Opening night beckons...

As of Monday, The Envelope Project officially moved in to Friargate Theatre - our home for the week. We've teched, we've dressed, we've had a wonderful preview. We've all finally been in the same room together for the first time. Above are the faces that are going to bring to life the words that the writers of the project have worked on for months. It's very, very close now. 

The Box Office phone at Friargate is ringing and people are talking about this. This chance to see five completely new plays on one evening. That doesn't happen that often. Last night was our dress rehearsal, and courtesy of Andrew Dyer Photography we can now show you a first glimpse of each of the five plays.

Claire Morley and James Martin in 'Good Grief' by Richard Kay

 

 

 

Elizabeth Cooke and Thomas Cocker in 'A Sporting Affair' by Alice Mapplebeck

Angie Shaw and Matt Simpson in 'Stone' by Helen Shay

Beryl Nairn, Lucy Simpson and Alex Schofield in 'Never Have I Ever' by Rebecca Thomson

Ian Giles and Richard Easterbrook in 'S.O.S.' by Tom Straszewski

This is a real opportunity to see and support new writing in York. We would encourage you to spread the word, bring a friend. This is a varied, diverse line up of plays with casts drawn from the wide pool of acting talent in York. It will be a night well spent. Make sure you don't miss out. 

Tickets for The Envelope Project are on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

Good Grief

This week's blog comes from Richard Kay, writer of 'Good Grief'.  

I’m not entirely sure that, for me, the Envelope Project has delivered its intention. If the idea was to provide stimuli for a type of play that I would never have otherwise considered writing then I’m not convinced it has succeeded. I think that as a writer you can interpret external stimuli to your own ends so that you can still follow your own thoughts and imagination. I am also yet to be convinced by the benefits of writers groups in helping to support and develop each other’s work. We only met a handful of times and I’m not sure that we were really all that bothered about each other’s pieces.

Harsh? Perhaps. However......

What this project has done for me is immeasurable. The impetus to write the kind of play that I’ve needed to get out of my system and the obligation to see it through to an end are factors that I have always been lacking. This project ensured that I tackled writing demons head-on and gave me the confidence to finally believe that I could actually write. We did bounce ideas off each other and gave some feedback (we also brought along cake) but the graft of writing the play was still a very solitary experience. I’m not complaining about this; as much of my work is people- orientated I find the seclusion of writing rather refreshing. The envelope contents allowed me to plan and structure a subject matter that I have long wanted to tackle. They helped me to focus my thoughts, and the fact that we had deadlines and other project members to not let down ensured that I did see it through.

Then there is Becky, who made the whole experience so lovely. A very talented writer herself, she put her own needs as a writer last in this process as she was so determined to encourage us to all come up with our own plays. I’m very grateful to her.

I haven’t yet written enough to be totally confident in the quality of my work and the initial table read with actors whom Becky had sourced was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. They were very competent actors but I just found myself cringing at hearing my words spoken aloud and then felt rather flat when the only tangible feedback was that my play had a good title! However this has been all about the process and after initially not having a director coming forward to offer to take on my play (instigating further feelings of flatness) Becky managed to source one. The real positive for me in this process has been the freedom of handing your piece over to a director and cast to make of it whatever they will. The opportunity to sit in a rehearsal and hear your words being discussed, knowing that you no longer have a say in the matter, is strangely liberating. I have worked as a performer on new pieces and have often found the writer to be something of a nuisance, behaving in an overly precious manner about every single line. I was determined not to pass comment – something I haven’t totally succeeded in doing – and not to try to control the company’s interpretation of the script. It is far more beneficial to me as a writer to see whether the piece stands alone without my having to justify it in any way. That remains to be seen but I am fortunate and grateful for the opportunity to see it turned into a high quality production.

A brief word about that quality; I am indebted to Ruby Clarke for taking on this production. In my 15 years working as a performer I don’t think I have come across a more exciting and able young director. I understand that she recently struggled to recruit enough actors for another of her projects and yet I strongly suspect that in the future actors will be falling over themselves to work with her. The actors she has brought on board for my play are proof of the fact that the difference between professional and amateur performers is rarely one of talent. Claire Morely, James Martin and Rosy Rowley all performed together in an acclaimed production of The Stepmother earlier this year and York’s community theatre scene is far richer for the fact that they have (so far) chosen to make this their hobby rather than their profession.

And so this evening I look forward to being an observer; not playing an active role in the Tech and a similar lack of responsibility in tomorrow’s Dress. My main disappointment is that I can’t be there for either of the performance nights (this Friday and Saturday – get your tickets now!) as I am working away. I have no doubt they will make a great job of it but I am disappointed for two main reasons. Firstly I shall miss offering my support to my cast as well as to the other writer’s whose plays I can’t wait to see at the Dress. Secondly I shall be disappointed not to receive feedback on my play. It’s not that I want to reap the plaudits in any way but rather I would welcome as much constructive feedback – good and bad – as possible. That’s how I see myself improving as a writer. If you feel like going to see it and offering me your thoughts I’d be very grateful.


Tickets for The Envelope Project are on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

Stone

This week's blog comes from Helen Shay, writer of 'Stone'.  

DAY ONE

This blog finds me typing cross-fingered. In fact, all possible digits and limbs are crossed due to recent ups and downs in the journey of my short play, ‘Stone’ as part of the Envelope Project.

It’s a two-hander, simple to stage, with talented cast and very capable director. Yet this time last week, we got the heads-up that our male actor might have to suddenly go on a trip away. A tense 24-hours led to this being confirmed and a proverbial dark night of the artistic soul loomed.

Enter hero stage left. Matt Simpson, fresh from doing ‘Three Easy Pieces’, has galloped to our rescue. We now have a Pete to play opposite Angie Shaw’s Wendy. They meet with director Marian Mantovani for intense rehearsals, with performance dates now looming. A large introductory monologue by Matt’s character has been cut to ease pressure – and I actually think the play is better as revised.

Angie will be making her stage debut (she’s done related work, including radio) and has been giving it her all, so I’m so glad it’s still able to go ahead for her sake as well as the rest of us. Marian has really seen her blossom as an actress.

For me as a writer, the process has been a learning curve too. Yes, you can ‘kill your darlings’ and maybe they were a bit too noisy anyway!

What’s more, we think we have sourced a Willy Wonka hat – potentially an essential prop. Wait for the performance and all will be revealed....

DAY TWO

I write my blog today, still with all digits and limbs crossed, now that we are so near the deadline for performance in just over a week’s time.

I am learning as a writer that maybe actually writing the play can end up being the easy bit, and that you stay on as a midwife on the project, hoping what is created will be healthy and soon up on its feet.

As I write, my wonderful director, Marian Mantovani, and new-found acting talent, Angie Shaw, are in intense rehearsals all day with Matt Simpson, our valiant newly-acquired ‘Pete’ (stepping in eleventh hour after Keith Lawrence had to drop out) to play opposite Angie’s ‘Wendy’ in 'Stone'.

Matt is an experienced actor and Angie is learning rapidly from him.

One theme of my play is art versus so-called reality, with characters having to choose (sometimes literally) between their true selves and the stone image they have created for themselves. Having worked with Marian in the past on a one-act play I wrote about plastic surgery, I know she will squeeze every nuance she can out of the script, and if anyone can bring it to life, she can.

In odd moments, I find myself thinking, ‘Is this how it was for Pygmalion?’

DAY THREE

Today I’m feeling more relaxed following Marian’s positive report of the intense rehearsal session yesterday. Matt is clearly grasping the nettle, with Angie a little in awe of how quickly he’s got into the part, and Marian says the play is looking good. The actors are now wanting to practise use of props. However, as these are few and far between – a pack of cards, a bottle of perfume and a ‘Wonky’ bar being the main ones – I doubt that they are going to need a lot to sort out just who drops/sprays and eats what when and where!

After the rocky road we’ve had, part of me is still asking, ‘Is this really going to happen?’ I hope so. We’ve all put a lot into this. When spending time revising my script, I began to feel very attached to the characters. I know I have a very talented director and actors to do them justice.

Tickets for The Envelope Project are on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

A Sporting Affair (part two)

This week's blog comes from Rochelle Reynolds, director of 'A Sporting Affair'.  

'A Sporting Affair' has been tremendous fun! We are just one rehearsal away from having the entire show on its feet, and have spent a great deal of time exploring the characters and delving below the surface of the script. Elizabeth, Tom and Serena have been joys to work with. They bring intelligence, dedication and wonderful senses of humour to every rehearsal, and I look forward to the next two weeks when everything starts coming together. 

 

The Envelope Project has been and will continue to be an incredibly rewarding experience. I have made lasting friends with the people I have met through the project and have been able to further develop my skills as a director on a fascinating new work. It is also a great privilege to be able to work so closely with Alice because it is so rare for a director and playwright to even be on the same continent together, let alone in the same rehearsal hall. I am curious to hear what she thinks of how I have tackled her story and look forward to feeling the rush of moving into the theatre and gearing up for opening night!

 

Tickets for The Envelope Project are on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

S.O.S (part two)

This week's blog post comes from Joe Steele, director of S.O.S
 

I must admit, there was a moment - after we had casted the play - in which I suddenly felt very apprehensive. Apprehensive, as I realised that I was now in charge of the execution of a new piece of theatre: trying to get inside the mind of writer Tom Straszewski, and directing two actors with far more experience of theatre than me. Being a music student who has directed only one play (Nöel Coward’s ‘Hay Fever’ - a far cry from Tom’s atmospheric psychological thriller-meets-ghost story), what right did I have to be doing any of this?

Perhaps none at all, but here I am. And, as it turns out, my musical background is not as useless here as one might think. I have always felt that dramatic writing - or rather, good dramatic writing - demands a lot of the same qualities as a piece of music. A strong sense of rhythm is required: rhythm that builds, breaks, re-forms; pauses, rests, and beats; dynamic variation: crescendos and diminuendos. Luckily, Tom’s script for ‘S.O.S.’ has all the above in abundance, and our two actors - Richard Easterbrook and Ian Giles - show a flair for interpreting the lines as such. The fact that their vocal qualities stand in stark contrast to each other - Ian’s insistent staccato against Richard’s bassy growl - is an added bonus.

In addition to all of this, it is perhaps something of a blessing for me that the main motif of the piece is an aural one. I am referring to the use of morse code, which permeates and even affects the action throughout, tapping away like someone constantly knocking at a door. This serves to help create the dark, foreboding atmosphere of ‘S.O.S.’, as Henry, our anti-protagonist, comes face-to-face with Spargo, a mysterious figure from his past. The events gradually become stranger until we reach the play’s eerie, quasi-supernatural climax.

‘Quasi-’ is perhaps the important part of that sentence; this is no straightforward run-of-the-mill ghost story, blending with it thriller and mystery, whilst also tackling questions surrounding communication (and miscommunication) in contemporary society. So far we have found that discussion is as an essential part of the process as actual ‘rehearsal’, which highlights the strength of the writing. Want to know what we’ve been talking about? The only way is to come and found out for yourself. 

Tickets for The Envelope Project are on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

 

S.O.S

This week's blog comes from Tom Straszewski, writer of 'S.O.S'. 

 

The word rehearsal literally means “to repeat aloud”, but is derived[1] from the same root word as “hearse”- a funeral vehicle- and from there to “harrow”- literally to break up the ground, but also to torment the soul. All these might be used to describe the process of handing over a play to be rehearsed, but thankfully it’s the first meaning of harrow that described Joe Steele’s approach, breaking up the hardpan soil of the script and preparing it for growth. Having spent the last month digging up an overgrown allotment, I like this metaphor. Let’s see how far I can push it...

Although S.O.S. has been work-shopped, drafted, redrafted, scrapped and rewritten entirely and read aloud by a number of groups and individuals before coming to this point, until Saturday it was entirely in my head. Now, I've had my first chance to see it performed in a roughly final state- at least as far as the text goes.  But there was still work to be done! Once outside my head, passages that felt right on the page were awkward in performance. Through Joe’s direction and the actors’ performance, I was able to see and uproot these occasional rocks that might throw the plough, and uproot the weeds that might later take over the plot.

That's enough farming metaphors for now. 

It also allowed the actors to query phrases and moments in the text where I had been unclear or contradictory. I’ve had the good fortune of acting with Ian (playing the Henry Pelham) and Richard (playing the enigmatic Spargo), and their intelligence in the rehearsal room is one of the qualities that encouraged us to cast them. At their prompting, some lines were changed, other paragraphs cut entirely, and some I insisted on keeping- often because they intentionally revealed contradictions in the characters.

Once the run-through was finished and the initial round of cuts and notes were made, we started discussing the characters and their key moments. If it’s harrowing to place your script in another person’s hands, it’s also deeply rewarding when an actor pinpoints without prompting the exact subtext you wrote. And that’s why I like writing for the stage- because at some point you have to give up control and let nature (or rather, the rest of the creative team) do its work.

Next week on the blog, Joe will be discussing the director’s view on all this. As a musician and composer, he’s already been thinking about the background sounds, in a play full of sound effects, missed messages and storms. But he’s also looking at the script as a piece of music- lending his skill and attention to the play’s pauses, beats and rhythm. I’m excited to see it all come together- and you should be too.

[1] According to that esteemed academic, Professor Internet.

Tickets for The Envelope Project are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 01904 613000 or visiting www.ridinglights.org/envelope

First glimpses and ticket information

Ping! New email.

Can you take a look at this for me?

Ping! New email.

Can I come and look at the space again?

Ping! New email.

Where do we stand on hanging things from the ceiling?

Let's just say it's all go at Envelope Project HQ. Which is fantastic - it's great to be hearing about so much activity. Actually seeing what has been all on paper becoming a reality is pretty amazing. And to be fair, I'm sending out plenty of emails of my own! As more and more of the casting is confirmed, my many, many multicoloured spreadsheets are filling out. Drafts of posters, requests for props and practicalities for rehearsal spaces and photo shoots are flying back and forth. It's exciting.

What's also exciting is that from noon today you can now lay your hands on tickets!

If you need your interests teasing any further, we now have a trailer to tempt you with.




Friargate Theatre is a wonderful space and is perfect for an event like this one. However, we're anticipating that tickets will move very quickly, so I'd advise you to not wait around, but to book yours sooner rather than later. 


Tickets can be bought in person from Friargate Theatre, over the phone on 01904 613000 or online from www.ridinglights.org


- Becky Thomson
Script Yorkshire (York Branch) Co-ordinator