Good Clown Bad Clown Trailer
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Photos from the Good Clown Bad Clown trailer shoot
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Last Saturday Icon Films shot a trailer for our comical kids’ Christmas show, Good Clown Bad Clown, in front of a live audience of little ones! The finished article will be up here soon, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from the process…
Natalie McGrath talks about developing Coasting, playing in the Studio 22 Sep - 15 Oct
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
I think Coasting has always been waiting to burst out of me as a writer really. I grew up as a teenager in a British seaside town in the 1980s and knew this landscape, this world, it’s etched all over me as an adult and after a very long time away I just wondered about it.
Unconsciously I started to write Ocean and Pearl after being set the challenge of writing for a weekend of play with two actors and a director at the Brewhouse in Taunton, way back in September 2007. Yes. I know, all that time ago. Where are we now?! I only wrote two scenes - one set in an amusement arcade (now called Muzzy Sluts - which is what they are) and one set on the end of a pier entitled Ace of Hearts. Clacton-On-Sea (there I’ve outed myself from an Essex teenage life closet) has a pier and the end of it can be seen in the British film Kinky Boots. It’s a massive open space and I imagined these two young adults having the freedom to roam this space. Hanging off its edges and looking out to sea whilst sea gulls swilled around and above them. Disrupting the peace. Their peace. Anyone who’s ever lived in a coastal town will know how its metamorphosis from a fun and brightly lit space in the summer becomes something much darker as winter approaches helped me set the tone to a moment. The moment when this occurs. This dark cloud hanging over set something about Coasting that hasn’t shifted since I started writing it all that time ago. It also created a character and a relationship with a specific location that I hadn’t done at that point as a writer.
I was a bit new to it all at this point, but I knew that a focus on location could have me to discover something. What I discovered was ‘the Stretch’, Ocean and Pearl’s name for the seafront where they operated. It just emerged and seemed to fit. It was their world and that was what I wanted to write about and what would happen if it was challenged or disrupted. I started to really play linguistically for the first time with Coasting, using a mix of Polari (a gay slang) and 80s pop lyrics (any excuse to indulge) that had resonance to create a kind of street language for Ocean and Pearl. I wanted them to have unique voices. I didn’t know how else to write them to be honest with you. I stared for hours at pictures of Caravaggio’s street people and knew it had some kind of connection to this world. So the two scenes were explored and presented and well received.
I then didn’t touch the play for over a year, maybe more.
I did however write down what has become the opening line, ‘Shake out the shiver of these dynamite bones’, whilst I was on a bike one rainy day. Don’t ask! I wrote a version in 2009 for Hall for Cornwall’s Beachcombing venture and it was very rough around the edges, but it gave me a chance to start to see what I might have. Late 2009 Sharon Clark asked me if I had anything I would like to work on for January Ferment 2010. I posted her a copy of Coasting. She agreed to let me have a full reading of the piece and this was the beginning of the plays relationship with Bristol Old Vic. I was offered a cast and a director to work with over two days and to then present a reading on the 23rd of January, which is also my birthday.
It was an incredible two days. From the moment of being welcomed in BOV by Sharon and Kate and meeting with the director, then meeting the actors and just working on the text to get it to some kind of presentable state. The reading went very well. Got some great feedback, but what so useful was being able to tune in to the audience as they listened in to this world and linguistic style I had created. Ferment is so vital in this respect. It felt kind of electric and I was totally inspired to re-write the play (in order to now make it work theatrically) and really excavate the story and respond to the audiences feedback and the feedback from all who were involved. It totally challenged my engagement as a writer and how I thought about how I write.
From here I was offered dramaturgical support from Sharon who pushed me into keeping it simple (whilst asking probing questions) and finding the story as a vehicle to allow the language to breath and then we had a development week in June 2010. The play got investigated rigorously and I wrote and re-wrote and tried things out. It was massive! We had a brilliant reading at the end of the week which helped me nail the play in the end. Along the way characters have emerged and then disappeared. This was very liberating and taught me about not being overly precious with my work! I re-wrote again, all the time trying to get to simple truths. The ending bugged me the most and got re-written the most. I just wanted to write the best play I could. It was in a good state by the time I submitted it to Sharon in November I think. In 2011 I met Sharon at Soho Theatre and she said to me “I think you should sit down” and that’s when she told me that Bristol Old Vic wanted to produce Coasting.
I was just a little bit excited.
A little bit of history repeating…
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Last night saw Tom Morris and Emma Stenning take to the main stage at the Public Meeting, where the plans for redevelopment were explained. At an exciting time for the theatre, it seems that some extensive digging into the building’s history has provided a spring board for its renaissance as long forgotten quirks are being re-imagined for a contemporary audience.
The focus for the redevelopment is flexibility. We want to create a space where artists can work withthe auditorium rather than against it. It is even hoped that three or four shows will be able to run at the same time, creating a real buzz in the complex - an bubbling creative hub.
The refurbishment will take place in four stages, with the theatre staying open throughout. Bristol Old Vic will also collaborate with other venues around the city during this transitional phase so that the shows can, as they must, go on.
The biggest change, which is intrinsic to the ethos of the redevelopment, is the flexible seating which will be housed in the room adjacent to the main stage. This will provide another 250 seats and open up the possibilities afforded by our fantastic, state of the art and already existing fly tower. It also means that there could be performances in traverse in the main house!
Other exciting features mentioned at the Public Meeting were the announced opening up of the ‘1800s Bar’ which is situated between the Upper Circle and The Gallery and has been dormant for around a hundred years and the re-opening of the Thunder Run above the main stage.
So, exciting times indeed!
Apples - On Sale Now!
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Richard Milward’s Apples is now on sale at the Box Office!
This is Eden, but not as you know it. Temptation is rife - for the youth of today it is on tap. In a world where planning for the future involves nothing more than picking an outfit for Friday night, five young people speak out about their realities and their shrinking horizons. This energetic, poetic and wry take on youth culture promises to be a real hit with younger audiences (14+) so book now to avoid disappointment!
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