Playwriting
During the years 2017 and 2021 I participated in the 28 Plays later challenge as setup by The Literal Challenge team, throughout I struggled to create new and interesting ideas daily – but I relished in the opportunity to be creative. Below are a series of posts from my time spent on this challenge, as well as modern updates on plays I am currently writing. In no way has my work been performed live aside from readings over Zoom, but one day, maybe a scratch night will do!
- ‘Ol’ Man River’ – Challenge 1
So, it begins and I’m trying to work out a decent schedule that’ll give me the time to write, sleep, write, submit, work. I’m currently using the twilight hours in the hopes that my sleep deprived self will come up with something interesting. So the first challenges’ brief was “19/28” it’s pretty flexible, we were allowed to use those numbers in any way. A time (19:28pm), as a date, or even something like coordinates. I love to write whilst listening to music, so that’s the route I went down. In 1928 a fine young man named Paul Robeson released “Ol’… Read more: ‘Ol’ Man River’ – Challenge 1 - Welcome,Why hello there, and welcome. Here’s a list of all the challenges or additions to my blog that have happened in the past year: For the whole month of February 2017 + 2021 I participated in The Literal Challenge’s 28 Plays Later, an intensive writing initiative. Once a day, a brief is given to it’s participants, and they have only 36 hours to research and write a short play. These plays can be found here. For the whole month of June 2017 I participated in Manuel Puro’s ‘The Acting Habit’ – a scheme to fight the negatives of preparing a self-tape.… Read more: Welcome,
- ‘Frank, You’re Mine’ – Challenge 2
The second challenge was to create a play based on ‘Myth and Folklore’. I was previously going to set it in the Roman era, when Constantine chose between Mithrasism and Christianity, and instead merged them. But then I thought, nah, religion’s a whole ‘nother ballpark. So this was inspired by the ‘Bloody Mary’ folklore, I set in in 1950’s America, as I love old American horror films, seemed like a good place to create the setting. It’s in Conneticut too! However, it’s a comedy, I couldn’t resist. The bonus job was to style it in naturalism. This one wasn’t so… Read more: ‘Frank, You’re Mine’ – Challenge 2 - ’11:17am’ – Challenge 3
This one was a tricky one, no plot, no story or narrative. But I couldn’t help it. I’ve really tried but I think I’ve automatically slipped in a message. I was influenced mainly from Caryl Churchill’s ‘Love and Information’ a play in which no characters are specified, their genders, their age or look (in most cases). And the characters disappear as soon as you’ve seen them. It’s a look into the daily life of, well, life! So ’11:17am’ is pretty much just that, there’s 25 scenes, 28 locations and countless characters interacting with each other or with their environment – all… Read more: ’11:17am’ – Challenge 3 - ‘Less Than Strangers’ – Challenge 4
Always wanted to do spoken word but I’ve never had the confidence. It’s a lot more personal. But I’m happy with this, it’s about the usual thoughts you’d have on any tube ride. Narrated, by anyone. Enjoy! 4-less-than-strangers - ‘A Deceitful Deed’ – Challenge 5
This is the biggest piece I’ve done so far. So the challenge today was to create a ‘murder mystery’ I spent a long time trying to figure out not only a good plot, but one that encouraged me to write. So I went to an era I quite love, Georgian 1830’s Hampshire. It’s a double task as it’s all period writing too, it was fucking hard not to bloody use any shitting pissing normal swears!! The character’s have got a pretty good depth to them and the story hopefully isn’t too transparent. Anyway, here is is, it’s a long one… Read more: ‘A Deceitful Deed’ – Challenge 5 - ‘The Little Psycho’ – Challenge 6
Contrasting to my last play, this is now possibly the shortest (excluding the spoken word). We were give the challenge of creating a play starting with the line: “You’re a liar, and I don’t care that I’m naked, I won’t come off the roof unless you tell me why your sister asked me about my first time!” And bonus points for ending with: “Don’t be a sycophant, it’s either me or the Danish!” To me is sounded like a comedy straight away, so I followed the plot given from the clues in the opening line. It’s a comedy about a… Read more: ‘The Little Psycho’ – Challenge 6 - ‘Non-Equity’ – Challenge 7
This was the hardest challenge so far – no actors. I wanted to take it by the horns and not use any kind of rehearsed peformance. What you’re about to read is more of a concept, the beginning and the middle are there. It is up to the audience however, to fill in the middle. The title was also an easy one to name, they couldn’t afford actors so here’s the result. More importantly, it’s also a lot of fun for the stage managers to get down and dirty with the audience. It’s a short brief, but you get the… Read more: ‘Non-Equity’ – Challenge 7 - ‘Highlife’ – Challenge 8
Today’s challenge was the create a play inspired by a song, there were so many possibilities, this is usually how I get an idea for a play anyway! Live fast, die young. I used a song by a NZ artist named Owen Rabbit titled ‘Oh My God‘. It’s a very haunting yet beautiful track. The play follows ‘Jason’ a late-20 something returning from his girlfriends funeral. This is the darkest piece I’ve done, and I guess the most abstract. It also has music incorporated, and for the first time, dancing. It’s like a dark La La Land. But not in… Read more: ‘Highlife’ – Challenge 8 - ‘Nimble Men’ – Challenge 9
So, a little lighter than yesterday’s but I couldn’t shake off some of those abstract tendencies. The challenge today was to create play based from the Hemingway quote: “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.” Automatically I go to images of men and boats (yes more boats). And I thought how tranquil it can be to be at sea when the ocean is calm, throw in the aurora borealis and there’s your scenic spot. It’s a foundation, a starting place: 9-nimble-men - ‘Cats and Dogs’ – Challenge 10
This is by far the quickest play I’ve written. The brief for this? No ending. No real resolution, no closure. I’ve left my characters Karen and Robert in the rain in a Beckett-inspired piece about wet-weather-wear. Enjoy: 10-cats-and-dogs - ‘The Sanctuary’ – Challenge 11
Stranger Things meets Mad Max/Fallout series and Tron. A play set in the distant future, after a war-torn world goes back to a more primitive setting, and throws out advanced technology. Challenge 11 was all about that ‘t’ word. Tech. I wanted to write something that reflected the joy I had of tech when I was kid. When I played my first Dreamcast, Gameboy or PS1. So this is all about that, the excitement of discovery, against an unseen backdrop of oppression: 11-the-sanctuary - ‘Subtext’ – Challenge 12
I found this challenge very hard, it was something to do with modern language, how we speak now, how we communicate. And I wanted to look at how we don’t communicate, or more specifically what we’re not saying. Feeling pretty drained energy wise, real life is hard to balance with all these challenges. But never the less, here it is, number 12: 12-subtext - ‘Waiting Is The Hardest Part’ – Challenge 13
So happy to write a piece like this, the challenge was to write in free-flow consciousness. It was great! I have a diary, so I usually write like this on a daily basis. I think this will be a great tool for the future when working out a character. Get into their mindset and just, write. I mean the character of ‘Kane’ in this, is basically me, but older and still unsuccessful in love. I’ve kind of used a previous Tinder date as an experience for this one. Also, yes, the title is inspired after Tom Petty. I now can’t… Read more: ‘Waiting Is The Hardest Part’ – Challenge 13 - ‘Nerd Night’ – Challenge 14
Today’s challenge was continuation of a theme, ‘make it personal’. There’s a lot of stories in my head I could’ve used. But there’s one that I like the best, and due to the nature of these ‘Nerd Nights’ the play was pretty much already written. The character names too. It’s all naturalistic which is the way I like to write, the majority of the events are true, most of the dialogue however, is not. So apologies to the SR’s, this is an over exaggeration of character and events, because yes, some things are out of place. All for the purpose… Read more: ‘Nerd Night’ – Challenge 14 - ‘Fight The Good Fight’ – Challenge 15
Not a particularly fun or interesting one from me tonight. The challenge was to look into your past, or present and write about a situation that you could now comment on. Meh, yes I have demons I’m sure a lot of others do, but to be honest, I’m doing this to practice my writing technique, not for therapy. Anyway, I came up with a golden situation thanks to some help, I based it from a rivalry I had when I was younger. But then realised my memory is pretty shoddy, so I added in another event from my life, which… Read more: ‘Fight The Good Fight’ – Challenge 15 - ‘The Missing Piece’ – Challenge 16
This is my favourite so far, I really like the characters, I like that there’s not a lot of plot. And it’s just a really happy play, compared to the last one. I’m in a completely opposite frame of mind. The challenge was to create a fake autobiography. So for example, Curious Incident or The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas. A play that follows the story of one person, and in this challenge, it’s a made up one. This follows 13 years in the life of ‘Kyle’ an amputee who recounts some of the best moments of his life post-accident.… Read more: ‘The Missing Piece’ – Challenge 16 - ‘The Plain’ – Challenge 17
This challenge was to stop us from inputting any emotion into our scripts. As we’ve had a pretty emotional week. But. It bored me to write. And reading back it isn’t half-bad, it was definitely useful in working out how to create some interest with very little going on, especially in a naturalistic way. This ‘kitchen sink’ drama takes place in a usually exciting place, a safari park! I’m not going to say enjoy, because I didn’t: 17-the-plain - ‘A Change of Heart’ – Challenge 18
Today’s crazy challenge is apparently our taskmaster’s favourite. It’s a mixture of lots of different random briefs all at once. I’ve managed to follow it perfect, I hope. I’ve double-triple checked it. Here’s the brief in full: 1. The play has 3 talking characters and two that don’t talk. You have an option of adding one more character – but only if he delivers pizza! 2. One of the characters is magical (in whatever way you see fit) and/or one of the characters is obsessed with fish. 3. You may use a maximum of 7 pauses in the play, but… Read more: ‘A Change of Heart’ – Challenge 18 - ‘Order’ – Challenge 19
Here is the biggest pile of wank I have ever written. My housemate Ryan just read it, he said “I like it. It’s obvious you hated what you were writing and it comes across as a parody.” Today’s challenge was ‘art forms’ and it was about incorporating other styles of art into your plays. But I struggled to make a play that wasn’t solely focusing on a piece of art, or sculpture or a building. So I incorporated some immersion with the theme of Cubism. It’s shit. Actually worse than ‘Fight The Good Fight’. 19-order- - ‘Boundary Issues’ – Challenge 20
Today’s challenge was pretty simple, create a play with the title ‘Boundary Issues’. I’ve based it on a true story, dating back to 1942, and set in Auschwitz. One of the strangest love stories out there. It’s between SS guard Franz Wunsch and Jewish POW Helena Citrónová. I’ve adapted some other characters from that period into it, and I wanted to work with keeping it as historically accurate as possible. But then again I’ve only written this in 6 hours. I’m very happy with this play though, lots of juicy characters, lots of good scenes. Maybe the set is a… Read more: ‘Boundary Issues’ – Challenge 20 - ‘Reality Check’ – Challenge 21
Sci-fi was today’s theme, nice and broad, which is quite a treat compared to what we’ve had recently. It meant I could write a nice comical short one. Reality Check is about alternate realities and what happens when something as mundane as buying tobacco from the shop gets interrupted when a person exactly the same as you walks in. But with a twist. I had a lot of ideas that would make good films, but not for plays, couldn’t quite get my head around staging an inter-galactic conference with lots of different aliens. Big budget costume department. Also, this is… Read more: ‘Reality Check’ – Challenge 21 - ‘The Beast Upon The Hill’- Challenge 22
Today’s challenge is ‘fan-fiction’, create a play inspired by, or including characters from a well known series/story/play etc. I’m a big fan of Shakespeare, and in particular ‘The Tempest’, and my favourite character from that, is Caliban. So. I’ve made a play set in 2017, when a man (Marco) washes up on the island’s shore after a plane crash. 400 years ago, Shakespeare ended ‘The Tempest’ with Caliban in control of the island. Here’s my take on how things have gone since then: 22-the-beast-upon-the-hill - ‘And Out The Other’ – Challenge 23
Helped by a friend to think of something “radical” – yes that’s the challenge today, she suggested something without sound. So I’ve made a little piece about a deaf boy, who just has a normal evening at home with his parents. But the audience are given the opportunity to experience the evening as Mo – under their seats they all have noise-cancelling headphones, which can also translate sign language. I like the idea of challenging audience members with other people’s experiences, and I think it would just be radical to try it with physical conditions. Anyway, here it is enjoy!… Read more: ‘And Out The Other’ – Challenge 23 - ‘Translation: Lost’ – Challenge 24
Good morning! Today’s challenge was to either write in a different language or create your own. So seeing in my ignorance I only speak English, I’ve decided to create my own. We see three friends, Mia, Victor and Daisy all unconscious after a nasty fall in the woods. They wake up and realise one of their friends has a pretty bad concussion. The bonus for this challenge was to create a twist. AND OH BOY, IS THERE A TWIST. This could be one of my best twists. ‘A Deceitful Deed’ and ‘Frank You’re Mine’ had some pretty good ones. But… Read more: ‘Translation: Lost’ – Challenge 24 - ‘Change’ – Challenge 25
Today’s task was to go back to a half-finished script, an unwritten idea or something you’ve almost finished but never have. I have about three pieces which I would say are unfinished, two of them I’d prefer to spend more time on and turn into full-length pieces. The same goes for some of these shorts. But with ‘Change’ I originally wrote this a long time ago, and left it unfinished. It’s very short and does the job it needs to, might even work better as a short film. Here it is: 25-change - ‘Less Than Strangers #2’ – Challenge 26
So for this challenge we were instructed to reduce the content of a play by half. Now when it comes to the spoken word challenge ‘Less Than Strangers’ it may have lost it’s flow in certain areas. But I found it easy to cut, and so I made it more about getting to the point straight away and slimming down the imagary. Which, is a shame. I think I prefer the original. The whole point of this spoken word piece was that people on the tube often lose themselves and wander off in thought. Much like the short does. But… Read more: ‘Less Than Strangers #2’ – Challenge 26 - ‘Throw Down’ – Challenge 27
The penultimate challenge, and what a play has come out of it! Today we were given the opportunity to look back on all previous challenges and try again. My worst piece was ‘Order’ – Challenge 19 (https://tinyurl.com/zzmp99z), which was all about ‘Art Forms’. We were instructed to incorporate another art form into our play, something that hasn’t really been done. It resulted in a poor, rather lazy immersive experience set involving a war between Cubism and naturalism. It was shit. So as a result, I’ve made this, it’s a 3-hander set in a pottery class, with no teacher. It’s a bit… Read more: ‘Throw Down’ – Challenge 27 - ‘The Discoverers’ – Challenge 28
Well here it is! The final short play, it’s done, I can finally go to sleep on time. The last challenge was the reverse of the very first (‘1928’ – https://tinyurl.com/zkcrrsj ) so we had to create a play around ‘8291’. I looked at songs, coordinates and dates. But I couldn’t find any inspiration for a story. So I said to myself, look back through your tweets, and your play has to be about something in your 8291st tweet. So I looked and, well, it came up with this picture of Sean Connery eating spaghetti in Rome… Which had me laughing,… Read more: ‘The Discoverers’ – Challenge 28 - Ranking The Pieces
Now that it’s all done and dusted I can happily say which of the past months pieces are my favourites and which are my sworn enemies that I cringe at the thought of even creating. It’s been a crazy old month, and it’s been great to read other’s submissions. It’s been great to have a little Facebook community to share and motivate others throughout the challenges. And without that group I probably would’ve given up a while ago. So here’s my list: Challenge 20 ‘Boundary Issues’ – boundary-issues Challenge 27 ‘Reprise’ – throw-down Challenge 5 ‘Murder Mystery’ –a-decietful-deed Challenge 2 ‘Folklore’ – frank-youre-mine… Read more: Ranking The Pieces - Next Challenge (or the second try)It’s been a while since I wrote here directly – lockdown life has been a bit of a bitch hey? But you’ve got to find little things to get you through, and I’ve been, coping. Back in 2017 I was in a similar state of mind, a little lost, and the 28 Plays Later competition gave me some drive (it also developed an unhealthy attachment to late night drinking by the computer). Being lost is all well and good, but I suppose it matters more if you’re trying to find your way out, or you’d rather stay in that state.… Read more: Next Challenge (or the second try)
- ‘Saint’ – Challenge 3.1
So we’re back. 4 years on we are back writing plays and my god. It hasn’t got any easier. The last time I was writing I’d slam a bottle of wine and a couple of cans for each piece, and sleep at 5. It’s a little harder writing sober I must admit. This first piece, ‘Saint’ is a response to the first brief of the new challenge. We were tasked to write about ‘the past’, nothing in the future and nothing in the present. So for me, I thought of my experiences with St Patricks Day. Every year something exciting… Read more: ‘Saint’ – Challenge 3.1 - ‘They Grow Up So Fast’ – Challenge 3.2
Today was all about ‘the present’, a suitable sequel to yesterday’s look at ‘the past’ – I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I struggled at first, to think of any idea. I’ve been reading a lot on Taoism and meditating a fair bit, so I’m learning more about what it means to be present. But, any story along those lines just didn’t quite click. I thought about research current affairs but, I’m avoiding the ‘C’ word and the ‘1-9’ number completely. So I thought about what it meant, the present, the now, the what’s happening. And wouldn’t it be interesting… Read more: ‘They Grow Up So Fast’ – Challenge 3.2 - ‘Small Man Trapped In A Box’ – Challenge 3.3
As it was Groundhog Day yesterday (we recieve our briefings 10pm every night) we were assisnged the task of repeating the previous brief, to then go in a completely different direction. So, we have our couple Martin and May (Father and Mother) and their baby boy. Previously, it goes to a sad dark place – but how about, what could have happened. What if the father continued with his desire to turn the baby into the next Pete Seeger? Now a comedy, we explore what it takes to prepare a baby for the world, who will they become and more… Read more: ‘Small Man Trapped In A Box’ – Challenge 3.3 - ‘The Defence’ – 3.4
Brief number 4 – and rather fittingly, we were tasked with creating something that would work during lockdown. Zoom has become the new Theatreland of late, with online readings, concerts and even a BBC series. So, as new budding writers and craftsman, how would we fair when it came to creating a piece that could be performed, live to an audience, with no contact. I had the idea a while back, of a prison meeting, one of those setups where the inmate and visitor are separated by glass. I thought, well hey this could work a treat! So! I’ve done… Read more: ‘The Defence’ – 3.4 - ‘Last Round’ – Challenge 3.5
If you rounded up all the briefs I’ve ever been given and then plotted them on some chart about form, this would be an outlier. We were tasked with great a piece influenced by the process of pertrification of trees. (Trees that are underneath the earth and cannot decompose due to suffocation, so they turn to mineral, or something). I’ll admit, when I saw that I was a little stumped. (Hah!) Thank you. I had absolutely no idea what to write. So, as you can see, I’ve delayed today’s entry. I wanted to write it a little later to get… Read more: ‘Last Round’ – Challenge 3.5 - ‘From Dubai With Love, Pride and Envy’ – Challenge 3.6
Wow, and I mean wow. Last night, I tried writing with wine, like I used to, and I really hated it, I mean it, nothing flowed, nothing went anywhere. And today, jesus Christ. Today we were tasked with writing a Greek Tragedy, with only 3 characters (+ a Chorus), with songs, all in verse ideally, AND it had to be set in the modern word. Yeah, it’s a tought one, and if it weren’t for studying Greek Theatre in school, I’d be screwed. I’ve read Sophocles (Antigone, Electra etc), Aristophanes and a lot of Homer (okay so not plays, but you… Read more: ‘From Dubai With Love, Pride and Envy’ – Challenge 3.6 - ‘You Only Get What You Give And What You Get You Won’t Want’ – Challenge 3.7
The brief was ‘Brecht’, and there’s no way I’ve got the energy to write a full on Brechtian short, how would you even write a Brechtian short?! It’s called EPIC THEATRE, but it’s the weekend, and on the weekend we are challenged. And boy was this a challenge. After writing too much yesterday I needed a day just cool down. I feel I can write some good stuff next week, but nothing was working for me today. So it’s a short piece. England and Wales have been at war with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland and we focus on some refugees… Read more: ‘You Only Get What You Give And What You Get You Won’t Want’ – Challenge 3.7 - ‘Aquaphobia’ – Challenge 3.8
I remember this challenge from 4 years ago, we were given the first line (and a bonus point to include the last line) and were to create something within that. This year we were given ‘My name isn’t Kate, so get off the bed and give me that green thing you’re holding, the leak isn’t going to fix itself.’ and I decided to follow the line directly, as I had done last time. But not include the bonus point (I feel that made the piece too rigid, no freedom for exploration). So, I’ve got a character not called ‘Kate’, a ‘green thing’ and a… Read more: ‘Aquaphobia’ – Challenge 3.8 - ‘idol.’ – Challenge 3.9
Hit a bit of a wall today, the brief was to get two real people to meet, who never would have. For example, Elvis Preseley meets Ariana Grande. And then you pop them in a fictious setting. For example, Julius Caesar plays chess with Saddam Hussein. But I don’t like writing real people. And as fun as a piece like that could have been, it would’ve been clunky and there’s nothing I could do with something like that. So. What happens when you meet your hero? What could happen, especially when this person is dark, and dangerous and corrupt. Just.… Read more: ‘idol.’ – Challenge 3.9 - ‘Love Language’ – Challenge 3.10
And we’re back, with a trip down memory lane. Back in 2017 I was given this same brief “Invent A New Language” and the results of the first time are here: 24-translation-lost Much like yesterday I was a little stuck, I could just be in a sort of rut right now, where ideas aren’t coming as thick and fast. Maybe a spout of meditation might bring it all back? Anyway, I thought of other ways of communcation, sign language, body language, images? And I landed on colours. I remember an episode of scrubs 4.22 “My Big Move” where Ted wears… Read more: ‘Love Language’ – Challenge 3.10 - ‘Last Recording’ – Challenge 3.11
Today we had to write something inspired by the life of Billie Holiday, and I honestly regret not knowing much about her. After reading details of her life, I was stirred by how she prevailed, the blues was in her through and through. I wanted to explore her last recording session, where the musicians and team are quoted for saying “She’s a ghost of what she once was” – which is incredible to say, especially whilst working with her. She was such an incredible talent, and she had such a rocky life. I understand why the brief was given. It’s… Read more: ‘Last Recording’ – Challenge 3.11 - ‘Year of The Ox’ – Challenge 3.12Today I do not have a play for you. I submitted a plot and the foundation for a new play instead of a complete one. It’s cheating, but the idea I’ve got for the piece is golden, it’s just not something I can attempt without a bit more knowledge. So I want to write a piece on Male Body Dysmorphia, and I’ll be setting it in the home of a Chinese-English home, for their feast to mark the new year. I want tradition to meet reality, and the anxiety that these pressures can arise in us. I think it can… Read more: ‘Year of The Ox’ – Challenge 3.12
- ‘Take The Note’ – Challenge 3.13
I don’t really know what I’ve just written to be honest. The brief was another really difficult one, and I thought writing a piece in a Brechtian style was difficlt. This time it was Sanskrit Theatre. Sanksrit, I didn’t even realise that was a style of theatre. So I read the brief, checked over ALL of the qualities for a Sanskrit piece and then realised I couldn’t fit all of these points into a short play. So, I went down the inspired route. Sanskrit Theatre beings with the Director, Actor or Stage Manager coming out and explaining the piece, so,… Read more: ‘Take The Note’ – Challenge 3.13 - ‘Crescendo’ – Challenge 3.14
So, I’m out of the rut! Really enjoyed writing today’s piece. I think when I’m given a certain style of theatre or real people I just close up. So it’s nice to be able to write something with a theme, themes I can work with. This was to incorporate almost a concert feel to your piece, I think a perfect example of this would be Poet In Da Corner, or Kate Tempest or fuck it! Even Mammia Mia. So I’ve written a sweet piece, influenced by the story of Paul Harvey (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54684038) – I didn’t necessarily want to go down… Read more: ‘Crescendo’ – Challenge 3.14 - ‘In The Clear’ – Challenge 3.15
I had a lot of fun with this one, I always love it when the brief is to work without thought (says a lot). Just a complete stream of conciousness, like, who knows what the hell was going to happen. But I’ve got a comedy out of it, a 2-hander. Oh and I should say, unless it’s specified in the character descriptions, my characters are genderless, raceless, ageless (to a point). I’m not precious about any of that. Here ya go! - ‘What You Can’t See’ – Challenge 3.16
So I used to have a dream when I was little about a carnival float, which if I looked at it, I’d die. I never did look at it, and as I grew older I came up with different ways of trying to get a glimpse, trying to get an idea of what it was. One version had me dancing around it, without looking, with it’s music blasting in my ears. I still have no clue what that was about. Today we needed to write something about “Mardi Gras”, “Shrove Tuesday”, “Fat Tuesday” “PANCAKE DAY” – and, this dream just… Read more: ‘What You Can’t See’ – Challenge 3.16 - ‘No Fish’ – Challenge 3.17
So, I definitely got a bit lazy today, especially with concluding the piece. Today’s brief was “Memory” and the idea was to write a piece, delete it and then try to remember it. Other’s have written a play about memory, followed the brief to the letter. And I did something close to it. I wrote out a short selection of dialogue last night, left it, and then rewrote the same dialogue after it had just happened. Only one of my characters remembers the first conversation. I was having fun with that premise for a bit, then I got bored, and… Read more: ‘No Fish’ – Challenge 3.17 - ‘The Plain’ – Challenge 3.18
So, we had to redo an old play today. A bit of a rip off from yesterday’s brief where we had to write a play, delete it and then write it again. This time it was, imagine one of your older older plays was deleted, now rewrite it. A few people were against this brief, preferring to write 28 new plays, but I thought I’d do a bit of both. Last time I did this challenge I wrote a piece called: 17 – The Plain set in an African Safari Lodge. The brief for this was, “no emotions” I think – you can read… Read more: ‘The Plain’ – Challenge 3.18 - ‘An Offer You Can Refuse’ – Challenge 3.19
We’re getting closer, only 10 briefs left to go, I think. A bit of a lazy brief, for the last three days it’s been a bit like this: 17. Write out a play, delete it, rewrite 18. Rewrite one of your old plays (not brief 17) 19. Rewrite someone elses play. All the same shit, so I didn’t follow this either, I’ve no interest in rewriting someone else’s play. So I made a short one about this very subject, David is offered a new contract to rewrite all of Shakespeare’s plays for a modern audience, but the offer is really… Read more: ‘An Offer You Can Refuse’ – Challenge 3.19 - ‘Their Distractions’ – Challenge 3.20
It returned. The big beasty brief. Every year they do a brief that has 10 briefs in one, it sounds like a nightmare, but once it’s compelted it feels amazing. This year I learnt a lot about character development. A lot of my characters had backstories and things going on, which actually were just palmed off, not highlighted. That is something I want to take into future scripts. So, here’s how I got on last time: https://taletotale.wordpress.com/2017/02/19/a-change-of-heart-challenge-18/ Now this year, I had the following for my brief: 1. The play should have either 6 characters or 15 characters. Not all… Read more: ‘Their Distractions’ – Challenge 3.20 - ‘Marooned.’ – Challenge 3.21
Here we are, the final weekend of the challenge and the final challenging challenge (potentially, I wait with baited breath). This one has been about Gender Neutrality, creating neutral characters, neutral stories or exploring any of the themes around it. For this challenge, I’ve not really been writing my characters with genders, most of the time. So to be honest, this one felt like a free-for-all. Making gender neutral theatre should be commonplace today to be honest, but telling their actual stories I believe should be written by gender neutral persons themselves. They after all, have first-hand experience. So this… Read more: ‘Marooned.’ – Challenge 3.21 - ‘Cocking It Up’ – Challenge 3.22
Well, my pieces are getting shorter. I’m getting sleepier. I’m getting tireder. But we’re on the last week. So it’s the final stretch. Today was a very lovely, simple piece, and I had fun creating a comedy version of it. I’m sure there were many options to go down. But I went for something a little different. The brief was about A pointing a gun at B. And they have to get their way out of it. Here it is: 22. Cocking It Up - ‘Unsaid’ – Challenge 3.23
Artaud. Theatre of Cruelty. I remember doing this back in High School. We got all our classmates and the teachers sat around in a circle (facing outwards) with blind folds on. Whilst we walked in between them with some teenage angst mental monologues. Whilst chucking objects at them and dripping water on them. Actually I remember we positioned someone under the leaky ceiling, they said how effective it was. And here I am 11 years later writing a short play in the same style. I wanted to use a normal coversation and add a cacophony of noise and lights as… Read more: ‘Unsaid’ – Challenge 3.23 - ‘Quick-Fired’ – Challenge 3.24
Okay, interesting, this may have been the quickest piece I’ve written AND it’s a full play. Well. Almost. Today’s brief had us create the foundation, the playground for actors to improvise in, we were to create the play from start to finish , with guidelines as to where the narrative should go. At first I thought it would be a bit difficult, but actually. I might do this first before writing. At least to get an idea as to where I want to go with the story. Quick-Fired is a comedy about two Impro groups, with a rivalry. At the… Read more: ‘Quick-Fired’ – Challenge 3.24 - ‘Two Men Exit The Bar’ – Challenge 3.25
A very simple brief, a very simple play. We were tasked with creating the title of the play before writing it and being inspired from that, or to write the play and then create a crafty title within. Seeing as I usually work with the latter, I asked my pals for a title suggestion and Sean Richards-Mulzac (https://m.twitch.tv/bean1up/profile) got in there first with Two Men Exit The Bar. Also, I’m hungover today, and my fingers hurt, so I couldn’t write much. So. Here we are: 25. Two Men Exit The Bar - ‘Bojo and The Magic Money Seed’ – Challenge 3.26
This is not my best work, and I’m not James Graham, so I haven’t got the characters down to a ‘T’. But, I’ve staged a farce in Westminister, there’s a Magic Money Tree Seed which has been found, in a briefcase, and the Tories and Labour members fight over possession. With a lot more work this is one of those stupid pieces you could see at Edinburgh, but in the meantime, it’s 3 roughly made scenes on a PDF. But. What was the brief?! It was Purim! Purim plays are often made for children, in the style of a panto… Read more: ‘Bojo and The Magic Money Seed’ – Challenge 3.26 - ‘Elephant In The Room’ – Challenge 3.27
So, for our penultimate brief we had to make a Side B to one of our plays. I chose ‘The Plain’ that has 4 characters, and wanted to make the most of all the actors. So I slapped them into a dinner party and voila! Not much more to say to be honest. Both pieces have legs. Bit more development and I’d have two solid one Act plays to put on for an hour somewhere! And in rep! Voila: 27. Elephant In The Room - ‘โอกาส (Chance)’ – Challenge 3.28
That’s it. I’m done. It’s over. That is 28 brand new spanking plays and technically play foundations all made. It doesn’t feel good yet, I can’t relax yet. There’s a few pieces which I rushed or didn’t finish. This being one of them. Whilst writing ‘โอกาส (Chance)’ (โอกาส is pronounced as Xokās̄ – or oo-kaa.) I realised this was slowly becoming a full length play. I had created a main character, who I love, (she’s me basically, but made her a female so there’s a least a little distance), and many supporting characters that all have something to teach her, to… Read more: ‘โอกาส (Chance)’ – Challenge 3.28 - Ranking The Pieces #2So another year done, and another 28 new plays typed up. It was a tough one this year, but a necessary challenge and a bit of escapism. With what’s going on outside, I think we all needed some sort of distraction from it all, whether it be a new job, a challenge, or even a new hobby – something to distract, something to keep us going. So February’s challenge is done – a blast from the past, and I’m happy with most of the results from this time. I do wonder what is next for me. Time will tell. Anyway,… Read more: Ranking The Pieces #2
tale to tale 