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Daniel Kaluuya, currently wowing audiences (and critics) as Leon in Sucker Punch at the Royal Court, is soon to be seen in Johnny English 2 with Rowan Atkinson. Joy Francis is well and truly charmed.
Broadcaster, DJ, journalist, composer and Artistic Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East Matthew Xia makes Kwame Kwei-Armah look lazy. Read why.
Welcome to our new slot highlighting what you missed on the arts social scene featuring The Noisettes, BAFTA and James Purefoy.
The Forum page is the place to promote your events and take part in debates on topics that can be serious or whimsical. This month Maxine Quintyne-Kolaru, a budding playwright, presents the second of her three part journal on the highs and lows of refining her craft on a three month writers course at the Royal Court Theatre.
July/August 2010
Lost for words?
I’m now in the 8th week of the Super Group, with the infamous Lock In at the Court looming. Apparently, they don’t actually lock you in. You’re free to roam the Court’s Writers and Rehearsal Studio, the Writer’s Cells and maybe take a quick five minute snooze in the offices. Recommended items: snacks, comfy clothing, a sleeping bag - if you get desperate for a kip at 4am, and a laptop, or pen and paper!
The intention is that you complete at least a rough draft of your new play, which the Group will begin to focus on in the remaining weeks that are left. Even if you’re lost for words at the Lock In, you must write, write, write. Whatever comes into your head. Get as much down as possible. In the morning, who knows, it could be the seeds for the next Iya-Ile (First Wife by Oladipo Agboluaje). Or it might be a stream of gibberish, but hey, it’s a start.
The journey so far...
The Super Group consists of afternoon sessions (2.30pm-5.30pm) and evening sessions (7.30pm til late). During the afternoon sessions we have visited Tate Britain, a London cemetery and had presentations from people like Michael Billington (Guardian theatre critic) and Dominic Cooke (Royal Court’s Artistic Director). The afternoon sessions are there to inspire you and to give you an insight into what can work best in constructing a piece of drama.
The evening sessions are where you write and read what you’ve written to the Group, either concentrating on short pieces of text that reflect your current experiences, or pieces of your new play in the very embryonic stages. Evening sessions are also where we get free entry into plays. These include Sucker Punch (Roy Williams) and Election Shorts, a series of short plays written in response to the recent elections. Writers include our tutor Leo Butler and Michael Bhim. Being part of the Group allows you the opportunity to speak on a one-to-one basis with the playwrights, including Roy Williams.
On drums
There’s a diverse range of writers in the Group, culturally, racially and in terms of theatre experience. There are shortlisted writers, writers that have won awards, writers that have had full performances of their plays and writers who are actors. It’s a supportive Group and between afternoon and evening sessions, they’re a good bunch to have pub grub and a swift half with.
Wax on, wax off
So what tips would be useful to pass on from my learning so far. From the lips of Dominic Cooke himself, here goes:
- Can you describe your play in one sentence? If not, aim to. If you start at the simplest level, you can build your drama around that.
- Have a core driver for you play. What is the reason for its existence?
- Have a core driver - The Dynamo, with a passion, desire, goal, that fuels the play.
- When you write a scene, know what you want to get out of it beforehand and build drama around that want/aim.
- Put rhythm in to your play by mixing scene lengths. For example, a short scene, followed by a longer scene, two characters in one scene and four in another. If it’s a one hander, two hander, or three hander, think of how you can bring texture and variety to the play. There may be quiet scenes and loud scenes, slow scenes then frenetic scenes, but always be aware of your watching audience and how you can keep them hooked. Be aware of pace.
- Imagine being ‘inside a scene’ that would keep you interested.
- Think about presenting ideas, action, issues and themes in a different way, or form.
However, people may say there is no right way or wrong way to write, but you could bear the above in mind. Or ignore everything and create the next MouseTrap.
In the pipeline
Since joining the Group, I’ve had a short play on at the Soho Theatre, with an entire two-day run. Apart from hearing the audience laugh at all the jokes at all the right times, working with black actors Naomi J Lewis (Identity Drama School) and Venetia Campbell (Independent Talent Group), and with director Gbolahan Obisesan, who directed the short play Mirror, was a blessing. I’ve also recently had a call from Talawa Theatre and Tristan Bates Theatre, responding to the submission of my last full length play, Take Me 2 Manhattan.
I’ve got two meetings scheduled and Gbolahan said he’d be up for directing a rehearsed reading with a view to a full production, so fingers crossed. Think big tings can happen. Of course there’s the play that I’m working on for the Super Group. I haven’t copy written that yet, so it’s under wraps for now.
Feeling super?
Am I feeling ‘Super’ yet? Ask me when I’ve finished my play and you see it in lights in front the Royal Court. The journey continues...
Forum Listings
RE:imagining change: a smartMeme workshop
Learn how to innovate and change the story of what's possible through storytelling, theory and practice.
Dates: 31 July 2010
Times: 3pm-6pm (all welcome)
Venue: The Stephen Lawrence Centre, Deptford
Price: Free
Book: Call Ben Amunwa on 0207 357 0055 for more information.
Liberation season @ Frontline Club
Riots on the streets of Paddington?
The Frontline Club will be celebrating the launch of its ‘Liberation’ season bringing over 20 films on some of the most significant and pressing issues of our times and a summer season of talks looking at ‘protest’.
Date: Wednesday 4 August 2010
Times: 7pm
Venue: The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ
Price: £12.50/10 early booking (£8 concessions - students/seniors)
Book: www.frontlineclub.com
Liberation Season: Screening - Africa’s Last Taboo
What is Africa’s last taboo? Emmy award winner and director of Cry Freetown Sorious Samura, brings to light the brutal and little-reported contemporary persecution faced by tens of thousands of African gay men. The screening is followed by a Q&A with Director Sorious Samura and Producer/Director Robin Barnwell.
Date: Thursday 5 August 2010
Times: 7pm
Venue: The Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ
Price: £10/£8 early booking (£5 Concessions - Student & Seniors)
Book: www.frontlineclub.com
SHAKE!
SHAKE! is a PLATFORM project for young people in partnership with the Arts Council England, The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, Chocolate Films, AFROGROOV, remember saro-wiwa, African Writers Abroad and the London Development Agency. A five day course for 16 -25 year olds to explore global issues with a range of different artists, poets and activists, DJs and VJs.
Dates: Monday 16 August - Friday 20 August 2010. You must register by 6 August.
Price: Free
Book: Email VipinDhunnoo@stephenlawrence.org.uk
Tel 0208 100 2815
Bharat Britain
This major international conference marks the culmination of the AHRC-funded project ‘Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870-1950’, led by the Open University in collaboration with the University of Oxford and King’s College London. ‘Bharat Britain’ will showcase new research from distinguished scholars, curators and writers worldwide. Speakers include Humayun Ansari, Elleke Boehmer, Antoinette Burton, Mukti Jain Campion, Dominiek Dendooven, Shyama Perera and Meera Syal.
Dates: 13-14 September 2010
Venue: British Library Conference Centre, St Pancras, London
Book: Email arts-making-britain@open.ac.uk
Website: www.open.ac.uk/Arts/south-asians-making-britain/conference
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Budding playwright Maxine Quintyne-Kolaru starts the first of three diary pieces on her highs and lows during her placement on the Royal Court’s Super Group.
