Tuesday 17 December 2013

End of year update

PHEW! Well the Arts Council came through and have given me funding to make the Maskelyne project happen next year - 8, 9 & 10th May at the Playhouse Theatre in Cheltenham.  John Nevil Maskelyne was a master magician. His illustrious career began when he exposed charlatan spiritualists in Cheltenham Town Hall. He then went on to create illusions that amazed Victorian audiences, and still astonish people today. But why did he explore dark magic? Were his powers supernatural? And who was the mysterious gentleman in black who convinced him never to dabble in darkness again? 
NEVER GIVE UP HOPE: I had one play dumped earlier this year with no sensible explanation, but thanks to the fabulous 6ft Stories Theatre Company I finally saw ‘Urban Myths’ brought to life in the Mill Studio at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford.   
BRAIN STRETCHING: After many long hours online I have gained a Certificate of Mastery in Greek Heroes from Harvard University. I started this in the summer when my brain was being underused, but then lots more things started happening, but I stuck with it and now have a head full of fascinating thoughts about theatre and drama.
QATAR: Still on, but looks like being later on next year now.
UNEXPECTED WORK: Andy and I had a meeting with the local council about a project we had in mind and were asked on the spot to deliver a project called ‘Podsmead Visions’.  It's a book of bedtime stories to inspire kids in this deprived area of Gloucester to have ambitious dreams and goals for their future.  That’s all done – we’re just waiting for the proof copies to be delivered.
AND FINALLY: There are exciting things happening in Gloucester, and I’m very happy to be a part of the Olympus Theatre regeneration, where I’ll be running the Playwright’s workshops and hopefully doing much, much more.  Talks are in progress for projects up to 2016 – watch this space!   

Thursday 19 September 2013

Laughing with the Universe



My Crazy Life Part 2


OK, so after all the strangeness of the summer, things have finally started to turn around.  The future is looking quite interesting and just like the global economy there do seem to be small signs of a return to stability.


I’m going to ask you all to cross your fingers that an application I’ve made to the Arts Council is successful, because it’s for a really fabulous project where I’m going to work with Jenny Wren Productions to produce a play about John Nevil Maskelyne.  Haven’t heard of him?  Well he was an amazing Victorian inventor and magician who started his career in Cheltenham by exposing the fraudulent performance of a couple of spiritualists before going on to create incredible lifelike automata, and developing some illusions that are still stunning audiences today.


On top of that my other half and me have been invited out to Qatar to present workshops at their first ever Science Festival.  This would be our first international Science Festival and a huge opportunity for us – all will be confirmed by October, so cross fingers for that one too.


I’ve also signed up to do a distance learning course with Harvard University through edx.  I’m studying Greek Heroes and will hopefully gain a certificate of mastery by the end of the year.  If you don’t know about edx courses they’re absolutely free and the standard is exceptionally high.  They’re mostly science and technology courses, but a few humanities ones are appearing on their list so take a look if you fancy a mind stretch.


Talking of Science, despite having spent the past couple of decades as a Science Presenter my high school was rubbish and gave no encouragement to girls who were shoved towards studying shorthand, typing and home economics.  So my other half bought me a chemistry set for Christmas, and I’m working my way through it then searching the internet for extension projects I can do.  I’ll share more about my copper plating fun on our Timezones Facebook page next week.


And finally, after more than ten years with no telly I’ve discovered Netflix, where for just £5.99 per month I can watch as much telly as I want, which is fab.  The terrestrial channels are all full of dreadful pap, but I’m loving seeing smart US comedies and sharp US dramas such as ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ and ‘Hemlock Grove’ – I’ll start on ‘Breaking Bad’ once I’ve finished ‘Orange/Black’.


So with all of this going on it feels like me and Andy have woken up from comas and are now feeling that life is fun and full of wonder again.      

  

Thursday 12 September 2013

The Universe is having a laugh!



OK, so here’s a slightly condensed version of the things that happened to me over my crazy summer.

Things started so well when Andy, my other half, had a choice of three jobs lined up which were going to keep us going till the autumn when my teaching work would kick back in.

BUT then all three jobs mysteriously fell through for various bizarre reasons which were nothing to do with his skills or personality, leaving us with no clue as to how to pay our bills over the summer.

THEN a lovely friend offered us his flat in Cardiff Bay and told us to take a break to chill out and rethink what to do. We had a fabulous week in the glorious sunshine, stopping off to briefly perform at the Cardiff Science Festival.

ONLY to come home and find our house had been broken into – Grrr!

HOWEVER after a few weeks of unpleasant wrangling with our insurance company they suddenly stumped up enough money to fix damage, replace stuff and have a bit left over to cover some bills.

THEN I heard the news that an old friend from college had died.  His wife was one of my closest friends in college, and we’ve stayed in touch over the years so I went up to London for the funeral which was a lovely send off for the crazy Billy Danby.

BUT it was good to reconnect with some very old friends, and after a few difficult years with the universe being very unkind to me and my other half, I started to feel like myself again.

SO I’ve started rewriting my first novel – mad wrestlers and bad mothers – I don’t care if it works, I’m writing this one for myself. 

There are quite a few other things that have started going well for me and Andy, but I’ll have to tell you about Maskelyne, Harvard, Qatar and copper plating another day.   

Thursday 18 April 2013

BUT...

I’m really lucky to know so many creative people.  They look at life from interesting angles, and make sense of the world in ways that make me feel OK with all the craziness that’s out there.
But...and there’s always a but, isn’t there?
I’m seeing so many of my creative friends struggling at the moment.  Times are tough and it always amazes me how well creative people manage in hard times, but I’m seeing so many talents being wasted.  People who could be doing amazing things are being held back, either by the need to earn a living any way possible, or by gatekeepers who constantly shut them out.
Over the past few years I’ve been really struggling with sudden changes to the work I was doing and the way I was able to earn a living.  I’ve gone from earning decent money and being well respected for the creative work I was doing, to struggling back at the bottom of the heap – and all because of one government decision to ‘cut the creative stuff’.
I’ve had to evolve very quickly, and part of this has meant sharing my skills with others.  I’ve loved running workshops and teaching students all the things I’ve picked up over the years – BUT (yes another one of those) – it’s creatively exhausting.  Giving away so much is leaving me drained.    
I went to Albania once.  It’s a country that was broken and its people were drained of all colour in their lives.  The old regime was chucked out and a new president was chosen.  He was an artist.  There was no money to rebuild the country, but the people needed a sign that things could get better.  So what did the artist/president do?  He painted all the buildings in the capital city bright colours.  That simple creative act gave people hope again.
I need to do something big to get myself back on track.  I need to metaphorically paint my house bright colours.  I have no idea what I’m going to do yet, but I’m sure when I get a moment to myself I’ll come up with something creative.  I'll keep you posted.
And to all my fellow creatives who are struggling at the moment – keep doing whatever you have to do to survive, BUT don’t forget to leave a little for yourself.  You are the folks who put colour into everyone’s lives.      

Thursday 28 March 2013

Qunitegenerian thoughts

Qunitegenerian thoughts
So here I am a new member of the quintegenerain club!  I feel like I should have some words of wisdom for those of you who haven’t got here yet, but honestly I still feel like I did when I was 25.  I keep waiting to feel like a grown-up.
However, despite the inevitable physical slackening, mentally I am a much happier and saner person than I was in my 20s and 30s.  I’ve had a few hard knocks over the past few years, but experience has taught me to face them with hard won resilience and stoicism.  And while I’m not really a believer in there being any grand plan, it has often proved true for me that when bad things have happened new doors have opened leading to better places.
Some people go in for extreme sports in order to get a kick out of life – well I did all that a long time ago.  I dived through caves full of stingrays in the Canaries, and went surfing in stormy seas off the Gower coast.  I climbed mountains in the snow and slept out in bivouacs on the Brecon Beacons.  I had many adventures, but the one I’m having now is the most exciting yet.
I’m currently in the most creative period of my life and feel like I’m producing work that I couldn’t possibly managed without my years of experience behind me.
I’ll keep you posted on developments as soon as I can J

Friday 22 March 2013

Being a passionate networking entrepreneur.

Yes, it’s been a while since I last blogged, but that’s because I’ve been crazy busy since the start of this year working on a huge number of writing projects.
A lot of this came into focus yesterday when I was asked to give a talk about my career trajectory to a group of creative writing university graduates and I identified three key words that apply to building a career in writing.  Up until two years ago my career was trundling along nicely with all the science plays we were creating at Timezones, but then the recession hit hard and overnight 90% of my income stream dried up.  The past two years have been the scariest financial period in my life, but artistically they’ve been the most exciting.
I’ve had to quickly develop a huge NETWORK of contacts in order to find opportunities for work.  This has been fun at times, but at other times extremely tiring.  I’d love to spend all my days writing and using my creative skills, but finding work has been a constant priority.
Luckily I’ve always been vey professional about my work, so having an ENTREPRENEURIAL approach to my work came easily to me.  Talking to the students yesterday made it clear to me that this is something many writers don’t appreciate, and yet it’s key to being successful.
And finally I realised why I do this instead of just getting a ‘proper’ job – I can’t not do it!  The thing that keeps driving me forwards is an absolute PASSION for writing and communicating my ideas to others, and I’ve been lucky enough to find opportunities where I can do that.
I’ll blog more about the projects I’ve been developing over the next few weeks, but for now I’ll just say that I’m very excited!