Grey Squirrel Project

Elyssa Livergant at Central School of Speech and Drama has asked me to be the dramaturg on a project she is working on for the next three weeks. It is all about Grey Squirrels invading a ladies home! Check it out at http://www.cptheatre.co.uk/event_details.php?sectionid=theatre&eventid=194

This is the first of my diary entries for it:

I met Elyssa and Lou from Rough Memory at Camden People’s Theatre to discuss the project they are working on for the next three weeks. It is called Kiss From the Last Grey Squirrel and is to be performed in mid-June as part of CPT’s performance festival.
Lou has had to take the decision to drop out as one of the main performers resulting in a radical rethinking of the narrative content. With Elyssa as the main performer, Lou may well appear in it as the musician/squirrel representative.
Elyssa went through the narrative structure established so far with me and we decided that there was a gap in the final scenes that needed to be fleshed out, so we re-jiggled things, bringing the scene where the protagonist receives a letter from an anxious friend nearer to the end, therefore becoming a primary motivation for the final dream sequence being more frantic and tense.
The idea of the lady making jams throughout the piece was a particularly strong one for me and I immediately had visions of her fortifying her house against the invading squirrels with hundreds of jam-jars, all gooey and red.
Elyssa has asked me to particularly think about the whole jam-making process, whether it should be one continuous jam-making session throughout the piece (which I think should be the case, as it will add to the tension, that the lady perhaps has to keep checking on the progress despite being terrified of the squirrels, and this is her main concern) or separate jams. For me, the making of the preserves is the key because, the state of it, i.e. whether she has accomplished her task, or failed/burnt it, whatever, determines the message given out about the feeling towards the invasion of the squirrels. Does the lady give up all that was previously important to her in order to fight the battle against them and protect her home?

Bringing together....

In preparation for our performance proposal presentation next week I am trying to bring together all our ideas, but no piece of paper seems big enough, so I will commit them to the endless world of cyber space.

After seeing a short piece at the BAC on saturday night as part of the End of the World event, I am thinking about the simplicity of storytelling - the use of humour to engage the audience and a silence at the end which gave real poignancy. Text was projected into a black box - at times only one or two words. It was kept simple and unpretentious....."You'll be ok"....."Don't Worry". A personal story of an isolated explorer, we connected with him as a 'storyteller' told us about his life. I am thinking more and more about the dramaturg being the storyteller. Leading the audience around the garden - not in a forceful way, but gently, giving them fragments of a story, simple words.

I am soon to see Kneehigh's 'A Matter of Life and Death' at the NT and am reflecting on the use of music to bring an earthy quality to a performance. The combination of traditional music and touching lyrics to enhance the story. Can we use this in the garden? I have something in mind.....

Kneehigh are also not afraid to bring the personal and semi-autobiographical to their work - Emma Rice dedicates their current show to her grandfather and the handbells are rung on stage for him. Why should we shy away from this? A member of the family at Southside has provided much inspiration....a woman who would not leave when all around her was collapsing, sons fighting in the war, bombs directly hitting her house - but she stayed for her beloved garden.