My one act play 'Greetings from the Trenches' completed

A couple of weeks ago I had eight pages of text out of a possible twenty completed and a synopsis and an ending in the bag. I wanted the piece to be just over an hour with no interval.

In order to complete the rest I went through all my research notes that I had unhelpfully filed in several notebooks and scraps of paper. To get a bigger picture of how the play would look I got a large sheet of paper about three foot by four foot and roughly marked it out with a good amount of squares. Each square counted as one page. This meant I could instantly fill in the first eight squares with rough plot notes. As I progressed I circled the squares where I believed there was a change in the dramatic journey. I don't know if this common practice as I just went on instinct and wanted a visual resource to work from. Plus, it is good to see you are actually getting somewhere in the writing.

 

 

So, up to page eight the script established the characters on stage and spoke of them and their relationships with a slight edge of mystery and quirkiness. Pages nine and ten continue luxuriously in letters about the two men's love of meat and then we get a supernatural event where Frank is compelled to write his famous poem - The Two Butchers. The tone changes and we start to delve into notions of exchange not just of letters but of creative ideas and Frank dreaming about famous people, historically and contemporarily to them in the 1920s, offering him and Hans creative advice in a dream café. By page twelve Hans has written about his rescue of a drowning dog and he includes a poem in German about a trench dog called Wolf. All the German language translations were done by my German friend Thorsten Feldman. My co- star Emma Brown has been kind enough to offer some advice on presenting various aspects of dramatic text mirroring the way of a musical composer. In particular she suggested talking about the ideas of The Two Butchers poem ie 'anti war - creation vs destruction' rather than trying to write Frank's fictional famous poem itself. All the poems in the piece are written by me other than Arthur Rimbaud's poetic work - Sensation.

Three more poems are included in the next three pages including a key poem Am Durlacher Tor written by Hans after falling from the tram. He sees this event as a near death experience in peace time and hopes it is not premonition. Am Durlacher Tor is spoken creatively both in English and German by Frank and his daughter.

Frank writes back with the first of two confidential letters about his feelings of melancholia and possible suicidal thoughts including the poem Falling In Melancholia.

Pages sixteen and seventeen give us a comical insight into what turns out to be Hans' obsession with the Karlsruhe tram system and its history. I have tried to write this to be shared between Frank and his daughter and read with amusement and I guess enjoyment at some cheery news from Hans without them encouraging his obsession too much.

By page eighteen we start to really understand how these two former combatants are finding their creative feet with ideas of inspiring themselves in their writing of poetry and in developing ideas.

In the case of the German Hans he imagines cabinets of curiosity - the Wunder Kammer - as his motivator and (at a much later date) I introduced a song into the following pages sung by Frank. I have called it 'If I had a Door'. This is based on a question I was asked at the entrance interview by professor John Newling. He actually gave me the idea of a brick and asked me, in a creative sense, what I would do with it to create something artistic or thought provoking. As there are several times during the play that Frank hears whispered requests to 'Open The Doors' I have chosen a door as the motivator.

I made a short video of the tune to demonstrate what it should sound like. And to be sung better too! I had a cold and didn't want to freak out the neighbours!



This song was only introduced after I thought I had finished the play and then I got the tune in my head and developed the lyrics over a couple of days to the point where I felt they conveyed what I wanted to convey. That being the creative doors of his mind being utterly inspired and his letting in all these influences.

If I had a door: final written draft

There is another piece of piano music I have called The Missing (visited in a previous blog post) and I have decided to keep it just the piano with no lyrics and it may get extended.

For the remainder of the play we hear that Hans is getting inspired and healed by new anti war poetry and books like All Quiet On The Western Front and the poetry of Gerrit Engelke. Frank and Winifred share good news about the new baby Madeleine and Hans gets new work in the city library. Frank writes to Hans with a new confession - the true reason why his daughter is called Madeleine and Hans writes back. Emma Brown sings Sensation by Arthur Rimbaud at the piano in connection with the Madeleine back story. Is that the end? No, but I suggest you get out the hankies because things get decidedly weird in the last two pages and there is a huge surprise for the audience in the last few seconds of the play.

For a blogpost about the first read through click HERE

Nottingham Playhouse Youth theatre hit the trenches for neat14,

I popped into a rehearsal of a revised adaptation by Robin Kingsland of Erich Maria Remarque's classic war story All Quiet On The Western Front tonight. The rehearsal was directed by Allie Spencer and the cast were a very mature natured youth group (Nottingham Playhouse Youth Theatre). I was most impressed at the standard of acting and of commitment to the piece. The play has been especially commissioned for neat14 and shows the horror and kinship as the young Germans fight for their survival.

All Quiet On The Western Front will be part of the neat14 festival and of course one of many plays being performed in Nottingham and countrywide that concern themselves with The Great War Centenary. Detail of the show and booking facilities can be found HERE.

Rehearsal images of two harrowing bombardment scenes featuring the cast and the young actor playing the hero Paul Baumer. The story follows their lives, their dreams, their victories and their tragedies as they fight on the German front line.

Interview with Barrie Rutter of Northern Broadsides Theatre

Interview with Barrie Rutter, Founder and  Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides

With Northern Broadsides current touring production of Deborah McAndrew's new play – An August Bank Holiday Lark mid tour I was offered the opportunity to interview their artistic director and performer Barrie Rutter.

 

 

I asked Barrie to talk around the various Morris dances that appear in the show and are in integral element of being part of the story not just as an entertainment. He said that the casting was the most important part of the show and that they had to cast feet as well as talent. “Everyone had to look as if they would get the dance within the parameters of the rehearsal period and I saw a lot of actors and as soon as they started to dance it looked as if it had been poured out of a bucket!”

He also confirmed that the ladies in the cast had to play instruments but not just any instrument because it is folk and the company wanted violins, squeeze boxes, the piccolo, big and small drums. Barrie continued; “You cut your cloth accordingly so if you need sixteen men over six foot that's what you go out to get, don't you? I mean with something like dance and music it's not that obvious but that was the form of the rehearsal period.”

I said that from my reading of various sources including an excellent downloadable Learning Pack from Northern Broadsides that I recalled that the show features five or six different styles of Morris dance and one that develops a much more pronounced military tone.

“Yes, it's a segue and it's all seamless. It's when the chaps go to war which happens like half way through part two. I didn't want it to come too early in terms of going to the trenches. Actually we don't do that in the play. We show the how the world war events are affecting the village. The main characters only have an hour to get married and then he gets the train back to the base camp and they celebrate that with a dance and that segues into him returning back to barracks.”

 

 

On one of your short videos promoting the rehearsal of the play I noticed that there were quite a lot of older folk watching from the seating. I was curious as to who they were and wondered if the public are allowed into your space to watch a rehearsal?

“We always have an open day, with our friends of Northern Broadsides. We always organise a friends day where they come to a rehearsal where we entertain them and show them stuff that we have done and discuss it with them. We don't like it it to be too far down the rehearsal period so that see warts and all and they see problems and they see how we get round them. A craftsman never cuts a corner, he gets round it.”

I asked if that was a long established tradition with Northern Broadsides.

“Yeah, yeah. Ourfriends pay £25 a year and we try to give them as much as possible.”

I explained that I was once a performance arts student in the late 1980s and we had the chance to go to Halifax and Dean Clough to see a land artist exhibition by Richard Long and that one of the former cotton mill spaces was filled with local slate and it was very atmospheric and imposing. From his response Barrie seemed very aware of this piece. I went on to ask about the rushes that are used within the play as a decoration on the rush carts and how long they would have to last during the tour from February to June 2014.

 

 

“Well, we took them down off the Sowerby Bridge rush cart last autumn, when they stripped it and kept them in the theatre in Stoke hoping they would be useful and indeed they are and they've got to last another five weeks. Plus we've got the jockey who rides the wooden saddle on top but that doesn't do any damage. In fact it's a very canny piece of construction that the designer, Liz Evans has made for us and because we can't park it anywhere we build it (the cart) in front of the audience and we take it down as part of the interval. Lots of people stay behind and watch it being dismantled.”

Barrie spoke more about the audience saying that the quality of the 'house' is remarkable because the effect of the play on audiences has been the same since day one. “It is a very big effect that of joy and of theatricality. Terribly moving as well. And it beautifully written and conceived by Deborah and she has written over six plays for Northern Broadside.”

I thanked Barrie for his time and said how much I looked forward to seeing the show at Derby Theatre on 20^th May.

 

Soon at Derby Theatre - An August Bank Holiday Lark.

Northern Broadsides in partnership with  New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme present the world premiere of An August Bank Holiday Lark A new play by Deborah McAndrew Directed by Barrie Rutter

★★★★★ – The Observer

★★★★ “A wonderful new play” – The Times

★★★★ – “A beautiful constructed drama” - The Guardian

★★★★ “Poignant, warm hearted drama …hankies at the ready” Daily Telegraph

Derby Theatre will play host to Northern Broadsides, and their highly  acclaimed world premiere production of Deborah McAndrew’s  An August Bank Holiday Lark, from Tue 20 until Sat 24 May. 

Taking its title from a line in Philip Larkin’s poem MCMXIV, An August Bank Holiday Lark commemorates the centenary of the start of the First World War and explores what impact war has on a rural community in East Lancashire. Set in the idyllic summer of 1914 rural Lancashire, everyone in the community is excited about Wakes week; a rest from field and mill and a celebration of the Rushbearing Festival with singing, courting, drinking and dancing. The looming war barely registers … but it will.

Through the lens of traditional rural life, the play follows the stories of the people of the village and witnesses their personal transitions from exuberance to touching naivety as they deal with their loss with courage and humanity.

Deborah McAndrew said:  “An August Bank Holiday Lark focuses on one small community and the, often overlooked, British involvement on the Eastern Front. Countless Lancashire lads exchanged the soft Pennine drizzle for the searing Turkish sun and gave their lives at The August Offensive in Gallipoli. The play never leaves the fictional village of Greenmill, but remembers the fallen and wounded – and those for whom the war was far away and over long before the guns were finally silenced. “It felt important to depict normal life with all the character and absurdity that you always see in people. The War happened to folk who were flirting and arguing, dreaming and even dying in the usual way; people for whom a poppy was just another flower you stuck in your hat.”

Northern Broadsides are a unique theatre company with a true northern voice. Their work is characterised by a high degree of theatrical inventiveness and robust performances from a large ensemble cast of multi-talented and charismatic northern actors who all perform in their natural voices. For the past 22 years, they have delighted audiences here and abroad with a growing classic repertoire which has won them many awards and a loyal following worldwide.

 Tickets for An August Bank Holiday Lark are £10.50 - £25.50. For more information and to book tickets call the  Box Office on 01332 593939 or online at www.derbytheatre.co.uk

 Tue 20 – Sat 24 May Evening performances: 7.30pm Matinee performances (Wed and  Sat), 2.30pm Tickets: £10.50 - £25.50 Box Office: 01332 593939 www.derbytheatre.co.uk