#and of course making Porky's life miserable sorry Porky

[ducktracy]

thumbs 'n reference sheet for this--i started to give up on Porky by the end of the ref because looking at him too long was making me laugh at how dumb and frumpy he looks next to Petunia. which is the entire point!

[anne-louise-fortune]

A Creative life - year two, months two and three

... what, you’re surprised I’m late?

It’s been epic people - epic. Let’s start with a brief follow up from January’s post: 

Carmen and I didn’t get the opportunity we interviewed for at a local theatre. We are really pleased with how the interview went, even the nerve-wracking presentation with a very strict time limit. We will keep on applying for things!

I am still waiting to hear back from the Young Vic about their director’s network. On the advice of the woman who co-runs it, I have sent them a nudging reminder - I may have to hunt down a phone number to make a less gentle reminder soon...

So, what have I been up to?

There was some lawyering in Hull. On week 6 I cracked, and ate in the pub round the corner from the hotel. I did find a delightful Polish supermarket just down the road, which sold lots of lovely teas and odd foreign chocolate. If it’s got fruit in it, it’s at least partly healthy, right?

Then there was three days more lawyering in the heart of Oxfordshire. I stayed in a Youth Hostel in a very pretty village, and met some very interesting people. I also used it as an opportunity for fun things, and took myself out to Oxford one night for a mooch around. As I have been binge watching ‘Lewis’ lately, it was really fun to spot various filming locations.

There was then... some other stuff (more below)... and now I’m back doing some more lawyering in Bristol. I’m staying at my mate’s house in Trowbridge, which is helping me retain my sanity somewhat. Also, he has unending wifi. And wine. 

The lawyering now has a definitive purpose - some of the wages will go towards a show I hope to stage in September (more below).

TV - I had an interview for CBBC, for a possible three month contract on one of their shows (Show X). It was one of the roles I originally interviewed for late last year, but didn’t get. They called me back in to see them in early February, and gave me the job almost immediately.

Another part of the BBC continued to send me e-mails asking if I could do odd days for them, which meant I had to send replies saying ‘I’m currently sitting in the next building to you, working on {show X}, sorry’.

Ah, {Show X}. Show X is a good show, suffering from poor production management. On my third day working on it, a crew member almost died. I’m not joking - she’s had to have specialist knee surgery and will be off work for at least three months. From there it swung from tragedy to not-very-funny-comedy, and a series of mishaps and mistakes that just made the whole process miserable for most people involved. A week and a half in, I got an automated letter from HR, telling me that my contract was due to expire on March 17th - unless I knew any better... I went upstairs, told a slight porky to my contact in Talent, sat out the following two weeks, and then ran for the hills...

Which is fine, as, as you may have gathered, my focus has shifted to Theatre.

And what a two months it’s been! That three days I was in Oxfordshire I used as an opportunity to see Art at the Old Vic. I’ve never been there before, and was in the cheapest seat they do - a box on the edge of the highest gallery. Amazing view, if slightly uncomfortable. The play was really good - the script and the performances both amazing. 

I’ve been over to Derby three Saturdays running to take part in the RTYDS Introduction to Directing Short Course. It was great! Loads of useful tips, loads of things I’d sort of thought about but not known how to develop, some stuff I’d never considered before - and all with a great bunch of people. The facilitators were really knowledgeable as well - and had some really good insight to give with respect to their own career paths to date. The cohort were also really lovely - several of us are keeping in touch via various forms of social media. 

Studio Salford had the first of it’s twice yearly Development Weeks. Aforementioned {Show X} messed up my timetable so I only got to one night of it, but again, good pieces of work at the start of their lives, and good to catch up with some local actors who I haven’t seen for too long. 

A local theatre has opened a rehearsal space in conjunction with two other theatre companies. The facilities used to be a dance studio, but they have massively improved it - especially the toilet situation, which used to be positively medieval! I am hoping to be able to use them for rehearsals later this year. I went to the open evening, drank their prosecco and caught up with a theatre-maker I first met early last year. 

My friend Si, who was in my Hamlet last year, was in Wyrd Sisters at a theatre very near to me. He was very good - he had about 4 roles. 

I went to London, and met up with various other tumblr users who constitute a part of the European section of the Miss Fisher’s Phandom. We spent a fun three and a bit days loafing around the city and seeing shows. On Friday, four of us went to see ‘Threesome’ at the Union Theatre in Southwark. It was pretty much a British sex-romp comedy show but very well done. It started out as a one act show, and has been developed - you could sort of tell - the first act was much stronger than what came after the interval, but I am very optimistic that the second half can be made just as strong given time for development. 

The night after the whole group of us saw David Tennant in Don Juan in Soho, an update of the Moliere morality tale. It was... a bit bonkers... especially the end. But I enjoyed it, Tennant was excellent, as was his co-star, Adrian Scarborough, who excelled in his role as ‘DJ’s’ straight man. 

I was in Leeds for three days, Technical Directing on a scratch piece of theatre about ‘Unsung British Women’. In four days the actors created an amazing 30 minutes of theatre from absolutely nothing. I was parachuted in towards the end to do the lights and sound, and it went really well. We did two Sharings for the local theatre community, and about 50 people turned up altogether - this is very good for an unknown show in a railway arch in inner city Leeds on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully, if someone gives the producer some cash, or she can persuade the Arts Council to fund her, it will be developed. 

I went to the scratch night at the West Yorkshire Playhouse - five acts of 15 minutes each, all of them works in development. Some were better than others, and I know I will see the full show of one of them when it gets to the Greater Manchester Fringe in July.

As mentioned, I am planning on staging a show in September. The rights holders have been approached, and have sent me a holding response. It is both exciting and terrifying, in roughly equal measure. I’m not saying anything more until they come back to me with a definitive answer. More soon? Let me just say that this will hopefully be the first in a new strand of theatre work I’m developing with a distinct theme. Also more on that... later...

Thanks as ever for all your support, on here, on Instagram and on Facebook. It really means a lot when you like my posts or pictures. I absolutely suck at messaging people, but really appreciate your patience - those people who wait three days for a reply from me will know what I mean! The current lawyering role has no wifi, an internet policy that prevents me even accessing gmail, and a monbile phone policy that means I’m not even supposed to have the thing turned on. It’s not helpful to keeping in touch! Anyway, if this month goes well, I’ll try and update at the end of April. See you soon!