Nowhere in this discussion (forgive me if I'm wrong) has there any mention of the guys who will bring the script alive / make it work.
Neither was there any mention of it last Monday night (although they may feel it is not right to discuss just yet)
SURELY a script can be rock solid in every way but if the crew ain't up to it then it will be a flop. Arguement: script v/s performers - any thoughts?
And as a postcript to the person who said a writer should see 5 plays a month to become a good writer I would suggest that more importantly you need to walk on the stage, do some acting, do some producing rather than sit in a comfy chair in the audience - I've worn lots of T shirts just sat on my arse! hehe
I can't afford to see 5 plays a month. eother time-wise or money-wise, though I always try to make the effort to support my frinds when they're doing a play.
I totally agree that it really does help to get on the stage and do it yourself. I've been acting for about a decade now. You learn what works. You learn what doesn't! To that person: that's like saying "If you want to learn how to be a cosmetic surgeon, just watch 'Nip and Tuck'. Okay, extreme, and not probably too relevant, but you know what I mean (or you may not...). What can you learn from sitting on your btm in the theatre?
For years I saw plays and thought "I didn't enjoy that - it must be me that's at fault". But as soon as I started acting, I could see exactly what was going on. I then learned that I didn't like some plays because they just weren't my cup of tea (farce, for example), and that I didn't like others because they were actually pants.
Al of this shapes my writing. I can push the boundaries, because I know what they are. Sometimes when I'm in play, I'll just look at some of the totally barking directions and know the writer has never set foot on a stage, much less performed!
A good script is vital - anything is an insult to the rest of us writer, and the poor beggars who have to perform in it, but I've seen an appalling script rendered almost watchable by a superb cast. I've also seen excellent scripts completely ruined by every acting sin imaginable.
One can sit on one's backside as much as one like, but you have to know what you're looking for.
By the way, I've also done stage managing, set building, costumes, props. Be a tart, get yourself out there!
So there's my thoughts. Over-stated as always hee hee!
By the way, I've also done stage managing, set building, costumes, props.
Thez - I couldn't agree more!
I have been on stage almost every year since the age of 7 (I'm now 45 - pass me a zimmer frame someone!) and apart from directing - which for some reason I've never got around to - I've done every single job, from set design and build through costumes and prompt to lighting, sound, backstage crew, SM and even bar/box office and usher.
I genuinely think that the combination of all these experiences gives one a far greater innate, natural knowledge than one might realise; it not only (I hope) enables one to write without building-in really horrendous natural problems, but also stops one from being prescriptive in set design/layout or effects.
It's enough to say 'box set for two rooms' without specifying SL or SR, stringent decor or use of thrusts, revolves etc. That's the designer's job.
Which is probably why the cyclorama ('planetarium') disappeared!
Thez - where have you been you old rascal?? Yes Adman I agree entirely - just sat on your arse watching 5 plays a month (as was suggested to me in a somewhat terse manner by someone on this forum) ain't really good enough. Standing center stage just in mi underpants (at the tender age of 15) certainly gave me an accute awareness of how an actor can feel vulnerable!
Well, I did once appear in an outdoor production in little more than a well-draped sheet and a big smile... Not one of our warmest summers...
Anyway, to the programme?
*non-committal shrug*
I think it was pretty much what I thought it was going to be.
Anyway, I'm right here, frantically working/avoiding working!
As for the new activity - YAY! (leaps up and down excitedly) But will it last? I certainly hope so. Do we need a competition as an excuse to get our heads together? Nah! Long live the forum!
As long as C4 don't pull it, or the world isn't taken over by damn dirty apes....
Originally posted by moonbird99: Thez - where have you been you old rascal?? Yes Adman I agree entirely - just sat on your arse watching 5 plays a month (as was suggested to me in a somewhat terse manner by someone on this forum) ain't really good enough. Standing center stage just in mi underpants (at the tender age of 15) certainly gave me an accute awareness of how an actor can feel vulnerable!
Moonbird, my response to you was not at all terse! Remember? I called you honey and it went on and on . . . put it on a t-shirt, etc. Remember now?
It's just hard to keep up interest in a forum where everyone wants to be a playwright and see their work produced and no one is interested in discussing new plays by living writers that actually are produced. It's becoming a little too saddo-ville for me.
But no offense intended to you or Caicos or anyone else. You guys have some funny lines. And I am sure your grasp of theatricality is exponentially greater than mine having been in gay cabaret at such a tender age! No question!
Actually, now that I think about it, it's crazy to even think that going to see plays in the West End would assist someone in writing a play that would be successful in the West End. How foolish of me. I am sure that your opinions about what would work in the West End are vastly superior to mine, because some time in the 60s you streaked across a stage in your adolescence. Of course that would be true.
I could go on, but I am actually quite enjoying reading Denim.
I know what you are thinking - foolish girl! Reading plays! How would that help her?
