Live Theatre

Different Stages: Working 925

2010-03-18T09:54:00.008Z

Bursary winner Jay Miller, Director of Match Theatre Company, looks forward to a weekend of working 925 in this exciting site specific piece:

Office 925 is a play set within an office; the actors and the audience all work for the same company. My time over the past week has been spent ensuting the company is fully functioning. I am now versed in the current thinking and practices that dominate the customer outsourcing industry. We now have to make this research an interesting dramatic product, which is quite a task.

I have compiled an induction pack for the actors that guides them through every department of the company, while introducing them to the atmosphere we would like to create in our office.

The design team has been working hard to transform Live Theatre's first floor Gallery space into a functioning office. Northumbria University has kindly given us furniture that befits a modern office. A question that we have asked time and time again is to what extent can our very real space become theatrical. Reconfiguring the desk spaces and finding out where the natural stages re within the office (on which we can perform) has been a case of trial and error. Flo and Anna (the designers) have passed through most stationary shops in the North East picking up biros, staplers, potted plants and wall planners. I have been picking up technology (kindly donated by local businesses) so that our audience can have a fully interactive experience.

We're all looking forward to this weekend and seeing our office come to life.

Different Stages: Festival officially underway

2010-03-08T12:01:00.005Z

Crikey, the Different Stages Festival is finally upon us and the Theatre is teeming with writers, directors and thesps. My role in this year’s festival has been threefold and I’ve been asked to tell you a wee bit about each of those folds, so, here goes...

In October last year, I began working with a Youth Theatre group of 13-14 year olds with a view to coming up with a fifteen minute response to the themes in The Pitmen Painters. Six months down the line, we’d concocted a show called Jonathan Likes This about a teenager who unexpectedly dies and his Facebook page becomes a touchstone to his short life. Jonathan was one of ten plays, performed as part of Whose Art is it Anyway? this past weekend at Live and, honest to God, they were better than Cats!

Since January, I’ve also been part of the Live’s 2010 Writers Group, which entails a group of writers getting together once a month to have a cultural chin wag. We were each asked to write a piece for the festival and my offering is M&S, S&M which will be read on Wednesday. It’s about three sisters at an Ann Summers party, each with their own particular take on how emotionally autistic men can be, their parents divorce and the practicalities of a Diamante sex toy.

Finally, there’s to be a rehearsed reading of my new play The Chalet Lines at the end of the week. The play began as the desire to write about the tack-fest that is a Butlins Holiday Camp. I wanted to explore how dysfunctional patterns, as well as positive attributes, can drip through generations of the same family and if, at all, these can be broken. I’m as giddy as a kipper for the reading on Friday.

I’m only two drafts into the play so now’s a good time to hear it out loud and work out which bits work and which bits are just cringey and a bit rubbish. My talented pal Amy Golding will be directing and we’ve a stellar cast in the way of Val McLane, Phillippa Wilson, Chris Connel, Lisa McGrillis and Anna Bolton.

And don’t forget to go to all of the festival’s rip-roaring events, including a preview of Live’s Online Introduction to Playwriting Course this Saturday; it’s sure to be a veritable smorgasbord of literary tips.

Different Stages: Nearly there!

2010-03-03T11:08:00.005Z

Puff, pant, here we are in the middle stretch of Sawdust and Stardust, pech pech, and look at the view already! Check pockets and list treasures collected so far…

1. Our own emerging language within the piece (the attempt being to honestly combine two styles and two forms)

2. The time and the space to really explore our ideas with the unswerving support of Live and The Empty Space (sounds like the Baftas eh?! But the presence of fantastic practical and artistic support plus being made so welcome in the beautiful new building have really counted!!)

3. As Beccy points out, our growing sense of the personal maps that chart comfort/danger zones, tricky terrain and assumed easy going are being drawn and redefined as we go. Hurrah!

All in all a pretty good haul!! So onwards and upwards we go, with the summit in sight. Wish us well and see you when we get there I hope. More sugar anyone??

Laura Lindow
Writer / Theatre Director

Different Stages: Singer-songwriter shares her thoughts

2010-03-01T16:17:00.009Z

I’ve just arrived home from Live Theatre after day of Sawdust and Stardust development time. This is a solo theatre piece that Laura Lindow and I are creating as a work-in-progress for the festival. In early conversations, Laura and I shared an interest in working together as a theatre maker and a singer/songwriter to create….something! Anything! I remember us talking about how much we both loved language.

So here we are, exploring and discovering things together to make a short work-in-progress. This first week has been exciting, challenging and to me, quite fascinating. I’ve been a gigging musician for half my life, and it’s been almost a decade since I performed in something that wasn’t exclusively music-oriented. I tell a lie - I did play a giant singing panda in a children's show called Extreme Earth last year, which was quite out of my comfort zone, but the 'on your feet' work in Sawdust and Stardust feels even more unfamiliar. I’ve been surprised to find that I have some potent private demons nibbling at my self-belief. These demons have spent the week dancing around the room – mostly scrutinising my ability to do basic things, like move across a stage. Maybe it’s because I usually hide behind my piano, I don’t know, but out of context I seem to have briefly forgotten every useful thing I’ve ever learned (i.e. how to walk) and I’m also forgetting some of the fundamental principles that have underpinned my work as a singer - to know when to ‘get out of my own way’, to go with my gut and that when performing, making a clear choice, even if it’s the wrong one, is better that making no choice at all. I’m relieved that after a week, some of this is slowly coming back. With Laura’s help, and as the piece begins to manifest, I’m learning to take things less seriously, to speak up when I’m scared and to try to be courageous. In fact, I’m learning a lot.

My hope is that we make a piece that has the energy and immediacy of a song itself, whilst really doing justice to the storytelling and the theatre of what we are creating.

I’m guessing that come March 13th, despite the dancing demons, it’ll feel a lot like singing a brand new song for the first time, and I’m really looking forward to us all making new discoveries together.

Beccy Owen

Singer-songwriter

Different Stages: Get Voting

2010-02-22T16:06:00.007Z

Well, I’m still up to my eyes in the mountain of paper being created for the festival; scripts to consider, contracts to send out, event registration forms, evaluation forms... my desk has just about enough space for me to perch my keyboard on. But the administration all seems to be coming along nicely and with the festival just under two weeks away everything is pretty much taken care of (I hope). So, I can finally start looking forward to all the incredible new writing events we have coming up. Especially the talks and workshops where new writers (like me) can gain insights from some fascinating British playwrights like Tim Crouch and Simon Stephens. I participated in a Simon Stephens workshop on redrafting in Liverpool a couple of years ago which was just brilliant. He’s written some really exciting plays (Motortown, Harper Regan, Punk Rock) so this chance to hear him discuss his approach to the playwriting process is a definite must-see. I’d love to join in with Fiona Evans’ Young Writers’ Workshop but the passing of time has pushed me into the wrong demographic (i.e. I’m not so young anymore) so I’ll immerse myself in Jeremy Herrin’s workshop What Happens to New Plays? – which looks at how new plays make it from first draft to final production (Jeremy used to head up Live’s literary department before leaving us to join The Royal Court as Deputy Artistic Director). There are so many fantastic events to choose from but I’m especially looking forward to Your Favourite Live Theatre Short Play – if the current voting is anything to go by my favourite short play by my favourite writer might just clinch it – I’d love to be more specific but I don’t want to sway anyone else’s decision as there is still time to vote for your favourite.

Degna
New Writing Administrator

Different Stages: If you build it, will they come?

2010-02-17T11:18:00.013Z

It’s mid-February and the opening of the Different Stages new writing festival is looming. The final bits of the jigsaw are being put into place with the dexterous use of a pair of scissors and a rubber mallet. The publicity is out, the opening event invites are sent and the final e-flyers are ready to go. I’ve found that if you stare at the brochure long enough, tickets go flying out the door.

We’re very excited to have assembled such a stellar cast of theatre practitioners for the three week programme. We’ve got the two emerging artist Bursary Winners already using space in the building, and we’re looking forward to seeing their creative use of sound and text (Sawdust and Stardust by Beccy Owen and Laura Lindow) and the innovative use of the old gallery space, with technological innovation and audience interaction (Office 925 by Match Theatre).

This week we’ll be booking actors for the variety of rehearsed reading events and script-in-hand performances. It’ll be great to welcome back some familiar faces and, as The Pitmen Painters has just finished its national tour, we’re hoping some of the actors in the production can fit us in en route to Broadway. The pieces chosen by Richard Bean in his Desert Island Plays include a few American plays (including work by David Mamet and Sam Shepard) so they’ll be able to acclimatise here beforehand.

Friday is also the deadline for the second draft of scripts from our Writers’ Groups for the festival. Having read and provided feedback on 27 first drafts, members of the Literary Department are bracing themselves for the next wave. The scripts chosen will form part of our two evenings of work by the two groups: (The 2010 Writers’ Group on Wednesday 10th March to be directed by Festival Co-ordinator Tess Denman Cleaver and the Live Writers’ Group on Tuesday 16th March to be directed by Live’s Literary Officer Rosie Kellagher).

We’re all planning to draw breath again after the festival’s final event: Your Favourite Live Theatre Short Play. This event gives you the chance to cast your vote. Please have a look at the candidates and choose which one you’d like to hear again. It’s the first time we’ve tried something like this online so we’re really interested to see how things turn out. Have a go because, as they say on all TV audience phone poll programmes, the voting is incredibly close.

That’s it from me. Next week it’ll be the New Writing Administrator, Degna Stone blogging our weekly Different Stages update. Make sure you check out the other events in the festival programme - we hope there’s something for everyone. I’ll get back to the scissors and mallet.

Gez
Literary Manager

Different Stages: 24 days and counting...

2010-02-09T12:00:00.013Z

With a month to go until Different Stages begins we're beginning to gather together some exciting acting talent from across the North East and beyond to star in the many readings and illustrated talks taking place during the festival.

Later in the week the Office 925 team will be visiting Live to hold some castings for their unique participatory piece – I look forward to finding out who will be recruited to work in their ‘office’ and aid the development of this exciting new work-in-progress.

Last Thursday saw the first reading of Shelagh Stephenson’s A Northern Odyssey in Live’s Studio Theatre. The play was really well received and the reading process proved to be a useful experience for all involved in the development of Shelagh’s script. To hear more about this process and ask Shelagh your own questions on playwriting, don’t miss her Q&A on Thursday 11 March.

Tonight Gez Casey (Literary Manager), Rosie Kellegher (Literary Officer) and I will be catching up with the Live Writers’ Group who are in the process of redrafting their own scripts for the rehearsed readings featured in New Plays from the 2010 Writers’ Group.

On the favourite play front, Wittgenstein on Tyne is currently in the lead with 41% of the votes. However with three weeks to go anything can happen. Don't forget to cast your vote and book tickets to come along to the festival’s closing event on Sunday 21 March to watch a rehearsed reading of the winning play.

Next week it’s the turn of Gez to update you on all things 'festival-like', but in the meantime find out more by visiting Live’s website.

Tess

Different Stages: Baptism of Fire for Live’s New Literary Officer

2010-02-02T15:47:00.016Z

Having just joined Live a week ago as Literary Officer I’m finding that being the newbie in the office is a bit like being the new girl in school: making sure you learn everyone’s names and trying not to get lost. Fortunately I’ve found lovely people to sit next to and no-one’s tried to flush my head down the toilet yet.

With just over one month to go till Different Stages kicks off I’ve joined at a really busy time for the New Writing department. I’ve been trying to get up to speed by reading all the scripts for all the various events – everything from Lee Mattinson to King Lear – so a pretty diverse mix! This morning we’ve been looking at casting for Richard Bean’s Desert Island Plays and we’ve been hearing about the progress of Office925, one of the winners of our two emerging artist bursaries. I’m a big fan of site-specific work and without wanting to give too much away; this is shaping up to be a really exciting event where you, the audience, will be a key part of the story.

There have also been heated debates in the office over the last week about which play we’d each like to win the vote for Your Favourite Live Theatre Short Play. However, it’s not about what we want to see: it’s down to you, the voters, so get voting!

Tonight I’m off to a youth theatre rehearsal to get a sneak peak at Whose Art Is It Anyway? I’ve just finished reading some of the scripts for this so it’ll be interesting to watch how the groups are tackling them. The pieces are thought-provoking, often laugh-out-loud funny and just a little surreal in places: I can’t wait to see how they stage the one that involves the disappearing/reappearing chickens!

Make sure you check back next week when I’ll be handing over to Tess, the Different Stages Festival Co-ordinator, for your next Different Stages instalment.

In the meantime find out more and book tickets via Live's website or flick through the festival brochure below.

Bye for now

Rosie

Reviewing the Situation

2009-12-03T11:41:00.011Z

Well, we’re nearly at the finish line, and it’s been a pretty smooth course so far. Touch wood. We opened just under two weeks ago and since then we’ve been lucky enough to be performing to a full house (or near enough) every night.

My nerves seem to have melted away and at the moment I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m in work, doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I flat out refuse to let ridiculous anxieties get in the way of that. However, this was a lesson I learned and applied AFTER press night!

Friday 20th November, a day that will live in infamy. Well, at the time it seemed like this huge hurdle to be negotiated but looking back on it from the safe distance of two weeks in the future, it was all very exciting. I was stressing about it all day Friday, wandering aimlessly around Newcastle City Centre with all manner of concerns flitting around my head. I eventually got back to the theatre in the evening, into the dressing room and walked into a positively jubilant atmosphere; everyone had exchanged good luck cards and wishing each other well. Some how I got swept along with it all. So I handed out my own good luck messages and had a word with myself. It went something like this, “Frances, this is a brilliant place to be right now, so bloody well get on with it!”

About two hours later, we’re in the bar being congratulated, the play went down a storm, the audience loved it and the atmosphere was electric. A truly triumphant night!

With press night conquered there was one final obstacle to overcome: reading the reviews!

I’ve heard many an actor say, “Oh I never read my reviews” and I would love to know the secret they hold to stopping themselves. I made the same promise at the beginning of the run because that way, I would be none the wiser and they wouldn’t affect my performance.

I did break that promise (several times over) analysing comments that at first seemed positive but after the sixth viewing started to appear like veiled criticisms. I drove myself up the wall and about nothing! The reviews were good and everyone liked the play, I didn’t have anything to worry about. I’d always known that, it just took a little while to sink in.

To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not read reviews but next time, what I will bare in mind, is that you’ll never be able to stop negative criticism, however well you do by your own standards, there will be someone somewhere who won’t like what you did. I suppose the trick is to always care what other people think, but not to the point where it shapes everything you do or makes you doubt yourself.

Since that point of realisation, I’ve had the time of my life and I couldn’t have dreamt up a better first job than this. The people, the theatre, the play, being on home turf, it’s all been great but I think the most important thing I’m going to take from the experience will be the lessons I’ve learned. I was lucky enough to be trusted with a difficult role. When I left drama school I wasn’t really expecting much more than '2nd hand maiden to the right' type parts for my first few jobs and I did feel a little out of my depth at times, but I worked hard and I got through it by listening to the actors with more experience and taking on board their advice, by trusting my director and by trusting my own judgement.

It really has been an incredible 6 weeks and I’m sad to be leaving Jump! behind, but, onwards and upwards! I hope that armed with my newly learned lessons and freshly acquired self belief, my second job won’t be far behind and when the reviews for that show come out, I’ll breeze calmly through the papers and let the criticism wash over me, like a passing shower.. then I’ll bloody well get on with it.

Frances

Hair Dos, Heights and Opening Nights!

2009-11-17T11:14:00.008Z

Frances McNamee opens up about last minute nerves.

About three weeks ago, I was pacing up and down the Quayside with my younger brother in tow about to enter the Live Theatre building, not as a member of the theatre-going public, but for the first time as a professional actress.

During our little jaunt I’m pretty sure I broke the record for how many times one person can say “Oh my God.” (don’t think they do that one in the Guinness Book of Records though. Pity!) I still stand by those statements, I was nervous, but I realise now, 3 weeks later, that I didn’t need to be.

The cast are genuinely one of the nicest bunch of people you could hope to meet, not to mention being formidably talented, much like our director Max and writer Lisa.

In the first two weeks we blitzed through blocking the play, so last week was all about fine tuning moments that weren’t quite right and I am pleased to report, the play is in good shape and we’re all feeling relatively confident about going into tech week.

The ladies underwent a few mini makeovers this week! I myself am sporting a plumy rinse do. I must admit, I got a bit of a shock when our hairdresser Tracy started whacking this vivid purple mixture onto my head, but all is well, she did a grand job and I think it’s completely right for Greta, and not half bad for Frances either.

We finally got a chance to see the set today and had a bit of a play about on it. Neil and I have a few tricky moves on the bridge so it was good to get to grips with those. Although it’s one thing contorting yourself all over the shop in jeans and a t-shirt, it’s quite another to do it in a mini-dress that looks as though it’s been sprayed on. I need lots of practice…and some big knickers, just in case.

So opening night is just four days away. We’re easing out of the comfort of rehearsals and into the more unpredictable sphere of performance, always a nerve-racking time.
I’ll be honest, when I was at drama school, in the minutes before any one of our shows went up, I’d look around and see the cast comparing hands to see whose were shaking the most violently and I would contemplate why I, and the quivering wrecks surrounding me, would make such a masochistic career choice? Why would they, who professed to be racked with anxiety before a performance, voluntarily subject themselves to public scrutiny? In my limited experience, there is a never a clearer answer to that question than when you’re waiting in the wings, the lights go up, you’ve just been convincing yourself that you’ve forgotten ALL of your lines, then all of a sudden you’re on and you remember why you’re doing it… because it’s bloody great!

So I’m feeling good about first night this Thursday. It’s a cracking play that I feel very proud and excited to be involved in and I know come the day, half of me will be bouncing off the walls, anxious to show people what we’ve done. The other half will probably be wandering the Quayside telling my brother how nervous I am.
Nah course I won’t, I can’t wait!

Till then,

Frances

Neil Grainger talks Teesside, toughness and trains during the second week of Jump! rehearsals.

2009-11-10T10:16:00.004Z

It’s my second week in Newcastle. Embarrassingly, I'm only from down the road in Middlesbrough, but having moved to London at the age of 18, I've spent so little time in the ‘Toon’ it's criminal. Also, as some of my fellow cast members keep telling me, I'm a little bit posh for a smoggy. Nonsense I tell you! Tally Ho!

I'm loving it here. The Quayside is just a beautiful sight to behold and it's great walking past it to work every day. It beats the pants off the lifeless and desolate Tees (although the Transporter Bridge is iconic and our footie team is so much better!).

Rehearsals have been gentle and a lot more fun than surely they are supposed to be whilst still being paid. Our Director and Chief, Max Roberts seems happy with the pace I am discovering my character at, though I am aware that the tech rehearsals creep up on you out of nowhere, so I'm going to do some serious swatting over this coming weekend. I've been working hard to try and find the harder side of my character, Pearce. He is a lonely, troubled figure who has clearly struggled with some sort of addiction. I strive to find the danger.

Today I sampled the Metro for the first time. Again, I hang my head with shame, that as a Northerner I know so little of this place (up to now the only time I’ve said “WHY AYE” is when spelling “YIELD”).

I went down to Northern Stage to see a performance of The Three Musketeers in French (ooh la la- get me!) and not relishing the 40 minute walk home, decided on trying out the Metro. How hard can it be? I live in London, I get the tube everyday and I've sampled both Paris and New York Metro systems, so I can do Newcastles no problem. For a kick off, it was empty. I felt like I was in a French film as I hadn't heard anyone speak English for a few hours. As I sauntered alone down the escalator I started smouldering to myself, talking incredibly basic French in my head and humming the theme of the Stella Artois adverts.

Ooh, look, proper TV screens above the escalators. We don't have them in London. This is so much better then the bloody Tube. And so much cheaper. Ok, so Haymarket to Chillingham Road. What? 24 stops? Are you kidding?!
I realise now, having applied my commuter head to the situation, that the train I was looking at was going the opposite direction to the one I needed to go, but I couldn't see this because there are “NO METRO MAPS ON THE PLATFORM!!!” If it was not for helpful strangers pointing me in the direction of Monument I would have gone home via Whitley Bay, though I suppose the scenery might have been nice.

I do like the trains though. Although they are a little dirty and look like they are sponsored by Morrisons, “THEY WORK “ and that is pretty much all I care about. My general blood pressure would be much lower if the London Underground was efficient and dirty, rather than sparkling clean and so erratic that you want to kick your own head in. My personal favourite part of the journey though was the no nonsense approach to train safety, and in particular the fact that you can open the doors before the train fully comes to a stop. I don't need to wait. I laugh in the face of gravity. I am a man with no fear. Perhaps I have found the danger that I have been searching for....or maybe not.

Until next time,

Neil

Three, Two, One Jump!

2009-11-04T12:26:00.015Z

Two tribes go to war

Vicky Elliott, cast member of Jump!, sheds some light on what's going on behind-the-scenes.

So, the first day of rehearsals for Jump! by Lisa McGee was last Monday. I’m very lucky to be in the cast, this I know. The first day of rehearsals for any show at Live is always quite a pleasant affair. There’s a bit of a meet and greet in the morning at the very sociable hour of 11am at which tea and coffee are normally provided, sometimes even a range of pastries and biscuits (I noticed today no pastries or biscuits were forthcoming, which is fine, cos there’s a recession on and what-not and much like I imagine the spirit of the blitz to have been, I’m prepared to muck in and do my bit by foregoing the first day sweet-treats. Or perhaps it was a gentle hint for the cast to eat less sugar based snacks in the AM and shape up. I digress.)

Following the initial brew and ‘actory’ show off session in the foyer we proceed upstairs to the luxury, post-refurb rehearsal space and sit round in a cilvilised semi-circle and read the play. The play: a sort of Tarantino on Tyneside stroke of genius by writer Lisa McGee, of course the play was originally written and based in Northern Ireland, but the relocation works a pure belter, not only cos we have a great deal in common with our Celtic cousins, humour and general social dissatisfaction alike, but because it’s fundamentally a bloody good story, which works anywhere and everywhere, including New York where the play was last produced.

The first read-through went very well I thought. I was very good obviously, but I suddenly became aware that everyone in the cast is hideously talented; to the point where I became both nervous and very, very excited in equal measures. The play and everyone in it are pure cushty belters.

On the evening of the first day, Live chivalrously provided a ‘social’ event to throw together the opposing creative teams of our very own Jump! cast and the RSC who are currently doing a residency with Live. The social was to comprise a quiz based on our marvelous Bard and the multiple themes of Tyneside (to give us all a look in). The Jump! cast were three sheets to the wind; having been for a session of scran and cider at nearby glorious watering hole The Waterline. Upon arrival, there seemed to be no room at the inn, once the RSC had downed German towels in the Undercroft. We were, unashamedly, shoehorned into the neighbouring theatre bar, a space normally reserved for writers. Our only option was joining forces against our common enemy so we formed a super team; it was Jump! against the world. As the quiz wore on, it became a quiz of the obvious, as the sweet tang of success dripped from our triumphant and talented gums, we knew that even as they minced out, pink bobble hat and pashmena in hand, we had defeated them in a University Challenge style bout of wit and intellect. It bodes well for us as a theatrical company.

And on the subject of the jibes regarding our oversized team, we may have been eleven strong, in a quiz where the restriction was a max of six, but we were golfing with a serious handicap considering we were packing two foreigners (northern Irish writer Lisa and cast member Bronagh – pronounced bro-na –exotic isn’t it?) a smoggy and a makem. I think we did marvelously in the face of huge adversity.

Kudos must be paid to Jim Kitson who seems to know a bit about everything. Without him we would be nothing.

In a bit,

Vicky Elliott ov 'the toon'