WELL it’s been a casual five months since Positive ended and I gushed about it on here in the style of an over-elaborate Oscars speech that really needed an orchestra to cut it off. Or a BRITs victory in need of a James Corden.
Two days ago (October 28) ‘my’ quarterly new writing night Briefs returned for its sixth edition; this time at Waterloo East Theatre. We’d had five brilliant shows at the Rosemary Branch Theatre but, given how full they always got, decided it was worth moving to somewhere slightly bigger. Thank God we did: not only did the show at WET sell out, it sold out in advance; a Briefs first. It was worth it, too: the line-up was great, and we had a great mix of new acting/writing/directing talent along with the return of some regular faves. As for me – I performed a monologue I had written called Milkshake. It was absolutely ruddy terrifying and went by in such a blur that I have no concept of whether it was good or atrocious, but it was a very big buzz.
And now for a photo montage.
Going back further – as I really haven’t updated this ‘blog’ in a very long time – the previous Briefs back in July was also ace. We had the Rosemary Branch bursting at the seams with people sat in the aisles and even on the floor in front of the first row. For my part, I contributed a scene from a play called Flytja that I’ve had knocking around my head for God-knows-how-long; about a woman who tells her three adult children that she’s decided to move abroad to Iceland because why not. I’m looking forward to developing it further. I also had a piece selected for the writers’ response night of The Me Plays at the Old Red Lion Theatre in September: my scene was a two-hander called Offer, in which a guy offered an old school friend a role in amateur porn. Obvs.
Moving forward, there are some exciting things ahead: in two days time, on November 1, my short Going Down – which was previously performed at the Spring edition of Briefs at the Rosemary Branch and at Velvet Trumpet’s Soggy Brass night at the Hen & Chickens – is being put on as part of The Bread & Roses Theatre’s launch event, The Platform. It’s going to be strange seeing it performed by a different bunch of people but I’m looking forward to seeing it – it’s rare these days that I have absolutely no involvement with a play’s production once the script’s finished, so it’ll be an exciting experience.
Speaking of Velvet Trumpet, their special Christmas event – Soggy Christmas – will include a new monologue of mine, Twelve New Messages, written especially for the festive season. That’s going to be back at the Hen & Chickens near Highbury & Islington station on December 12. My company West Avenue also has exciting plans afoot for a festive-based shindig on December 21, but more on that to follow.
And I’m sure I’ll bang on about this much more nearer the time, but at the end of January myself and Roberta Morris, an obscenely talented writer-actress who regularly contributes to Briefs, will be putting on a double-bill of one-act plays at the White Bear Theatre. Mine’s called Caravan; hers is Pin. Early days, though.
Finally, after having a whale of a time on the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers’ Programme last year, I’m excited to be on the Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab for 2014-15 (the apostrophe distribution in that sentence was a bloody nightmare, FYI). I’m also taking a great course at the London Film School on Continuing & Serial TV Drama with the brill Neil Arksey, who’s accountable for a cool 1,000 hours of scripted television.
Oh and in terms of the ol’ #journalism, I’m now doing ‘features’ and viral-y bits for EntertainmentWise on a basically full time basis, and serving as Holy Moly!’s weekend reporter. Fun stuff all round.
Update over. Happy Halloween, if that’s a thing.
SHAUN KITCHENER 