Playwrighting Week 7

It was first draft read through this week. I went second. But after I read John read. His script was very naturalistic and the actresses in our group loved it. They could imagine acting it. They wanted to act it. My script was more existential. I'm not jealous. But now I have to go back trash the first half of my draft and re start the play in the middle which was where people started to follow my play.
Reading a first draft of a ten minute play outloud - Cynthia: Lawrence: Scene: etc was very intense. The ten minute play format guarantees that everyone gets a go and is listened to across the three hours. At the end of the night we walked out under the starry sky having learnt more about our writing than we had ever before.

Open Day at the Con

Today was Open Day at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. There were concert pianists, clarinet concertos, jazz, and Mrs Macquarie's cello from 1814. While listening to the history of music in Sydney in the 1800s, along with Georgiana's Tune Book we soaked up the atmosphere of this beautiful and historic place in Sydney. It's true that Nick and Alex fell asleep in the concert but hopefully the music went into their memories.

Oriel Reserve Open Day

The Bush Carers were out in force for the Oriel Reserve Open Day. Willoughby Council put on a sausage sizzle. There was lovely morning tea cakes that were home made. Prof. Carrick Chambers led two walks through Oriel and Gargoyle and Embrasure Reserves.

Following Jessica Watson's Blog

Jessica Watson is closer now to Wester Australia than Africa as she crosses the Indian Ocean. You can read her blog every day in the blog links at the right. Im wishing her a safe passage through The Great Southern Ocean south of our large continent when she gets there. Go Jessica!

Playwrighting Week Six

We listened to the rest of the group's synopses.They ranged from a triangulated relationship to a film noir version of Bligh and Christian in a parallel universe loosely based on the romantic tale of The Mutiny on the Bounty. Everyone took turns unlocking the keys to the writer's imaginations. Then we played another word based writing game. You write down 6 things, 3 emotions and 3 colours then order your list alphabetically to write a piece on a theme in our case mortality.
I wrote "You ask if you can have an apricot - just because you sit in front of me in that chair looking out the window at the creek and I still wonder if you even remember the egg cup I brought with your breakfast. No - you were too busy watering your fern - picking up a hairpin to begin your day with happiness. To not be hurried by my indecision or indigo mood. For us it was a lighter moment tinged with red solicitude. That is how I remember you."
The idea is that you write something that you would otherwise have never written.

This week we read the ten minute first drafts of our plays to the group one at a time.

Sirius Cup 2010

Tom and company in the tinnie

Frank in Tempest

The team went to Sirius Cup at Balmoral and came back with the cup. Tom sailed on the Tasar with Ron and went well. We caught up with him at the boatshed on his return. Here are some of the scout leaders who mentor Tom. I spent Saturday afternoon and evening helping with the ktichen detail for the meal. We cooked a vegetarian pasta dish and had ice cream and fruit for dessert. The cup runs from Friday night till Sunday afternoon. Scout teams come from near and far to compete. We had the Walter Burley

Griffin Sea Scouts from Canberra. The Euralla team. Teams from the South Coast and the Central Coast. The scout leaders can take part and it is a highly competitive event.

Ed on the hobie

Playwrights Week 5

Finally half or our class presented their 10 minute play synopses. It was like attending a post modern literary crit analysis class. A little confronting for those presenting but a lot of fun for those providing the constructive or not so constructive criticism. The most way out script concerned a conjunction point between two 20th Century feminists and whether selling out in mid life is a good option. Daryll the stand up comedian divulged a complicated 5 scene play that created a bizarre superficiality between three people loosely connected to the art world. My play concerned an artist and her husband with the tension being about her latest works and his yearning for her to go back to portraiture. I could have written it about any relationship coming to an end this week and sounded believable though. Robert the oldest member of our group wrote about a pensioner who embezzels the temperance society's membership fund on a horse race only to lose the lot. His play was tedious to listen to but lots of people came up with ways to spice up his sedentary plot. Hilary is leading the group with her keen visual analysis and ability to steer out work in a logical and practical stagecraft. Stay tuned for next week's write up.

Three Boys

TOM
ALEX

NICK

Medicine

Everyone has problems with their Doctor at some point in their treatment. Eventually the Doctor will say that the patient is not following their advice so they no longer can be treated. Unless you are a member of the Royal Family it is unlikely that you will have both the money, the time and the lifestyle to follow your Doctor's advice to the letter. Or they yours. Yesterday I had to see my Dentist for emergency dental work. He had to anaesthetise my upper right molar in order to clean deeply all around it and stop the pain I was feeling. He asked my how long I had felt stressed for. And I realised that I had been upset for at least eight days. The time elapsed since the appontment with the difficult Doctor. Apparently this type of thing lowers your immune system and then you have other physical problems to deal with. Like dental pain. Prompting you to seek immediate help. However once the physical has taken over from the mental the real healing and the putting back of your life in the order you can live it- will begin. Or at least that is my theory today.
AS they say -an apple a day keeps the Doctor away. Luckily I have just bought a tray load of new red apples, and for once they are crisp and juicy.

March 7 Clean Up Australia Day

It's on so find a team today and go for it. Don't forget the aeroguard!

Playwrighting Week 3

This week we all wrote down 5 banal comments each and put them into a bowl. Hilary divided us into groups and we took out 15 comments each to make into a short scene worth of dialogue. We had to use action and motive to give the words meaning. This was hilarious to watch. But it did teach us that acting gives a play's words more resonance than the words themselves. Think of Pinter's great silences and the way actors fill these out. Next week we present our synopsis of the short play we will write over the final five weeks. Once again Daryl the stand up comic and Anna the professional actress gave the performance that was memorable. Playing a designer and his assistant they zeitgeisted their way through the words at a hysterical pace coming to a close on "The Utamaro exhibition was unbearable without you." Japanese wood blocks have a lot to answer for.