Workshops

WBN News: We’ve got shows coming up!

This entry was posted in Cold Writing Reasons For Listing Write By Numbers and tagged Cold Writing Empty Shops Projects New Writing Now Writing Performance Reasons For Listing Workshops Write By Numbers on by

Write By Numbers are going to be busy bees in the next couple of months, so I thought I would just let you people who read blogs know about a couple of projects and shows that are happening soon:

Joseph Mills Presents…Reasons For Listing: 16 Facts and One Story About Things That Make Me Happy

Reasons for Listing is going to be popping up in a few places in the next couple of months. It is first going to be at Jill in Sydenham on the 16th and 17th March at 12.30pm, 2.00pm and 4.00pm.

The venue is part of the SEE3 Portas Pilot in Sydenham, Kirkdale and Forest Hill. The space is well worth a look, especially as such Portas Pilots might end being the future of our  High Streets… (I’ll let Corinne blog about that properly in the future as I’m sure she will have plenty to say about such things – especially as she has managed to get herself involved in this one.)

We are also excited that Reasons will be part of Scarborough Literary Festival, with Joseph doing his presentation in a Library for the first time (details here if you are in the North come the 11th April). It is great that Reasons is getting a run out in a Library. Way back, when Corinne and myself (with invaluable help from our friend Olly Hawes) started developing and working on Reasons, we always felt it would have a home in libraries so it is exciting that is starting to happen.

Cold Writing

We have also got another Cold Writing festival coming up. If you fancy applying to be a writer, you have just one day to get to it! If you fancy seeing what plays some lucky writers come up with (which I will maniacally direct in one day), then please come along to the performances. These will be happening at the Jill in Sydenham, just the week after Reasons is there, on 21st March at 7.30pm and on Saturday 23rd at 12.30pm and 3pm.

We gave got other coals in the fire as well which we will let everyone know about as and when. In the mean time, hopefully we will see you at one of the above!

Charlie @ Write By Numbers

Tales From Ovid: Day Eight

This entry was posted in Brixton Village Metamorphoses Workshops and tagged Brixton Village Cold Writing Empty Shops Projects Metamorphoses Ovid Workshops on by

Let’s get something clear: I love a deadline. I think all writers secretly love a deadline (however much we moan about them and the late nights and fifty-three cups of coffee they involve). If I don’t have a deadline (self imposed or otherwise) I tend to fall into a hole of procrastination that revolves around twitter and reading blogs and watching another episode of Project Runaway when I should be writing. Deadlines are my friend.

The entire process of staging Ovid Reworked – The Brixton Project has been probably one of the biggest DEADLINES of my life (that and the fact that it has caused me to start writing certain words and phrases – like SHUTTER and SEATING CHANGE and DEADLINE in capital letters – just to emphasise the power – and fear – they hold over me at the moment). We have pretty much turned the whole project round in 8 weeks. And when you take into account that pretty much 1 and 1/2 weeks of the 8 were taken up with Christmas/New Year the fact that this is a deadline which we have not so much strolled towards as had smack us directly in the head is probably obvious.

So what do you do when you’ve had a deadline to the forehead? Well, you inflict it on other people is what you do. Which might have not exactly been the reasoning behind Cold Writing but it probably played its part. Cold Writing in a nutshell is us putting five writers into our shop in Brixton Village, having them take part in a three hour workshop, sending them away to write a short play in 48 hours, spending a day rehearsing said plays and then performing them for the public of Brixton on Friday afternoon. And that is what I call a DEADLINE.

I have to say that the cohort of writers who took part in the workshop were brilliantly enthusiastic and up-for the process, dealing admirably with both the fact that after two hours in the shop they probably couldn’t feel their feet and the fact that I had to swoop into the workshop twenty minutes after it had started to rescue Charlie who was very ill today.

Charlie’s penchant for extreme planning proved to be for the best (winging my way through a workshop after being awake for just over an hour with no plan would have been interesting to say the least). As it was I was able to work my way through Charlie’s workshop plan (albeit taking it upon myself to Corinne-ify it in parts – ie. the bit where I took everyone off to Etta’s Kitchen to have coffee because I couldn’t feel my toes any more) and I was incredibly pleased with the variety (and indeed quality) of ideas which the workshop generated. Indeed I almost wanted to have a stab at writing an adaptation in 48 hours myself (I say almost, sleep deficit is still too prevalent to allow me anything more).

Needless to say I’m really excited about reading what the five writers come up with on Wednesday night.

Tales From Ovid: Cold Writing

This entry was posted in Brixton Village and tagged Brixton Village Ovid Workshops on by

One of the things that both Charlie and I were excited about from the beginning of The Brixton Project was the chance to get writers to write specifically for an unsual space. There’s been some wonderful responses to space from the writers who we’ve asked to do adaptations for us but we couldn’t let an opportunity pass to push the idea of writing/space/transformation even further. We’re in a market in Brixton in January and February after all! (That deserves an exclamation mark, I shall have to ration them for the rest of the year to make up for my over use in the next few weeks). And so the idea of ‘Cold Writing’ was born…

On Monday 1st February we’ll be holding a ‘Cold Writing Workshop’. Cold in the sense that we don’t want the participants to spend time working on anything before the workshop when we’ll dive in and use a couple of stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses as starting points. Clearly it’s also cold in the sense that we’ll all most likely be wearing thermals too but there’ll be free tea and coffee (and the warmth of creativity…okay, I’m sure you get the point).

The idea is that everyone in the workshop creates a short (five to ten minute) piece that we’ll allow you to polish for a couple of days before we snatch it back, bring in some actors and dedicate the afternoon of Friday 5th to performing the pieces in the shop.

The workshop’s free and it’s a great chance to come along, write for an unsual space and (hopefully) have some fun along the way. Obviously we’re having to limit numbers on the workshop so if you want to take part send us an email to writebynumbers at gmail dot com, telling us a little bit about yourself and why you’d like to take part.

There’s a more detailed summary of the workshop here, though I do mention thermals in that too. Sorry.