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...
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