This is the nineteenth edition of the monthly newsletter from Short Attention Span Theatre. It features news about our shows, opportunities for writers and creatives that we've seen, plus plugs for other shows and anything else of interest. If you have anything appropriate you'd like us to include for future drop us a line at info@shortattentionspantheatre.co.uk. 

Thanks to everyone who came along to see our two nights of script-in-hand performances at the Old Hairdressers in May. We did thirteen plays inspired by Kate Bush script-in-hand. You can read more about them and what inspired the writers by having a look at the programmes on our website.

There's information about our June show further down the page.

Our May started at The Traverse, with a work-in-progress from InMotion, Lily. It was a haunting piece in their signature style of poetic realism. A play with songs, it told the story of missing teenager Lily, and the impact on those left wondering. 

Then we were at a showcase for a new production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. A romping historical adventure, starring the world's first superhero with a secret identity. It's a great night out and we hope to see the full version on a stage soon. 

We had a great night of spoken word at the Flying Duck with JB Barrington and Friends. Organised by Derek Steel of Razur Cuts this was a terrific line up of poets and writers, both local and from the north of England. First up was Dickson Telfer with some amusing stories of social media. Stephen Watt is a regular on the spoken word scene and it's easy to see why he appears on numerous bills with some entertaining poems and engaging between poem chat. David Ross read from his latest novel Welcome to the Heady Heights, while providing a few primers in between. The star of the show for me was Jim Higo. He paced the stage with boundless energy, interspersing his engaging poems with hilarious rants. SAST's own Chris McQueer was the penultimate act, delivering his usual easy going style of storytelling. We were more excited though by getting to look after his dog Timmy while Chris was on stage. JB Barrington strolled his headline set saving his classic Sunglasses for last. Derek and Razur Cuts deserves much credit for putting the bill together, and it was a night that certainly deserved a much bigger audience, although everyone who turned out had a great night.

In The Mistress Contract at The Tron a Californian couple spent thirty years taping conversations about their sex lives. It was low on drama but high on human interest. Were they widening their horizons with thier new self-awareness or were they victims of extreme navel-gazing, trapping themselves in words when they should be lost in sensuality?  

The West Dunbartonshire Booked Festival is a wonderful entry in the literature calendar. All the talks are free and there's always an excellent line up. First we saw Alan Parks discussing his books Bloody January and February's Son. Both are set in 70s Glasgow and part of a planned 12 book series. Alan was very humble about his writing success and talked about how the inspiration for the books lay in being taken into Glasgow shopping by his mother when he was a young boy.

The first of a double header at Dumbarton Library was Madeline Bunting, who spoke about her novel Island Song. The book is set in German-occupied Guernsey in 1940. It was borne out of her research for her 1995 non-fiction book The Model Occupation. It was a fascinating hour as she spoke about the era.

The second event at Dumbarton saw Wendy Erskine read from her short story collection, Sweet Home, recently long listed for the Gordon Burn Prize. She spoke about her writing and how she put together her collection over the course of a year.

American author James Ellroy was at St Luke's in the Gallowgate to read from and talk about his latest book This Storm. He has a unique style as a reader and a refreshing candour as a speaker. Some snippets we noted - On writing about historical events and characters: "I make a lot of this shit up." On Orson Welles: "A doofus's idea of a genius." On the characters in his books: "You're trying to tell the truth about human beings, the karmic consequences of immoral acts." When asked why the public perception of him doesn't always chime with the content of his books: "You can't make a woman love you if they're not that way inclined. No matter how hard you try." He was interviewed recently in The Guardian.

We were at another work-in-progress, the first act of, Arketype by Andy Edwards, at The Tron. A retelling of the story of Noah, after a climate change induced flood, with an unhappy family working out their problems in the few dry corners they have left. We're looking forward to seeing how it ends.

Then we went to San Diego by David Greig, performed by the students at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A sprawling, dream-like epic about belonging and ritual in a nondescript town devoid of either, it had some stand-out performances and great energy. 

And lastly we went to a new sci-fi play, Unconventional, at Websters by new writer and director Matthew Barton from Bickering Theatre. It's refreshing to have a new play in a mainstream genre that theatre doesn't usually touch. It 's mostly a homage to Doctor Who with nods to Terry Pratchett, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Futurama, held together by the brilliantly puppyish Kristy Pickering as the time travelling Baz. 

 

The Science of Storytelling
by Will Storr
 

This isn't a how to book about storytelling, it's a why to. Why do stories connect to the deepest part of our psyche and why should we write them. Partly this new interest in storytelling is to fill the authority gap left when the Western world became liberal, secular and pluralistic. What stories can we tell that will bring us together and internalize enough of a value system to keep our political units functioning, because as it turns out, humans need myths as much as they need facts. What myths we have is up to us. Storr leads us through the components of our personal and collective narratives; World, Self, Dramatic Questions, and Endings. It's concise but full of information and insights, with no waffle or padding. It makes a natural companion to John York's Into The Woods, a How To, based on the same premise, that stories are a natural instinct and we use them to learn, to work through problems, and to bring order to our lives. 'In life our 'plots' emerge out of who we are. It's the active decisions that we make that create the events of our days. These decisions reflect our character - our values, flaws, personality and goals. It's in this way that the lives we lead emerge out of the people we are. This is true in life and it should also be true in story'.  
 

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We've also been reading The Remains of the Day this month. In 2014 Kazuo Ishiguro wrote this piece for The Guardian on how he came to write his Booker prize winning novel. He wrote the bulk of it in a period he refers to as the 'Crash'. "During the Crash, I would do nothing but write from 9am to 10.30pm, Monday through Saturday. I’d get one hour off for lunch and two for dinner. I’d not see, let alone answer, any mail, and would not go near the phone." He also speaks of a couple of his less obvious influences from film and music.

We're at the Gilded Balloon Basement Theatre on Rose Street on Wednesday 12th June with six plays inspired by Kate Bush songs. They were all part of our script-in-hand performances in May. Tickets are only £5 and available from the Gilded Balloon website.

Here you'll find what some of the writers of our previous shows have been doing and what they have coming up in the next month or so.

Fraser Campbell - Fraser had a health scare recently and he's written a brilliant blogpost about what he and his family have gone through.

Chris McQueer - Chris adapted some of his stories from his book Hings for television. Three shorts are available on the BBC iPlayer. He wrote a lovely article on Medium about meeting his father for the first time. He appears on episode 6 of Sanjeev Kohli's Big Talk also available on the BBC iPlayer. His latest short story collection HWFG is available from all good bookshops and publishers 404 Ink. 

Elaine Malcomson - Elaine was on Fred at the Stand on Radio Four this month. Elaine was also nominated for a Scottish Comedy Award in the Best Writer category. 

Tom Murray - Tom will be chairing and asking the questions at a couple of events at this years Borders Book Festival in Melrose. Firstly he'll be talking to Suzie Wilde about her book Obsidian on Thursday evening 13th June, then Bill Jones about his new novel Black Camp 21 on Sunday 16th June, He will also be reading his poems at the launch of the Borders Writers Forum anthology 'Coast and Countryside' at the Borders Book Festival on the 13th June. As Open Book Lead Reader for the Scottish Borders Tom will be facilitating his third Open Book Workshop at Eyemouth Library 26th June at 2.30pm. It is free and a drop in, no need to book.

Julie McDowall - Julie is in The Times (paywall) this week sorting out fact from fiction in HBO's great mini-series Chernobyl. Julie was interviewed recently in Newsweek about her experiences in Chernobyl. She was also recently featured in The Guardian discussing her synaesthesia. Julie recently appeared on the Barshens podcast on Soundcloud and YouTube. Julie puts out a weekly podcast on how we prepared for nuclear war called The Atomic Hobo. 

Eve Nicol - It was announced recently that Eve has written a play adaptation of Belle and Sebastian's album If You're Feeling Sinister. It'll be part of the Edinburgh Fringe at Gilded Balloon, Doonstairs from 31st July to 26th August (excluding 12th August) at 3:45pm.