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CURRENT

I've just started on the latest round of mentoring for NEW VIEWS, the National Theatre's playwriting scheme for young people.  It's a brilliant thing for young people to participate in - achieving a full draft of a half hour play is a real challenge, and some of the plays are the most exciting writing I'll read all year. There are inspirational teachers out there, really committed to giving their students the best opportunities they can; NV offers a chance for students to develop skills and express themselves outside of the school curriculum. This year I am also an Associate Playwright, encouraging teachers to write themselves.

 

All year I have been working on the EEL RUN, a project which has found its form over time.  It’s a cross-arts project, involving different artists and reaching out to community participants who are interested in the natural world and/or the arts.

 

It’s touched on story collecting, oral history, historical research, story-telling, printmaking, puppet performance, ritual, drawing and processional celebration and dance.  And now I am working with Aaron West at City Eye to capture the project on film. It’s grown that way. 

 

IT’S ABOUT EELS - a red-list species which used to be abundant in our rivers.

It's also about the people who live and work around the River Itchen in Southampton, which is where I live.

 

If you want to find out more about this project - there's a page for it.  We hope to carry on the project in some form – the eels are still there.  Just about.

 

IN other news:  I’ve been a funeral celebrant since the death of my dear friend, actress and teacher Nita Gale, who was my companion in drama projects for so many years.  I think of myself as a celebration-of-life celebrant, in whatever form someone wishes. It’s another kind of writing: finding the way to tell someone’s story to an audience.  Words matter. 

 

I also need to record the death of my old friend Sue Charman, who ran Solent Peoples Theatre many years ago. One of the founders of the Red Tent in Totnes. Beautiful, generous Sue.  I don’t really have the words for this. 

 

The photos below are from a solo show many years ago, just because I found them.

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