I can say without doubt that moving back North was the right decision, after months of closed doors it has been amazing to have had so many positive meetings and introductions and opportunities here. It has done wonders for my confidence in myself as an artist and facilitator, and has allowed my energy to be channelled into reflecting on my practice instead of mere survival.
So what have I been up to for the 61 days I have been home? And what have I achieved?
It is fair to say I have been busy the whole time I have been back, although perhaps a lot of what I have been doing wouldn't necessarily be conventionally classed as work... but welcome to the life of a freelancer!!
So let's start with the quantifiable...
Four Decades at Traverse Theatre with Playwrights Studio Scotland
In my first week at home the Traverse were hosting an event that looked back over the past four decades of Scottish Theatre and forward into what the future might hold. This was perfect timing for me! Having studied Contemporary British Theatre as part of my MA, one might have expected that I would have been familiar with a fair bit of what was covered. One would be wrong! I spent my three days at Four Decades (The Nineties, The 2000s, and the Future) frantically noting down names and companies and plays and books for further research and trying to scope out who was who.
It wasn't until later that I remembered feeling this same way at the start of my Playwriting course at City Lit and again at the beginning of my MA. But very quickly the jigsaw pieces begin to join up and a picture begins to emerge.
These three days were invaluable for getting my head back in the Scottish scene and for meeting some important folk. And all three days were paid for by the Theatre Tokens that my lovely All Saints' family gave me in my leaving gift.
Skill Up with Promote YT at Dundee Rep
The following week I spent the weekend through in Dundee at a conference for those working in the youth theatre sector. It was so refreshing to be surrounded by others who were passionate about creating great theatre with young people and it was great to stretch our brains together about some of the challenges of working in this sector. I particularly enjoyed the morning I spent in a workshop led by Louise Brodie (Artist in Residence with Imaginate) on the Ethics of Autobiographical Work with Young People. This is a subject I have wrestled with for a while and I just really enjoyed hearing others opinions and chewing over ideas. The workshop also really stretched me as an artist and put me in the shoes of the participant - this was so crucial because it can be so easy to forget what it feels like to be the young people we work with, and it brings a whole new perspective to the question of whether what we do and what we ask of them is "ok".
I also participated in workshops with Company of Angels, Mary McCluskey from Scottish Youth Theatre and Jemima Levick from Dundee Rep, saw a performance by Dundee Rep Youth Theatre, went to a ceilidh and met lots of people from all different sections of the industry. All in all, it was entirely worth it!
Small Change with Citizens Theatre Learning
Within just a few days of being back I was fortunate enough to be offered a project with Citizens' Theatre Learning. The project was rolled out in primary schools across Glasgow, working with Primary 7 pupils to use drama to think about money management. I delivered the project in two primary school's in the East End of Glasgow over four weeks.
It was great to get some work sorted really quickly and it felt amazing to be out workshopping again. It was also really nice to be back in the East End where I did placements in first and second year of uni. It brought back a whole load of memories but it was also really cool to think about how far I have come since then and how much I have grown as a practitioner.
What's more I learned a bit more about money management myself! One particular highlight was when one of my classes educated me on "Menage money" (pronounced minodge).
Get into Drama with Enable Scotland and Platform, Glasgow
Also within the first week of being back, I secured a project working with adults with additional support needs out in Cumbernauld. The group is a brand new group as part of a new programme of activities that has been launched by Enable Scotland. We've had great fun over the past 7 weeks getting to know each other and working out a direction for the project. It's all looking really exciting and I am especially excited that the project is going to roll on indefinitely.
I won't give away just yet what we are working on, but I hope that soon we will have something that we can share with an invited audience. Watch this space!
Play Station at Platform, Glasgow
Through word of mouth and my website (designed by the brilliant James McNelly), I was contacted by Matt Addicott at Platform and asked to be a part of the team of facilitating artists delivering Play Station this term. Play Station is a Saturday morning drop-in drama session for children aged 5-7.
This project has been really important for me in my development as a facilitating artist and has really caused me to reflect on my practice and consider what I think the purpose is in my work with children in this age group. You can find out more about my thoughts that were inspired by my work with this group in my previous blog post (A reflection on integrity).
I have two more sessions left with Play Station and I have to say I will really miss it! It has re-awakened my love for working with children of this age!
Words, Words, Words at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Words, Words, Words is a scratch night of new writing - 8 extracts of previously unseen work from 8 writers at any stage in their career directed by 8 emerging directors.
I applied to join the Emerging Directors scheme at the Traverse and as such was notified about this opportunity. I sat on it for a few days, swinging between feeling like I shouldn't apply because I wouldn't get chosen and feeling like I shouldn't apply because if they did choose me, that was terrifying. So I decided the only thing I could do was apply. Time passed and I figured I hadn't been chosen... but I was wrong! I was given an extract of a play called "Look at Me Look at You" by Robyn Hunt and I had an hour and fifteen minutes to direct a rehearsed reading of the piece with actors Paul Cunningham and Tom Freeman.
It felt like being back at drama school and I spent most of the day feeling utterly sick, but ultimately it was an amazing experience and I know that were I to have the opportunity to do this, or something similar again, I would do lots of things very differently! Most of all though, I wouldn't be afraid to ask the questions that may seem silly. For example, I knew the event was to take place in Traverse 2. Every time I have ever seen anything in Traverse 2, the space has been in thrust... so I assumed...
Wrong!
It was set end on.
Lesson 1: Always ask what the space will be set up like.
Theatre I've seen
I've seen a wide and varied selection of companies and productions as well as a number of rehearsed readings, all of which are helping me to define what my theatrical taste is. The productions I have seen in my two months of being back are:
Black Watch by NTS at SECC
Dr Faustus at Citizens' Theatre
Headlong's The Seagull at the Citizens' Theatre
Scottish Opera and D'oyly Carte's Pirates of Penzance at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow
The One Man Show Off as part of the Southside Fringe
Little Shop of Horrors at Cottiers by Pantheon
The House of Bernarda Alba by students from Motherwell College at Cottiers Kelvinbridge
Slick by Vox Motus at Platform
As for the rest...
I've spent a lot of time having meetings and coffees with folk, sending CV's and applications and I have to say the future is looking bright! Lots of these I can't really share at the moment but some future stuff that I can share includes:
National Festival of Youth Theatre
I am going to be delivering a series of workshops at the National Festival of Youth Theatre on working with text for performance. The NFYT takes place in Glenrothes and will involve camping for the weekend - prayers for dry weather would be much appreciated!
Summer Academy at Citizens' Theatre
I will be leading a Summer Academy at the Citizens' Theatre for 9-12 year olds at the end of July. I'm really excited to be back in the building working with the young people.
Re:Action Youth Theatre at Callander House with Falkirk Community Trust
After the summer I will be working with Clare Collins and the young people at Re:Action to create a site specific piece of theatre at Callander House which will be performed on the three Saturdays in December leading up to Christmas. It's going to be great to get back to working with a youth theatre group and this project really reminds me of a piece I worked on at Dean Castle in my time with East Ayrshire Youth Theatre.
East Renfrewshire Council Youth Services
I have recently been successful in my application to be a part of the detached youth work team for East Renfrewshire Council. This is a pretty new thing for me and I am looking forward to working with young people in this new format for me.
I've been reflecting a lot on this wee job and how it fits into the bigger picture of my work. I have talked lots about the tension I feel in the work that I make between a social agenda and an artistic agenda. This job certainly sits on the social agenda side (where Words, Words, Words sat very much on the artistic side). But the more I reflect on this spectrum the more I see that it all feeds into each other. In both extremes of the scale I can learn things that will impact the rest of my work, wherever it lands on the scale. Surely working in a detached youth work context with young people is only going to help me to better relate to the young people I work with in a youth theatre context? In the same way that working in a purely "theatre" context can also inform my work within youth theatre. Basically, it's all good and none of it's wasted... as long as I keep questioning and reflecting. I want to keep learning all the time, and the best way to do that is definitely to keep asking questions.
So there we go. A jam-packed two months and lots of hope for the future. I'll keep you posted!
