Writefest - Time to stop procrastinating.

It’s that creative time of year again and local playwrights, are busy with pens, pencils, laptops, chalk boards (whatever works for them) creating brand new works to submit for Progress WriteFest.

The deadline for entries has been extended to 10th May and that date is fast approaching. I, of course, am doing my usual last minute dash because I am an expert in procrastination. 

Over the years I have tried to find the answer to “How do you write a play?” and have discovered that writers approach their plays or stories in very different ways and there is no one and only way.  Some like to plot the whole piece in detail, some just plunge in, others become inspired by an idea and form their play around this, some write to a formula or get inspiration from an exercise.

Most of my plays have started with a piece of dialogue that pops into my mind and I pursue this without knowing where it is heading. I do speak out the words while I am typing and I have often shouted, screamed and cried over the keyboard before realising the window is open.

The most essential lesson I have learned and re-learned is that I do actually have to stop procrastinating and SIT DOWN AND WRITE IT.

So all you playwrights who are also experts in the procrastination game - your deadline approaches. It’s time to tidy up that baby you have been nurturing and submit it now! The run time is 10-20 mins, it should not been produced elsewhere, UK residents only. Full rules are on the website - please check before submitting.

-- Liz Carroll

To read more about The 11th Annual WriteFest, you can visit our website: http://www.progresstheatre.co.uk/get-involved/writefest

Stones in his Pockets Review

Arthur Burke, a long-standing member of Progress, recently watched Stones in his Pockets and sent us the following review:

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OK, I’m going to fess up and say I am a member of Progress Theatre, so I do have a vested interest in the place. But my mother taught me always to tell the truth, so if one of their shows is rubbish, I say so.

No danger of that here, though. Marie Jones’s Stones in his Pockets works very well. It doesn’t have a plot so much as several intermingling subplots. It’s about Charlie and Jake, two Irish extras on a film set. They both know they’re at the bottom of the heap. They’re never allowed to forget the huge gulf that exists between the stars and the extras. Charlie, played by Christopher Hoult, tries to hide his sadness behind an ebullient optimism. Owen Goode plays Jake as an almost broken man. He is generally accepting of his position, but the fag end of his pride creeps out occasionally.

Charlie and Jake are not the only people on the film set. But Christopher and Owen are the only people on the stage. How does that work? Well… brilliantly. With minimal props and the occasional hat, the two actors morph energetically into all the other characters. Everything’s done with changes in voice and body language. Owen minces around like Harry Solomon to play Assistant Director Aisling and twists himself into Verbal Kint when he’s the drug addicted Sean. Christopher camps it up as the other Assistant Director, Simon, and even manages to be convincing as a glamorous American actress. (I’m guessing this is why he shaved his beard off before the show.) It says a lot for the actors’ skill that it’s very easy to suspend disbelief. And there’s never any confusion about which part they’re playing when.

John Goodman’s direction keeps everything moving at a fast pace. He allows the two performers free rein to use their considerable talents. And Kelly Hugo deserves credit for agreeing to be Assistant Director of a play that regards assistant directors as the spawn of Satan.

I have a few doubts about the play itself. Some of the transitions from comic to tragic are a bit jarring. But this doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the evening. It’s primarily a showcase for two versatile and charismatic actors. Go and see it. And be nice to Christopher and Owen if you see them in the bar afterwards. After playing fifteen characters as well as doing some Irish dancing, they will be a bit tired.