present : tense

the present : tense blog has moved...

2008-07-04T21:55:00.003+01:00

Don't get comfortable - hot foot it to:-
http://www.nabokov-online.com/ptblog
to view the all-new blog.

The challenge continues...

present: tense / five

2007-06-05T11:19:00.000+01:00

**STICKY - SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST**

The return of the toughest creative challenge in town...

present : tense / five
Trafalgar Studios // Sunday 3 June 2007 // 8pm
Tickets £10 // Box Office: 0870 060 6632

present : tense is back with another stellar line-up of top artistic talent taking up the gauntlet.

present : tense challenges some of the UK’s most exciting artists to respond to the most important news story of the moment in just seven days. A group of playwrights, directors, film makers, poets and musicians convene on Sunday 27 May to scour the newspapers for the most significant story on the news agenda. They each have seven days to create a piece of work that responds to the topic they choose. As the news changes, they will be forced to adapt their work, until it is performed for the public exactly one week after they began on Sunday 3 June at Trafalgar Studios in the West End.

Throughout the week, you can follow their progress on this blog, where each artist will post daily updates.

present : tense aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering artists the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day.

You can read about present : tense / one here.

You can read about present : tense / two here.

You can read about present : tense / three here.

You can read about present : tense / four here.

Take a look at the Archives of this blog to see blog posts from past present : tense events.

present : tense is hosted and curated by nabokov. hello!

today

2007-06-03T09:43:00.000+01:00

Hello all
Nic and I spent yesterday in a rehearsal room, it was quite annoying as yesterday decided to be dead sunny. However, we're both pretty happy with what we've come up with and with a few little tinkers today we'll be ready to go this evening.

I think that making something this quickly has been ace. You really have to focus on the form of the show, get some idea of overall structure to then tackle the content of what we are presenting.

I've found it a really invigorating way of working, knowing that you have to meet a deadline in such a short time possible.

Really looking forward to tonight.

Dom small change theatre.

the fear

2007-05-31T18:23:00.000+01:00

For the first time i am working as a director without a writer. Normally at this point in the project i would be calmly lining up actors to prepare them to rehearse the exciting new play that my writer would be hurridly finishing off. Instead i am in total denial that i have 3 days to create a piece of theatre that responds in a useful and sensitive way to the terrifying abduction of Madeleine McCann and the almost unprecidented press response that has resulted. The first a tragic and personal event, the second a strange global reaction to it.

Taking part in a project like this requires you to believe that as an artist - director, writer, film-maker - you have a condusive contribution to make to the public dialogue about events that are a conern to us as individuals and as the society we make up. Journalists do this every day without question, as a duty to the public (or to sell newspapers, depending on your perspective). But that's quite a hard belief to hold on to. It's an even more daunting task when so much has already been written. What is left to say? And how to say it sensitively, believing it is contributing something useful?

A daunting but important task, I think.

I am working with two actors (so far) - Simon Darwen and Phoebe Whyte. Perhaps because I thought I had an idea or perhaps because the fear of turning up alone on Sunday with nothing to say has filled most of the time I have tried to think creatively about this project, I called them and got them on board.

They are both brilliant. At the moment their brilliance feels like my only hope.

links, links, links

2007-05-28T11:31:00.000+01:00

Official Find Madeleine Website

The Guilt Will Never Leave Us
25 May, Daily Mail

Madeleine: Brown Urged Police To Give More Details
27 May, Guardian

Sky News

Madeline’s Parents To See The Pope
27 May, ITN News

We’re Not Going Back Without Madeleine
27May, DailyTelegraph

At Worst, We Were Naïve
26 May, The Sun

McCann Friend Saw Girl Being Carried Away
27 May, Times Online

NI Prayers for Missing Madeleine
26 May, BBC News

Camilla’s Concern Over Madeleine
26 May, Guardian

Madeleine: Brown Demands Action From The Portuguese Police
26 May, Evening Standard

and the topic is...

2007-05-28T11:26:00.000+01:00

After much debate over a stack of newsprint in the upstairs room of a Soho pub last night, the present : tense artists decided the most important story on the news agenda was...

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann

They now have one week...

present : tense / four

2007-03-25T12:59:00.000+01:00

**STICKY - SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST**

The return of the toughest creative challenge in town...

present : tense / four
Trafalgar Studios // Sunday 4 March 2006 // 8pm
Tickets £10 // Box Office: 0870 060 6632

Following three thrilling previous outings, present : tense is back with another stellar line-up of top artistic talent taking up the gauntlet.

present : tense challenges some of the UK’s most exciting artists to respond to the most important news story of the moment in just seven days. A group of playwrights, directors, film makers, poets and musicians convene on Sunday 25 February to scour the newspapers for the most significant story on the news agenda. They each have seven days to create a piece of work that responds to the topic they choose. As the news changes, they will be forced to adapt their work, until it is performed for the public exactly one week after they began on Sunday 4 March at Trafalgar Studios.

Throughout the week, you can follow their progress on this blog, where each artist will post daily updates.

present : tense aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering artists the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day.

You can read about present : tense / one here.

You can read about present : tense / two here.

You can read about present : tense / three here.

Take a look at the Archives of this blog to see blog posts from past present : tense events.

present : tense is hosted and curated by nabokov. hello!

So Here's To You, Mr Robinson

2007-03-01T19:35:00.000Z

Having read this interview with Gene Robinson, the Anglican bishop in an openly gay relationship, I felt like I was starting to figure out a way into this project from a creative point of view. It's not like there's a dearth of things to say about the subject - the question is finding a means of cutting through the morass of possible topics and arriving at a coherent, worthwhile piece of poetry. The interview brought home that this isn't just a dry ecumenical debate - it's people's lives. Bishop Robinson and his partner regularly receive death threats - how anyone could consider themselves Christian whilst sending death threats to a bishop just blows my mind.

The idea that a loving relationship could cause so much fear and hatred has proved something of a catalyst. Most of the poetry I write for performance is comic, but I was desperate not to slip into the easy rhythms of cheap satire or nudge-wink innuendo that characterise my normal output. They'd be an easy disguise to put on here, but I think the brief challenges us to extend ourselves outside of our normal artistic comfort zones. I won't necessarily have produced an excellent poem by the end of the process, but at least I'll have attempted to stretch my range a little bit.

I've written a first draft, provisionally titled 'So Here's To You, Mr Robinson' - it's a dreadful pun, I know, but I couldn't resist. It's character-led rather than opinion-led, but I'm hoping that will strengthen its message rather than detract from it. I've fought through the stirrings of a grim cold to bash out a first draft. In the white heat of creation, I was pretty chuffed - then I got the urge to pick at it, and now I'm unsure whether it works at all. I think I have to accept that this is an experiment, and leave it for at least a day. Hopefully, when I return to it, I'll have gained some critical perspective and I'll be able judge what changes need making or whether I need to start from scratch!

thoughts from Kat

2007-03-01T13:06:00.000Z

My thoughts were to write a piece, that looked at Homophobia in the black community and especially the church and the historical impact of the legacy of missionary work and the resonace it has on black society today, esepcially as the Carribean and some African countries have such issues dealing with people who do not live a hetrosexual lifestyle.

I find it ironic that this issue may cause a split in the church as it is something they advocated in the first place and still do in many instances.

Been trawling through articles and websites, trying to gather infromation and looking out for anything new in the news, now the joke is to write learn and then perform this piece by Sunday, as well as do my normal stuf, sleep, eat, go to work!
How will this all happen, hell knows, just hope I do not make a fool of myself on Sunday, trying not to doubt my abilities but trust in them.

I may just have to pray.

Kat

KAT'S PROGRESS

2007-03-01T12:59:00.000Z

Here I am Thursday 1st March, trying to get my head around this project, managed to come up with something do not know if it is decent though, needs some work, but hey I got time. Here goes then,still needs a lot of work, and connection and am I sure a lot more, but I thought I better post something or everyone will think I won't turn up on Sunday. It may not make complete sense but as said it needs binding together and there needs to be a final something to cement the whole piece into one.

“AMAZING GRACE
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
WHICH SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME
I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW I’M FOUND song
WAS BIND BUT NOW I SEE”

Manesty's Lane in Liverpool is named after Joseph Manesty who was a slave trader. John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, worked as a captain on his ships.

First it was not deemed savoury to teach slaves about Christianity,
Better to keep us in the dark rather than enlighten us to the European way of thinking,
There was a fear that we would revolt if we learned to read the word of GOD,
So teaching us was discouraged.
We had our own religions,
Religions, which we tried to keep alive, even in the face of adversity,
Ways traditions, which were important to us. SPEECH
The church benefited greatly from slavery
And many English churches stand proud and tall,
Steeples jutting into the sky,
These buildings
helped to justify the degrading treatment of one man to another,
Christian, Christian there was nothing Christian about our treatment,
We Africans were seen as cursed due to our black skin,
many clergy owned slaves
And filled the coffers of there religious palaces
With the profits of wicked deeds,
stood, chastise and righteous,
In front of congregations,
Hands clasped,
Drinking from the blood of Christ and eating off his body
Preaching tolerance, acceptance
But yet owned slaves toiling under harsh Caribbean sun,
skin cut deep with leather whips,
Criss crossed scars, burning deep into flesh,
Which barely had time to recover?
The religion of the white man was a cruel religion,
A religion, which justified pain and ill treatment,
A religion, which justified the right to uphold one human over another.

BACK BENT IN THE SEARING HEAT
WHICH BEATS DOWN ONTO DARK SKIN,
FINGERS RAW FROM PICKING COTTON,
SWEAT POURS DOWN ONTO A FURROWED BROW,
SIDE BY SIDE,
THEY TOIL,
WOMAN MAN CHILD,
SIDE, BUT SIDE,
THEY TOIL poem
MASSA STANDS BACK,
OVERSEEING
EAGLE EYES EAGER TO PICKOUT ANY WRONG DOING,
WHIP HELD TIGHTLY IN FAT SUASAGE FINGERS
READY TO STRIKE.
GOD DOES NOT LIVE HERE,
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE STEEL HEARTS
OF THESE MEN
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE SOUL
OF THE MASTERS WIFE
WHO TURNS HER BACK
ON THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS
BODY CLOTHED IN FINE RICH SILKS,
WHILST OTHERS STAND IN RAGS.
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE ROUGH WHITE HANDS
WHICH PUSH OPEN BROWN Thighs.
HE DOES NOT LIVE ON THE SLAVERS BLOCK
WHERE FAMIIES ARE RIPPED APART,
SCREAMS OF SEPERATION
PERMEATING THE AIR,
HE DOES NOT LIVE HERE.

“My fellow clergy it is not deemed positive to teach slaves the virtues Christianity or they may begin to harbour high fluted ideas concerning freedom. There are many references in the bible, which support our beliefs that Africans are a cursed species and that their contact with us will be their salvation.

They are heathens, fornicators who believe in sodomy and multiple wives, they are nothing but savages with cannibal tendencies and it is our duty as God fearing people to tame, them tame them all.

Genesis chapter 9: verse 24-27 supports our belief that Africans are sinners and slavery is a punishment for their sin. The Arabs enslaved them many years before we landed on their shores.
The bible says they are the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by the almighty father after looking at his naked form. Moreover, there are multiple references throughout the bible, which support our stance if their inferiority.
The Favorable winds, which assist the slave traders in their voyages from Africa to the Caribbean to

The Americas are again proof that we are blessed with divine right, that we are the savors of Africa, pulling that forsaken land out of the dark ages and bringing it forth into the light.”

WHERAS MANY CLERGY USED RELIGON AS A FORM OF SOCIAL CONTROL.

“It is important that you obey your master, the scriptures implore you to obey your father, your master is your father, and through him you will be rewarded a better life in heaven, through obeying him your race may be able to elevate itself above it’s damned status. Disobey and you will burn in hell, disobey and you will never be rewarded, some people are born to suffer, born to be enslaved your rewards will not be found on this earthly platform but will be bestowed upon you after you have passed on. Do not rebel, do not argue or plot against those who are your masters, do not fornicate or practise sodomy, for you will surely be condoned for such practises.”

MODERN DAY JAMAICA
Men dragged out of hotel rooms,
Boom bye bye batty batty boy,
Batty for dead batty for dead,
Hidden in rooms, no lights
To view a lovers dark skin,
Eyes cannot be seen,
The guilt is hidden
As lovers search for a moment of solace,
Scared they will be dragged from hot beds,
and paraded like lepers through judgemental streets,
Churches line many corners,
Christens and Catholics
They all believe in the Western doctrine,
first Preached from the lips of missionaries
that man should not lay with man.

Boom bye bye batty man for dead batty man for dead,
True feelings hidden under a masculine swagger,
Crotch clutching,
Breast grabbing,
Girl fucking
Hard and fast,
Penis an aggressive weopon.
If discovered
Hard feet connect with soft heads,
Stamping on spines until they snap like brittle twigs,
Punches thrown with venom and hate
Bust thick lips,
Acid Spittle Rains down like harsh showers,
Shame on you,
Shame on your family
Shame on black masculinity.
Boom bye bye, batty man for dead.

“AMAZING GRACE
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
WHICH SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME
I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW I’M FOUND song
WAS BIND BUT NOW I SEE”

Monkeys On Typewriters

2007-02-28T17:21:00.000Z

I've read Tim's amazing post and I don't think I can, or need to, better that as a discussion of the subject. So instead I'm going to try to describe the process of writing. Short pieces I've written before have seemed to appear from nowhere, so it's interesting (to me at least) to try to work out what I'm doing.

Strangely, considering the importance of this subject to many people and the far-reaching consequences this synod vote might have, I've found it difficult to find a drama, a story. A point of real enquiry - Something I don't know the answer to. Something that will have relevance for the audience on Sunday and give them a new perspective on this subject. I have spent Monday and Tuesday reading the stories and background and then attempting to write.

For me, particularly with a short piece like this, I have to find the form. Because it's only going to be ten mins the form IS the content. The form, the structure, of the piece is a large part of what it will convey; where the meaning is. So for this reason, I wrote (or started to write) four different plays about the subject, flailing around to find both something to say and a way to say it, as I think these two things will come together. This is the monkeys on typewriters approach. If I write enough, something might happen.
In an extremely embarassing way, I'll describe these poor ideas.

1 - a piece where god speaks to a gay couple as they kiss. (This only got half a page through before it became obvious just what a BAD idea this was)
2 - a gangster comes to a English Anglican minister to give him clear guidance. But due to the vagueness of the churches position, he finds this difficult, and the gangster presses him to do his job. (Hmmm)
3 - Dialogue made out of the relevant extracts of Leviticus and St Paul's letter to the corinthians.(interesting. But ultimately saying nothing you couldn't get from the Bible, and it just turned into a standard liberal "isn't the Bible stupid" piece.)
4- A gay man goes to a Anglican minister to be "cured", as he doesn't want to be gay, and the church is the last place in society that believes it is possible to change your sexuality like this.

This last idea was the best, as it did enable me to write against the position that the vast majority of the audience will hold. However, the form that it came with was a kind of orton-esque comic dialogue, which didn't take the characters seriously, and as it went on it felt weaker and weaker. I did get to the end of this piece - which at 8.00pm last night ran at fifteen pages and was sort of finished. It was clever and a bit funny and spoke about the subject. But it wasn't right. It didn't feel like it was speaking truthfully. It was too clever.

Then as I was about to give up and go to bed last night, I thought about the C of E church in Abingdon where I grew up, and about the attitudes that our parent's generation had towards homosexuality and the church. It seemed to me there was an interesting tension here, between the tradition and comforting ritual of going to church, the way things have always been done, having a family, sunday lunch, etc - and the new and quite specific challenge for that generation of not only having your children come out as gay, but neing forced by society to accept that as okay. To accept that their hopes of grandchildren are gone. Christmases with the other halves will be quite different. Their sons and daughters are engaged in an activity that when they were growing up was still very much illegal.

So the dramatic tension is in seeing four characters (two couples who are friends, meeting after church) existing in their comfortable, sunday, relaxed world, with a sermon, bit of god and sunday lunch, but coming to terms with the fact that this world cannot hold. Their children are gay, their doctor might be gay, and in this way their minister might be gay. And so these people have to accept that not everyone sees the world like them. That other people have different perspectives.

The language is one of an underlying and really unwanted homophobia that stems from ignorance and disappoint and sorrow - not so much from hate, but because things have become unknown. If the church provides moral, social and cultural stability, then openly gay children threaten this. Gayness, for them, is modern, dangerous and other . It highlights how things change and this is not what these people want.

This piece was then written very quickly - in about an hour and a half. Partly because I have known people like this all my life so the way they spoke was easy to find, and partly because the piece was not trying too hard. It had enough space to let the character just speak and find their way to the subject and drama.

So my concern now is whether this piece engages with the subject enough. Is this what present tense is about? Or should the play be more political? More engaged and specific?

'Seek' Versus 'Seek No Further'

2007-02-26T16:52:00.000Z

On one level, the ructions within the Anglican church are none of my business - as a non-Christian with only a passing familiarity with the contents of the Bible, let alone the various, often conflicting exegeses that have appeared throughout history, my first response was: 'Well, my understanding is that sections of scripture pretty much unequivocally proscribe homosexuality - therefore, if you believe that the Bible is God's word, then it logically follows that you believe that God says homosexuality is a sin. If you buy into the Bible, you're buying into homophobia.' It seemed a bit presumptuous to launch an attack on the Religious Right when, as far as I understood it, their interpretation of the Bible on this point - with particular reference to Leviticus and the story of Lot - was far from fanciful.

I guess I was prejudiced by having encountered some particularly egrerious examples of 'woolly liberal thinking' in the past. Round a friend's house I found a copy of a toe-curling book called something like 'The Street Bible'. It was every Premillenial Dispensationalist's nightmare - the word of God 'translated' into a kind of faux jive-talk. Of course I turned straight to Leviticus, to find the entire book reduced to a short paragraph: (I paraphrase) 'Here, God gets real heated up about some things he doesn't want his children to do. He tells us how he wants us to behave and what will happen if we don't.' What?! Somehow I don't feel that a Christian Conservative would feel the spirit of the words had been represented.

Now, I don't have a problem with a group providing an explanatory gloss on sections of the Bible, as long as they retain the original text for comparison. I remember a Christian guy came to our school to teach us how Christianity was 'cool'. He was called Silas, he wore a black leather jacket and he once went to jail. Someone asked him a question about what Jesus thought about homosexuality and he deflected it with a joke about sheep-shagging. (which, incidentally, Leviticus also proscribes) Everybody laughed. I felt a bit cheated, and, in my own act of stupidity, judged Christian Liberalism in its entirety on the basis of one silly man with an earring.

But it was instances like this of Liberal Christians apparently brushing the issue under the carpet, rather than directly engaging with it, that led me to believe that there was no way to reconcile homosexuality and Christianity without pretending not to notice fairly prominent sections of the Bible. It's the 'pretending not to notice' part that I'd now take issue with - Liberal Christianity can and has reconcile the core teachings of Jesus Christ and the appointment of openly homosexual bishops; what one can't reconcile is a belief in the doctrine of Biblical Infallibility and a belief that a homosexual relationship can be a moral, loving event.
In the interests of full disclosure, I consider myself Buddhist. Listening to a dharma talk recently, the speaker, Gil Fronsdal from the Insight Meditation Centre in LA, described the difference between a 'progressive' approach to religion and a 'fundamentalist' approach thusly: (again, I may paraphrase)

'The message of all major religious enquiry is: "Seek." The message of fundamentalist religious thought is: "Seek no further."'

I like the characterisation of liberal religion as a question and fundamentalist religion as an answer because I feel they're labels that both sides might feel comfortable with. I can understand the attraction of a credo that purports to offer all the answers in some absolute, immutable form. Liberal Christianity takes the position (I generalise, of course - neither 'side' is a monolith) that the Bible is a divinely-inspired document of unparalleled importance that, nonetheless, consists of writings by fallible humans and is therefore corrigible and open to interpretation. As a historical narrative, later edicts supersede or repudiate earlier ones (most notably the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) and so no one section can be taken as absolute without putting it into its proper context. (who said it, when, to whom, and for what purpose)

The Fundamentalist position typically encompasses a combination of the doctrines of Biblical Infallibility (the Bible is the Word of God and is totally correct on issues of faith and practice) and Biblical Inerrancy. (in edition to being correct on faith and practice, the Bible is factual accurate and does not rely on metaphor - ie the world was literally created in seven days) If one accepted these doctrines as true, then it's not hard to see why the Liberal position would feel like such a threat. It doesn't require a loathing for homosexual acts per se - although I don't doubt that such repugnance exists amongst many in the Christian Right - it's the fact that, if we make an exception for one element of scripture, we are accepting the Liberal position of Biblical Fallibility, and consequently the Bible is no longer the 'absolute answer' promised by Conservative preachers.

So how to respond to this artistically? Umm... I'm hoping to be divinely inspired.

links, links, links

2007-02-26T09:25:00.000Z

here are a load of links to stories about our topic...

Bishops urged not to give way on gays debate
Sunday Telegraph, 25 Feb

Stand up, Archbishop, and tell the gay bashers where to go
AA Gill, Sunday Times, 25 Feb

Church of England beliefs on sex and morality
Times, 23 February

African bishop optimistic on unity
The Mirror, 22 February

Anglican primates struggle for consensus
Telegraph, 21 February

Gay ultimatum for Anglicans in the US
BBC News, 20 February

Anglican leaders: US church must bar gay bishops
Independent, 20 February

Anglican leaders struggle to unite
BBC News, 20 February

Would an Anglican split have mattered?'
The Observer, 18 February

Primates consider 'parallel' church
Telegraph, 18 February

Archbishop faces church split
Telegraph, 15 February

The big question: why is the Anglican Church facing a schism, and can it be
prevented?
Independent, 13 February

Bishops more political than in 80s
Sky News, 11 February

Decline, ordination of women, homosexuality
BBC Religion & Ethics

General Synod of the Church of England

and the topic is..

2007-02-26T09:16:00.000Z

After much debate over a stack of newsprint in the upstairs room of a Soho pub last night, the present : tense artists decided the most important story on the news agenda was...

the forthcoming General Synod vote on homosexuality in the Anglican church

They now have one week...

have your say

2006-10-09T15:47:00.000+01:00

Tell us what you thought of Present : Tense / Three.

Post your comments here...

last night you saw...

2006-10-09T14:55:00.000+01:00

a play by Matt Hartley
directed by Lucy Kerbel
starring Sarah Bedi, Alexander Gatehouse and Sian Reese-Williams

music by Gavin Osborn

a play by Chloe Moss
directed by Vicky Jones
starring Arthur Darvill and Amanda Wright

music by Jason Soudah

a play by Joel Horwood
directed by George Perrin
starring Tunde Makinde and Nitzan Sharron

music by Gavin Osborn

a play written and directed by John Donnelly
starring Loo Brealey, Bryan Dick and Danny Lee Wynter

Many thanks to all the artists involved, and to all of you for coming along.

campaigns

2006-10-09T10:58:00.000+01:00

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=116

http://www.controlarms.org/

for those of you who would like to, the above links (if i've got the link to work, which i doubt) or urls lead you to a page on amnesty international's website where you can sign a petition asking for mirza tahir hussain's execution to be commuted, and to the control arms campaign, which aims to do pretty much what it says on the tin.

mirza tahir hussain's death warrant/execution was one of the stories we almost picked. he is still alive at time of writing, but, according to amnesty, can expect to receive a death warrant with his time of execution at any time.

is that it?

2006-10-09T00:39:00.000+01:00

so there we are then. i wrote a play, got drunk in the bar, and shagged the director. it was inevitable really. the funny thing is, it was amazing. john donnelly is amazing in bed. honestly, he's got pecs like an owl. a massive owl. a massive strong male owl.

better than that though, chloe moss wrote a blog entry. we all ended up at the groucho. with keith allen. and the bass player from the killers. and fearne cotton. and we had the biggest party and did the most coke anyone has ever done ever. and we talked about politics. and rubbed each other until we wanted to cry with the shame of how good it felt.

and then i went home. and went to bed. without cleaning my teeth or ANYTHING.

tomorrow i shall cure war. or famine. or make water cleaner. or find a new, sustainable environmentally friendly power source that will integrate all races and religions, and power my big car all at the same time. but right now i will drink cheap red wine. and smoke a cigarette. and eat a burger made from a horse i lost money on. and all of you, all of you, reading this now, will look up from your sad little lives, and see me in my penthouse on the thames, in my silk underpants, and my pecs, my pecs like an owl, dancing, dancing to the beat of the samba with my bose 5.1 soundsystem. and my director. and you will all want to be me.

and i. i with my comb. will look down on you. and i will laugh.

ha.

like that.

i will laugh at you. for i am king owl. and you are nothing.

Oh, so THIS is blogging?!...

2006-10-08T13:47:00.000+01:00

Jesus, I wish someone had told me. I've been sat in a car park all week watching dodgy people having sex. I wondered where you lot were!

Sorry. Please forgive me. My phobia of blogs (I've never done one before, they scare me) and complete technophobia (I only sent my first email about two years ago) are no excuses at all I know.

Thank you for the footy analogy though John...not sure however if it's going to be true...

I've had a really good week, it was a bit of a toughy at the begininning I must admit but an enjoyable toughy...actors are ace and I'm well looking forward to tonight.

What a shame I've discovered the joys of the blog in the eleventh hour. To compensate I'm going to just keep writing to everyone detailing my daily routine for the rest of my life.

I'd love to write for longer but I'm off to do line runs.

Really genuinely sorry for my blogsence (Absence from the blog...duh? don't you know anything?) I really am. And feel guilty. I'll buy all my fellow bloggers a drink tonight.

Good luck chaps can't wait

Lots of love

Chloe x

Do you put things like 'lots of love' on blogs?

okay then, let's fucking do this.

2006-10-08T12:02:00.000+01:00

right. it's sunday. time to leave the house, find a cafe and read the papers. oh, then i guess we should all turn up to the trafalgar studios and make some magic.

one final thing. personally, i think it's kind of our duty (for nights like tonight) to ask important questions about why these shootings happen, and to have an opinion on that. I don't think we can just sit down and say "yes but isn't it in bad taste?". Politicians and journalists and the media get to make judgement calls on what should be done/shouldn't be done all the time, and no-one says to them "you can't say that... what about the families?". obviously it is a difficult one to judge, because the public perception is that artists should keep their mouths shut about political issues and make no comment. after all, we just prance around and sing and dance, so we should leave any kind of politics to the people in power, right? hmmm. i don't want to upset anyone grieving, but we did the same thing after a bomb killed far more people in bali last year, and it was dealt with brilliantly. I think everyone has enough sense to respond empathetically and with dignity and taste.

On that note, best of luck everyone.

problems in the company

2006-10-07T14:57:00.000+01:00

one of the frustrating aspects of being a writer is the journey a piece makes from text to living breathing theatre. and the director is the one charged with ensuring the smooth delivery of your creative child into the world – a kind of midwife if you like – with all the requisite sensitivities that entails. it's hard then, when you don't see eye to eye with your director, and this is one of the few occasions when i've found the director acting as an obstruction rather than an aid to my vision. i spent a frustrating few hours late last night thrashing it out with the director, hoping if we battled on, we would weather the storm and emerge, smiling into the daylight. but the breakthrough never comes. if this carries on our position will become untenable. fundamentally i think there's an issue of competence. our discussion has dissolved into an acrimonious competition, each of us trying to prove to the cast we're in charge. and his behaviour is embarrassing. he continues to make clumsy advances to both the male and female members of the company despite me repeatedly telling him his lunges are unsolicited. the play is falling apart before my eyes. anyone got any tips on how to deal with this cloying shitbag before i ram his arse through his appendix?

casting

2006-10-07T12:59:00.000+01:00

singing my first song 'ooh, those dangerous guns' will be (the finest guitarist of his generation) James Blunt. my second song will be performed by rappers N.W.A, who I have managed to reform just for this occasion. they are much more middle-class than they let on.

Short Fuse - first rehearsal

2006-10-06T22:59:00.000+01:00

So we had our first rehearsal tonight. I was vicious with Joel, pushing for clarity. There's something exciting about working on a play with such an impending deadline but it requires a shorthand in rehearsal that doesn't allow for a lot of space around working the piece. Particularly in this play, where we have 6 or so scenes, 8 characters, and all the other accents and languages to contend with there are stages with rehearsal - we concentrated tonight on clarifying the story and the journey of the play. Nitzan and Tunde now have a joyful Saturday ahead of themselves getting familiar with the script before I work them all day Sunday getting the piece onto it's feet. It was great to finally hear the play out loud tonight - I strongly believe that Joel has written something intelligent, heartfelt and urgent. More news on Sunday. 44 hours and 10 minutes to go...

progress

2006-10-06T15:45:00.000+01:00

Jason Soudah - musician.

My initial reaction to the shooting of the boys is deep sympathy for the famiily and friends of those affected, and a desire to comfort them. I have experienced the sudden death of someone close to me who died way too young (15) and it is devastating. What I find interesting as an observer in these situations I have experienced are the social interactions that take place as a result.

My focus is on the family and friends of those affected by the shootings, and wishing to send them soome comfort. Thankfully the boys are both alive (just).

In their attempts to comfort, people often try to find 'the right words to say,' of which there very rarely are. Words just aren't that comforting. Well, not when dealing with such painful raw emotion - confusion, shock, hysteria, etc. What seems to be most comforting and helpful is physical proximity and contact with loved ones (as long as the person is usually comfortable with physical contact), such as hugging or just stroking their hand or forehead, just being there quiet and letting the person react freely without interruption, but with support. Taking over tasks and doing all one can to help, without being 'fussy', and adapting to the person's character. We are all so different and react in extremely different ways - many cry, hysterically shaking; some sit very still, staring into the distance; and some even laugh uncontrollably in shock.

As words often offend more than help in such situations (think four weddings and a funeral "I experienced something similar when my dog died...") - literally there is nothing one can say to make it better so why do we do it? - I am approaching this creative project from a non-verbal perspective. I could have written a song in reaction to this terrible tragedy, but I believe this would be more damaging than helpful if it were performed to the affected family, friends, witnesses, and public, all of whom I am visualising as the audience of this work. Therefore, I will be performing a piece of music on the piano which aims to bring an air of calm in order to comfort and support; in order to help the panicking and hysteria to be released and to return to a better state of mind.

Much of this piece will be improvised, in order to reflect the improvisational nature of comforting, constantly adapting to the person you're trying to comfort. This piece of music will also do that - it will constantly evolve through reacting to the atmosphere in the room - the energy of the audience.

As it has no words, I hope that the listener will take from it whatever they need in order to release their emotions and feel even just slightly better. I want the listener to know that the music is heartfelt, and so will feel open to it rather than defensive, as one might if it were a song with words, especially coming from someone who is not a direct victim of this particular tragedy.

2006-10-06T08:38:00.000+01:00

well look it's getting close so it seems appropriate to say i hope everyone – directors, writers, filmmakers, poets, singer-songwriters, contemporary dancers, tabla players, skiffle groups, and mime artists alike – is doing well and whatever stage you're at, not freaking out completely.

i find everyone's comments and updates helpful, honest and insightful, particularly joel's short entries. they're like lovely haikus. joel, i salute your formal brilliance. i'm looking forward to your actors and your accents and your languages. on a similar note, has anyone else noticed the symbiotic balance between the zen like calm of george's postings, and joel's jet set (well, leeds), coffee and booze fuelled anger. have you two worked together before? you sound like a good match.

everyone has been by turns lucid and encouraging. be good to meet those of you who weren't about last sunday.

i'm not really sure where my play's at. it's odd trying to transform a news story into a piece of theatre, very hard to get beyond a headline. i'm still not sure if my piece is adding anything positive to a debate or simply detracting from the simple power of news item to inspire empathy and emotion, as it did in us. there is something very direct and truthful about the structure of a news story. "Two boys were shot in McDonald's in Brixton... two youths have been arrested... two youths have been released". i find this lack of detail a provocation to thought and imagination, and what i'm doing, i think, is following the logical train of those provocations, and writing something that gives my perspective on events. and that seems to be a more limiting experience than the original starting point.

in all honesty, i think this week has been inspiring and beneficial for me as a writer, but i couldn't say i think what i've written puts anything back into the communities this story has affected.

i would like to add this isn't a criticism of this project, or this process. i think nabokov have set up a simple and brilliant provocation. i'm just trying to examine what i'm doing, i think in the hope it makes it better.

judging by chloe's absence from the blog i reckon she's been spending less time talking and more time writing. a woman of sense, talent and insight. but i still live in hope she might respond to my childish baiting and post something.

i'm meeting my actors today. i've spoken to some directors this week who advised me to keep it simple, so i've only got two questions for them. have you read it? and how quickly can you learn lines?

come ead chloe moss, what you up to?

update on bbc

2006-10-06T08:28:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5409106.stm

Shit

2006-10-06T01:17:00.000+01:00

Actors terrify/exhillerate me

casting

2006-10-06T01:00:00.000+01:00

casting is awful. it's awful when it doesn't work. it's a quagmire of guilt and misery and hope. the enduring feeling is that there's always something you could be doing to make it ok. But there isn't, there really isn't. not at five to one in the morning. i know i should go to bed and sort it out in the morning. i also know, on some level, that it'll all be okay in the end. and yet i can't quite bring myself to go to bed yet. just in case it all suddenly sorts itself out because i am paying attention. oh dear.

casting complete

2006-10-06T00:59:00.000+01:00

colin farrell, who you may have seen in ballykissangel, is playing the role of dexby, and samantha morton, who was in an early series of cracker is playing elufi. colin jackson, the retired hurdler is making his debut as holmes, which we're all very excited about, with brian cox (who's just left the cast of rock n roll in the west end) still to confirm. if brian's not free, bradley walsh has kindly agreed to step in. brian eno is burning the candle on a soundtrack with femi kuti (by email, they couldn't coordinate). mike bickers, who did the lighting for the original production of tommy is on board, with alan bennett sitting around filing sir paul smith's toe nails while he sews the costumes, just because i said to.

finally cast (sorry vicky)

2006-10-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

I have two fantastic actors for Joel's play. Tunde Makinde who has previously worked at the Southwark Playhouse, Royal Court and Traverse and Nitzan Sharron who was most recently seen in Mike Leigh's 2000 Years at the National Theatre. We're working Friday evening and all day Sunday so it will be nose to the grindstone right through until Sunday evening.

Thoughts that have been gathering this week reading everyone's posts have been about pride. Most people (myself included) have written at some point about the disparity between their experience and the assumed experience of someone prepared to acquire and with the need to aquire and use a gun. But it seems that the motivation is often, and could have been in the case in Brixton, pride. And surely we all know what the sensation of having to defend or lose our pride feels like. Perhaps it's simply what you have to hand in the moments that you decide to defend it, that makes the difference.

ohgodohgodohgod

2006-10-05T12:05:00.000+01:00

ohgodohgod i'm not cast. breathe. remember to breathe. can't do anything if don't breathe.

bbc

2006-10-05T10:08:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5408046.stm

arrests

2006-10-05T06:43:00.000+01:00

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-04T221408Z_01_L04637271_RTRUKOC_0_UK-CRIME-BRITAIN-MCDONALDS.xml

moving on not moving on

2006-10-04T23:38:00.000+01:00

i'm tired, partly from this, partly from other work, and as my recent posts will testify, this isn't conducive to moving the play on. i can't think clearly enough to write the play so i write this instead.

i have a cast, a good cast. i am happy.

i haven't directed in ten years. this makes me nervous and excited.

i find reading the thoughts of the other contributors by turns inspiring, chastening, and provocative.

i have a working title. exotica.

exotica seems to be gaining some kind of life beyond the impetus of the news item. had a really good chat with a friend simon, a writer. helped focus.

the play, i think, is about trying to reignite the embers of a dying and valued relationship, and in the process doing something ugly and brutal.

it is very important to make the play dramatically alive and completely about the relationship between the characters on stage and what they are trying to do to and for each other.

i think it is lazy and immoral to derive an emotional currency from the emotional impact of real events. i believe this is to take advantage of the goodwill and emotional generosity of an audience. this is not to say the power of a real event has no place on a stage. but working on the principal that if you have nothing to add it is better to keep your mouth shut, i think a writer has an obligation to attempt to shine some kind of new light on an actual event rather than simply regurgitating that event.

a pro

2006-10-04T23:07:00.000+01:00

i've got some props.

i'm well a director.

chloe moss is quiet

2006-10-04T22:20:00.000+01:00

matt le tissier, southampton's greatest ever player, was quiet too. he'd amble around the whole game. and you'd barely notice he was there. and then he'd score two blinding goals that would break your heart.

gun crime versus jingly-jangly folk songs

2006-10-04T19:28:00.000+01:00

hmm. i must admit, this is proving tricky. it would be far easier if blacks were entirely to blame for every gun crime, then we could feel confident in making some sort of categorical statements. as it is, people like that white bloke in pennsylvania and those endless other whiteys like the kids in columbine, etc etc sure don't make it easy for us 'present:tensers'. also, it would be a whole lot better if white guys could stop listening to so much gangsta hip-hop. don;t they realise they are making it harder and harder for folk singers like me to categorise anything??
On a more serious note, I sincerely hope everyone is doing well. This was such a great night the first time, back in the little old,sadly discarded, red lion. It seemed that night that deadlines bring out the best in us all - less time to pontificate, deliberate and scribble things out and start again. You just have to put yourself out there and be prepared for the consequences. (It reminds me of that Butch Cassidy quote about Sundance being scared to jump off that cliff into the ravine, because he can't swim. "Swim?", Butch says, "the fall will probably kill you!") I remember Luke Wright, the fabulous poet whose company we will hopefully have on Sunday, telling me that the first Present: Tense helped him out of a writing rut, as he hadn't written anything in a while. Some of what he wrote for that night has stayed with me all this time since. I think the pressure to write brings out the best in people sometimes.
Anyway, I've now written two songs. Far too many words. Don't be at all surprised to see me on Sunday with those pieces of paper with lyrics all over them stuck to my guitar. Til then, goodbye.

draft three in and casting under way

2006-10-04T19:22:00.000+01:00

So Joel's refined the story and pulled together the ideas into what is now, I think, a tight, succinct and impacting play - working title Short Fuse. I am half-way cast and have a rehearsal schedule but I have a feeling we'll be working to the wire. We have two actors, 8 characters, 4 different languages and 6 different accents, all in under ten minutes.

There's nothing like a challenge.

Hello everyone...

2006-10-04T10:59:00.000+01:00

So a quick hello to everyone involved. I'm Az, the filmmaker of the pack. Apologies for not appearing at the dicussion on Sunday. So when I was told the subject, I thought pretty much what everyone else has been thinking about this. Middle class (brown) boy from the suburbs trying to make something about black gun crime.

So anyway, I've been freaking out about what to do. It's an odd thing doing a film in a week, even having done the first present tense. But the gratification of having pulled something off like this is so good. I guess that's why I enrolled again. But at this very moment I'm pooing my pants. And I've realised that I may have lost that drive to just go out and make a film. All the stuff I've made in the past year have required a lot of time, money and people. So when i'm throwing ideas around in my head, there's a little voice that keeps saying, 'no you can't do that without money. No you can't do that idea without a crew of thirty. Nope you can't make that without great actors and time to develop. Blah blah blah.' So this is good, trying to get back to the initial drive of when I was 15 or so and I grabbed a camera and made films with my brother (and George. Ask him to show you some of our 'classics').

But as usual, as soon as you stop thinking about what to make, an idea comes to you. What struck me the most (and someone else has mentioned this before) is the triviality with which these attacks can stem from. An argument about shoes, or like the guy in Hackney who was stabbed to death because he asked kids (who had broken into a communal area in the council block) to keep the noise down. Or as I once had the pleasure of facing, a guy threatening me because I so so barely scuffed his trainers with the back of my shoes. I did the wrong thing of standing up to the guy and I got punched in return (first time ever. man he dropped me....) Thinking about it I'm angry and afraid of the mundane way in which it started. Last night, I was with my mum who had come to visit and we walked to Tescos to get some stuff, she was carrying her umbrella as it was raining slightly. At the traffic lights there's a black guy in front of us with a cap on and a chequered bandana thing wrapped over his nose and mouth. Now, you say to yourself he's probably cold, but images of gangs just keep popping into your head. Then as we pass him, my mum's umbrella smacked him in the head. Mum didn't notice. I SHIT my pants. Looking out the corner of my eyes, I'm half expeciting him to stop, turn and pull out a gun or something. Obviously that didn't happen. It's ridiculous.

So anyway, I want to do something about that. The fear we have when we see a black guy in a hoodie and cap. Or even not a hoodie and a cap. I just want to do something really simple and play on the character's and audience's prejudices. Something like that. Hmmm. I wish I had the time to explore the effects this has on black people how they look on it if they were gang members, or not. I can sort of draw on my own experiences on that, with having to go through airport security, how people look at you and you know they're scrutinising you, watching how you act. And it doesn't help when my passport has a big ass visa stamp that says The Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Great.

Right, that's enough, I hope that made sense, as I'm kind of thinking about the idea as I'm writing this, and it's changing in my head all the time. I'm just hoping this is not just going to be knee-jerk reactions put into film. Well we'll see. Right my stream of consiousness is now making me think of breakfast. And pancakes. With maple syrup. mmmmmmmmmmm

I have something on paper

2006-10-04T02:41:00.000+01:00

...normally i would call it a first draft. This one has a start and an end but does it have anything of use imbetween. I hope so. Lucy will tell me.
Anyway, i decided that i would go in a slightly different direction. I think we all talk quite nobely about the reasons behind gun crime and how destructive it is, but i think for all the talk there is very little action. I have used this as the basis for my piece.
I'm going to read it again tomorrow when hopefully all the lines will have stopped blurring into one. Or that could be just the fact i need glasses and it will still be the same. Anyway i have something completed that i can work with.
Goodnight/morning...

Delivered

2006-10-04T02:01:00.000+01:00

First draft's in. I really had no idea that i was ever going to write like that. I've been pushed by this project into unfamiliar territory, it's exhillerating, and I'm scared shitless...

Joel's first draft...

2006-10-03T23:32:00.000+01:00

...is due in my inbox in 5 minutes. I have one actors already cast so let's hope he's still in the play...

blame...

2006-10-03T17:08:00.000+01:00

It's much easier being a director at this stage. Actually I think it's much easier being a director in general. All those words. They sound rubbish when you write them down. Well when I write them down anyway. But at the risk of sounding like a backseat driver, maybe it's precisely this difficulty we're all experiencing that we need to focus on. i.e. our difficulties assimilating with other people, and most importantly, with crime in our community. I like Joel's point about needing to take communal responsibility for problems in our social climate, (although really, he's got to get his first draft in tonight, so i don't know how he's got time for blogging...), in the sense that cultures of violence are engendered through social/political endorsement of that act in every corner of our lives. Much like we can't really be surprised when nine-year-old girls turn anorexic or credit card debts have doubled since last year. Our entire culture perpetuates these problems as plainly as noses on faces. And that attitude seems like a step in the right direction towards a greater collective responsibility for the problems in this country. But will it actually change anything? To attribute these problems to mere shifts and movements in government action or social trends seems to dismiss them as something which is beyond our control to fully understand and therefore deal with. Also, as John points out, it opens a whole can of worms about blame... Wouldn't it be better to channel our energies into accepting that we don't understand these things, but that we could, if we asked more questions, and more focussed, specific ones at that.

Panic!

2006-10-03T15:36:00.001+01:00

a) I think you're right that the blog works as a stream of consciousness

b) I think it's worthwhile to vent about the difficulty of this piece. We had a lot of things that were probably 'easier' to write about, but it seemed that the intention of our initial meeting was to select something that was a news story to which we all responded. It does mean that we're on unstable ground, as a result I feel really pushed, and I hate/love it.

c) There's no Leonard Cohen in your collection, I looked inside the CD case, it was The Best of The Bangles.

ps. I am refuse to edit out my stupidity.

tricky

2006-10-03T13:13:00.000+01:00

like everyone says, this is hard. i confess i wasn't that impressed with the choice of story in the first place. i thought the ones we looked over were more ambitious in their scope as news stories.

That's not to undermine the nature of the shooting itself. The events reported are terrible and shocking. but they become no more or less terrible and shocking whether we produce work in response to the event. i say this in the spirit of honesty rather than to denigrate our selection. i'm struggling to think how to proceed. i think there's a practical problem with a rapid theatrical response to events on our doorstep. namely that real people were actually hurt and are, if my personal experience grief, loss and pain are anything to go by, still assimilating the experience. it's very very hard in the immediate aftermath of an event to do much more than listen to someones story and go "ahh, that's awful'. from first hand experience, i would say that someone empathising with your suffering in this way is incredibly important. wounds are often too fresh to sustain any deeper insight than this. fine when dealing with other human beings whom you want to comfort, or vice-versa, but does this, sigh of empathy, make for a valuable theatrical expression? And if not, what else do you do without being crass?

This is a long winded way of trying to put my finger on what i'm finding hard about this. it's very hard to create something that allows an audience to do anything more than that same, "ahh, that's awful", or its slightly more sophisticated theatrical cousin, "ahh, that's awful. and aren't we all to blame?"

several other bloggers have rightly drawn attention to the anomaly of a collection of white artists 'responding' to a story ostensibly about black gun crime. i'm struggling to avoid creating a piece of theatre that does more than draw currency from a collective sense of guilt without properly examining it. in other words, a play that prompts the audience to think, "ahh, that's awful, and aren't we somehow all to blame?" and then draw a perverse satisfaction from the fact they (and we) noticed the problem in the first place. i have left theatres having watched plays like this feeling that i'm somehow higher up the moral evolutionary ladder than someone who doesn't feel guilty. which is an absurd and arrogant way to feel. you watch some atrocities on stage. than go home. and worry about them in the dark. i don't i have an answer to this. my instinct says the audience has to empathise with the characters they see. which doesn't feel like much of an insight. and is very hard to achieve anyway.

i'm now glad we chose this story. it is difficult to write about, which seems right.

i've just read over what i've written. and it sounds pompous. but if this blog is going to be honest it seems unfair to edit stupidity . like my record collection, you have to wade through a lot of Tiffany and Bon Jovi before you get to my Leonard Cohen and Tindersticks. Now I just sound old.

Joel's Play

2006-10-03T13:08:00.000+01:00

You're damn right it's a quick decision. This is going to be hard as hell. I'm taking a break cos my head was going to explode and my fingers weren't moving fast enough. Bold could equate to shit, but fuck it, at least this thing is making me write about something I find unfathomably difficult to write about.

Joel's Play

2006-10-03T10:45:00.000+01:00

I spoke to Joel (whose play I am directing this week) last night and I think he has a very bold and exciting idea. I will allow him to fill in some of the details but he aims to have a first draft by tonight so we can being rehearsals on Wednesday evening. It's always tight trying to do something complete from scratch in a week but I think there's something useful in the need to make decisions quickly and then stick to them.

SW19

2006-10-03T10:29:00.000+01:00

Joel's astute observation of postcode politics reminded me of a comedy gig I went to recently. Actually, it was at the Latitude Festival, a bastian, if ever there was one, of pleasant middle-class festivals. Not a drop of litter, aside from the odd stray copy of The Guardian, of course. Anyway, it was in the literary tent (you see, what other festival has those?), and some gently satirical anecdotes were drolly being wheeled out by some excellent comics, as us polite and well-informed audience members (drones) clapped & laughed in all the right places. Suddenly, apropos of absolutely nothing, a black man wandered in and stood right in front of the stage, shouting "SW19... SW19". His baseball cap was, naturally, on his head backwards. After a full minute or so of people thinking this was funny/strange/part of the act, someone behind me heckled this already bizarre heckler with "That's Streatham, isn't it?". And how we laughed, for yes, it was Streatham. So the audience proceeded, independently of each other, to shout out our own postcodes. It strikes me as interesting now, as this Brixton shootings gig approaches, that something so arbitrary as a postcode can be worn like a badge of honour.

Incidentally, for those of you who don't know who in blazes I am and what the hell I'm doing commenting on your blog, my name's Gavin and I'll be singing some songs. I wrote the first one yesterday actually, after I spent a long long time on the worldwidewonderweb. I live in Crystal Palace, which is a short bus ride/15 minute walk to Brixton. However, I started thinking about how much I actually know about black gang culture, considering I live close to one of its hubs. Not much, is the simple answer. Now, this McDonalds thing looks like something which was nothing to do with gangs or drugs or even being black, but from what I can gather seems more to do with CCTV footage of two dubious looking 17yr olds "popping in and out" of the 'restuarant', coupled with one man who took offence to something they may have said. Something I read in one of the articles online struck me as quite prudent to this debate "In the USA they work out how many jails to build in an area, by looking at the literacy rates of 9yr olds in that locality". So much of this black gang culture seems tied in to education, as young Afro-Caribbean black men in the UK are more likely to be excluded from school and get poorer grades, so is it any wonder they feel disenfranchised? The key part of the article (which sadly I cannot find anymore) read "How do you tell someone that instead of potentially earning thousands of pounds a week selling drugs, they should work as a £5per hour shelf-stacking gopher?"

For some reason, all of this has led me to writing a song about me acting as some sort of white middle-class saviour to these outsiders. The song I wrote last night is basically a gangsta anthem for my acoustic-folkie 'crew'. I think it works, but I should imagine you will be the judges. Curses! Now, like the rest of you fine artists no doubt, I have to make all my disparate thoughts come together into something vaguely resembling cohesion.

Best of luck to you, and thanks for letting me into your little 'gang' of bloggers. Now I know how 'webcameron' feels...

Late...

2006-10-02T22:37:00.000+01:00

I've read a couple of the blogs, I'm late to this, I went to (real) work and just speant all day thinking about London. My thoughts about what to do are, as usual, furious. Probably to the point of leaning towards creating a stammering vomit of a piece.

This problem isn't limited to Brixton. The so-called 'post code shootings' of Dalston indicate that. It's not limited to London, the shooting in the shopping precinct in Nottingham over the weekend would indicate that. It isn't even limited to McDonalds, two years ago there was a 'shoot-out' (as it was reported) in Stonebridge Nando's. This problem is one of diminshed responsibility. I don't mean accountability, I mean a central awareness of personal responsibility. We live in the panoptican, watched every day by various lenses, with the voyeurism of Big Brother now neatly assimilated by reality TV into an acceptable social talking point. Our responsibilty has been stolen from us and we live recklessly. We invade countries to maintain our lifestyle, of course, stepping on shoes is going to be a big issue. If oil is more important than human life, why aren't shoes or social standing or 'post codes'?

There is a tendency, in our society to look for the quick fix. The story of that killing is neatly given a tag-line of a 'respect' killing. We can attribute it to a gang, or a petty dispute, and, like Matt, get on with things. I am not seriously suggesting that this shooting was conscious ly related to the 'war on terror'. I am not suggesting that the two bullets fired in McDonalds were fired by people who watched and immitated a government, but I am suggesting that a portion of the responsibility for that act lies with us. That it lies with an entire community and that this social trend is symptomatic of political events.

Brixton

2006-10-02T15:48:00.000+01:00

One of the elements of this discussion that interests me most is the fact that we are all generally coming from a white, middle class perspective, in attempting to understand this city we live in. As such, so much of what we want from and love about London is tied up and ingrained in other things that we fear or don't understand. Brixton's a perfect example of this conundrum. It's long been a home for political activists, for artists and for true multiculturalism, in particular for Africans and Jamaicans. Yet partly because of these reasons, it has experienced clashes with government - the Brixton Riots being a big example, and thus it has formed a vacuum into which poverty, crime and a rampant drug culture have drifted. I found this great article by a very right-on travel writer called Victor Borg, which gives an honest and tributary take on Brixton's uniqueness (-is that a word?)
http://www.victorborg.com/html/bohemian_brixton.html

The point is, we are part of that lively community. We cannot allow such events to polarize people and cultures. We live in these places. We can expect to feel safe in them. And 'we' means the entire community of Brixton, and London by extension.

Here's a great article that I'm not sure has been posted yet. Apologies if it has. It's the bit about guns being carried round like mobile phones that gives me the shivers...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1885123,00.html

what to do next

2006-10-02T12:34:00.000+01:00

...so now we have decided on our story, what actually goes on...

well so far, nothing. I went home and watched Extras and Arrested Development last night [brilliant joke about a business card]. Not for inspiration but purely because i wanted to forgot about everything we had talked about that evening and come at it fresh in the morning.

Anyway...i told the fantastic Lucy Kerbill who is directing my piece, that i really dont like guns on stage and being a very white middle class boy who isnt from London i felt that i am likely to write about how this sort of attack affects me, rather than from the point of view of the communities in which the crimes are being committed.

But this is what's confusing me i dont actually know how i feel about these sort of crimes. Since i have been in London somebody has been stabbed to death outside my block of flats, a major gang battle has erupted in the childrens playground which i watched from my balcony, armed poilce have not let me into my flat because somebody in a house opposite was supposedly holding someone hostage and a man was axed to death outside in a school three hundred yards away. And each time something like this has happened all i've thought is i hope they get this cleaned up quickly so it doesnt inconvience me. Not at any point i have personally felt in danger. Despite the immediacy and closeness of these horrific crimes to me. However, i know that if i still lived in the small village i came from and just one random attack on a resident took place [ even a happy slapping, which is ten a penny in London] i would be scared. I honestly believe that there's something about this city, which allows us to disten ourselves from the immediacy of such acts. For example my response to the Brixton shooting was this:

I would have not been in McDonalds as i hate the food. So i couldnt have been caught up in the medly.

I spend a lot of time in Brixton and personally i find it so less intimidating than places like Wakefield, Barnsley, Hull and Chesterfield where the threat of drunken violence is only a pint of stella away. But maybe that's because i am a much more likely target in those places. A tall white male, who wears loud shirts.

One thing that does scare me about this whole gun crime 'respect' shootings is the trivial things that trigger theviolence. I cant get my head round the fact that somebody would shoot someone over something as petty as 'you've got shit shoes'. But then again i'm able to distance myself from these things as i've had a comfortable upbringing and dont have to fight for my survival in the same way that these [predominatly] young men do.

That's a lot of talk, really about nothing.

Anyway, i spoke to Joel this morning who as always was coming up with wild and brilliant ideas. We did talk briefly about doing a House and Garden style play [ Ackbourn's classic- two plays running into seperate spaces and then meeting in the middle] but we dont really have time to collaborate as he's going to Leeds. I aslo told him my rubbish idea based on a short film i once saw but cant remember its name, where in the play a male would be stood holding a gun aimed at a man, we all assume it doesnt go off and the guy who was going to be shot goes and has the rest of his normal day as if nothignhad happened, reunited with his mum and all that emotional rubbish only to be pulled back in at the last second by the fact that the gun did go off and we realise he was imagining the last day of his life. But i hate guns on stage and it's rubbish that idea. Joel said it was interesting though. He's so kind that boy.

I also kept having a line coming into my head: "today was the last day that i breathed" but i think i'll save it for something else.

However, after i spoke to Joel i read the articles that James posted and found myself drawn to the Daily Mail comment page. Brilliant. That's all i'll ever need.

Some tosser from Coventry came up with the brilliant line " we need to teach these people some old fashioned manners". What a twat. Don't most people who buy that paper support the war and hark back to our days of empire when we used to butcher anyone that got in out way. Couldnt the fucking pompous cock end realise that there's probably worst thing to start teaching these kids...

ah. That's where i'm going. That's the direction i will be taking this play in. As Nick Hytner said not long we need some nice little right wing plays.

Bye...

I wasnt going to think about it until this morning but after watching those two brilliant programmes i did start to think about possible ideas.

And

links

2006-10-02T08:22:00.000+01:00

Here's some links to reports of the McDonald's shootings:

The Guardian

Reuters

Daily Mail

Independent

Daily Telegraph

Blink

ITN

Metro

and the topic is...

2006-10-02T08:08:00.000+01:00

The shooting of two teenagers in McDonald's in Brixton.

After much deliberation over a stack of newsprint last night, the artists decided the violent attack on two 17-year-old boys in a crowded restaurant was the most important story on the news agenda.

Other contenders under lively debate were the stories about the imminent execution of Mirza Tahir Hussain in Pakistan; the ongoing crisis in Iraq; the sale of organs from executed prisoners in China and the acquittal of Stephen Green.

But ultimately the artists decided that the Brixton shootings was the story they most wanted to respond to.

They have one week...

I hate computers

2006-10-01T14:14:00.000+01:00

and anything that people half my age are better than me at [ Skiing inparticular] so this blogging thing is a little bit like torture for me. Anyway this might not even work and i'll have just written this for no real reason...we meet today at 6. In a pub. Look at papers. That's all i know. When I know more i'll try and post it

this

2006-09-30T16:45:00.000+01:00

could be interesting...

the line-up

2006-09-30T07:54:00.000+01:00

The Playwrights:

John Donnelly
John’s plays include: Bone (Royal Court), Showtime (LAMDA), Songs of Grace and Redemption (Liminal Theatre). He is under commission from Hampstead Theatre.

Matt Hartley
Matt’s first play 65 Miles has just been announced as a winner of the Manchester Royal Exchange Bruntwood Award. His other work includes 16 Minutes at the Old Red Lion and Latitude Festival, Tarmaccing the Belt at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford and Sentenced, which will run for three weeks this October at the Union Theatre, Southwark. Matt is currently one of Paines Plough’s Future Perfect writers and has recently been awarded a bursary from the Peggy Ramsey foundation to develop a new play, Ride.

Joel Horwood
Joel's first piece, Mikey The Musical, won the Cameron Mackintosh Award and went on to a sell-out run in Edinburgh. It was picked up by the Northampton Royal and Derngate, where it is currently in development. He is a part of the Royal Court and BBC's The50 programme and his most recent work, Food, won a fringe first and sold out its run at the Traverse Theatre at this year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Chloe Moss
Chloe's first play A Day In Dulll Armour was produced by the Royal Court Theatre, for which she won the Young Writers Festival 2002. Her second play How Love is Spelt was produced at the Bush Theatre in Autumn 2004 and received its US premier at the Summer Play Festival, New York in 2005. She was writer-in-residence at the Bush Theatre during 2003, and Paines Plough during 2004. She has recently finished an attachment at The National and is under commission by Paines Plough Theatre Company, the Royal Court Theatre and Clean Break. Chloe's last play, Christmas is Miles Away, premiered at the Manchester Royal Exchange in November, 2005 and transferred to the Bush Theatre in 2006. Her next play, The Way Home will open in October 2006 at the Liverpool, Everyman Theatre. Chloe is currently writing a one hour film for the BBC Decades project.

The Directors:

Vicky Jones
Plays directed include: The Freedom of the City (Finborough Theatre), Zoo (Arcola Theatre Festival), A Bedroom (Lyric Hammersmith Studio), The Blind Bird (Gate Theatre, Directors Festival), Broken (Hen and Chickens), Airswimming, Laundry (Etcetera). Readings directed include Angel Meadow, Let's Get It On (Bush Theatre), Hatch (Liverpool Everyman), Highfliers, Colder Than Here (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court). As Assistant Director: Piano/Forte, The One With The Oven, Rampage, I Remember the Royal Court; (Royal Court Theatre), See How They Run (National Tour and Duchess Theatre), Meeting Myself Coming Back (Soho Theatre), Habitats, The Flu Season (Gate Theatre), Big Voices (New Writing Festival 2004, RSC), How Love Is Spelt (Summer Play Festival 2005, Off-Broadway) and Journey's End (New Ambassadors Theatre). Training includes the Channel 4 Royal Court Theatre Directors Course, the National Theatre Studio Directors Course and the Gate Theatre Trainee Director's Course. Vicky works as a director and tutor for the Royal Court Young Writers Programme.

Lucy Kerbel
Lucy is currently assisting Katie Mitchell on Waves at the National Theatre. In March this year she completed a year as Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio and English Touring Theatre as the recipient of the 2005 Cohen Trainee Director Bursary. She regularly directs short pieces for The Apathists at Theatre 503 and is part of this year's Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour plays Company.

George Perrin
George is associate director and co-founder of nabokov. He was the first recipient of the Genesis Directors Award at the Young Vic, is a member of the Old Vic’s New Voices for whom he directed one of the 2005 24 Hour Plays. He is currently the assistant director at Paines Plough.

The Film Makers:

Azhur Saleem
Having graduated this summer after two years at the London Film School, Azhur has quickly been signed up for international representation to direct commercials by Soho production company Moon Films. He has directed numerous short films and test commercials in the past year as well as taking part in Present : Tense / One. His main aim is to direct features and over the next couple of years wants to balance commercials and continuing to work in the short film realm until someone gives him millions to make that fantastic debut film.

The Poets:

tbc

The Musicians:

Gavin Osborn
Gavin Osborn is a funky cat. He drops beats like old people drop dead. Inevitably and surrounded by sadness. Folk? Yes. Acoustic? Double yes. Lyrical? Yes. Again. Yes. A regular performer in Soho at the rapturously received Political Animal, Gavin's songs mix the personal with the topical, and are essentially mini-stories about things he finds heroic. Like how Charlie Brown always comes over to kick that ball even though he knows Lucy will take it away. "Brilliantly accomplished singer-songwriter....touchingly quirky lyrics" (Chortle). http://www.myspace.com/gavinosborn

Jason Soudah
Jason Soudah is a singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist on the rise. Born in Japan, where he spent his first 10 years, he is now based in London. Critically acclaimed for his unforgettable songs, emotive stage presence and distinctive voice, Jason's touring has so far included several dates in the States (including SXSW) triggering radio airplay and live performances on UK National TV. “Soudah's distinctive and passionate vocals are irresistible” (Rise Magazine).
http://www.myspace.com/jasonsoudah

present : tense / three

2006-09-29T11:31:00.000+01:00

The return of the toughest creative challenge in town...

present : tense / three
Trafalgar Studios // Sunday 8 October 2006 // 8pm
Tickets £10 // Box Office: 0870 060 6632

Following two thrilling and totally sold-out previous outings, present : tense is back in a new home in the West End with another stellar line-up of top artistic talent taking up the gauntlet.

present : tense challenges some of the UK’s most exciting young artists to respond to the most important news story of the moment in just seven days. A group of playwrights, directors, film makers, poets and musicians convene on Sunday 1 October to scour the newspapers for the most significant story on the news agenda. They each have seven days to create a piece of work that responds to the topic they choose. As the news changes, they will be forced to adapt their work, until it is performed for the public exactly one week after they began on Sunday 8 October at Trafalgar Studios.

Throughout the week, you can follow their progress on this blog, where each artist will post daily updates.

present : tense aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering artists the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day.

You can read about present : tense / one here.

You can read about present : tense / two here.

present : tense is hosted and curated by nabokov. hello!

pictures of present : tense two

2006-02-08T16:06:00.000Z

The Old Red Lion: Full to the Rafters.

Liam Gerner

Douglas Henshall in a play by Tena Stivicic, directed by Psyche Stott

Mark Fleischman and Graham Bow in Dawn King's play, directed by Kirsty Housley

Miranda Cook's hands in Ruth Shocken Katz's film

Dominic Fitch, Perri Snowdon and Nicky Gibbs in a play by Glyn Cannon

Addendumdedendum

2006-02-06T13:10:00.000Z

Just to add to the credits below, in my piece (Glyn's) the voice was Genevieve Swallow.

Now I am safe...

have your say

2006-02-06T09:15:00.000Z

pop in to the nabokov forum here and let us know your thoughts on present : tense two.

last night you saw...

2006-02-06T09:10:00.000Z

A play by Duncan Macmillan
Directed by George Perrin
Starring Kirsty Bushell, Michael Colgan and Gary Lilburn

A poem by Joel Stickley

A song by Liam Gerner

A play by Tena Stivicic
Directed by Psyche Stott
Starring Douglas Henshall

INTERVAL

A play by Dawn King
Directed by Kirsty Housley
Starring Louise Dumayne, Graham Bow and Mark Fleischman

A film by Ruth Schocken Katz
Starring Miranda Cook

A poem by Ross Sutherland

A play by Glyn Cannon
Starring Nicky Gibbs, Dominic Fitch and Perri Snowdon

present : tense two was hosted by nabokov. thanks for coming.

Tonight

2006-02-05T15:50:00.000Z

It is strange to have to show what came out of this little thought I had on the way back on the bus last Sunday. It feels a little out control, I have to say. In the editing which I have now finished, (last night really) a whole new meaning emerged from what I shot which was really interesting. I think that somehow not being able to digest your own idea for very long, when you actually get it done, it does not really feel like your own, because it has the ability to surprise you. Don't know if I am making myself clear. But maybe I feel a little like this is some piece that has it's own thing to say, or show, and I am not sure to what extent I had control over it. In anycase, reading all the other blogs I can't wait to see what people come up with.
See you tonight. R.

breaking limbs

2006-02-05T14:05:00.000Z

really looking forward to seeing everyone's work tonight. great day yesterday. my cast are fantastic and are bringing a real integrity to the piece. i've even started to quite like it, and i'm enjoying the fact that it's not mine anymore. if it weren't unlucky i'd wish everyone luck for tonight. but it is, so i won't.

47 and counting...

2006-02-03T21:21:00.000Z

...not that I like to remind everyone of our imminent deadline...

I'm very lucky to have three wonderful actors waiting to spend the weekend with me - Kirsty Bushell, Michael Colgan and Gary Lilburn. I'm off to meet Duncan now for last-orders to prepare for our one and only rehearsal tomorrow. I think he's written a fantastic piece. The challenge that I feel I face is finding a performance language that will capture the atmosphere of the play but also communicate the traces of narrative that Duncan's woven in. I don't know if I'm right but I think it should be a very scary ten minutes.

More tomorrow...

...

2006-02-03T19:52:00.000Z

Just recovering from rehearsal. I felt nervous and exhilerated. There's been no time to distance myself from what I wrote. It felt vaguely obscene seeing something I imagined only the day before out in the open like that.

I have jumped away from Dr Turner and her story for my play. Like Duncan I wasn't sure what I could say about euthanasia. For me, in terms of should it be allowed or not, there is no debate. Instead I wanted to think about viewing euthanasia through different expectations of what happens when you die.

The shape and feel of the thing came into my head way before I had even decided that, or had any story thoughts. I knew I wanted beginning, middle, end, and I wanted it to be fast, moving around, with time jumps and a mix of dialogue styles. After that I just went mostly by instinct as I had to do given that most of my brain had shut down with the lurgy sickness and I was too weak to move. Hopefully I managed to get the shape right and also some meaning in there as well.

hearts in mouths

2006-02-03T13:24:00.000Z

I found it very difficult to read about Ann Turner's final hours. Her family are quite remarkable and I felt humbled by their selflessness. I can't begin to imagine what courage it took to take that journey with their mother, to say their goodbyes, to have their last meal. I love my mum. As I read article after article, I got extremely heavy and found it hard to swallow. How to start writing about this? I spent a lot of time pacing, sitting at a blank screen, wandering around, unable to lose this strange weight I had acquired. The idea of writing about current news stories is brilliant, a great opportunity to provoke debate and to contemplate events. But nobody wants to exploit the suffering of Dr Turner and her family by turning it into entertainment. There was nothing clever I could say about Euthanasia, no big idea that was going to shed radical new light on this issue. Eventually, I wrote for about half an hour, not thinking about what I was writing or what it meant. I emailed it to George, apologetically, asking whether what I had written made any sense, and whether I should start on something new. A while later George rang me and was very encouraging, saying that I should definitely pursue it. He had even identified elements of a story in there, a pregnant woman, a flood, a man who leaves his elderly father in the desert… I didn’t want to analyse it too much, and just carried on writing. Strange things happen in this play. People dissolve, evaporate, solidify, turn to dust or burst into flames. Moments are replayed and repeated, jumbled together. People talk over each other, they talk in the past tense then start having several conversations at once. I emailed it to my agent who got back asking ‘how exactly do I read this?’ My flatmate saw a print-out of it and came for a closer look – ‘Oh, I thought it was a picture.’ It’s all scattered over the page. I’ve never written anything in this way before, I usually start by getting the story completely clear in my head. It’s all a mystery still and I’m fascinated as to what sense George, the actors and the audience will make of it. Looking at it again, there’s definitely a story in there. A man does something which he is haunted by and which causes him to lose his mind. As an old man, he looks back on the event as his child is about to repeat his actions. But that’s just my interpretation.

it's a sell out

2006-02-03T08:33:00.000Z

present : tense two is now sold out.

The Old Red Lion box office is now running a waiting list for returns, so if you haven't already booked your place, call 020 7837 7816 and get your name down on the list.

2006-02-03T08:22:00.000Z

Hello folks. I've just been reading all the posts and it's certainly very exciting. I've nothing much to report this end. In fact, I'm starting to feel rather dull in comparison to the other creative and adrenaline filled posts.

Despite being terribly poorly Dawn has managed to get two drafts of "Worms" over to me. It's cast and we're meeting this afternoon to get started. I think it's a testiment to Dawn that the actors have had such a strong response to the script. In her bed ridden state she's managed to write something which crams in so many different reality's and perspectives. I'm looking forward to getting down to it.

Casting

2006-02-02T16:31:00.000Z

Like Pysche, I've spent the past few days drying my palms of the moisture that has pooled upon them from excited anticipation and fearful panic.

Yesterday the rehearsal draft of Duncan's play arrived in my inbox. I'm amazed by what he's managed to create over the past three days. I'm terrified by what faces us over the next three. I simply hope we (whoever that turns out to be) can do it justice.

I, also like Psyche, am extremely fortunate to have some wonderful actors (just about) on board. It's a facinating play and I can't wait to see what comes out of rehearsals.

75 hours and counting...

The Adrenalin is pumping!

2006-02-01T23:55:00.000Z

I've had a frustrating day having to split focus, rehearsing understudies into one play while at the same time trying to absorb Tenas first draft. We spoke last night and she said she was going to work on it today and email the second draft. I managed to find a computer in between rehearsals in Cambridge to see if it had arrived, it hadn't, but it was only lunch time so back to rehearsals. I didn't get another chance to pick up till i got home tonight at 10pm she texted to say she'd sent it so i willed my train to get me back to London as fast as it could.
It's very different from her first draft but different in a very good way. I've just finished speaking with her about it, difficult as i've read it very quickly only twice and i've not had time to absorb it. But I wanted to chat and just talk about my initial response and casting. Is it really Thursday tommorow? I was hoping to start tommorow and now thanks to the fabulous Dougie Henshall who has agreed to take on the role, we can!Initially he was concerned about the amount to learn in the short time, I completely understood this it's a monologue of about 12 mins, it's a big ask but he's said he'll give it a go.
So i'm off to get my head into the script and to discover the world of this new character. so till tommorow.

Shooting tomorrow

2006-02-01T15:46:00.000Z

That's it. I am shooting tomorrow. It is such an intereting exercise for me to "go for it" in every sense of the words. I have never worked so impulsively on something and there is something very liberating about it. I find that I am much less restrictive of myself. The worry is always that it would be too simplistic and I agree with what someone else wrote about how hard it is to not become sentimental. But this is part of the exercise for me, just going for it. I have the actor, don't have the scrubs from my nurse friend but will manage without. It is fascinating to cling to one element of this story of Anne Turner, even a word, and make something out of it. I did, I chose a word which repeated itself and it became the pivot for the whole thing. Can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow. And then in editing. R.

Poem draft

2006-02-01T12:41:00.000Z

Was up to 3 last night trying to get the first draft of my poem down. Its a tricky subject to tackle without becoming overbearingly sentimental/didactic.

Decided to focus on Zurich and the idea of the displacement caused by dying in a foreign country. Switzerland becomes this surreal half-way house between life and death. It seems quite fitting then that Zurich is the home of the clock. It's also the city of Caberet Voltaire and the Dadaist movement...so I tried to use that to give everything an air of ridiculousness (without becoming too facetious, I hope).

Here it is: would love some comments on this. I'm not too sure if some parts become too busy.

117: By the time you read this, I will be in Switzerland

"Tourists come at lunchtime and by the afternoon they are dead.”
- Dorle Vallender, Swiss Parliament.

There has been so much tears and ears popping
But now comes the time, now
As the Alps gouge the cloud cover, and the fuselage
Shakes us into shifting states of near-hysterical grief: Our obsolescence.
Our happy ends…. Now all that remains of the world is Zurich.

Home to the biggest clock-face in Europe,
Home to black truffles, bittersweet and peaceful evenings,
Vaults of gold buried beneath the immaculately swept Bahnhofstrasse,
Home of Tina Turner for the last nineteen years, where
Gentlemen sit down to pee between 10 and 6am. It is heaven.

It's the kind of place where you stop for a day and stay forever, says Joe Ritchie,
American entrepreneur who lives in Geneva and visits Zurich often.
Litter doesn’t seem to even touch the ground. We buy matching
Cabaret Voltaire limited-edition Swatch watches; only 70 francs.
On the strap, they quote Kurt Schwitters: Immortality is Not Everybody’s Thing

In Limmatblick Hotel, each room is themed on a different Merry Prankster.
Ours has a plumbing trap set on a mitre entitled "God",
A remake of a piece by Baroness Elsa, the brochure tells us.
Down in the hotel’s Da-Bar, tourists are listening to a sound poem by Hugo Ball:
“The Caravan of the Elephants”, apparently, at the end of which
Ball had to be physically carried off-stage: a sweaty bishop, lost in a maze of his own irony.

We watch some TV together, a dubbed edition of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
Until Uncle Phil dissolves into a transmission of illogical twisted phonetics.
We finish our crime novels and reluctantly raid the mini-bar, the Gauloises taste strange.
Across town, twelve Giacometti statues are carefully positioned to avoid each other’s eye contact,
Old men play giant chess amongst the trees in Lindenhof Square.

At seven, the lobster rings. Apparently, our longing for death
has been sufficiently consistent for the authorities. We have the address of an apartment
in Kilchberg and a time. There is a coffee machine and some champagne glasses
and a collection of walking sticks which we’re welcome to add to.
We’re seriously advised not to arrive early.

A woman in the lobby informs us of a performance of Stravinsky's
"Rite of Spring” this evening. But we don’t go.

For dinner we have veal steak accompanied by sautéed vegetables and galettes,
A dessert of rhubarb and strawberry charlotte.

3rd stage is not good.

2006-01-31T20:37:00.000Z

I've just spent the last many, many hours practically since my last post to this laid up in bed with food poisoning, and am now shaking and white and all that general horribleness. What would it be like if I was only going to get worse, not better? I know I would want the option of avoiding suffering.

Right, back to bed. I'll have to so a superfast writing job in the morning....

"An Act of Bravery or a Tragic Killing"

2006-01-31T15:27:00.000Z

From The Scotsman, Wed 25 Jan.

"Julia Millington, the political director of the Pro-life Alliance, said the terminally ill should be treated rather than helped to die.

'We are very saddened that Dr Turner felt that her life was of such little value that she chose to end it,' she said. 'Surely we need to find better ways of killing the suffering rather than killing the patient.'

Euthanasia is about choice. It is impossible for Julia Millington to experience the exact impulses that led Dr Turner to choose to die before the illness from which she was suffering denied her that choice. It is wholly reductive to suggest that Dr Turner's actions were motivated by a de-valuing of her life and the above statement makes no case whatsoever for the continuing prohibition of euthanasia in this country.

Surely the debate that should be taking place, if any, is about control and choice rather than 'value of life'. A life is only worth something of value to you if it's yours and yours to control.

The Catholic Church of Scotland added;

"The situation must never arise where the terminally-ill or the very elderly feel pressurised by society to end their lives."

In what way would on opening up of choice and control to an individual facing pain, suffering and degeneration result in a common societal desire for anyone old or ill to die?

present : tense

2006-01-31T14:25:00.000Z

present : tense

Just checking i've got this right and i'm blogger friendly. Really exciting meeting up on Sunday and seeing the amount of ideas for great theatre that can be found in the press.
A tough decision at the end but i think we've made a good one, we'll see. I'm waiting with excitment and anticipation for the first draft from Tena who i send lots of encouragement to.
It's almost impossible to concentrate on anything else knowing ideas are bubbling away and being formed as we speak. I can't wait to get started.

Not knowing what to do when someone dies

2006-01-31T12:59:00.000Z

Hello all

It would seem from some of my past songs that I like to write about death. But this is hard.

I think Anne Turners tale is an example of how dieing is never the same for anybody, whether you're pro-euthanasia, against it, her son, her daughter, whether you're writing a film, a play, a song.

How brave she was to have ended her own life when she felt she had to.

Sometimes we behave strangely when people around us die...

photos from sunday

2006-01-31T08:37:00.000Z

Dinosaur

2006-01-30T17:15:00.000Z

I've already sped through two of my usual writing stages...elatedly thinking idea is great and feeling excited (see previous post) and realising it's not. Usually this takes about two weeks, but I've managed it in one and a half days. I still don't know what I'm writing really, which is why I'm now stuck. I have a desire to include a dinosaur but I'm not sure how it's relevant. Have realised I've never seriously answered, or even asked myself the question, what happens when you die? This is a bit of a shock. I thought I had a questing mind that embraced hardcore truths, but no, I have the mind of a coward that would rather hide in a corner and must be beaten with sticks out into the light.

just testing...

2006-01-30T11:05:00.000Z

Hello everyone.
Just testing that this is really working, or rather that I am really able to work this...
My head is full of thoughts about this topic we chose. I am trying to figure it out still. It is strange that having to make a film in a week means that I need to start production nearly now, while still working on the concept. I will have to leave at least two days for editing. I am meeting a friend who is a nurse on maternity leave and I asked her for her nurse uniform... I don't know why, and what I am going to do with it... But I just thought that it might come in handy... I have never done this before. Looking for props before I even have the story...
Good luck everyone and have a good week.

First night nerves

2006-01-29T22:31:00.000Z

Now we have our subject, I'm reading up about the story on the internet and have figured out how to use this blog, hopefully. So I feel like something has been achieved. Now all I've got to do is think of an idea. Argh!

and the topic is...

2006-01-29T22:02:00.000Z

After much deliberation, the present : tense two artists tonight decided to tackle the story of Dr Anne Truman, who travelled to Switzerland to take her own life last week.

Other stories in the mixer included the revelations surrounding Simon Hughes, occupation of Tony's Cafe, the election of Hamas, the conviction of a 15-year-old girl for filming a 'happy slapping' murder, the police cover-up of the Menezes shooting, and the Italian court case questioning a priest over the existence of Jesus.

But ultimately Dr Truman's story was considered the most important story on the news agenda and is thus our topic.

The artists now have one week to create a response to the story...

Stuck in Liverpool

2006-01-29T16:13:00.000Z

Hello there-
Sorry I couldn't make it down to London today for the opening of present:tense.

I'm very much looking forward to working on the project.

See you in 1 week...
Ross

tickets on sale now

2006-01-22T14:14:00.000Z

Fingers on the redial buttton. Tickets for present : tense two are on sale now.

They cost a meagre £7 and can be booked from the Old Red Lion box office on 020 7837 7816.

Go, go, go.

the line-up

2006-01-22T13:17:00.000Z

Drumroll please. Here's the present : tense two line-up:

The Playwrights:

Glyn Cannon
Glyn Cannon's first professional production was of his play On Blindness at the Soho Theatre, produced by Paines Plough, Frantic Assembly and Graeae theatre companies. He followed this with Gone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004, where the play won a Scotsman Fringe First award, and The Guardian Best Play. The production subsequently transferred for a limited run to the West End at the New Ambassadors' Theatre, London. He was Associate Playwright at Paines Plough 2003/2004.

Dawn King
Dawn King's plays include Arrival with Baggage (Reading at Royal Court Theatre) ZOO (Reading at Royal Court Theatre, performed at Arcola Theatre and Hackney Empire) and How to Live Forever (Hampstead Theatre Start Night). She regularly writes short plays for subVERSE at Theatre 503. Her radio play Water Sculptures was recently broadcast live on Resonance FM.

Duncan Macmillan
Duncan’s first play The Most Humane Way to Kill a Lobster was written whilst on the Royal Court Young Writer’s Programme, and presented as a reading in the Theatre Upstairs alongside his second play From Here to the Moon, before a run at Theatre503.

Tena Stivicic
Tena was born and raised in Zagreb where she graduated from the Academy of Drama Arts, department of Playwriting and Dramaturgy. Her plays have been produced in Croatia and across Eastern and Central Europe, published and translated to several languages. She completed an MA in Writing for Performance at Goldmsiths College in London. Tena was took part in Future Perfect, the Paines Plough young writers programme. She lives and works in London.

The Directors:

Kirsty Housley
Kirsty studied Theatre and Performance Studies at The University of Warwick. Directing includes: Cue Deadly: A Live Film Project: Riverside Studios; Wuthering Heights (Devised): BAC; I’m Crazy For Feeling So Lonely (Devised): East 15 Acting School; After The Fact by Steve Lally: Soho Theatre, Net Curtains Theatre Co; Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, adapted by Simon Block; Nymphs and Shepherds by David Hines; Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello; The Chic Nerds by Ronan O’Donnell (all for the Etcetera Theatre); Blue Jam by Chris Morris: Etcetera Theatre, Riverside Studios and BAC (Time Out, Guardian and Evening Standard Critics Choice); and Newsrevue: Edinburgh Festival C Venues. Work as an Assistant Director includes: 24 Hour Plays: (Assistant to Robert Delamere), USUK and Canada Foreplay: (Assistant to Samuel West and Paulette Randall), both at The Old Vic, and Hoxton Story (Assistant to Lisa Goldman: The Red Room). Kirsty has also worked as a script reader for Soho Theatre, The Kings Cross Award, The Old Vic and Channel 4. Kirsty was Artistic Director of The Etcetera Theatre in Camden from 2000–2003 and was the winner of the inaugural Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award in 2003.

George Perrin
George is associate director and co-founder of nabokov. He was the first recipient of the Genesis Directors Award at the Young Vic, is a member of the Old Vic’s New Voices for whom he directed one of the 2005 24 Hour Plays. He is currently the assistant director at Paines Plough.

Psyche Stott
Psyche has recently been invited to attend the Directors Programme at the National Studio, in March. She is currently Assistant Director to Anna Mackmin on the no 1 tour of Mammals and will shortly be directing a piece for The Missing Piece 5 showcase, in association with Graeae Theatre Company and The Young Vic.

The Film Makers:

Lucy Purdon
Lucy has made several short documentaries, both here and abroad, and produces films with The Listen Collective, a film making group she helped set up. Their first feature release is due in May 2006. Lucy currently works as a researcher on factual TV programmes.

Ruth Schocken Katz
Ruth is a student at the London Film School about to go into production on her graduation film. She directed the short documentary Keeping Time, which has been screened at various festivals around the world, and recently completed Writing Mother, a short fiction film, which she wrote and directed. She has previously produced the V-Day campaign which raises awareness to issues of violence towards women and children through productions of the play The Vagina Monologues. Ruth also works as a freelance photographer.

The Poets:

Joel Stickley
Joel is a member of the poetry collective Aisle16, whose show Poetry Boyband ran at the Old Red Lion in December and was given Critics' Choice in Time Out for four weeks running before being named as one of their Critics' Choices of the year. He's been on Radio 3, BBC7, BBC Scotland, ITV and BBC Choice, which doesn't exist any more but did at the time. He won the Glastonbury Festival Poetry slam in 2003. For a while, he ran creative writing workshops at the University of East Anglia. He's done gigs in London, Manchester, Norwich, York, Penzance, Bath, Coventry, St Ives, Sheffield, Leeds, Chelmsford, Bristol, Cambridge, Liverpool and Edinburgh. But not in that order. Also, he likes dogs.

Ross Sutherland
Ross Sutherland began performing poetry aged seventeen, as support for punk-poet John Cooper Clarke. In 2000 he became one of the founding members of the live poetry collective, Aisle16, with whom he continues to tour the UK. He has performed internationally at the Nitra Performing Arts Festival (2005), as well as competing in poetry slams in Germany and Switzerland. Ross has been published in poetry journals Reactions and Orbis and is a regular contributor to Liverpool’s Mercy magazine. In 2002 he co-edited the new-writing collection Rock/text (Pen & Inc) with Gary Dylan Seal. Currently writing a thesis on computer-generated poetry, Ross also runs poetry workshops in schools/prisons/community centres across the North West. Since June 2002, he has been the host of monthly multimedia poetry club Fiction.

The Musician:

Liam Gerner
Liam is a hot new presence in contemporary singer songwriting. Born in Australia, he has been writing songs and performing since the age of 12, his original sound shuffles between genres: folk, country, rock, and blues. Lyrically, he captures an emotional spectrum, from delicate expressions of love, to courageous political commentary. Recent gigs include the WOMAD festivals (Australia, UK), The Borderline, the 12 Bar Club, and supports for Martha Wainwright and Teddy Thompson. Liam is currently London based while recording his debut album at Air studios with producer Andy Strange (Elton John, Robbie Williams). Visit Liam's website here.

present : tense 2

2006-01-15T17:41:00.000Z

Following its thrilling, sell-out debut in October 2005, present : tense is back...

present : tense 2 will take place on Sunday 5 February 2006 at The Old Red Lion Theatre. Stay tuned for details of a fantastic line-up, and how you can get your hands on tickets.

present : tense challenges some of the UK’s most exciting young artists to respond to the most important news story of the moment in just seven days.

Four playwrights, four directors, two film makers, two poets and a musician convene on Sunday 29 January to scour the newspapers for the most significant story on the news agenda. They each have seven days to create a piece of work that responds to the topic they choose. As the news changes, they will be forced to adapt their work, until it is performed for the public exactly one week after they began on Sunday 5 February.

Throughout the week, the public can follow their progress on this blog, where each artist will post daily updates on their progress.

present : tense aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering artists the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day. Back in October 2005, present : tense 1 tackled the terror attacks in Bali. Check out the archive for more details.

present : tense is hosted and curated by nabokov. hello!

forum

2005-10-10T18:50:00.000+01:00

log on to nabokov's brand new forum and post your opinions on present : tense now.

we're really keen to hear your feedback. what did you think of what you saw? how can we improve the event in the future? what do you make of the blog?

please log on now to www.nabokov-online.com/forum and have your say.

actors biogs

2005-10-10T17:47:00.000+01:00

you can read biographies of the core artists here.

October 9 by Al Smith

Grace - Fiona Doyle
Fiona trained at The Bridge Theatre Training Company. Since graduating, she has played a variety of roles including Lucy Brown in The Treepenny Opera (Blackheath Halls), Leanna in First Sins (King's Head Theatre) and The Waitress in Straker Sings Brel directed by Mel Smith (King's Head Theatre). Screen work includes the lead role in Conceptual, funded by EM Media and winner of a variety of awards at various festivals in the UK and America. Last November, Fiona performed at The Old Red Lion Theatre in the acclaimed Riding the Back of the Tiger devised through the Young Vic and directed by Will Mortimer.

Colin - Toby Sharp
After graduating with a BA in Performing Arts from Middlesex University, Toby has played a variety of parts including almost all roles in a Schools tour of Oliver Twist, Derek in the new play Headlong, O'Brien in an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 that toured Europe and Japan, and the role of Cyril in the recent short film Itchy Love. Toby is very happy to be involved in this exciting political theatre event at the Old Red Lion.

Staggering Through by Rachel Wagstaff

Sarah - Endy McKay
Trained: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, graduating in July 2004.
Theatre: Julius Caesar (Lyric Hammersmith); Silence (RSC Fringe / Arcola Theatre); Julius Caesar, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC).
Whilst Training: The Pillars of Society; Measure for Measure; The Good Person of Szechwan; All My Sons; Two; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Country Wife; The Cherry Orchard; Cloud Nine.
TV: The Boston Tea Party (BBC).

Mark - James Davis
James Davis has performed all over the world, including Hamlet in Hamlet (Middle East), Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (East Africa) and Leontes in The Winters Tale (Japan). He has performed in this theatre in Mere Mortals and All In The Timing.

Ed - Liam Shannon
Liam trained at Manchester Metropolitan University. Theatre credits include Victor in Big Night Out (Drill Hall); Eddie in The Vinegar Trip (North West Playwrights). TV includes Dr Daniel Leeming in Where The Heart Is (Series 2, ITV); Jez in City Central (BBC); and Mike in Law and Disorder (Channel Four). Liam works extensively as a voice over artist and for the last three years has been a continuity presenter for the Discovery Channel.

Myths and Legends by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Polly - Rebecca Elise

Helen - Jenni Maitland

John - Kris Milnes

Kuta by DC Moore

Gail - Jane Riley
For nabokov, Jane has been involved in Liverpool shorts nights. Theatre credits include: Hatty in Tom's Midnight Garden (Birmingham Stage Company National Tour). Television credits include: Dalziel & Pascoe, Coronation Street, Vincent, Life on Mars, Casualty.

Mary - Marilyn O'Brien
Marilyn trained at ALRA. She is a member of the Old Vic New Voices Company and recently performed in the Old Vic New Voices' 24 Hour Plays. Her theatre credits include Mrs. Clerimont in The Beau Defeated; Sofia Fuentes in Widows; 2nd Maggie/Aunt Glegg in The Mill On The Floss; Mrs. Loveit in Man of Mode; Duchess of York in Richard III. She has also performed at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, in a series of monologues & at the The Bull Theatre inThe Royal Hunt of The Sun. Her film credits include Rebecca in Hello You.

Jules - Clea Langton

Clea trained at Rusden College of Performing Arts in Australia. Her most recent UK credit is Goody Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (Chelsea Players). In Australia, Clea had guest roles in T.V serials Neighbours, Stingers, Crash Burn, Marshall Law, Backburner and the telemovie Leather and Silk. Theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Richard III, Antigone, The Stronger, Party Time and Penelope. New works include Strange Fruit and What Lies Between. Clea was also co-director of Australian Theatre School 2000-2002.

credits

2005-10-10T17:02:00.000+01:00

last night you saw:

Gavin Osborn

October 9 by Al Smith
directed by Will Mortimer
grace: Fiona Doyle
colin: Toby Sharp

two films by Sue Luciani

Gavin Osborn

Staggering Through by Rachel Wagstaff
directed by Hanna Berrigan
sarah: Endy McKay
mark: James Davis
ed: Liam Shannon

-----------------------------------------
interval
-----------------------------------------

Gavin Osborn

Myths and Legends by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
directed by Hamish Pirie
helen: Jenni Maitland
polly: Rebecca Elise
john: Kris Milnes

a film by Azhur Saleem

Luke Wright

Kuta by DC Moore
directed by George Perrin
gail: Jane Riley
jules: Clea Langton
mary: Marilyn O’Brien

stage manager: Andy Tandy

pictures of the night

2005-10-10T14:03:00.000+01:00

Standing room only the Old Red Lion.

Toby Sharp and Fiona Doyle in Al Smith's play directed by Will Mortimer.

Troubadour Gavin Osborn

James Davis and Endy McKay in Rachel Wagstaff's play directed by Hanna Berrigan.

Rebecca Elise and Jenni Maitland in Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's play directed by Hamish Pirie.

Poet Luke Wright in full flow.

Sue Luciani's film.

Last Rehearsal

2005-10-09T13:20:00.000+01:00

With less than seven hours to go, the final stretch...

the excitement is palpable...!

2005-10-09T00:32:00.000+01:00

Well I decided to post a final pre-show blog as probably won't get a chance tomorrow. Today I went along to a rehearsal. And get this....my actors were off book! Pretty much completely! And I'm not saying I didn't expect this but if anyone has been reading these blogs from the beginning they would know that this piece is 17, yes 17, pages long....and they know it!!! Not only this but Hamish has been nailing the direction so much so that I had very little to add or say and could simply sit back and enjoy!
Apparently one of the reasons for their brilliance (they reliably informed me) was that after yesterdays rehearsal the actors found a pub and did a line run. Despite wierding out the locals and being accosted by a smack addict it apparently went very well and really helped with the lines...very method daaaaahling (the whole piece is set in a pub).
So am very impressed with the team and their dedication and enthusiasm and so grateful as well!!
I worked my pub shift tonight and was faced with a familiar person that I assumed was a regular but eventually realised was Will who is directing Al's piece! And he was with with Fiona, one of the actors in their piece! We swapped stories and generally chatted about how great this week has been and how we hope we can do it again...hint hint Nabokov! But it was great to bump into them.
So all that remains to be said is well done everyone and I really can't wait to see what everyone has come up with!
see you tomorrow! xxx

final cut

2005-10-08T22:58:00.000+01:00

well i'm pretty much done now. I presume everyone else is crazy busy at the moment, hence the reason why I'm hogging the blog space.

I've been editing all night, and the film has become more of an experimental piece. In a way, I actually prefer this to the more narrative film that I was planning on doing! Or am I just telling myself that?!

I'm going to spend tomorrow morning tweaking and finding out places that the film slows down, although there are moments where I want to purposefully slow the pace down to an agonising length. I hope it works and will be well receieved. i suppose that's it, and I'll see you all tomorrow!

All change!!

2005-10-08T17:09:00.000+01:00

Got up this morning, after being tempted to the pub last night. I was good though, I didn't stay for too long. The plan today was to meet up in the afternoon and shoot the scenes with my actor - that would complete everything I need for the film leaving me the rest of the day and tonight to edit.

The search for an asian actor was a bit tough. I got a good contact from James who was really great, but busy all week and weekend. He did give me numbers of other asian actors that worked with him on Bombay Dreams. Cool. Unfortunately they too were busy. But I do now have contacts for my graduation film! So I'm still without an actor. Then I suddenly remember one of my friends from film school used to be an actor in India! Brilliant! After some persuasion he agrees to go ahead and after a meeting in the pub last night, we were all set to go.

So I meet my producer in Cafe Nero on Long Acre this morning. Then my phone buzzes. A text. My actor has pulled out. He got totally drunk, threw up everywhere and had only just woken up!! Damn!! Should've made him sign a contract! Aaaaggghhh, actor's pulling out. It seems to be happening all the time. The last film I made was plagued by this. Oh well...

So over a not-very-nice cup of Cafe Nero coffee, my producer and I rehashed an idea out of stuff that I had already shot....and we came up with a ridiculously simple idea (well I say we, but it was mainly her...!). I think that it will be really effective, and it still gets across my idea of life carrying on regardless, whether through apathy or through determination. Either way, these things happen all the time all across the world.

So the film will probably end up being more a 'piece' rather than a narrative short film. Oh well, roll with the punches.

See y'all tomorrow and good luck to everyone who will be actually up on stage and performing tomorrow! I can just hide behind my girlfriend whilst the film is playing!

1st draft done

2005-10-07T23:50:00.000+01:00

last night me and chris and the rest of aisle16 were in manchester for the poetry festival there. it was great, but did involve about 12 hours spent in a car during the last 24 hours. consequently i haven't exactly had much time to be sitting down writing poetry.

joel16 and i got back to essex about 7pm this evening. had a curry. watched derek and clive. smoked cigarettes, talked about derek and clive. talked about the fact i had to write a poem about terrorism, or suicide bombings, or bali or something... by sunday. i did my usual thing of saying 'oh, i'll do it in the morning, i'll feel refreshed then.' but we're in luton tomorrow doing poetry boyband to luton people. so it just kind of welled up inside of me. i felt ill. i went upstairs and wrote out over 2000 words worth of quotes from heat magazine - the idea i had was to talk about potent news through impotent, nonsense media - felt ill at the shit peddled through heat and alike. sat down and speed wrote a first draft. took it to joel. he didn't think it was shit. i have now worked through the first draft and i'm gonna finish it tomorrow.

this is the first peom i have written since may. i feel kind of relieved. this process seems to have helped actually. i'll keep you posted.

"... tell you what though, it didn't half give me the horn..."

ummm... that's a bit scary

2005-10-07T17:09:00.000+01:00

I like to think of the old red lion as a place not dissimilar to being in my front room. Nice and cosy and not particularly clean.
The notion of it being chock full of people is making me rather nauseous.

article on present : tense in 'the friday thing'

2005-10-07T16:07:00.000+01:00

the following is an article published today in The Friday Thing:

PRESENT : TENSE - A PREVIEW

nabokov is a young London-based theatre group consisting of four playwrights, four directors, two film makers, two poets and a musician (um, not quite, but we'll let it slide - nabokov ed). Last Sunday evening at the Old Red Lion pub in Angel, they were sat together around a large table, all of them quite disappeared behind a sea of newsprint. What they were doing was completing step one of their new project: finding the story. At the end of the session, they had decided. The story was the Bali suicide bombings. So, step two. Step two was slightly trickier. Step two was to go off and create a night of theatrical performance using the Bali bombings as their inspiration. The end result will be Present : Tense. They gave themselves seven days to put it together.

nabokov carried out a little survey recently, quizzing the general public on their attitude toward the theatre. The most common reasons people gave for not giving two stuffs for the theatre were primarily that it's boring, irrelevant, expensive and full of old people. The members of nabokov are determined to try to change this perception. Giving themselves just a week to prepare an evening's entertainment which will be politically relevant, and above all, entertaining, is brave of them. To chart their progress, they've also created a blog, updated by each of them throughout the week. Last night there were a couple of first rehearsals. The excitement, and the tension, are mounting.

Present : Tense will consist of live drama, film, poetry and song. It could, of course, all go horribly wrong. However, even if it does, the chances are it will be a damn sight more exciting than any evening of Rod Stewart songs masquerading as drama. There is also a very good chance that the subject matter will give rise to some controversial material. Already on the blog there is talk of attempting to explore some of the motivations of the suicide bomber. In the current environment, where even to begin to attempt to see things from the other side is tantamount to capitulation, it could be that theatre will provide the ideal medium in which to challenge conventional thought.

Whether nabokov can manage to make a success out of Present : Tense or not remains to be seen, but there can be no doubting the courage and the conviction of its members. Whatever happens on Sunday night, it seems highly unlikely that the words 'boring', 'irrelevant' or 'full of old people' will be bandied about in response. Not that there's anything wrong with old people of course. Apart from the fact that they're reactionary and remind the young of death. Oh, and at a fiver a shot, it's far from expensive.

If you want to be a part of what could turn out to be a revolution in political theatre, call the Old Red Lion box office on 020 7837 7816 to reserve your place.

We'll see you there.

source: http://www.thefridayproject.co.uk/tft/

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER PT II

2005-10-07T14:48:00.000+01:00

TUES

2.30PM Been searching high and low for a decent graveyard. So far I've only stumbled across a few headstones, where do we keep our dead in the suburbs? Getting desperate so head into a church and talk to the priest 'hello I'm making a short film, and am in need of a good looking graveyard' he looks at me like I've just sworn at him. Made my apologies and left but not before saying a Hail Mary, it seems you can take the girl out of the church...

4.10PM Ask and the lord will giveth... found my graveyard and get to work, only to be interrupted by a phonecall from my editor, he's got paid work in Soho, flatline, game over, thinking about digging myself a hole right now.

4.30PM Panic conversations with my producer 'what am I going to do?' He thinks for a moment 'why not do the edit yourself?' 'WHATAREYOURCRAZYIGOTAWEEKTHAT'SITYOUWANTMETOMAKEA FILMANDLEARNHOWTOEDITINJUSTONEWEEK' phone goes dead, maybe he lost signal I tell myself.

5.15PM Soldiering on, getting my shots, although I fear it's pretty pointless at this stage. Get a text through, my producer's just spoken to an editor on the Da Vinci Code, apparently there's nothing to it, pah, what does he know.

6.30PM Chasing ravens around Bushy park, I get the feeling they're having a little fun with me, everytime I get close to the shot they fly off, so I'm running around after them cursing, much to the fishermen's amusement, why I am I doing this again?

7.45PM Sit down in front of the AVID editing suite ok mister be gentle with me, we haven't got time for any funny business. Start playing it footage so far so good, maybe it's not as hard as I think.

9.35PM Windows message pops up 'fatal error' AAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH

WED

8AM Meet Chris at Earl's court, take a look at his lyrics over a coffee, damn they're good, trying to edit them but there's no need - get into the studio and he lays down his vocal track with my fab sound designer Mark. Despite only having had four hours sleep (this man loves to work!) Mark nails it and cuts me the track in minutes. Realise quickly that the hip hop bed will over power Chris's lyric so we try something else, laying in a composition Mark played me last week - I knew when I heard it I wanted to use it but I had no idea we'd be turning it around this quickly. Clutching the CD track in my hand I leave the studio smiling, maybe it's not hopeless afteral.

11.30AM Yes it is hopeless AVID hates me.

12.10PM My editor Emile administers medicine over the phone and talks me through the basics, 'send the Avid my love' he tells me 'I think it needs it.'

4.40pm Just checked the clock, editing is completely absorbing, actually it's rather brilliant, I want to shout from the rooftops, 'it's possible, if I can do it then you definately can, let's make movies baby.'

5.15PM 'fatal error,' back to square one.

9.30PM Got a sequence that's starting to make sense, turn off the computer for the night, wonder if my day's work will still be there in the morning?

THURS

8.45AM Sequence still there phewww! Now I'm needing a little something to end up with, some kind a scavanging, end of the end type feel...

10.10AM Looking at Vultures, funny creatures, the stench of rotting meat is making me queasy.

11.30AM Just spent the last twenty minutes watching the penguins feed, fantastic animals poor things have no idea they're being abducted by crazy american evangelist cause to 'disprove' the theory of evolution, I don't think they'd agree with that somehow.

2.30PM Back on board after quick chat with the lovely old lady who lives on the island, tell her I'm making a film in a week, she thinks I'm nuts. Last time we spoke I was telling her how difficult it was to get a feature of the ground what with it costing so much money etc she told me
to 'go stand in the middle off the road and swing my knickers round above my head, anything to get their attention'... and I'm the crazy one?!

FRI

10.30AM Just caught up with everyone's blogs, brilliant stuff, really looking forward to seeing everyone's work on Sunday, and we've sold out, fantastic, can't wait, hold on, I haven't got a ticket...

sunday: sold out

2005-10-07T10:39:00.000+01:00

sunday is completely sold out as of midday yesterday. thank you to everyone who has booked a ticket and shown such an interest in the project.

the old red lion is operating a waiting list in case of returns, so you can call 020 7837 7816 to get your name on that.

present : tense

the present : tense blog has moved...

present: tense / five

today

More Links

the fear

links, links, links

and the topic is...

present : tense / four

more links

So Here's To You, Mr Robinson

thoughts from Kat

KAT'S PROGRESS

Monkeys On Typewriters

'Seek' Versus 'Seek No Further'

links, links, links

and the topic is..

have your say

last night you saw...

campaigns

is that it?

Oh, so THIS is blogging?!...

okay then, let's fucking do this.

problems in the company

casting

Short Fuse - first rehearsal

progress

update on bbc

Shit

casting

casting complete

finally cast (sorry vicky)

ohgodohgodohgod

bbc

arrests

moving on not moving on

a pro

chloe moss is quiet

gun crime versus jingly-jangly folk songs

draft three in and casting under way

Hello everyone...

I have something on paper

Delivered

Joel's first draft...

blame...

Panic!

tricky

Joel's Play

Joel's Play

SW19

Late...

Brixton

what to do next

links

and the topic is...

I hate computers

this

the line-up

present : tense / three

pictures of present : tense two

Addendumdedendum

have your say

last night you saw...

Tonight

breaking limbs

47 and counting...

...

hearts in mouths

it's a sell out

Casting

The Adrenalin is pumping!

Shooting tomorrow

Poem draft

3rd stage is not good.

"An Act of Bravery or a Tragic Killing"

present : tense

Not knowing what to do when someone dies

photos from sunday

Dinosaur

just testing...