Two performances in and everyone loves it. Some wonderful comments on the TimeOut website.
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Monday 3 May 2010
Countdown!
We built the set yesterday and it is tech day today. I can honestly say I have never had a better more wonderful set build. Our team is fantastic. Calm, authoritative and joyful. Thank you so much Jude, Marie, Brenden and of course our amazing other halves Alex and John. You are all National Treasures!! That goes for you too Tim. I can't imagine doing a show without your PR skills now.
Brenden - you should definitely direct more often. You are a complete natural!
Finally - Ellen, my partner in crime here. Thank you for bringing Airswimming to me. It's been great - hard bloody work, but bloody brilliant!!
Whoo-hoo. Soon up and running with it. Can't wait.
xxx
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Multi-tasking
This morning Ellen and I were running lines whilst doing yoga. Talk about multi-tasking. We rock!
Sunday 25 April 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Grey Swan interview with playwright Charlotte Jones
Grey Swan interview with playwright Charlotte Jones
Charlotte Jones is a British actress and playwright. Her first play Airswimming debuted in 1997 at the Battersea Arts Centre in London. Her other plays include In Flame, The Dark, The Lightning Play, and Humble Boy. Charlotte Jones wrote the book to the West End musical The Woman in White, in collaboration with the David Zippel and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
She won the 2001 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Grey Swan (GS): Charlotte, you originally trained as an actor. Did you think of yourself as a writer when you started “Airswimming”?
Charlotte Jones (CJ): I didn't consider myself a writer when I wrote it. I did it to fill the time when I was waiting for my agent to call. Having said that I loved the process- the research and the very act of writing.
GS: What do you feel about the play “Airswimming” now?
CJ: “Airswimming" is in fact the only play I have ever written on which I never did any revisions. When I doubt myself I look at it to remind myself of the honeymoon period I had when writing it- when the words came automatically and I had huge confidence in what I had created. I am amazed that the play came out in such a structured way.
GS: Did you start writing because you were frustrated as you waited for the call from your agent for acting work?
CJ: I don't think it was borne of frustration really because as soon as I started writing it was a joyful process- I couldn't bear to leave it alone. Often I wish I could recapture the innocence of that experience- the moment I fell in love with writing. Today I am mostly doing adaptations for TV which fit in with family life- I like doing them- they are like elaborate plot-hungry jigsaw puzzles- and I like the thought of a bigger audience for my work. But I don't write them from the same place as I wrote “Airswimming”. I wrote in a vacuum but weirdly from a place of greater certainty.
GS: What do you think you know now, as a writer or an artist, 13 years after “Airswimming”, that you didn’t know then, in 1997?
CJ: I think the same things inspire me now as inspired me then: people struggling with the big questions of life, facing death...the same questions- how to live in difficult times, how to transcend the everyday, the epic nature of the human spirit, the miracle friendship, love and dysfunctional family relationships. I think my plays are spiritual- which doesn't always make them fashionable or critic proof- but I can't help myself- I am interested in the human heart and all its vagaries...
AIRSWIMMING is currently being produced by CM Productions and is to be performed at the Hen & Chickens Theatre London 4th to 22nd May 2010 directed by Brenden Lovett, designed by Jude Chalk and with Jane Dodd and Ellen Gylen.
www.airswimming.co.uk
Charlotte Jones is a British actress and playwright. Her first play Airswimming debuted in 1997 at the Battersea Arts Centre in London. Her other plays include In Flame, The Dark, The Lightning Play, and Humble Boy. Charlotte Jones wrote the book to the West End musical The Woman in White, in collaboration with the David Zippel and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
She won the 2001 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Grey Swan (GS): Charlotte, you originally trained as an actor. Did you think of yourself as a writer when you started “Airswimming”?
Charlotte Jones (CJ): I didn't consider myself a writer when I wrote it. I did it to fill the time when I was waiting for my agent to call. Having said that I loved the process- the research and the very act of writing.
GS: What do you feel about the play “Airswimming” now?
CJ: “Airswimming" is in fact the only play I have ever written on which I never did any revisions. When I doubt myself I look at it to remind myself of the honeymoon period I had when writing it- when the words came automatically and I had huge confidence in what I had created. I am amazed that the play came out in such a structured way.
GS: Did you start writing because you were frustrated as you waited for the call from your agent for acting work?
CJ: I don't think it was borne of frustration really because as soon as I started writing it was a joyful process- I couldn't bear to leave it alone. Often I wish I could recapture the innocence of that experience- the moment I fell in love with writing. Today I am mostly doing adaptations for TV which fit in with family life- I like doing them- they are like elaborate plot-hungry jigsaw puzzles- and I like the thought of a bigger audience for my work. But I don't write them from the same place as I wrote “Airswimming”. I wrote in a vacuum but weirdly from a place of greater certainty.
GS: What do you think you know now, as a writer or an artist, 13 years after “Airswimming”, that you didn’t know then, in 1997?
CJ: I think the same things inspire me now as inspired me then: people struggling with the big questions of life, facing death...the same questions- how to live in difficult times, how to transcend the everyday, the epic nature of the human spirit, the miracle friendship, love and dysfunctional family relationships. I think my plays are spiritual- which doesn't always make them fashionable or critic proof- but I can't help myself- I am interested in the human heart and all its vagaries...
AIRSWIMMING is currently being produced by CM Productions and is to be performed at the Hen & Chickens Theatre London 4th to 22nd May 2010 directed by Brenden Lovett, designed by Jude Chalk and with Jane Dodd and Ellen Gylen.
www.airswimming.co.uk
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Airswimming Videos!
Just put a few more videos on the website. Takes me ages. Want to see my friends in Oz and NZ show me their Airswimming technique!! (But don't strain your back Mary!!!)
Working!
Aren't people great sometimes. I have mentioned Airswimming to a number of the places I used to work as a lawyer and they all want to run pieces on me to help promote the show. Fabulous of them.
xx
xx
Monday 12 April 2010
Growing old gracefully??
Fabulous amazing skype. I think I might well always do line runs like this.
Ellen and I did our first whole play stagger through line run. Not bad at all.
I have got a particular rant going on at the moment. I am starting to notice ageism creeping into my life. Shame you only notice unfair things when they happen to you, but life is like that. I have looked around and there is a lot of help and support for anyone under 26 - writers groups, youth organisations etc. Lots of funding in the system and you can see why - if you encourage each new generation they will grow old gracefully. Or at least they might! Trouble is, it seems the older you get the less anyone is bothered about letting you learn new things or bothered about you at all it seems. You are either barred or they just forget about you. Persephone and Dora were forgotten about - for years and years as they grew old "disgracefully" in their mental institution.
I thought ageism was illegal these days. Like many "isms", it has clearly just gone underground. Everyone deserves an equal chance - it shouldn't matter what race, gender or age you are. If anyone tells me "you can't..." then that is immediately what I set out to do. Sometimes at the detriment of the sensible less time consuming option! You can do anything you want to - I truly believe that. You just have to want to enough.
There is a line in the play: "You have to make things happen. You can't wait for them to come to you." True enough.
Ellen and I did our first whole play stagger through line run. Not bad at all.
I have got a particular rant going on at the moment. I am starting to notice ageism creeping into my life. Shame you only notice unfair things when they happen to you, but life is like that. I have looked around and there is a lot of help and support for anyone under 26 - writers groups, youth organisations etc. Lots of funding in the system and you can see why - if you encourage each new generation they will grow old gracefully. Or at least they might! Trouble is, it seems the older you get the less anyone is bothered about letting you learn new things or bothered about you at all it seems. You are either barred or they just forget about you. Persephone and Dora were forgotten about - for years and years as they grew old "disgracefully" in their mental institution.
I thought ageism was illegal these days. Like many "isms", it has clearly just gone underground. Everyone deserves an equal chance - it shouldn't matter what race, gender or age you are. If anyone tells me "you can't..." then that is immediately what I set out to do. Sometimes at the detriment of the sensible less time consuming option! You can do anything you want to - I truly believe that. You just have to want to enough.
There is a line in the play: "You have to make things happen. You can't wait for them to come to you." True enough.
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Invitations and artistic chat
Right so that is everybody on my phone invited. One person who didn't know who I was texted me back to find out more - bless. Must have met them as they are in my phone, but no idea who they are either!!
Skype line runs at 6.30am is definitely a good idea.
Spoke to our lovely designer Jude today. She is in the middle of building the Houses of Parliament for another show! Fabulous.
Brenden asked me if I would stick my head in a bath of water for my art. Of course I will. Always fancied doing the old hiding in a swamp with a piece of bamboo to breathe out of. This is the slightly less dangerous equivalent. At least there are no crocodiles!!
Skype line runs at 6.30am is definitely a good idea.
Spoke to our lovely designer Jude today. She is in the middle of building the Houses of Parliament for another show! Fabulous.
Brenden asked me if I would stick my head in a bath of water for my art. Of course I will. Always fancied doing the old hiding in a swamp with a piece of bamboo to breathe out of. This is the slightly less dangerous equivalent. At least there are no crocodiles!!
Skype Line Runs
How come I missed out on Skype for so long. For anyone who has been using it for years I am sure the novelty has worn off, but for me - how amazing is that? I am in Edinburgh at the moment with another show and have just Skyped (is that right) Ellen to have a line run. Yes it is 6.30am, but it is the best time to catch each other at the moment.
I Skyped my best mate Alice on the other side of the world in New Zealand the other day as well. It was like she was right there. Fantastic. When you think about it it is truly amazing all this technology that we take for granted these days. I do spend a lot of time on the internet though - which isn't necessarily a good thing. There is no substitute for real human interaction.
Ellen and I were looking at the scene where Dorph tries to trepan herself with a hand whisk. It is one of the madder scenes. Fortunately, Ellen already has a hand whisk that we can use. Not sure if it is battery operated though...
I Skyped my best mate Alice on the other side of the world in New Zealand the other day as well. It was like she was right there. Fantastic. When you think about it it is truly amazing all this technology that we take for granted these days. I do spend a lot of time on the internet though - which isn't necessarily a good thing. There is no substitute for real human interaction.
Ellen and I were looking at the scene where Dorph tries to trepan herself with a hand whisk. It is one of the madder scenes. Fortunately, Ellen already has a hand whisk that we can use. Not sure if it is battery operated though...
Sunday 21 March 2010
St Dymphna - patron saint of the Criminally Insane
Have just been finding out about St Dymphna as in Airswimming, Dora and Persephone are insititutionalised in St. Dymphna's Hospital for the Criminially Insane. Thought maybe she was made up but apparently not...and there is also a St. Dymphna's Physchiatric Hospital in Ireland. St. Dymphna is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental illness.
She was born in Ireland, where her father was a king and her mother died when Dymphna was in her teens. Struck by grief and mental illness, her father made sexual advances towards her. She fled to Belgium but her father tracked her down and begged her to return to Ireland where he decapitated her. Gruesome!
I first read this play years ago; Dora and Persephone were insitutionalised in the 1920's and I still find it hard to imagine how that must feel - to be taken from your home and family in your early twenties and locked away in a mental hospital for 50 years. How to relate to that one is going to be one mammouth challenge. I feel like climbing the walls when I spend more than a day in my flat, so maybe that's a start but after that length of time in the same place...how could you remain even slightly sane?
She was born in Ireland, where her father was a king and her mother died when Dymphna was in her teens. Struck by grief and mental illness, her father made sexual advances towards her. She fled to Belgium but her father tracked her down and begged her to return to Ireland where he decapitated her. Gruesome!
I first read this play years ago; Dora and Persephone were insitutionalised in the 1920's and I still find it hard to imagine how that must feel - to be taken from your home and family in your early twenties and locked away in a mental hospital for 50 years. How to relate to that one is going to be one mammouth challenge. I feel like climbing the walls when I spend more than a day in my flat, so maybe that's a start but after that length of time in the same place...how could you remain even slightly sane?
Website nightmare
I would consider myself pretty good at internet based stuff these days. I am not a techy, but I buy domain names and know how to use them!! I have created websites using the now advertised easy web creation tools. I just bought a website to use for our show from one.com. First time I have used them. Big problem - none of their easy to use software or templates are Mac compatible. Now - wouldn't you think they would point that out on their website? They do point out that you need Internet Explorer 6-8 - which even if I had seen that, I wouldn't have known it meant Mac was a no no. Argh.......An easy to create website has just not been that easy and wasted a load of my time. I have asked for my money back. Shame - the template I was looking at would have been perfect....back to the drawing board.
Saturday 20 March 2010
1972 Newspaper Article
The picture shows St Catherine's Hospital.
Found this newspaper article on the two women. Their real names were Lucy Baker and Annie Kitson. Their release from St Catherine's Hospital for the mentally handicapped near Doncaster, Yorkshire caused quite a stir as it became apparent that they were not the only ones who had been sent to mental institutions for reasons other than mental illness.
Line learning
Right. Time to learn some more of Dora's lines. Always the first thing I do, but it often takes a bit of will power to get going. It's mid-morning on a dreary Saturday in Clapham Junction. Just had coffee with my husband at our local Cafe Nero's (best of the chain coffee houses) where we were duly invaded by armies of screaming children. In the intro to her Plays:1, Charlotte Jones says that a line she read in a book inspired her to write Airswimming. "A Miss Kitson and a Miss Baker were placed in a Hospital for the Criminally Insane in the 1920s for bearing illegitimate children and not released until the 1970s." Wonder if I can work out what book that was. Isn't the internet amazing. Great for all sorts of things - particularly time wasting!!
Friday 19 March 2010
First time Blogger!
Bit nervous of this blogging thing. Giving it a go though as Ellen and I had a great meeting today in Ludgate Circus with our director Brenden and his missus and our wonderful PR man Tim and they all thought it was a great idea. We will surely see!
Ellen and I are producing and appearing as Persephone and Dora respectively in a production of Airswimming by Charlotte Jones at the Hen & Chickens on 4th May for a three week run. Charlotte was a struggling actor when she wrote the play. I know how she felt! It is fabulous to create something yourself, that's yours from scratch.
Anyway - first time blog ever......phew....at least that is out of the way now.
x
Ellen and I are producing and appearing as Persephone and Dora respectively in a production of Airswimming by Charlotte Jones at the Hen & Chickens on 4th May for a three week run. Charlotte was a struggling actor when she wrote the play. I know how she felt! It is fabulous to create something yourself, that's yours from scratch.
Anyway - first time blog ever......phew....at least that is out of the way now.
x
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