Saturday...
Saturday was a busy day even by my standards…it started as every Saturday morning should with a stop off at the garage to get breakfast – for once the pecan and maple syrup pastries were fresh and I tried to make this compensate for the fact that the coffee machine was out of order again…I say out of order they just didn’t have any cups…still the end result was the same…no coffee for Sarah…
Then to Gold company…it was an important session as it launched the company’s work on Classics at Clarke Hall which promises to be a development of the wonderful Shakespeare festival of last year. I was impressed by the willingness of everybody to seize their bit of the work and also excited about the sheer range of things that are going to be on display…from Wordsworth to the Brothers Grimm, from Pride and Prejudice to Sherlock Holmes…the varied programme is going to be more than wonderful…
At the end of the session I realized I hadn’t had time to eat the pastry…so I packed it in my bag thinking I’d have it when I got to my next stop at the lovely Crimson Company who were rehearsing for their imminent performance of “Whatever Happened to Grace Connor.” As the writer it’s always a little odd as you enter a rehearsal room when it’s your script a company are working on…normally I’m the director at such times and therefore in control…however Gemma is rehearsing this production…so I entered rehearsals with a certain amount of trepidation. However by the end of the hour I spent with them my main reaction was one of contentment…I’d been so impressed by the strength of some of the performances…such good work…and thoughtful direction…there’s some hard work to be done on lines but apart from that the show looks in excellent shape…can’t wait to see the finished result…
As soon as I was finished there I had to hot foot it across to Ossett…the Danish pastry still uneaten – and by this point looking a little tired – it was time to rehearse the performances for the Hepworth Launch. We had such a lot to get done…once again my cast more than met my expectations…the stuff we’re doing is tricky…for an event like this the artistic content has to be so strong…I really struggled with some of the writing because it had to be right…but watching the actors run through made me very proud and reaffirmed that really in terms of Yew Tree the sky is the limit regarding what we’re capable of as a company…
At the end of the rehearsal that poor, still uneaten pecan and maple syrup pastry, was put back in the bag as I tore home to get changed to ensure I arrived at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in time. My mission for the evening was to watch 3 of the connections plays – a third performance of Gargantua, and then Frank and Ferdinand and Too Fast for the first time… I have to admit I was a little theatre overloaded by this point however in the end it was well worth going…partly because it reaffirmed my belief that all flash and no substance makes for a dull play, that there is nothing worse than watching actors struggle though something they don’t really understand, that young people are capable of creating performances of a professional standard and that when sincerity, understanding and sensitivity are in the mix there’s a delight in youth theatre that’s hard to match in any other genre of the arts.
The most heartwarming thing for me out of the evening was knowing that I’ve been commissioned to work with a lot of the cast that final comment is about…really looking forward to working with such talented actors
So having started my day at 9am I finally arrived home for good at 10.30…threw my Danish pastry in the bin and wrote my list of things to do for the following day…if time is something I have very little of but inspiration and delight I am lucky enough to have in plentiful supply…
Then to Gold company…it was an important session as it launched the company’s work on Classics at Clarke Hall which promises to be a development of the wonderful Shakespeare festival of last year. I was impressed by the willingness of everybody to seize their bit of the work and also excited about the sheer range of things that are going to be on display…from Wordsworth to the Brothers Grimm, from Pride and Prejudice to Sherlock Holmes…the varied programme is going to be more than wonderful…
At the end of the session I realized I hadn’t had time to eat the pastry…so I packed it in my bag thinking I’d have it when I got to my next stop at the lovely Crimson Company who were rehearsing for their imminent performance of “Whatever Happened to Grace Connor.” As the writer it’s always a little odd as you enter a rehearsal room when it’s your script a company are working on…normally I’m the director at such times and therefore in control…however Gemma is rehearsing this production…so I entered rehearsals with a certain amount of trepidation. However by the end of the hour I spent with them my main reaction was one of contentment…I’d been so impressed by the strength of some of the performances…such good work…and thoughtful direction…there’s some hard work to be done on lines but apart from that the show looks in excellent shape…can’t wait to see the finished result…
As soon as I was finished there I had to hot foot it across to Ossett…the Danish pastry still uneaten – and by this point looking a little tired – it was time to rehearse the performances for the Hepworth Launch. We had such a lot to get done…once again my cast more than met my expectations…the stuff we’re doing is tricky…for an event like this the artistic content has to be so strong…I really struggled with some of the writing because it had to be right…but watching the actors run through made me very proud and reaffirmed that really in terms of Yew Tree the sky is the limit regarding what we’re capable of as a company…
At the end of the rehearsal that poor, still uneaten pecan and maple syrup pastry, was put back in the bag as I tore home to get changed to ensure I arrived at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in time. My mission for the evening was to watch 3 of the connections plays – a third performance of Gargantua, and then Frank and Ferdinand and Too Fast for the first time… I have to admit I was a little theatre overloaded by this point however in the end it was well worth going…partly because it reaffirmed my belief that all flash and no substance makes for a dull play, that there is nothing worse than watching actors struggle though something they don’t really understand, that young people are capable of creating performances of a professional standard and that when sincerity, understanding and sensitivity are in the mix there’s a delight in youth theatre that’s hard to match in any other genre of the arts.
The most heartwarming thing for me out of the evening was knowing that I’ve been commissioned to work with a lot of the cast that final comment is about…really looking forward to working with such talented actors
So having started my day at 9am I finally arrived home for good at 10.30…threw my Danish pastry in the bin and wrote my list of things to do for the following day…if time is something I have very little of but inspiration and delight I am lucky enough to have in plentiful supply…
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