Shakesperience October 22, 2010

In all the kerfuffle of new projects springing up all over the place in the fertile place that is MY MIND I completely forgot to mention that there is a show happening next week that I’ve had a hand in.

 

Next week on the 29th and 30th October all the students involved with Theatrix Theatre Company will be performing for your pleasure with Shakespeare in mind. There’ll be singing, dancing, acting, talking and all manner of things Shakespeare. They’ll also be performing some modern adaptations of Shakespeare segments that I’ve been tinkering with which is nice.

 

 

(I promise you if you click on the picture it suddenly becomes readable.)

 

So if you want to see the new talent do their brilliant best and see what Theatrix Theatre Company can produce come along and see. I’ll be there (obviously).

 

Link to buy tickets is here: Abbey Theatre, St. Albans

On Her Majesty’s Site Specific Service June 29, 2010

I’ve been approached by St. Albans Arts via Abbey Theatre to write a site specific piece for an their upcoming Big Project in September. The idea is that the Old Town Hall will be taken over by local talents ranging from filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians and each room will be fully utilised for maximum impact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been given the challenge of writing a 20-25min piece specifically for the court room – a space that is magnificent as it is imposing. Awe-inspiring to say the least I got given a tour yesterday to go suss it out and I cannot wait to get my hands dirty with this piece. It’s often used by the BBC because of its authenticity and the fact that it has not been disrupted at all. The acoustics leave much to be desired (tall ceilings and endless bouncing) but using trained actors will help a great deal.

 

Presently I’m up to date with all the Shakespeare adaptations I’m doing for Theatrix so can give my full attention to this piece as it’s going to require a lot of research. Going to sort out sitting in on some court cases tomorrow at the Crown Court in St. Albans. So far I know what the premise is and I’ve cast a few of the parts but have yet to put pen to paper. That’s what my plan is to do for the rest of this week.

 

 

Eager, excited and equally terrified. I’m liking it.

There’s A Reason Why I’m Slinking May 21, 2010

Slinking into the background so to speak. I’ve been busy in a good way. In true Katie fashion I’ve been busy here, there and every place. I see a lot of theatre, it’s kinda how I do things.

 

 

The purple dots are deadlines for competitions and schemes and so far I’ve hit each one. The orange dots are pieces of theatre I’ve seen. So far I’ve seen a total of 22. That’s on average 4.4 shows a month. That’s the only appearance of maths you’ll see me do, minimal button pushing on any calculator. So there’s that, all the seeing (and unfortunately paying) of theatre that’s kept me busy. Then there’s the new pieces of work I’m crafting for new commissions.

 

I’m adapting Shakespeare for Theatrix’s big show at the end of October. Really need to pull my socks up with that one as the entire company is 150 kids which is split into two shows and then split into smaller segments. Really modernising again and making it a joint effort between the younger children and the older ones. Shortly I will be immersing myself in a tonne of Shakespeare which is never a bad thing but never to be taken lightly.

 

 

I’ve also been asked to write a site-specific piece for St. Albans Creative Council which is extremely nice of them. It’s for St. Albans old town hall, the court room to be specific. And the best thing? (Possibly at this stage also the worst…) Is that I can do whatever I wish and cast whomever I wish. And I can have 25mins to do that. Have yet to actually put pen down on paper for this because I’m too busy seeing other things and juggling the other jobs. But when I shall I sure will have fun with it.

 

Since coming back from Kilcreggan I’ve yet to have any more spare time to work on my new personal project. It’s still there sat waiting for me to churn some pages out but I have other priorities to concentrate on, y’know for other people. But safe in the knowledge it’s there waiting for me to pounce on. It’s about truckers and my Dad is showing a keen interest (seeing as he is a trucker and he’s the very reason I’m writing this play) so soon I’ll be going out on the road with him for research purposes. Just like I did when I was fourteen. Jeez, that was twelve years ago.

 

 

At the moment I’m feeling this nervous energy which I’m sure is to subside at some point. I’m rolling my eyes and gritting my teeth and seeing a lot of familiar names attached to things, which I cannot deny winds me up good and proper but I have to remind myself where I’ve come from and my achievements so far. It’s hard to push yourself when there’s only you to push but every now and again I realise my strengths and pummel through. Who knows what’s around the corner. I’d be fucked if I do. (But once in a blue moon it’d be nice to just know, y’know so I don’t think I’m utterly being ignored…)

 

 

NB. I also forgot to mention that I’ve been asked to be a judge for the 20th Annual TEN by TEN, a playwrighting competition in Houston, Texas. So I’ve been reading and marking (so far) 55 scripts. Another reason why I’ve been quiet.

The White Room April 4, 2010

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:

 

CIRCUS March 30, 2010

Once again I’ve been busy. But productive. Any fellow writer who knows me will remember me banging on about ICA Labs and about how fantastic they are to airing work and pushing projects forward. The idea is simple – a private room in the plush ICA to read out your work with actors. That’s pretty much it to be honest, but like most things that at first seem simple they’re layered with hurdles and delights.

 

I had my Lab on Sunday and decided to work on the children’s TV programme I have banging around not doing much. I’d had an earlier draft of episode one read before but since then the theme of the project had changed. As well as writing in whatever spare time I have I’m always juggling three jobs (two out of three are interesting, fair turn out I say). So when I had some time in lieu to take from the boring job I toyed around with the idea of doing a Lab but then at that time all the projects I had at my finger tips were past having readthroughs and had been sent off to the relevant people OR were in rehearsal. So I turn my attention to CIRCUS and decide to write a second episode to see if it has legs. And then in true Katie-style I had several events and writing projects happening up until a week before I needed to send the scripts out. Oh and there was casting as well.

 

 

And in between that among deadlines for other such things I had a birthday which went something like this…

 

 

I always get ridiculously busy around my birthday to the point where I either forget it or end up doing something work related on the day. I have to write it on my own calendar.

 

Cut to a week when I’d planned to write the thing and I was struggling. I didn’t have time to indulge in a series outline or even attempt a bible. I was writing blindly and anyone following my Facebook statuses would have gathered that at times I was struggling. And procrastinating as usual. But jeez I love the pressure. By the end of Thursday night I had a first draft that then got posted/emailed/given to all the cast involved and then I had to wait till the following Sunday to see if it was worth investing time and energy into the programme.

 

Being a kid’s programme I had to cast kids. And going on recommendations from Rosemarie Partridge at Theatrix (where I’m their writer in residence) I had before me a bunch of eager and fully-trained kids. Fantastic. Meeting them to hand out scripts on the Saturday put my mind at rest, I was fortunate enough to be in a position where I could have the intended characters played as close as possible to their ages. A win/win situation. And even more brilliant was the fact that most of the children involved had only finished a production two days before and still all turned up on time and read beautifully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was clear as we all read through the two episodes was that my fear of episode two being too dark was nothing to worry about. The general consensus was that people wanted to see more of this which ultimately means going back through episode one and re-threading the dark elements. Not only has this satisfied and reassured me but it’s a massive weight off my shoulders. I wanted to write a children’s programme that wasn’t all sweetness and light. I wanted it to portray an adult world through children’s eyes. We have death, peril and a rights of passage occurring but never are they expressed in a patronising light. They’re meant to be a celebration of how outlooks can differ; it’s the kids that express these things and I wanted that to remain true. It’s one big allegory for life and growing up in a world that’s not the same as every one else’s. But never is anything kooky for kookys sake. Their arena is true to their life but they still experience the embarrassment, the wonder, the pain and the laughter of growing up. It’s a magical environment and one that I’ve had immense fun writing. And never once have I felt like I’m pandering to keeping things simple because ‘the kids will be watching’. It’s had me thinking back to the Q&A session that I went along to at the Royal Court where Steven Andrews talked to us about things to remember. And the one that keeps sticking in my head is this:

 

“Remember to keep it child centred AND child driven. If problems arising in the script are solved by the adults no one’s going to keep watching… It’s called Children’s TV for a reason, stick to it.”

 

Utterly true. And that’s something that I do think is prevalent in my script at this present time. But it’s something that I can explore more now I know that there’s something to this idea. The feedback garnered from all the actors involved was thrilling to say the least and it was even more exciting that the children who were reading for me were throwing me some superb ideas and insights. It truly was a great moment especially as I don’t usually write for children. It goes to show that sometimes writing something you’re not fully inclined to do can make you realise that writing is all about telling a good story no matter what restraints you’re up against or used to. And it’s not all reliant on magic.

 

A big hearty thanks to the following:

Cariad Lloyd
Michael Bird
Ishani Canisius
Conor Gray
Michael Keir
Amber Townsend
Rupert Baker
Stanley Walton
Melissa Woodbridge
Neil Fox
Hannah Thomson

Sleeping (for a bit) But My Work’s Not Done. December 14, 2009

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!

Stroke It and It Grows, Surely? December 10, 2009

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.

The White Room (with yellow wallpaper…) December 3, 2009

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.

Please Give This Lady Red Wine Please September 19, 2009

It’s been a busy busy time in Katieville recently. I’ve had to make lots of decisions with regards to what I actually want to be doing and what work goes where and who sees what. All those annoying (potential) big decisions that seem the biggest you need to clamber over but once it’s done the deed is indeed done and then you realise you were being an overly dramatic mopey walrus (just me huh?).

…

So I decided to send the second play* I wrote for the Invitation Only group whilst at the Royal Court ahead to Simon Stephens in prep for the Arvon course in November. It was a tough call as it was either make one theatre script super duper worked on and shiny or choose the lesser worked on and newer project and then have the end result being two shiny projects to work from. So I opted for the latter choice which should be good as I’ve not even looked at that script since I handed it in earlier this year. Reignite the passion is the plan and what better way to do it with Simon Stephen’s guidance.

*I realise it would make sense if I actually called them by their names. First play is called, “Thursday’s Child” and second play is called, “Within Grasp”.

The dangling (first) script* from the Introduction Group is one that keeps pestering me to rewrite the next draft but I really can’t be bothered. I have no motivation for it at present and I keep getting annoyed at this factoid. So much so that I’ve hastily sent it to someone who wanted to read the next draft just so I could wash my hands of it for a while. I haven’t been stupid enough to send them a draft they’ve already read, I’ve sent them the fuller textured third draft although I was planning on sending them the fourth. Meh. Sometimes I am a tad impatient. But if it gives me a clearer head for a while and I don’t feel too guilty for not working on it then it can only be good.

I’ve been on a roll recently with short story submissions here, there and everywhere and when they’re up and ready to be perused I will submit the links on this very blog. I also recently did a guest stint over at Lucy Vee’s blog which be here. Lucy’s blog is rammed with information on reading, writing and more importantly is a healthy scriptual kick up the arse as to what you should be doing. She’s a Lady with a keen eye to help you with your script and comes with added humour and not at a very large price either (for reading your script that is).

Workshops have started for “The Yellow Wallpaper” and as ever these kids are fantastic. Unfortunately because it’s that time of year where they go off to uni to begin their further education of late nights, lack of proper stationery and alcohol the two excellent guinea pigs won’t be able to be involved in the final project. They were bloody marvellous and I wish I could develop the piece more with them but we also have two bloody fantastic stand-ins to step up the game and see the piece to fruition. Since I’ve started this out-of-the-blue adaptation route it’s been interesting. To take the structure and layer your own neatly cut pieces to make a new shiny colourful beast is a great feeling. And I love the collaborative side of a project like this; when you’re on a roll and you all share the same vision. It’s fantastic when the eyes light up and you all realise you’re thinking the same thing. Brilliant, I cannot wait to really get my hands dirty.

I will be doing so after I’ve whipped up another script of mine I haven’t touched for a while for the Rocliffe New Writing Forum at BAFTA. I made myself re-read my script and can admit I’ve fallen back in love with it and instantly knew which bits needed to be culled and reshaped. It was like sticking two fingers (and a fucking big knife) up to the person who basically defecated on my script and said some vile irritating things about my work. This wasn’t a case of me not handling feedback well (anyone who knows me will agree) this person said some rather unwarranted and holy inappropriate comments and made me angry for at least a week. I still can’t hold a proper conversation with them but I’m proud of this script and his comments are slowly being erased from my mind.

…

And to top it all off my script that I’d completely forgotten about in the BSSC competition made it through the beatings to make the first round. Let’s see if I can beat my personal best this year.

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There’s plenty more to babble about but I’m well hungry and gasping for a cup of tea. Really I want a red wine but I have none. Really I should have done this as a videoblog so you didn’t have to read this much. But it’s cold and I would have looked like I was desperate for red wine.

Hallo Miss Busy! August 31, 2009

It’s late and I have tomorrow’s day already encroaching so this will be brief. I’ve been busy with work up to my eyelashes at the moment and it’s all exciting and extremely knackering. What with my unpredictable bouts of gallbladder problems and unhealthy scoops of lethargy I seem to be either writing, scrawling, writhing or sleeping.

But I came here to tell you what I’m up to…

Come end of this week I’ll be working with a few select students alongside Theatrix to do a modern adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. We’re going to be workshopping the short story and picking out the relevant themes that the students involved want to explore. It went in my favour that I saw an adaptation of this very short whilst up in Edinburgh. It was a humble amateur production that excelled in places and limped along in others. But what it did show me was the importance of the male voice within this female representation of post-natal depression and insanity. There’s only one male figure that appears directly within the text which is that of the controlling husband. The adaption I saw seemed to gloss over the role too easily and made him appear cliche ridden and lacking depth. What I’m hoping to do is flesh the male voices (I’m going to give a voice AND face to the much mentioned brother) out and add texture to the piece allowing for relationships to jump off the stage and not be hidden in subtext. This may seem to go against the grain of subtlety but the short story is essentially a monologue but I want to turn that on its head and explore it as a multiple hander. The one thing I want to do is free it of the claustrophobic Victorian setting it currently resides in.

Movie 30

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Aside from that I’m still umming and arring over what play to chose to take along to the Arvon course in November. It’s something that I’m fretting over because I want to make sure I’m giving out a good representation of my work. I’ve got my first full length play that was written for the Royal Court as part of the Young Writers’ Programme which I should be working on to take it to a third draft stage. But I’m lacking the motivation. Then there’s the second one I wrote as part of the Invitation Only group at the Royal Court which hasn’t been touched since I handed it in earlier this year which could do with whipping into shape. I’m leaning towards the latter so I can have potentially two strong pieces but I don’t know if I’m just being lazy about the first and looking for a good excuse to leave working on it a bit longer… Ignore this rambling please, sometimes I just have to write down my inane thoughts so I can what a doofus I’m being. The other pressing factor is that I’m going to be working with Simon Stephens on the selected work so I do want to make this decision based on proper thought. I’ll leave that till later…

Since my last posting I’ve been having a fair few short pieces flung around the Internet-electronical-sphere. All exciting and confidence boosting to say the least but also because the contacts I’ve made with the sites mentioned are absolutely Lovely and keen to showcase new work so if you’ve not visited them before please go and tell them I sent you. They’re rather nice. Here’s a list of the new works up and raring to be read:

“Homecoming” over at Six Sentences

“The Horny Insomniac” over at Six Sentences

“Tidal” over at Metazen

Please feel free to wander over and rate and/or comment on them. Then go try it yourself, very good for editing skills (as I seem to keep stressing recently) and a fun experiment.

Aside from that aside I’m tinkering away on audition monologues which seem to be more interesting than anything else I should be working on, but for those that know me (or are getting to know me) I prefer to be busy. Along the way I’ve been experimenting with Hint Fiction of which details can be found here. Through the myriad of blogs and competitions I keep adding little tasks to do writing wise so if I’m not working on writing, I’m thinking about working on writing and more than often it’s not the thing I should be working on. Go figure.

This jumbled blog was brought to you by the power of Ribena and the letter 9. Out.

P.s. I realise I still haven’t blogged about Edinburgh. I apologise for my tardiness.

P.p.s. I also realise that this is written and not talky talky for you. I apologise for my… Lack of self-pimping?