event page as well like most modern things have so if you want you can have a looksy there: (this here is a link to the Facebook event page I just mentioned)
But if that doesn’t take you fancy here are the details in a wordy format. Fantastic!
Commissioned by Theatrix Theatre Company, Katie McCullough has adapted the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. Radically modernised for a 21st century audience McCullough aims to carry through the horror first depicted by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the original.
SYNOPSIS
With Liam spending more time at work and the pressures of motherhood bearing down on Helen the couple bicker with each other to devastating and revealing results. She thinks he’s having an affair and he can’t seem to inject their life with the warmth he’s so ready to give while battling with money issues. After wading through their fears and differences the couple reconcile only for the past to be dug back up. With newborn Isabel palmed off to the mother-in-law for the night Helen talks about that fateful incident that cruelly took their previous child.
CAST
Helen – Suzy Duxbury
Liam – Alex Bell
DIRECTOR
Rosemarie Partridge
PLAYWRIGHT
Katie McCullough
The performances will take place:
* 5pm and 8pm Saturday 17th April
* 5pm and 8pm Sunday 18th April
After the last performance on Sunday there will be the opportunity to talk to the cast and crew in an informal Q&A session.
40mins (approx), 2 actors, 1 room and in real time.
(Limited seating per performance.)
*****TICKET INFORMATION*****
Tickets are £7 (£5 concessions)
Please phone 01727 860217 to book. Or you can email Dennis O’Connell Baker on admin@theatrix.co.uk to reserve your tickets for collection/payment on the door. Please be aware that we are unable to process credit card payments. Cash or cheque only.
So there we are. It’s all happening and very soon. As I say it would be absolutely Lovely to see you there. Come up and say hallo if you do, I’ll be the one clutching the Gin and Tonic hugging the wall and probably doing this:
And here are some photographs of The White Room for some more proof that it’s progressing. Not that you’re going to hurt me if I don’t… right?
I didn’t realise that because I’m attempting to whip “I Still Get Excited When I See A Ladybird” into shape I’ve temporarily dropped the 8th monologue BUT I didn’t give you a visual update of JUDITH who was the last one to be written. Bad me, slapped wrist and botticle.
And for good measure I shall include a very fuzzy photograph of my rejection letter from the Arvon/Jerwood Mentoring Scheme which I didn’t get. But I was shortlisted to the final ten which is something to brag about I suppose. Ho hum, on to the next thing…
So today found me having the cast read out the first draft of which I was very excited (and anxious) about. Not only because I feel extremely proud of what I’ve crafted for the adaptation but because for the first time I’m eager to get on with the next project. Not that this one isn’t exciting, it really is because we’re going to be pushing the traditional setups that the audience around here are used to and it’s a meaty script for the cast to get their teeth into. But it’s because I’m feeling ready and motivated to start and finish a project with the intention of sending it out to the right people. I’ve been extremely good and concentrated on this project and have avoided falling into any competitions that have been hollering in my general direction. Nope. I’ve not fallen for it one bit and it’s because I’m treating this as my career now. Everyone who knows me can acknowledge the relentless drive I have to throw myself at any opportunity to help further my career. And I’m still doing it but I’m playing the slow race and producing work that I don’t cringe at and have a pocket full of pitiful excuses primed to wave in people’s faces. I’m making decisions and sticking with them rather than thinking, ‘sod it, if I don’t do this now the world will cave in and I’ll never get my work seen by anyone, anywhere’. Nope once again.
Luscious whiteboards a-plenty...
...More luscious whiteboards
An arty shot... because I can.
The readthrough was a blind one which allowed the cast to hear how each other’s characters developed and the director could vision the entirety. Everyone had read snippets from previous rehearsals but since then I’d rejigged them. Hang on, I say rejig, they were in no order and/or finished. They were little exchanges laying flaccid on pieces of A4 paper… This was exciting because I had fleshed out characters, plot and an entire script. It was thrilling to hand them over with the intention they could learn lines. And for the most part the story worked, it clicked and made sense which considering I was clasping at straws at the beginning of this project because I was unclear in my own head of what I wanted to do felt good. I’ve got one section that I need to rework on, that’s one speech and the reaction to it and then it’s done… I’d like to say. Maybe when it’s on its feet properly there may be some tweaking and scrapping of lines, but that’s way in the future now. Hopefully I haven’t jinxed any of it.
Whilst I’m here I thought I’d give a glimpse of what will hopefully be the arena for where we’re staging the piece:
Performance Space?
Performance Space?
It won’t be long till I completely hand over this script for ‘The White Room’ and leave the actors and the director to their own devices. Once they’re in the throes of getting the piece on its feet I can move back to project Simon helped me craft whilst in Shropshire. I’ve been fantastically resolute in not touching it till I’d finished this draft. And I haven’t. So it goes to show that I can be sensible and not all about work 100% of the time*.
Said script.
*with a lot of willpower plus a hospital stay to extract gallbladder and working the money jobs… So you could call it a time collision thing but I really have been good and stuck to my own rules, promise!
Things are growing everywhere at the moment. The Christmas tree is slowly but surely sprouting above soil (thanks Teresa!) and I’m gradually getting full movement in my body post-gallbladder removal AND the script for The White Room is getting fuller and fuller every day.
The last rehearsal saw me presenting the group with new scenes that I’d written, one of which being a pivotal scene in the entire setup. It went down well and we discussed more about the piece as a whole and intense nature of the piece. Things are becoming very clear now and I’m not just sitting at my laptop staring at a blank screen wondering if the pressure of having weekly rehearsals would get to me first or the lack of solid performance space. But saying that things are gradually getting there and I’m feeling confident and striving ahead. It’s hard at the moment because I’m not a person to sit still and take the slow paced approach. I’m more than often juggling projects and flitting between competition deadlines and applying for schemes… But I’ve made a conscious effort to steer clear of any distractions and create a strong piece of work and then I can slowly bring in the other projects I want to work on once this is at a stronger state of being. It seems I can’t stop coming up with ideas at the moment and I’m succeeding in telling them to be quiet whilst I stroke the ego of this beast.
Thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce the fellows I be working with.
First up the actors:
Alex and Suzy scribbling
Only so-slightly posed...
And then to the director:
Rosemarie Partridge
And then last but not least, my Christmas tree in the making:
Wannabe Christmas Tree
If this blog post seems a little lucid and lacking usual Katie detail it’s because I’m really cold and can’t move much still. Yeah, c’mon, I want The Sympathies.
This is one of the adaptations I’m working on for Theatrix. If I ever refer to The White Room this is what I mean – I’m adapting The Yellow Wallpaper. We decided to alter the title completely because it’s a modern adaptation and there are several restagings happening around presently so we thought we’d stand out a bit and because it uses the short story as a springboard we thought it best not to take the original title. Agreed? Perfect. Right then on to rehearsals…
We’ve had a fair few but I’ve only just got round to asking the people involved if they’d mind me blogging about it. They said they didn’t mind so here we are now, with me blogging about it.
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