I've just finished writing my 'Mens' Shed' play funded by the Evie Douglas Memorial Fund and we were due to have it finished May 2020 for a rehearsed reading on May 22 at the Eastgate Theatre, Peebles. Due to Covid-19 and theatre closures this could not happen so this allowed me more time to finish the first draft.
I'm desperate to get it on it's feet - I wrote one or two characters with specific actors in mind and I'd love to be in a room with them rehearsing. I have the budget to do so - just not the theatre and the government permission - it's not safe, yet, of course.
So the question is, for all of us, when will it be? I want to employ actors - I have the money to do it. When can we be in a room together - actors and director - audiences? And yes, I could use the budget to move the project online, it's tempting to do so. But it's not the same. I was planning what a rehearsal day online might look like? Fewer hours in acknowledgement it's actually very tiring being online as opposed to being in a rehearsal room? Could it be a film? Is this going to be easier? Where might we film it? Could I get the budget to do that? I've never made a film before...could we film a reading in a mens' shed? Socially distanced but with a film maker? The virus is certainly challenging us all in so many many ways. So for now, patience and a re-think perhaps about how work can come under the spotlight, safely.
