|
April 2021's SAST Newsletter
|
|
|
Welcome to April's newsletter from SAST. We hope you're doing well. There's still no sight of anyone in Scotland getting back on stage in front of a live audience, but there's steady progress with vaccinations, so reasons to be optimistic. Did we say that last month? And the month before? Well, it still applies.
Plenty for you in this newsletter. If you do like it and know of someone else who would too please forward it on.
If you have anything appropriate you'd like us to include for future drop us a line at info@shortattentionspantheatre.co.uk. |
|
|
Here are ten links we've seen that are worth sharing.
From the New York Times here are 7 questions, 75 artists and 1 very bad year. Some interesting and varied answers here. You may have seen Tracy Letts' response being shared a lot on Twitter. "I’ve made nothing. On four separate occasions, I arranged my schedule with [my wife] Carrie so I could have six uninterrupted hours a day to write. All four times, I emerged from my office after two or three weeks, rattled, defeated, feeling lousy about myself. My wife finally said, “Here’s what you have to do: read books, watch movies, cook dinner and take care of our boy.” That is what I’ve done. And while my family is my focus and my joy, from a creative standpoint, this year for me has been a dust storm. I’m normally involved in a number of creative endeavors, in different forms, but the theater is my lifeblood and I don’t know who I am without it. The plug getting pulled on “The Minutes” was truly devastating for me. I feel like a heel even saying that since so many people in this country and around the world are suffering as a result of this pandemic in ways I can’t even fathom. But it’s the simple truth. I can’t do the computer theater, it’s too depressing for me, and I’ve turned down a couple of on-camera jobs because I am just as scared of this virus as I was a year ago. Creatively, I’m lost. It’s why I’m doing this interview. I’m guessing there are some other artists who identify"
From Go Into the Story, all ten Oscar-nominated screenplays are available to download for free.
Screenwriter David Koepp has a great script archive on his website. It includes various drafts of Carlito's Way, The Paper, Panic Room and other produced movies, as well as several unproduced scripts.
How long does it take to write an entire BBC radio sitcom? Comedy writer David Charles decided to find out.
Alan Ayckbourn on writing characters in this piece from 1986. "Simply, I’ve always held secretly that comedies were just tragedies with more laughs and tragedies became tragedies when it was no longer possible to laugh. All the best tragedies have comedy within them (even if, alas, so many directors choose to ignore it) and, of course, all the best comedies have within them the seeds of tragedy e.g Chekhov."
Simon Nicholls has some Dos and Don't for sitcom writers. "DO thoroughly research your sitcom's world and characters, before you start writing. If you're passionate about space stations and want to write a comedy set on one, don't just make it all up. Thoroughly research documentaries about space stations and interviews with people who have lived on them. Get a sense of 'space speak' which can filter into your characters' dialogue. Commissioners regularly say they want authentic stories from authentic voices. Even if you're writing a comedy that's autobiographical and set in a place you know well, still do your research."
Author Sam Blake offers ten tips to beat writers' block. "We all have days where writing is tough, and some days where we just get totally stuck. I believe 100% that ‘writer’s block‘ is our subconscious mind protesting about something. It’s putting the brakes on because you’ve gone wrong somewhere and you’re heading off down a path that will result in a lot of words that may be wasted. The error could be something a character has said that’s out of character, or something you’ve mentioned that noone in your book could possibly know about because it hasn’t happened yet (we’ve all done that). It could be any manner of things – perhaps a character is dominating your story too much, or you’ve made a mistake in your research (or recollection) that could derail your plan. Perhaps your timeline has gone off grid and it’s snowing in July or someone is going to school at 2am. Go back to where it was working and take a look at what’s there. Look for the thing that has sent you off course."
If you want to brush up your Shakespeare, the British Library has a great set of resources to get you started, covering his work, his world and other Renaissance writers.
Last month we worked with The Pappyshow, a brilliant physical and devising theatre company. it was a weekend filled with openness, laughter, movement and experimentation and if you want to spark your imagination, spruce up your skills or broaden your horizons, then their courses are perfect.
Equally, if you're feeling strange or sluggish about getting back into the real world after lockdowns, yoga is helpful for the body and the mind, calming anxiety and helping to centre goals. YouTube has a wide selection of teachers to choose from, but Yoga With Adriene and Yoga with Uliana are a great place to start. |
|
|
What We've Stayed In
to See
|
|
|
Our own Kat Harrison adapted her December 2019 SAST play Sprinkles into a performance for Zoom. Although the actors were all in their own homes the production worked really well and the actors came up with some nice ways to interact through the medium. You can see for yourself by watching the 15-minute show on YouTube.
Angela was a new play by Mark Ravenhill, presented by The Lyceum, Edinburgh and Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It was a soundscape of conversations, animals, footsteps, and with its ambient silences and sudden bursts of noise, captured the uncertainty of living with dementia and the challenge of learning new skills.
Edel Coffey was in converstaion with Eimear McBride about the latter's brilliant new novel Strange Hotel. They covered the inadequacy of language, aloneness, internal journeys, the horrors of social media, disgust with female sexuality, and the unfairness of women writers being judged on their feelings and and life as if every book is autobiographical.
Sky Arts premiered the National Theatre's specially filmed production of Romeo and Juliet. There was a tendency towards smugness, with the cast respectfully sitting together on a set that resembled a rehearsal room. In a time of extreme industry poverty, it was a little too close to a well-funded organisation playing milkmaids, but beyond that it was as beautiful, thrilling and absorbing as you could ever wish from this famous romantic tragedy. |
|
|
The Brontësaurus by John Sutherland
John Sutherland is an academic literary critic who writes incredibly enjoyable, accessible books that ask quirky, illuminating questions about classic novels, overturning not only how you think about the texts, but how you think about writing in general. We often spend so much time worrying about the big issues of the day that we fail to notice that our daily problems are just as vital, and often far more mysterious. This book covers everything you could ever wish to know about this tragic, tight-knit, highly creative, deeply unlikely family. There are entries about graveyards that ooze bodies, their brother's disastrous love life and career, books, vampires, animals, their health, what their characters do/don't do when not part of the story, teeth, hair, eyes, their romantic legend, and their fans.
Psychologists dismiss phrenology as quackery - along with Victorian table-rapping, 'animal magnetism', and astrological readings of character (all of which the Brontë's subscribed to). But, at the level of folklore, we retain a loyalty to Dr Browne's discredited 'science' in terms such as 'highbrow'.
|
|
Submissions & Opportunities
|
|
|
The following are creative opportunities we've noticed over the last few weeks.
The Scribe Playwriting Competition is open for 2022
Red Squirrel Press and Postbox Press are open for submissions. |
|
|
Third-party opportunities disclaimer
Please note that third-party listings and links to third-party websites listed on this website are provided solely for your convenience and not as an endorsement by Short Attention Span Theatre. We are not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites and make no representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third-party websites. Additionally, Short Attention Span Theatre does not provide or make any representation as to the quality or nature of any of the third-party opportunities or services published on this website, or any other representation, warranty or guaranty. Any such undertaking, representation, warranty or guaranty would be furnished solely by the provider of such third-party opportunity or services, under the terms agreed to by such provider.
|
|
Literary Agents and
Book Publishers
Open to Submissions
|
|
|
Here are a few literary agents and publishers currently open to submissions.
RCW Literary Agents - have a look at their list of agents and their submissions guide
C & W Agency - have a look at their submissions guide.
Ash Literary - Have a look at their submissions guide.
Two Piers Literary Agents - Have a look at their submissions guide.
Greene and Heaton - Have a look at their submissions guide.
|
|
What Our Previous Writers Are Doing Now
|
|
|
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.
David Bratchpiece - Brickwork, David's biography of the legendary Glasgow venue The Arches (co-written with Kirstin Innes) is available to pre-order now.
|
|
Thanks for reading. If you think others will appreciate the content in this newsletter, please forward it on to someone.
Our next newsletter is scheduled to hit your inbox in early May.
|
|
|
|
|
