Archived entries for
Illness, Writing, and Workshopping.
I know, I know, it’s been a while, yes? I’m sorry, I have a note Miss, I’ve been ill, vomiting in fact. Vomiting commas by the look of that last sentence. But yes, I have been ill for about a week, and only really feeling better over the weekend, then I went gallivanting off to London for a second PhD meeting (The Loughborough funding looking so-so I thought I’d spread my eggs over two metaphorical baskets, and am putting a block grant application into Royal Holloway). The meeting was excellent (it was also really nice to be in London for a day, the place is calling to me!) but unfortunately cut severely into my Being Someone Else redraft final few days. Which took me up to yesterday, and then work, and now here I am. So that’s my long winded excuse for not posting sooner. The redraft went OK, I haven’t had the chance to do a reading, or have some time away from it so I have gotten to the point where I honestly don’t know whether I’m making the thing better or worse, and have just posted it off to Steve for the final time. In hope. I really need the externals to like it this time, and I’d also quite like it to be a good play.
I have two other things to announce (don’t get too excited) the first is that without any creative stuff happening after this redraft (I’m going to take a little break before reworking Eismas, or starting anything new) I am going to try and keep my hand in with some shorter writing, monologues, short stories, bits of prose, that kind of thing. And I will be posting them here. The first thing I’m going to do starting Monday is a little piece of writing on the theme of ‘loss’ each day for 7 days- a week of little writings. Why ‘loss’? It was something provided as a stimulus for submissions elsewhere – I didn’t have time to do anything, but did have quite a lot of ideas, so though I may as well go for it – so I will. Watch this blog- Monday through Friday next week for some EPIC WRITINGS. That’s right. The other thing I have to announce are the details of the workshopped extract of Eismas that’s happening on the 1st of May, see below for more. Should be really good to hear the piece, get some reactions etc. Thanks for the opportunity to Scary Little Girls. Stay tuned later in the week for the new writings, and feedback from the 1st of May.
Thanks for reading
Dear Friends,
The second Scary Little Salon is upon us!
This time rather than focusing generally on new writing we’re honing in on four plays that Scary Little Girls are currently developing/potentially interested in developing. Here’s some information on the selected plays:
‘Consuming Stories’ written by Rebecca Mordan
Under permanent house arrest, surrounded by scandalous accusations of blood and perversion, the Countess Bathory is told stories by the one servant remaining to her. The boredom that threatens the sanity of both women is in part staved off by the tales that are brought to life before the Countess in the single tower room. The only other change in the monotonous existence of the Lady and her retainer is the occasional visits from the man who first accused and then incarcerated Bathory, her son-in-law and the inheritor of her lands since her trial – but do his visits come at their own cost?
‘
If You Lived Here You Would Be Home By Now’ written by LH Trevail
When the biometric lock refuses to open in a state-of-the-art city show-home, three prospective tenants and one estate agent are temporarily imprisoned in the lap of plastic luxury. As their situation becomes increasingly inconvenient they find escape and privacy in their dreams, but someone has been taking their dreaming a tad too seriously.
‘The Tenth Box’ written by Kate Kerrow
World War II Medium, Helen Duncan meets the most pre-eminent psychic investigator of his generation, Mr. Harry Price. During a series of arranged seances, Harry begins to uncover the secrets behind Helen’s infamous materialisations leading to key evidence which contributes to her being the penultimate woman to stand trial for for Witchcraft in Britain.
‘Eismas’ written by Hannah Nicklin.
Eismas is set roughly 30 years in the future.
Amid a world of large scale flooding and other ‘extreme’ weather, several ruined harvests mean that global food supplies are scarce. A one child policy has been enforced throughout Europe . Eismas (Lithuanian for traffic) imagines a black market trade in healthy male babies, for which women are trafficked across the EU (as well as for the ‘standard’ sex trade).
It would be wonderful to see you all there for food, drink, fun and entertainment. It’s also a unique opportunity to shape the direction SLG takes in the near future, your creative and critical feedback is a really important part of the evening.
Event details:
Date: Friday 1st May
Time: 7pm
Venue: Bodrums Cafe
61 Stoke Newington High Street
Stoke Newington
London
N16 8EL
Transport: For map, underground, overground and travel by car see http://www.londontown.com/TransportInformation/Restaurant/Bodrum_Cafe/74e0/#MAP
If you are travelling by bus:
Take the 73 towards Seven Sisters from Euston or Angel or from Angel take the 476 towards Northumberland Park . Both buses run every 4-7 minutes and the 73 is 24 hours.
Many Thanks,
SLG Team
Painting and PhD
Hello all, only a few days over the week limit I try to keep to between posts. In all fairness I have been working very hard, finished the painting above yesterday which I should hopefully get some money from soonish. (Commissions always welcome). And as well as generally baking/cooking up a week or so’s worth of food on a £10 budget I have been working on my PhD proposal. I did promise to put some of it up in case there was a modicum of interest out there, so see below for a rough outline of my intentions. On a general note I have also been getting quite interested in maths recently, ideas about infinity started it off, there’s something very pure about maths, it sort of underscores everything in the universe- any science can be reduced to mathematics eventually, or rather ultimately relies on the laws of maths. An interesting fact I found out yesterday in fact was that apparently quantum energy levels in certain atoms, London parking, the vibrations of a quartz sphere when struck with a ball bearing, and the bus timetable of a city in Mexico are all governed by prime numbers. Governed is perhaps not the right word, occur in the same incidence of maybe. But yes, fascinating, elegant and difficult stuff. I like! Otherwise I’m just getting on with it. Still lots of things hanging around my future which are hopefully going to happen. I daren’t even hope for this PhD studentship sometimes, because of how very much I want it. The workshopped reading of a 20 min section of either Eismas or Being Someone Else by Scary Little Girls is happening in London on the 1st of May, and I’m (still) waiting for my Royal Court feedback. After that a redraft of Eismas and sending it off to some theatres by late summer I think. So yes, all go. Hopefully soon (at least with a stroke of luck in getting a job pretty smartish after moving back home for the summer) I should be able to have just a little bit of spare cash and even, even take a break to somewhere like Scarborough! I can dream… Hope all are well, thanks for reading.Hannah Nicklin – Research Proposal
(All of this is © Hannah Nicklin 2009)
Title: Theatre and Technology
The scope of the topic: Theatre and Technology will look at technology as both vehicle and subject matter in contemporary theatre. On the one hand the study will look at the true (as opposed to gimmick-driven) use of technology in theatre, particularly in a political and educational context, and on the other it will consider how theatre-writing can address the changing face of human social-interaction in a ‘Web 2.0’ world. The study will work towards theorising and testing a series of new models and genres for the application of technology in theatre and within theatrical storytelling. I intend that this research will form a fundamental and relevant collection of methods and theorisation of how theatre can react and adapt to new media.
Methods/approach/theory: The research will take the form of a 60:40 theory:practice split. The theory will be developed out of a philosophical (mainly phenomenological and semiotic) starting point and will converge with reading on narrative in technology, identity and social media, gender/race studies, applied theatre, and colonialism in a theatrical context. The research will then drive an investigation into two main areas; the use of technology in theatre, and how the experience of technology is portrayed in theatre. From here the two strands will be developed via discussion with the current theatrical world.
The first part of Theatre and Technology will examine how applied theatre can reap the benefits of gender/race/class and youth activism in the context of new technology, and how the democratising power of the internet can be harnessed in a live theatrical framework in order to speak to new audiences. Following on from a theoretical starting point the ideas will be informed by direct interviews with theatre practitioners and participants, taking in projects ranging from the National Theatre’s live streaming programme, to C&T Theatre’s innovative use of technology and theatre in learning. There will also be a dedicated online space and social networking presence for the thesis in order to allow debate and discussion, and the testing of theories in practice.
In the second part of the study, the thesis will move on from the theory to look at the ‘bracketed’ aspect of live performance, and how the tension between identity, reality and story is imitated in technology. The study will question how far mainstream theatre-writing has delved into modern ideas of identity, loneliness, and being, and work to develop new modes and genres in order to examine the problems inherent in telling the stories of the contemporary world.
The practice will interweave between these two parts, testing theories of technology in theatre as a socio-political tool, as well as developing a body of theatre-writing examining contemporary models and genres, allowing theatre new ways of examining identity and human interaction in the age of web 2.0. The applied theatre writing will be developed alongside current practising companies, and the creative writing will be showcased in a ‘testing ground’ of invited professionals and non-professionals in a dedicated space at the Royal Court Theatre, to which I have access through my work on their Young Writers Programme.
Plan of work: In June 2009 I will be working with Pilot Theatre on the live streaming and tweeting of their Shift Happens 2.0 conference. This conference will bring together theatre professionals, critics and academics (including the National Theatre, Lyn Gardner, C&T Theatre, Hoipolloi, the Cornerhouse, Charlie Leadbeater and more) to discuss technology in theatre – from live streaming and social networking, to genuine interactivity with the creative and performative processes. I intend to use this event to make contacts, and ground my ideas about theatre and technology in the realities of theatre-making from the outset. The thesis will then develop a highly theoretical base, working on the phenomenology and semiotics of theatre, how it is suited to the exploration of virtual worlds, as well considering the democratising and educational potential of technology in the face of the new media revolution. After a period of reading and developing ideas I will test them in practice through interviews with practitioners and participants, as well as developing and workshopping creative writing, and testing new applied theatre ideas in their intended context. I will continue to keep in touch with the theatre profession, throughout all of my work and use a dedicated web space as an area to develop and openly debate my ideas and findings in order to produce work that is technologically current, and practically relevant. This process of theorising and testing will naturally occur several times as I redevelop and refine my ideas and begin to present my work.
