This is the twentieth edition of the monthly newsletter from Short Attention Span Theatre. This one is three days late! 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. 

We have four plays in rehearsed readings over two nights in Glasgow this month. You can buy tickets for Sunday night here and for Monday night here.

We began July in Edinburgh to see Toast at the Assembly Roxy. Written by Benjamin Storey he also stars along with Rachel Flynn. This is the story of Joe, a musician who discovers he has a terminal illness. It was a charming and touching story, well acted by Benjamin and Rachel. Get along to see them both in Being Liza at the Edinburgh Fringe, details below.

The Ugly One at the Tron was an absurdist satire about the narcissism at the root of consumer capitalism. Everything about the production was heightened and stylised, and while it was brilliantly done, the obvious theme left us wishing for something with a little more heart. 

At The Theatre Royal the touring version of The Lady Vanishes was the exact opposite of the The Ugly One, a messy, often badly executed dash through of an old thriller, with almost nothing to say, despite a stage full of spies, Nazis, and troubled middle-Englanders. It worked on warmth and charm alone. 

Dracula: Revamped, the adult Summer Panto at A Play, A Pie and A Pint was a trashy, enjoyable burlesque of the horror staple, with a few satirical jokes, a great rapport with the audience and some catchy songs. 

We also got to sit in to rehearsals If You're Feeling Sinister and How Not to Drown, both premiering at the Edinburgh Festival this month, Sinister at Avalon Theatre and Drown at The Traverse. Sinister is a play with songs from the eponymous Belle and Sebastian album, and centres on an intergenerational relationship between artists, and Drown is the true story of a child refugee's journey to the UK, his experiences here and his attempt to reconnect to his roots. We recommend seeing them both, if you can.  

 

The Art Of Dramatic Writing
by Lajos Egri

Written in 1946, this is a classic guide to writing the kind of strong, character-driven, stories that built Hollywood's Golden Age. Egri teaches that the principle aim of storytelling is to 'expose the inner workings of the human mind through conflict'. He believes that we are all born with the ability and that great writers would have been inveterate liars if our society lacked fiction as a outlet. His starting point is the premise. Something important has to be proved by the story. For example 'blind trust leads to destruction' (King Lear) or 'great love defies even death' (Romeo and Juliet). After the premise comes the characters who will illustrate it through personality, growth and change. The change is in response to conflict, from point of attack, through cause and effect and complication, to crisis, climax and resolution. He also explores general issues; why bad plays are hits, the timeliness of a topic, and obligatory scenes that audiences will want from your material. He ends with some still useful advice about marketing and selling your work. 'the drama is not the image of life, but the essence. We must condense'. 
 

 

The following are creative opportunities we've noticed over the last few weeks. 

Our friends at In Motion Theatre have announced a partnership with Glasgow Libraries, The Mitchell Library and Book Week Scotland. Write Lines is an opportunity for writers to attend workshops with producer and playwright Lisa Nicoll at The Mitchell Library over the course of four sessions in September & October to create a new 10 minute play or the beginning of a larger piece of work inspired by a favourite book. The workshops will include exercises to inspire and develop material, characters & dialogue, one to one feedback about the work and also a chance to have their work read by professional actors. Have a look at their website for more details.

Theatre company Angry Bear is calling for submissions of short plays to be presented at the Royal Court Theatre on 27 September in aid of charity. The details are on their website.

A Story For Daniel is a flash fiction competition created to honour and remember Daniel Farbrace and raise awareness of blood stem cell donation. The deadline for entries is midnight 31st October 2019. Have a look at the website for more information.

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 has a Kickstarter running for his new comic Heart of Steal.

Chris McQueer - Chris won the Oustanding Literature Award at the Scottish Culture Awards. His latest short story collection HWFG is available from all good bookshops and publishers 404 Ink. Both books are coming soon to Audible.

Kat Harrison - Kat has narrated the audio version of Karen Gray's book For King and Country. You can get it on Audible.

Elissa Soave - Elissa made the five writer shortlist for the Primadonna prize.

Julie Rea - Here's a short story by Jule Don't Think Twice, It's Alright from issue 19 of Blether. Julie is also one of the five writers on the Primadonna prize shortlist.

Joseph Hollas - Joseph has a play Mr. Nice Guy at the Edinburgh Fringe. He was also featured in the Daily Record.

Elaine Malcomson - Elaine was in episode 8 of The Comedy Underground available on the BBC iPlayer.

Tom Murray - Tom put the text of his play Lady Grinning Soul, performed at our shows in January and April, on his website.

Julie McDowall - Rickshaw Travel asked Julie, who has Synaesthesia, to 'taste' the countries of the world. Julie puts out a weekly podcast on how we prepared for nuclear war called The Atomic Hobo. 

Eve Nicol - Eve was asked by New York magazine to provide her guide to Edinburgh.