How
did you come to think of producing a book of your monologues?
Ever since having had a monologue published by Bridge House
in ‘To Be … To Become’, (subsequently ‘Transformations’), I have kept in touch. When I noticed the opportunity to publish a single
author collection, I realised that I had a written quite a number of monologues
for different actors and theatre
companies over the years and hoped that you might be interested in a collection. ‘And I
Said …’ is the happy result.
How do you use the book along side performances?
All
the pieces in this book have had public performances and are suitable both for readings
or dramatic performances. Recently, I had my ‘Launch’ in Salisbury, where two
actors performed a selection of the pieces and, of course, I had the books on
sale. The whole evening, held upstairs
in a Salisbury Inn, was great fun and I hope to repeat it elsewhere.
Tell
us a little about how you got into writing plays and monologues?
I have been writing or creating something all my life. Starting with constantly telling myself
stories as a child, writing self-indulgent poetry at school and college and then
moving on to music-related scripts and lyrics. I wrote a lot of musicals (both
words and music) for young people, both when I was directing a Youth Theatre
and as a music teacher. I began to realise that it was drama, rather than music,
that especially excited and engaged me and gradually I moved into writing almost entirely for stage. This started with short plays and monologues
and has broadened into full-length plays.
I have also started to experiment with film and audio and even return to
some (less-indulgent) poetry.
Which was the hardest to write in this
volume?
I
think technically, it has to be The Gown.
It is by far the longest piece, performing at about 40 minutes. To develop a story at that length is
definitely more like writing a full length play, as you have to maintain the
dramatic momentum throughout. I had a
wonderful actor performing the piece and she brought it to life in the
Salisbury Fringe festival.
Do
you have a favourite?
Two
of which I am very fond are both true
stories and therefore hold emotional and personal meaning for me. ‘Hourglass’ is about the death one of my
closet friends at the age of 50, two days after we had signed a joint contract with
a publisher for a children’s musical we had created together. It was the last time I saw her . The
final piece in the collection, ‘A Particular Day’ was based on a conversation I had over the
breakfast table with one of my daughters.
We were discussing what our relationship would be like if we had met
each other at the same age. I like the
fact that it has produced a slightly mystical piece.
.How
would you like people to use the monologues?
As I work with actors on a regular basis, I am hoping that there will be general
interest in using the book for audition
and performance pieces. However, a number of my friends and acquaintances seem
to feel that the pieces stand up as short stories, so I’m hoping that is
another market.
Are you working on anything new at the moment?
Y es,
happily I’m very busy at the moment with a short film, ’Happy Hour’ doing the rounds of the Film Festivals and a
play ‘Empty Mirrors’ on in September at The Space Theatre on the Isle of Dogs,
London. I am also writing an extremely
interesting one-woman play, ‘How Jimi Hendrix Changed my Life’ for an actor I met last year and potentially
another one-woman play for the wonderful actor depicted on the cover of ‘And I
Said …’ about three generations of women
in one family.
Do you have any events you would like to tell us about?
Empty Mirrors will be at The Space
from September 10th -14th Empty Mirrors - The Space
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