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Denise the Playwright
Denise has written for both radio and stage
Stage:
TRUST - shortlisted for the Verity Bargate
Award and performed at the Brunei Gallery, London WC1
BOAT FOR SALE - ONE CAREFUL LADY OWNER performed
by Mind the Gap Productions at the Stanford Meisner Theatre,
New York, April 2008
THE HOMECOMING – performed by Mind the Gap Productions
at the Stanford Meisner Theatre, New York, May 2009
PANDORA’S BOXES – Etcetera Theatre, London NW1
(part of Camden Fringe Festival 8th – 11th August 2011
PANDORA’S BOXES – Rosemary Branch Theatre N1
30th August – 17th September 2011
RUNNING OUT OF TIME - performed at the Phoenix
Arts Centre, June 2012
Radio:
PANDORA'S BOXES broadcast by Resonance 104.4
FM 2009
Updates:
How to put on a play:
First you have
to write it! Then you have to find a director who MUST be someone
who believes in it. I was lucky in finding Dimitri Devderiani
- I met him through my writers group Player Playwrights in London
(if you don't belong to a writer's group find one and join -
it is so worth while - you don't know what your words sounds
like until you hear other people speek them. This is what Player
Playwrights do - perform your play script in hand. The audience,
a mix of writers and actors, then give you feed back. This in
invaluable. You may think that your play is ready but it will
inevitably need one or more rewrites.
Your next step is to find a venue. The Camden Fringe Festival
is ideal. You pay £75 to register, choose the venue which is
the one that best suits your needs - you are a playwright so
choose one with a stage! I chose the Etcetera Theatre. I was
given 4 slots at a cost of £125 with a share of the box office.
So far so good.
BUT you then have to find your cast. The director should help
you with this - he will have contacts or you can advertise on
castingcallpro or similar. Actors are always looking to hone
their craft and they only way that they can do this, is to ACT.
They are usually happy to be in a play provided that it is a
good one.
So now you have your play, your director, your venue and your
cast. What comes next is the rehearsal stage. I would advise
you to read over the script with the director first to make
sure that he understands ALL of your words - one little misunderstanding
can change the whole impact of your play. Then read over the
play with the cast so that they too understand the meaning and
the emotions involved in each and every one of your words. You
have taken the trouble to cut out every single unnecessary word
which means that every word in your play SHOULD be important.
You are then ready to start the rehearsal process. Dimitri is
very exacting and precise in his methods, drawing out every
conceivable demonstration of the actors understanding of their
character. Dimitri is a genius. It is also the director's job
to visualise what the audience will see on the stage - the symbiosis
and the symmetry are paramount to giving a visual masterpiece.
Have as many rehearsals as you possibly can, if possible in
the venue, but as this is not usually possible, choose a space
that's similar in size - there is no point rehearsing in a huge
church hall where movement can be as free as you like and then
expect to take it to a small space where your actors will be
falling over one another. Also, expect emotional turmoil both
from yourself and your cast. It is not easy for you to see others
speek your words in a way that you were perhaps not expecting,
and it is not easy for actors to suddenly adopt the persona
of a stranger. Have patience - it helps to have a calm director
- Dimitri is very calm!
In the life of Pandora's Boxes, we have now been rehearsing
for two weeks. That's not long but we waited for one of the
actors to be available - Dimitri said that the success of a
play is at least 50 per cent dependent on the cast. Be creative
when you look for rehearsal space - we started in the Doghouse
pub in Kennington in an airy bright upstairs room - as long
as we spent money at the bar, the room was free. We also use
a yoga/meditation centre which is also free - it can be very
expensive to hire rehearsal rooms, so look for places that you
would never normally consider. Tomorrow, and for the next three
days we are using the Rosemary Branch Theatre where my play
transfers to on August 30th.
Don't forget
to publicise your play in any way that you can. I can't emphasise
the importance of this - contact local papers, bloggers, theatre
sites (online) and if you can, give out fliers. The more attention
you can get for your play, the bigger the audience!
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