Sunday 26 February 2012

All New People




Last Saturday I went to see 'All New People' at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow; a play written by and starring Zach Braff. I used to love him in Scrubs and loved his film Garden State so it was exciting to see him on stage.

There was a good buzz in the theatre as the play opened with River Dance type music... I half expected Mr Braff to paddy bar onto the stage dressed in a kilt but no, he swung out hanging from a rope instead. A powerful opening scene which was unfortunately ruined as soon as Eve Myles opened her mouth. She played a highly strung English woman, Emma, and for the first 40 minutes or so her voice was so high pitched and performance overplayed that I was worried she was going to ruin the whole play. It was a relief when Braff's character, Charlie, started to talk and when the other two arrived; Myron the fireman (Paul Hilton) and a high class prostitute, Kim (Susannah Fielding). For me the latter two provided the true comedy moments. I've read some mixed reviews of the play; some disappointed with it and others thinking it was hilarious. I thought the humour was a bit obvious at times but there were some good gags which provided a light contrast to Charlie's suicidal disposition. I liked the premise of a group of strangers being thrown together and finding comfort in random connections. And apart from Myles' shaky start I thought the acting was impressive. The insertion of screens playing out each of the characters' backstory throughout was a clever use of mixed media and added depth to the production.

However I did wonder if Braff had subconsciously tried to recreate his depressive charater in Garden State...I couldn't help draw comparisons and then got to thinking without a smart quirky female character like Sam to pull him out of himself, Charlie remained a bit half drawn. I still really liked it though and the fact Braff conducted a very charming, down to earth Q and A session afterwards made for a very pleasant theatre trip.(see rubbish quality photo at the top of the posting of him waving a microphone about). In case you're interested he tried a deep fried Mars Bar on his visit to Glasgow and he really likes Irish River Dance music...(but let's not hold that against him).

Thursday 9 February 2012

Words



Since the start of 2012 I've felt like the creative side of my brain stayed behind in 2011. I've been trying hard to write and it's just not been flowing so instead of trying to force a project I started working on at the end of 2011, I turned to a new challenge. Writing prose using only 5 letter words and then a snippet of a story (?) using only 4 letter words. I've discovered I can only complete these tasks by scribbling in a notebook which makes me wonder if that helps me access a different side of my creative brain as when I write longer prose I always type. If I ever attempt to write poetry I usually need to handwrite that too. Any other writers reading this have a similar experience? Writing these also made me realise how much I love language and words. But I guess all writers must be a bit in love with words...:)

So here's the results below, starting with the 5 letter prose:

Lunar

Glass tears cried under night skies. Fears wound round hopes, kills dream. Arise lunar magic. Chase angst; grief given wings. Faded ghost flies where stars blaze; their light heals tired lives. Clock stops after final music plays.


Dead Soul

“Name?”
“Lola”
“Lola what?”
“Just Lola.”
Kurt knew this type: Fool.
Lola knew this type: Prat.
“Town?”
“Dunn.”
Kurt knew this town. Dump.
Lola said, “Dunn lost. Just like here.”
“Lost what?” said Kurt.
“Love...life. Lost soul make dead life.”
“Fine here. Life here good!” said Kurt.
“Eyes shut. Open them.”
“Wide open, girl.”
“Kurt deny?”
“Kurt think Lola real dumb girl.”
“Life have pain with lost love.”
“Find more love then.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. Easy.” said Kurt.
“Kurt love?”
“Love none baby. Just f*** - stay free!”
“Sure, keep mind open. Mind free…then find love. That make long life.” said Lola.
“Okay, done here. Read over, print name, sign…”
“Take care, Kurt. Your eyes look dead. Feed soul.”
Then Lola left.
Dead eyes? Kurt felt fear.