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
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
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.
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