A Personal Project
So 2019 got off to a great start."Ruffian on the Stair" came and went and proved a great success. Thanks to a fabulous team of people working on it, we were able to create something rather special. A piece of theatre that everyone working on it had a vested interest in. Brilliant design, fabulously atmospheric lighting, great sound, all created by a group of people who gave masses of time and love to the project.
And of course three fantastic actors who, as one reviewer was right to point out, were "at the top of their game". I'm thrilled that, what was for me, a rather personal project became a special endeavour for everyone involved in it, and brought a lot of new people into the Hope Theatre to pack it out during the run.
Having dinner after the show closed with the wonderful Adam Buchanan who played Wilson, I was asked "So has that given you a taste for doing more?" It is nearly seven years since I last directed. I was a little unsure of the answer. The project was hugely enjoyable, yet I do distinctly remember one day in the middle of week three, as I commuted into rehearsals yet again, remarking to myself how strange it was to be doing the same job day after day.
Most of the work I do now tends to come in small stints. Three or four days on a corporate job, a couple of days in the voice-over studio, a day or two on a film. And I have to admit, that that's how I like it. The attraction of the long run is hard to see.
There is, of course, a down side to wanting to do lots of different things. You do have to take what is available. But it does leave room for the little passion projects.
It's birthday holiday time and I shall be celebrating turning 62 this Friday with four days in Vienna next week with Mr H who will also be adding a year to his age, on Monday. Then when we're back, it will be time to pick up the reins. It looks like I now have four conferences to direct at various points during the year. I have an 85,000 word novel which has been doing the rounds. People who have read it love it, but it's time now to take action and get it out there for people to read. So if nobody is going to publish it, then my most immediate project is to do that myself.
And then the next thing is to find something else I will do because I want to. A passion project. Something that will no doubt bring me joy and a sense of achievement, and yet will be something that I instigate. Something that I make happen.
It's so important not to be at the mercy of other people all the time in terms of employment. To have something in your life that you are creating; a project which you are the instigator; something you're doing for yourself. And if in the process it brings a lot of joy fun, and possibly employment to others, then all the better.
And of course three fantastic actors who, as one reviewer was right to point out, were "at the top of their game". I'm thrilled that, what was for me, a rather personal project became a special endeavour for everyone involved in it, and brought a lot of new people into the Hope Theatre to pack it out during the run.
Having dinner after the show closed with the wonderful Adam Buchanan who played Wilson, I was asked "So has that given you a taste for doing more?" It is nearly seven years since I last directed. I was a little unsure of the answer. The project was hugely enjoyable, yet I do distinctly remember one day in the middle of week three, as I commuted into rehearsals yet again, remarking to myself how strange it was to be doing the same job day after day.
Most of the work I do now tends to come in small stints. Three or four days on a corporate job, a couple of days in the voice-over studio, a day or two on a film. And I have to admit, that that's how I like it. The attraction of the long run is hard to see.
There is, of course, a down side to wanting to do lots of different things. You do have to take what is available. But it does leave room for the little passion projects.
It's birthday holiday time and I shall be celebrating turning 62 this Friday with four days in Vienna next week with Mr H who will also be adding a year to his age, on Monday. Then when we're back, it will be time to pick up the reins. It looks like I now have four conferences to direct at various points during the year. I have an 85,000 word novel which has been doing the rounds. People who have read it love it, but it's time now to take action and get it out there for people to read. So if nobody is going to publish it, then my most immediate project is to do that myself.
And then the next thing is to find something else I will do because I want to. A passion project. Something that will no doubt bring me joy and a sense of achievement, and yet will be something that I instigate. Something that I make happen.
It's so important not to be at the mercy of other people all the time in terms of employment. To have something in your life that you are creating; a project which you are the instigator; something you're doing for yourself. And if in the process it brings a lot of joy fun, and possibly employment to others, then all the better.
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| Adam Buchanan, Lucy Benjamin and Gary Webster "At the top of their game" |
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| With my assistant director James Callas Ball |
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