I'm wrecked. I really need to do some writing on the show tonight, but my brain feels like white noise. I'd really like to sit and watch BBC News 24 and drink a bottle of wine and give into the white noise, but I really have to write something. Anything. Anything to get my anxiety levels down.
My director, Yvonne, has passed on the 'scribblings' of the Irish actress living in Australia, which I am using to inspire my next round of writing.
Actually, maybe I should explain the 'concept' first?
The show will be performed in Australia and Ireland in October of this year. One half of the show in each country will be live and the other half will be filmed. There is an Australian actress living in Ireland (myself) who will be performing live in Ireland and by film in Australia and an Irish actress living in Australia (Cathy) who will be performing live in Australia and by film in Ireland. The idea is that we 'meet' and share our stories of travel and migration through the theatre piece.
I think it has the potential to be a very exciting piece of theatre. What I'm glad about is that it was originally a piece just about my experiences in Ireland. I think (I hope) that by opening it up to another actress in Australia, and by sharing experiences the piece becomes more universal and less self-centered (and less like a diary entry or therapy session).
Anyway, Cathy's first few thoughts have been sent to me, and there are some interesting and surprising links. We both thought we must have been pregnant for the first few months after arriving in our new countries. I find this fascinating. It shows what a huge impact an emotional upheaval, like moving across to the other side of the world, has on your physical well-being. The emotional upheaval was making our bodies feel so strange, so alien, that we thought another human being must have been creating the havoc. I think that's a really really interesting parallel.
On a more, 'huh, that's weirdly convenient,' kind of feeling, we both sing and play the violin. Our director is hoping we may be able to use this to our advantage, maybe having a piece composed specifically for us to play/sing in the show. I think that would be pretty cool.
Finally, here are some images of the two spaces that we will be performing in. The first one is of 'The Cart Room' in the Irish Agricultural Museum, which will be our venue for the Wexford Fringe Festival:
The museum is in the grounds of the Johnstown Castle, also very cool:
The site in Melbourne will be the Clifton Creative Arts Centre in Richmond. I like the space quite a bit, actually, it reminds me of the church halls I used to do Young People's Theatre classes in (and anything that reminds me of YPT is a good thing):
