Talking on the world one discovery at a time...

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I’ve had an excellent weekend – one of the highlights of the year is that every autumn I go to The National Theatre to start the preparations for our Connections play.  During this weekend I get to meet the playwright of the play we’ve chosen, have workshops with inspirational practitioners, talk with like minded people and see theatre.  It’s Sarah Osborne heaven…

I’m leaving London as I type with a head full of thoughts including ideas about Hacktivists (the play we will be performing in February) and a host of possibilities about my discipline and craft as a director an practitioner however one throw away comment has stayed with me more than any other thing…

At the start of the movement workshop I took part in on Friday the facilitator said, “I want to make sure you can do something by the end of the workshop that you didn’t know before, or can do something you couldn’t do or you discover something you had no idea about before you started the workshop.”  It sounds really obvious but I think sometimes we lose sight of these simple, important things.  That as workshop leaders and participants, teachers and students and actually just in our everyday life development is about discovery and accumulation of pieces of knowledge and skills that make our next day easier, happier and more fulfilling…and sometimes it’s not even about gathering new things it’s remembering the things that we already knew but that have been forgotten.  I can’t help thinking that if we focused on this a little more there would be a greater degree of fulfilment and a lot less frustration as opportunities for discovery and development are everywhere…

So what have I discovered this weekend?  What do I now know that I didn’t before?  In weekend as rich as the one I have just had there are almost too many but here are the highlights…

I’ve discovered through the voice workshop I took part in that my posture has deteriorated significantly in the last couple of years and that’s probably not helping my immensely painful shoulders – so now I can do something about that…

I know (thanks to the assistant voice coach at the National) more ways of freeing the actor’s voice that I can’t wait to share with the youth theatre

I know (thanks to Simon) two more games than I did when I arrived and a variation on Best and Worst that I might occasionally throw in to mix things up a bit

I have discovered that the pace of Hacktivists is going to have to be breathtaking and that I can’t wait to get started…

I discovered (thanks to Once) that love stories where there is no kiss and no happy ending can still be tender and beautiful

I remembered (thanks to Kerry) the joy that can come form an unexpected, snatched hour with a friend from college you only get to see every now and again – it made me so happy to check in and hurriedly share news and views…a bright moment in an excellent day

I’ve discovered (thanks to Neville’s Island) that not knowing what you are going to see in the West End at 6.45 and being in excellent seats by 7.10 is exhilarating that set can be as brave as creating a rainstorm and a beck on stage regardless of whether it soaks the front row…and that Neil Morrissey struggles remembering lines as much as the next actor…

I also discovered that my youth theatre equate me to a cat, tiger, ocelot, red panda, lemur and that the dragon label isn’t going to die anytime soon…ha!


And on that note I leave you to prepare for the rest of the week I hope that you have the chance to make discoveries or learn something you didn’t know before it arrived and that you recognise it when you see it…

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