This week my daughter and her partner started 6 months volunteering in Calais to offer their skills in the kitchen, the warehouse, and the community of refugees. This gives me hope of the care which younger people have for the…
Tag: mountview
Patience, goodwill, collective support, good behavior
Making theatre requires great patience, good will and collective support. This weekend saw the start of Mosaic 2016 – a festival of 10 new plays created with a company of 30+ actors, 10 directors, 5 designers, 5 producers, a technical…
Favourite moments – production meetings…
When asked what is my favourite moment in the journey from page to stage, I usually say the moment when the house lights go down on the very first performance and there is a silent buzz of expectation, and nerve-wracking…
I’m back with Odd Shaped Balls…
I have been blog-silent for a few weeks. Not sure why, but it has been a month of supporting the development of the Mosaic 2016 festival of 10 new plays which open June 10th; recruiting for next year’s producers’ course;…
Plate Spinning – What’s the point of the Grady?
I was at Hampstead Theatre last night at Terry Johnson’s new play and performance on the life of Ken Campbell. I laughed, cried, gasped, was illuminated in beautiful colours, and learned loads about the extraordinary unexpected genius of “Ken”. The…
National Student Drama Festival – 2016
What do the Addams Family, Toyland murders, verbatim theatre on child pornography, fast turnaround arts journalism, and a 3hr course of creative producing have in common? The answer is Scarborough and the National Student Drama Festival. For the 2nd year…
The creativity business – the student’s journey
On Monday Tania Azevedo and I entered the ordinary world of Mountview classrooms to bring a call to action for 30+ 3rd year students to go on a mission for a day, and yesterday we did it again with 30…
Creative Producing – tautology and balancing act
An update from my last blog as promised. After a provocative discussion with writers, producers and directors yesterday at Mountview, joined by the eminent David Glass, I am more convinced than ever of the need to continue with the rather , some…
Creativity and the Curious Mind
“Non creative behavior is learned”, so started a lecture last night on Creativity and the Curious Mind by director/teacher Matthew Smith to a packed audience of post-graduate students at Mountview. We begin lives infinitely curious and use creativity to express…
Exploring MA might – and the need for producers
This week I met, and began work with, the first cohort of MA Creative Producers studying at Mountview. In the same week other emerging producers and theatremakers have chosen the MA route signing up with Central or Birkbeck or LSBU…