Okay, so I had good intentions in my last post to blog more regularly. Turns out I missed January altogether. Figures, eh?
Things have been unexpectedly busy – and all for good, it seems. Much of the month was consumed by rehearsals for the productions I’m involved with at the minute. First there’s the Double Bill of Family Opera I’m taking in part in, a joint production between Scottish Opera and the Citizens Theatre community company. We’ve been rehearsing on and off for our half of the bill – a one-act opera called On The Rim of the World by composer Orlando Gough – since October, and it’s been quite an adventure. The tech rehearsal on the main stage at the Citz last night finally saw a lot of things click in to place; the set looks brilliant, and the lighting, costumes and props all put the icing on the cake of the tough singing, music and movement we’ve been rehearsing for so many weeks. We started off with a mixed bag of ages and abilities back in October, we’ve knitted into a really tight cast and I’m proud to be working with such a great group of people. It will be exciting to finally share the production with the audience this weekend.
I’ve posted a slideshow of rehearsal photo’s from the Citz Flickr page.
The other production I’m now in rehearsal for is Girl X with the National Theatre of Scotland. It came out of the blue as a result of my involvement with the Citz opera. A group of us were selected to take part in script workshops with actor/co-writer Robert Softley, director/co-writer Pol Heyvaert, dramaturg Bart Capelle and composer Scott Twynholm. The plot is inspired by internet debates in online forums surrounding the case of a girl with severe cerebral palsy whose parents opted for surgery to keep their daughter a child and spare her the pains of menstruation. The first week was quite challenging as we got to grips with our role as a greek chorus, with lots of work on speaking in unison and learning the rhythms of the dialogue. We’re now in to our second week and have made it right through the script, so it will be interesting to see what happens next in the process. Girl X opens at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in March before transferring over to the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, then tours to Dundee Rep Theatre and Eden Court in Inverness in April. You can find out more about the production and the case that inspired it in this web chat with Robert.
With so much happening theatrically, you’d think I’d have little time to think about much else, but I do still have lots happening. Every day I’m closer to launching my new coaching programme and I have my first collaborator on board to blog for the website – I can’t wait to bring it all together and go live. I’ll talk more about it soon. I’m also still finding time to fit and work and to study – I’m currently deep in darkest prosody territory on my creative writing course and have been amazed to discover I’m actually quite passionate about poetry. If I’m feeling brave I may inflict one or two lines on you in the coming weeks…!
Seeing as I missed January, I should point out here that as a life coach, I don’t follow the vein of New Year’s resolutions, I much prefer to set realistic goals and stick to them – it’s something everybody should do throughout their life, not just spur of the moment at the turn of a year. Last year I read a fantastic book which encouraged me to write out a Big Wish List of 100 things I’d like achieve – whether for fun, for career purposes, whether small or large – lots of things went on the list. It’s funny how the act of writing things down and being able to visualise them can actually help to make them become a reality, as right now I’m in the process of ticking off not one or two of the small ones, but actually achieving no less than eight of the big ones. So, my lesson for 2011 – especially after what felt like a pretty unlucky 2010 – is this: say no to the things that are needlessly taking up your time, focus on your goals, roll with the punches, don’t give up, and go with your gut instinct. Just putting yourself back out there and being open to new experiences might land you in the right place at the right time.
Right, now that I’ve dangled an almighty carrot in front of fate, I’m away back off to the Rim of the World!
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