A Look Back at UNBROKEN 2017

Following a hugely successful debut at Theatre503 on World Mental Health Day the previous year, the UNBROKEN festival returned in 2017 with the inaugural UNBROKEN Short Film Prize; a creative writing project and festival bookstall; a talk on ‘Mental Health in Current Children's Literature' by Charlie Sheppard, Publishing Director at acclaimed children's publisher Andersen Press; and Under My Skin, a funny and powerful play about adolescent mental health by award-winning playwright Ali Taylor, having been added to the art exhibitions, live music, new writing, original choreography and panel discussions that proved such a hit in 2016.

Find out much more on the UNBROKEN Festival website - see in particular the Reactions and Gallery pages - and do get in touch if you'd like to get involved this year! 

In the meantime, you might enjoy watching the following film from WinkBall Video, who reported from the festival on its final evening, Monday 30th October:

Dreams from the Pit & 22 Push-Ups!

Taking its title from the work of WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon, Dreams From The Pit - an original play of mine that Shadow Road Productions first staged in 2013 in aid of Forces charity Combat Stress - follows three soldiers, Razor, Jacko and Sully, as they deploy together to Afghanistan. Life in 'Afghan' is tough but for some the return to civilian life is even harder...

I was recently nominated for the #22PushUpChallenge by both Amy Bolger-Floyd and Maia Gibbons (arguably a bit of overkill there, people!) which is also designed to raise money and awareness for Combat Stress and to draw attention to the horrifying rates of suicide and mental suffering evident in both US and UK veterans.

As I am, however, decidedly NOT a fan of appearing on any screen anywhere for any reason at all - much less while doing push-ups! - I chose instead to fashion the video below, in the hope that it might have a similar result.  I actually am also doing the push-ups at home each day as well - but there'll be some severe climate change in Hell before I film them and post the video online! ;-)

I do hope you get something out of the film.  Anyone who would like to donate £5 to Combat Stress can do so by texting PTSD22 to 70004.

Thank you!

#22PushUpChallenge from Shadow Road on Vimeo.

A Word on Auditions

It seems like a very long time ago now but there was a reason I started a brief post on auditions shortly before we held ours for Robin Hood, so I'm going to complete it anyway!

At the time, I wanted to remind people that there was no need to be nervous coming into an audition room.  Unless the role you are auditioning for specifically calls for it, or the director and/or casting director whom you're about to meet happen to be particularly unpleasant or unintelligent people (and if that was the case, why would you want to work with them?), they are not going to be looking to catch you out or make you feel uncomfortable.  Far from it.  In fact, they want you to be as comfortable as possible - to feel at ease and entirely free to be yourself - so that you have the best chance possible of being the answer to their casting prayers! 

Like a hopeful audience, waiting in the dark for the curtain to rise on the play, or for the first few frames of a film to flicker across the screen, they want you to be brilliant - to be the leading man or lady they've been looking for, the hilarious character actor they're desperate to find or the lovely, talented performer they just can't wait to work with in any capacity. 

They want to love you - and it is for that very reason that if there are any tiny slip-ups or stumbles, they will, in all likelihood, give you the benefit of the doubt.  When you enter the audition room they are, or at least they should be, on your side - and they will stay there until you give them a reason not to be. 

And I don't mean until you forget a word or two, or call someone by the wrong name.  I mean until you show them either that you are, for any reason, wrong for the part (in which case, again, it's probably better for everyone concerned, including you, that you don't get it) or - and this one's significant because it could cause longer term problems for your career - that you would not be easy or pleasant to work with. 

Whether you're making a film, staging a play or embarking on any other substantial creative project, you know that you are going to be spending a lot of time over the coming days, weeks or even months with the people you cast here and now.  You also know that a sizeable amount of that time will almost inevitably be both difficult and stressful.  It is therefore only natural - and wise - to take a moment to consider exactly whom you want to be facing those challenges alongside. 

As each actor leaves the room, you consider first whether or not they are suitable for the job and then second, and no less important, would you want to work with them on it?  Could you stand being shut up in a rehearsal room or stuck on a film set with them for hours or days at a time?  What about for weeks?  And when times get hard - you always hope they won't but you know they probably will - is it likely that having this person there will make things better or worse?  If the answer to all of those questions is 'yes' and 'better', then no one is going to be happier than the director sitting across the room from you... :-D

P.S. It goes without saying (or at least it should) that you should be asking yourself the same questions about the director and any other members of the cast and crew whom you meet - do YOU want to work with THEM?  Auditions are a two way street! :-)

Fangs Ain't What They Used to Be!

Have you read Twilight yet? Seen the film? Can you name one or all of the sequels? If you answered no to all of the questions above then you are, these days, a rarer creature than you would once have been. International Twilight fever continues unabated, particularly among the female of the species.

This review in the Guardian, covering both the film and the book, made me laugh. As well as making a few indignant points about the different way in which author Stephenie Meyer has chosen to present her vampires - defanged and dressed in (oh, the unspeakable horror of it!) beige - it confirms that the Twilight phenomenon is all but irresistible to any who choose to dip even the tiniest of their toes in the water. However much they claim not to want to, people seem unable to stop themselves from finishing first the original book, then the series, and, finally, going to see the film.

As for those who do want to do any of these things, well, they clearly want to do them as many times as humanly possible and then once more, just for kicks. Following the example set by the Mamma Mia obsessives, it is not unheard of for certain Twilight fans to book several showings in the same week. Now, I'm all for repeat viewings of films or re-reading of books I've enjoyed, but only when it doesn't cost me any more to do so, i.e. when I own a copy of the literary or cinematic creation in question. London cinemas aren't exactly cheap these days, even in the suburbs!

Once, therefore, was enough for me. I saw the film recently and, despite being distracted by the quartet of tweenage girls behind me staging the world's noisiest in-cinema picnic and quoting most of the film's lines a few seconds ahead of the characters on screen (definitely not their first viewing), I managed to take in enough of it to appreciate the following spoof, which I was directed to via Twitter. Having said that, you won't need to have seen any more than the television trailers in order to recognise enough to make you grin...