Workshop Week

Five amazing days with the whole cast and director in the Lab at the Octagon -

DAY 1
It's great to see all the cast assembled for the first time. They sit around the table taking turns to read through the script word by word, line by line and not in the characters that they will play in the production. David instructs me not to say anything. In fact I am to be treated as though I am not in the room. This is to enable the cast to comment freely and to allow me to hear the script afresh. It has to stand on its own two feet without the writer defending it. It does stands up pretty well but I spot some yawning gaps and a few places where the dialogue is over-written.

DAY 2
More of the same. I find it incredibly difficult to keep quiet but realise what an invaluable process this is, allowing the script to be scutinised in every detail almost as if it were an A Level text.
A number of key questions are raised and several inconsistencies come to light. Towards the end of the day I am allowed to speak and answer some of the major queries the actors have about their characters. I am particularly concerned that Huw Higginson is not happy about how his two roles merge in the current version of the script.

DAY 3
A trip for us all to Fred's garden in Radcliffe Road during the morning. A couple of TV crews follow us around and John Branwell and Michelle Collins appear on the local evening news talking about the play. It's great pre-publicity for the show. In the afternoon the script is subjected to a radical cutting/editing operation where scenes are sliced, pruned and welded back together again. David reckons we need to lose about 20 pages of script. I find this really hard because some of my favourite scenes and in my opinion, some of the best lines in the play, get the chop.



DAY 4
The Lab is transformed into the Octagon stage and we work with a substitute set made up of chairs and tables to get the feel of the space and how we might use it within the actual production. It becomes obvious that the set has to almost replicate Fred's actual garden and the work the men do there has to be as authentic as possible. There is even talk of using a real steam engine! I learn to become more objective about the script and even suggest some cuts myself.

I re-jig the script overnight and present the new draft the following morning.

DAY 5
Poor Huw Higginson falls ill during rehearsals and is taken off to hospital for observation. If you are reading this Huw, you'll be pleased to know that in your absence most of the nagging questions you had about your (dual) role have been ironed out! Sheila Dibnah joins us for the whole day and sees the re-vamped script on it's feet. As well as offering some inside knowledge, she also performs an improv with John McArdle. Sheila is very moved by the new version of the play and is not the only one in tears at the end!



As a result of this intensive week the script is quite a bit thinner, I know that its time-line needs a radical re-think and it has become abundantly clear that the design element and the work element of the play have to be carefully co-ordinated and fed into the script.

I've found this part of the process illuminating, inspiring and exhausting.
Time for a rest over Christmas before another draft of the script is due in the New Year.

Intensive Script Development

I am having the best creative time of my entire life as David and I spend a couple of full days at the Octagon bouncing around ideas for the workshop draft of the script.

He floats a wild idea that I take up and run with. It looks like it will be feasible for the same actor to play Mr TV and Isambard Kingdom Brunel after all because we have discovered artistic connections between them. But if we are to forge stronger links in Fred's mind about these two characters, there is some restructuring of the play to be done.

During these development sessions David frequently refers to other plays and playwrights and obviously wants me to aim for the highest possible standards.
It's thrilling to hear him talk of his work with Arthur Miller, particularly about developing Millers' play 'Broken Glass'. I'm not sure that me having the same initials cuts it really!

We have a couple of prolonged discussions about stage directions and the slash(/) used to indicate overlapping dialogue but we never come close to anything that can be described as a disagreement and seem to be very much on the same wavelength.

I come away with masses of notes in my script, a head buzzing with ideas, a heart full of gratitude and optimism.

David says we are 'cooking on gas'.

Lunch at the Royal Court

David and I attend a lovely, informal lunch at the Royal Court where he is presented with his WGGB new writing encouragement award. We are amongst a select few of writers and directors, including one of my all time favourite playwrights, Timberlake Wertenbaker. She makes a great speech about writers needing a home and about new writing not necessarily being young writing. She also wishes me good luck as she and her director, Purni Morell, dash away back to rehearsal at the National studio.

As the wine flows freely we enjoy the food and the company but, unfortunately, we too have to make a hasty exit before the dessert because we are auditioning actors for the Fred play across the other side of London. David, who obviously knows the city well, says it will be quicker by tube so I find myself tagging after him, tottering on high heels, which I haven't had chance to change, trying not to lose him in the crowd as we change trains several times in the underground.

More casting

I am invited to a meeting with David, administrator Vicky Entwistle and freelance casting director, Kay Magson, to discuss the casting of the other four parts in the play now that the two main roles are sorted.

At the beginning of the meeting David looks at me and smiles and says 'Isn't this exciting!' Well, yes, and I'm still continuing to pinch myself!

Kay has done her homework thoroughly and produces mugshots of actors who might be worth considering.Her knowledge of them is pretty extensive.

Between us we come up with a long list of possible actors whose availability Vicky is going to check. At that point we'll discuss the short-list.

A couple of days later I get an early morning text from David saying how come I had only one woman in the cast and wouldn't it alter the dynamic if I added another female character? It certainly would. It would throw everything up in the air!

David wins Writers' Guild Award

I've been keeping it quiet, just in case he didn't win but he has won!

Some time back I nominated David Thacker for a Writers' Guild award for encouraging new writing (because he's been so fantastic in the development of the Fred play) and now the guild have got in touch to say that David (and I) are invited to the Royal Court in London for an awards luncheon in November.
Oooh! What to wear?

Casting news

At last I am able to tell people something I've known for a while now.
The contract is signed and Ex-Eastenders star, Michelle Collins, is to play Fred's wife in the play. It's a terrific coup for the Octagon and for The Demolition Man too.
Sheila Dibnah herself texts me when she hears the news -
'That is TOTALLY FANTASTIC! Wow!'
She's a tad pleased, then.

Total nightmare

During the early hours of the morning I have a anxiety dream - not about the writing of the play but about the production.

We are about half way through the run and the actor playing Fred is indisposed. As the only person who knows all the words, I am the automatic choice to stand-in! Knowing the lines is one thing, knowing when to come on stage is entirely another.

The Octagon has somehow transformed into a promenade space where there are numerous possiblities as to where the next scene might take place. I am confused because I cannot even wait in the wings listening for my cue to enter.

I spend the first half in the dressing room on my own in a complete panic. However, it turns out that I am not required to appear at all. 'This can't be right'. 'What is the writer thinking of not to include the main character before the interval?'

On top of all this, I know I look ridiculous in the costume and I have lost the flat cap in amongst the chaos of the dressing room. How the hell am I supposed to play the part of Fred without wearing his ubiquitous flat cap?