Here’s the piece I wrote recently for Trading Local – a series of monologues delivered by professional actors in shops in Exeter’s Sidwell Street. Actor Eli Thorne did a great job of interpreting my script in a way which was a little subtler than the voice I had in my head when I was writing it.
The Trading Local exercise was organised jointly by Exeter Northcott Theatre and Show of Strength of Bristol.
Each actor performed a number of monologues - reading from a script – in 15 different shops, with each monologue receiving up to three performances. A total of 47 performances on the day.
One of the questions I kept being asked was what I thought of the way the piece was presented; didn’t it worry me to simply hand it over to someone else with no power over how it would be interpreted?
The simple answer is that it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, part of the joy of creating something like this is the handing over. You give the words to someone else and they add their own perception to it. I saw my character as a little edgier and harder than the way Eli interpreted him. But, in truth, Eli’s take had much more depth and was more realistic than the voice I heard as I wrote the words. I love that process of discovery, of finding things that you never knew you had built in to something you have created.
Melinda and I managed to catch virtually all of the other monologues on the day, with three standing out for me. After Hours by Margaret Murphy was told from the point of view of a chair in a furniture shop and let us into the discussions that the various bits of furniture have with each other after the shop is closed. Quick as a Flash by Ben Cannon was a great insight into the life of a wedding photographer who lived vicariously,taking photos of the special moments in other peoples lives without having any of her own. And the superb The Philosopher Barber by Belinda Dixon followed a theme similar to my own. I don’t know how the other writers reacted to the way in which their pieces were interpreted, but I hope they enjoyed it.
Trading Local is a great idea which I know Show of Strength hope to expand into other communities in the future. If they do – and you get a chance to take part or to see it – it comes highly recommended.
A slightly shorter version (cut-down titles) is also available on YouTube.
Filed under: About Me, Art, Fiction, Scripts Tagged: | Afghanistan, British Legion, Eli Thorne, Exeter, Exeter Northcott, Helmand, Poppy Day, Remembrance Day, Show of Strength, Trading Local
