New writing? Yes please!

I'm all alone, tapping away at my laptop, with nowhere to go on a, quite frankly, average Sunday. Well, I'm not sure if can be classed as average yet, considering it's only 10.18am, but all I've done so far this morning is check my social media apps on my phone and remove fish faeces from my neglected goldfish tank. I'm a terrible mother.

I'm quite surprised at how un-sad I feel. I've had the most brilliant week that I didn't want to end, but I've come out of it surprisingly buoyant.

Yep, StageWrite week was fabulous. From Monday to Saturday I trundled along the A6 to Bedford to rehearse and perform four brand new pieces of writing. It was the third time that this has happened; the marvellous No Loss Productions and LifeBox Theatre companies started it off in 2013, and I've been lucky enough to have been a part of it every year so far.
I was asked a while back if I was interested in being part of it, immediately responded to the email with a big fat yes, noted the dates and promptly forgot about it. I had also been asked if I would like to direct one of the pieces. I politely declined, I'm only used to shouting at children in my 'directing', I wasn't sure I was ready to take on people over the age of 17 just yet.

I burst through the doors of The Place Theatre with more pizazz than John Barrowman's jazz hands on Monday afternoon. A rehearsal for one of the other plays was just finishing up so my "Oh my God it's so good to see you again" greetings to everyone were done in a tiny whisper and exaggerated facial expressions of glee. I didn't know the actors currently rehearsing so I sat down to watch the end of their rehearsal before getting introduced, and noticed how amazing they were. I hadn't acted in some time, I needed to dig out my skills from somewhere again. I wasn't going to show myself up!

We kicked off our rehearsal for the first play that I would be performing in, 'Voucher', which saw a wide variety of characters locked in a supermarket and forced to talk to each other. Since the last StageWrite I have written several of my own scripts, only for the children that I teach, but I began to see things from a different perspective. When I was reading through the script when it had been sent to me, I found myself thinking how differently I would have done things and I realised that maybe I could actually write something myself... Anyway, It wasn't for me to judge, but to perform it as best as we could so that the writer could see how it worked. With the writer in the room it was an unusual rehearsal, but she didn't say a word and let us get on with it. It was only a short but sweet rehearsal time on Monday, so I raced back for a lesson with my Neverland actors, full of beans after a fabulous afternoon.

Tuesday was a very mixed bag. I had to be at the theatre for 9am(!), but of course in my madness I had decided to get up even earlier than I had to for a morning swim. I had absolutely no idea what the first play I was in was all about! That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, but if you asked me to explain it to you I probably wouldn't know where to start! Thankfully our wonderful director had dug up information on a story that was part of the play, so it began to make more sense to me, but I'm not going to lie, I was still pretty clueless! It was the second play of the week in which I would remain pretty motionless, too. In 'Voucher' I spent half of my time on stage unconscious, and in 'Stranger To Myself' I had a lovely time just sitting in a chair staring out in front of me pretending to be blind! Who said acting was tough?!? ;)


Another play was rehearsed before I got to tackle my next script of the day, so I tried to distract myself in the theatre, half-listening to the rehearsal happening, without wanting to know too much about it before I saw it being performed later in the week. I was quite successful at doing that, as I was pleasantly surprised when I watched it on Friday night, despite having heard bits and pieces that filtered into my brain as I was deciphering logic problems in my puzzle book. Don't judge me!

Then came a glorious rehearsal. 'Intercourse'. From the title you can probably imagine what the theme of the play was. From the very minute we started the rehearsal, right through to the end, we laughed like loons. It's an incredibly funny script, and the character opposite mine was such a bumbling fool that I was falling to pieces every 30 seconds at least. I have absolutely no idea how we managed to get through the whole script, but somehow we made it, and I went home with an aching stomach and a stupid grin on my face.

Wednesday arrived quicker than you could say 'show pants' and it was the first night of performances! Not only was I excited to be performing, but I couldn't wait to see the other pieces on offer too. 'Voucher' was on last, but there were two more plays before, so I settled down to watch 'Fit Piece' and 'Winter Light'. (I won't give too much away)
All I knew of 'Fit Piece' was that it had something to do with a gym, so I was quite shocked as the play developed in a way that I really wasn't expecting, and I began to see one of my friends who is a personal trainer in a while new light...
'Winter Light' was a ten minute piece that was beautiful, and made me cry at the end. It also brought to my attention the culinary wonder that is 'Egg In A Cup'. Google it, see if you can find it. I was tempted to have it for breakfast the next day, but I settled for a poached egg instead. I should have had egg in a cup, I managed to drop half of the shell in my poached egg... but that's another story.
We performed 'Voucher', and settled down for the post-show discussion, which I thought might take a turn for the interesting. It didn't go the way I thought, and some really constructive criticism came out for all three plays actually, and people were left very happy. Job done!

I rocked up again for the afternoon on Thursday for another rehearsal of 'A Stranger To Myself'. I began to find more understanding in the play during this rehearsal, and started to like it a lot more than I did during my first read, when I didn't have a clue! We had a mammoth tech, but (from what my blind self could see) it looked beautiful and the sounds that were used were brilliant. It had an amazing atmosphere.
We were on second that night, so I took my place in the audience again for the first piece, and was shocked and very pleasantly surprised to see my amazing friend and work husband John walk through the door. He hadn't told me he was coming, and it was so nice to have support there, and for him to come all the way over to Bedford to take a chance on something he knew nothing about was awesome. This is how it should be!

The first performance that night was 'The Interview', about a man going for a job interview in a school. Again, this was all I knew of the piece. It was brilliant! It took so many twists and turns and was so clever, and despite laughing almost all the way through, I felt so sorry for the central character. Absolutely amazing. Well done to all of the boys involved. Top marks to you all.
Stranger was next, and I felt surprisingly nervous. I wasn't sure whether I was more nervous for the performance, or the questions afterwards. Even though I had begun to understand the play more during the day, I would not know what to say at all if someone asked me a question about it! Thankfully it went well, and the questions asked at the end didn't really have much to do with the characters, it all kicked off in a discussion about surveillance in life, and how much we are being watched. I really thought punches might start to get thrown! Still, a lively debate always brightens up a Thursday night!

Friday made me smile. A lot. We rehearsed and performed 'Up Your Prana', which was set in a yoga centre. My character was the new receptionist, and encountered some of the most bizarre and brilliant characters that attended classes there. We only had the afternoon to rehearse this one, but it was fairly straightforward a story. It was also amazing to be directed by the wonderful Andy, who wrote a piece that I performed in at the very first StageWrite, and then saw perform his solo show in London last year. It was fascinating to see him in a directing sense, and I loved every second. I got the chance to flex my funny muscles, and eat sausage rolls at the same time. Perfect!

Also performed that night was 'Domino', the play that I was half listening to on Tuesday. Again, truly stunning performances from everyone involved, and it really did reflect a real cross section of humans, every character was incredibly well observed, you just knew that you have encountered someone exactly like that in each character.

And then came Saturday, the final night. It was another 9am start and time to get my kit off in a very chilly auditorium! Intercourse. We actually did really well in rehearsals, there were only a couple of moments in rehearsals when I completely lost it, but we found a lot more in it this time, and it was definitely my favourite piece of the week.
This time, we were performing first, and I've never been more glad. My nerves were at an all-time high. It is such a brilliant piece of writing and I really didn't want to screw it up. Nervous tweeting from the green room ensued, as did sweaty palms, and a feeling of nausea, but as soon as I stepped out onto the stage, it all disappeared and I had the most fun performing it. And as a bonus, nobody ran away when I took my clothes off, huzzah! :D
I was incredibly proud of myself for not breaking out into laughter, especially since the play had reduced me to hysterical tears only hours before. I came out thinking we had done it justice, and I spoke to the writer afterwards and he was incredibly happy with it, and was highly complimentary. Phew! I'd love to work on it again. Hmmm...

The final piece of the week was 'Cyprus Sunsets', written and performed by the aforementioned Andy. He was phenomenal. It was the third of his plays about a character called 'Me', and this time, he was in (any guesses?) Cyprus. I don't want to give anything away because I know it's going to be performed again, but it was just brilliant. Look it up, and go and watch it!

And that was it. During the Q&A session for Andy's play, it hit me that the week was finally over, and I had to wipe away a couple of tears with my poncho.
This week has not been about acting. It's all about the writing, and helping the writers to develop their work, but it's really given me a huge kick. It didn't take me long to realise how much acting means to me. I have been the happiest this week than I have been in a very long time, and it's because I've been doing the thing that I love most in the world, with some of the best people that I know. I've met some amazing, wonderful and stupidly talented people along the way, and hopefully I'll get to work with them again.
I know now that I need to focus on getting back out there. It's all very well people saying to me that they have plans and would love for them to come together, I need to make them actually happen instead of waiting for things to be confirmed.
And if no-one else wants to hire me, than I'll write something for myself! I've already got an idea in my head, I'm going to put it into action.
Who cares if it's terrible? It's my first attempt, everyone starts somewhere. And thanks to things like StageWrite, I know that there's people out there willing to help and get stuff out.

So thank you, StageWrite, you have been brilliant in more ways than you could ever imagine. New writing? Yes please!