Estelle Buckridge

The shows Estelle is most looking forward to at Ignite 2014

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Before writing this I checked my diary from last year, and was shocked to discover I had spent less than 48 hours in Exeter last year for Ignite 2013. The whole thing was such a whirlwind that I am delighted to say I will be around for the whole of this year’s festival! So, how to spend my time? Well, I currently have my eye on these:

The Love Project – Ellie Browning

At our beloved (get it?) Bike Shed Theatre, a piece of verbatim theatre about that most enduring  thing: Love. I missed this at Edinburgh last year and am delighted I can get to see it at Ignite. I remember reading about it and thinking this is exactly the sort of work I am interested in. Real people, real stories and LOVE. Looking forward to it.

The Ballad of Martha Brown – Angel Exit Theatre

Public Hanging in Dorset, during Ignite Festival? Don’t mind if I do. I loved The Ballad of Martha Brown from the talented (and very energetic) Angel Exit Theatre. This story has drama, intrigue, comedy, music and incredible physicality.

Dirty Decadence – Theatre With Teeth

For my third pick I am intrigued by Theatre With Teeth’s Dirty Decadence. Having seen and loved Posh I am excited to see their take on the topic. I have to say I’m surprised this wasn’t one of Charlie’s picks as he set up the company back in 2007.

It has to be said here that I really wanted to pick Gloriator but the darstardly Mr. Andrew Kelly got there first.

Estelle’s second blog: (extension of first blog as it’s been a busy few weeks since we got back) Highlights of the last few weeks.

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So its just over two weeks since WBN returned from just over two weeks in Exeter for our residency at the lovely BikeShed Theatre. We may have expected a rest after returning from Devon but NO, we have staved off the post-show blues by being very busy.

Here’s my view about what’s been going on. In no particular order…

Acting in a WBN show (I shall blog separately about this). OK, so I was a zombie that looked like Myles and tried to snog Andy (sorry Andy) in the shop in Wood Street Market for a morning in 2012, and I fell in love through some glass for the National Theatre of Scotland five minute theatre on film around the same time, but none of those were quite the same as doing an actual Scratch in Salisbury (whoop).

Finding out, whilst rehearsing for said scratch, that we have a performance platform for the piece in April 2014 (gulp).

Having a board meeting where our lovely board pointed out some really obvious things that we couldn’t see ourselves (this, I remind myself, is the reason we have a board).

Spending a whole day evaluating the residency with the glorious Charlie and Corinne (we concluded that it was mostly brilliant).

Meeting the #Bluecrew (otherwise known as the cast of ‘Blueprint’) for a debrief and sneaky drink.

Being creative enough to spend whole days discussing project ideas that we really really want to deliver but still need to actually write the funding application for.

Actually having the thought, for the very first time ever, that there might, I mean there just MIGHT be a way that we could make this work for us as a living (albeit a meagre one)

Highlights (and the occassional lowlight) of the WBN Residency

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The good ship Write By Numbers returned from a two-week residency in Exeter at the wonderful (and very welcoming) BikeShed Theatre just over two weeks ago. Whilst in Exeter, we performed our show ‘Beneath the Albion Sky’, developed and shared a new show ‘Blueprint’ and did an outreach project collecting ‘Walking Stories’ from the good people of Exeter which we then put together as a series of curtain-raisers. We drank too much coffee, experienced stress and sleep-deprivation but we did it! Here is my list of memorable moments:

Actually making theatre for two weeks straight. That has got to be a bonus.

Going to see Thor: Dark World on a rare night off & Marvel-ing (get it) at the parallels with ‘Beneath the Albion Sky’ & ‘Blueprint’. They’re in there if you look hard enough.

Programming lights (twice – long story) with the wonderful talented Dermot O’Brien (seriously guys, Dermot is da bomb – any Southwest peops who want a contact drop me a line – we are willing to share him).

Sleeping in a cottage surrounded by horses & dogs (and spiders and other creepy crawlies).

Our last night at quayside saying goodbye to Exeter (I might have fallen a little bit in love).

Meeting the good people of Headway Devon & hearing their stories. The most performed of these was ‘Legend’ which was a verbatim piece performed by 3 separate actors on different days!

Being welcomed by the good people of Exeter wherever we went and hearing their feedback on our work.

Coffee at Boston Tea Party (and the occasional cake).

Board games, in general.

The cast of ‘Blueprint’ reducing Charlie and I to tears in rehearsal. In a good way.

The easiest (because the performers were so good) workshop I have ever delivered with Razzamataz Exeter.

The amusements at Dawlish Warren, scarily addictive.

Singing ‘Where everybody knows your name’ in the UK’s most welcoming theatre The BikeShed Theatre.

Being a Freelancer

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Life has been (voluntarily) stressful of late what with the ‘running a theatre company whilst trying to make a living with lots of freelance jobs and also trying to have a life’ sort of thing. Instead of feeling sorry for myself or repeatedly kicking myself for all the mistakes I constantly repeat, I thought I’d write (in true Joseph Mills style) 16 facts I need to come to terms with about being a freelancer:

1. I will always have a home full of clutter, from books and workshop plans to random props, balloons and bits of string.
2. I will spend 1000s of hours a year on trains.
3. I will not be paid for these hours so should spend them reading high quality fantasy.
4. I will take on too much work. ‘Well, I’m in Hammersmith til 12 so I should be able to get to Wimbledon for a workshop at 2 then back to Hampstead for a meeting at 5pm, no problem’.
5. I will underestimate the emotional impact of my work.
6. I will have a complex love-hate relationship with my smartphone. I LOVE that I can read BBC News when I’m bored, turn on spotify and search for a song on the spur of the moment in a workshop, and use google maps to find a school when I’m running late. I HATE receiving work emails on the move, rubbish battery life, and google maps’ occasional lies!
7. I will forget I have to plan each session I do/meeting I have so I have to spend aforementioned travel time planning.
8. I cannot commit to regular evening activities.
9. I will go and see lots of shows that friends/colleagues are in (sometimes for free).
10. I will sometimes remember that I AM freelance and it’s OK to take a 2hour lunch!
11. I will get invited to awesome networking events and I go as me, not representing anyone else!
12. I can have creative meetings at midnight and enjoy them (although this mostly comes with living with WBN!)
13. I will constantly forget that if I work 20 days without a break my body will rebel and make me ill.
14. I will struggle to understand the concept of ‘the weekend’ and ‘payday’.
15. At the start of each new project I will completely forget what went wrong on the last one and remain steadfastly optimistic that this new project will be THE BEST EVER!
16. Whenever I get stressed I need to remember that being a freelancer is (usually) something that makes me happy.

OK, feeling a bit better now. Onwards!

Things I rarely do (but have done this week)

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Hello blog world. Let me introduce myself. I am Estelle, the other member of WBN and as I am directing ‘Reasons For Listing’ this week i thought it would be appropriate for my first blog post to be a list, so…

Estelle’s list of things I rarely do (but have done in the last week)

1. Blogged. Well, that’s something I NEVER did til now

2. Watched a forum theatre show. I often use forum but rarely watch any to check if I’m doing it right!

3. Written a script at 8am. Both the activity & the time are unusual ( I usually leave that kind of behaviour up to Corinne & Charlie, but I’ve never seen either if them at it at 8am)

4. Watched boys with guitars (went to a gig) upstairs in a pub. This is something I used to do a lot (& I think Corinne would approve of) although it is a rare activity these days.

5. Said NO to some work. Ok that’s a lie. This is aspirational.

Real No 5. Did not do any work on a Sunday. This one IS true.

6. Danced the charleston on stage. I would like this to happen more often.

7. Went to the gym. Yes, seriously.

8. Went to Pilates. I actually felt energised & relaxed after. This can’t possibly last.

9. Got tempted by MacDonalds. See last two points. I need to compensate for 7 & 8.

10. Rehearsed ‘Reasons For Listing’ in a shop. Jill to be precise. Hurrah!

So, that’s it. You catch me in the midst of stuff I don’t normally do and it makes me happy.