From Page to Stage

From Page to Stage

It was summer, and as I wrote about in my previous post, I had decided, bravely or stupidly, to catapult myself out of my comfort zone.  

So, the acting class didn’t go quite so well. I very quickly, on entering the room, realised by my rapid heartbeat and the rising bile hitting the back of my throat that this wasn’t in fact the class for me. However, I took a seat and hoped to God that I wouldn’t be asked to do any actual acting. My mind was racing with excuses to leave…oh, sorry, is this not the Zumba class? I do apologise. I could then swiftly get up and leave.

What in God's name possessed me to do this!

Anyway, I was honest, said I’d made a huge mistake and now realised, confronted with a bunch of experienced thespians that I was in fact just being a twat! I’m a writer, a very introverted writer, and my place has and always will be behind the scenes. They were very lovely and even suggested that I could try my hand at directing instead.

Sadly, the small theatre group ended the classes due to insufficient engagement, so that was the end of that.

The Hull Truck Theatre's playwriting course turned out to be a very different experience. I turned up on the first night, stomach full of anxiety again, made my way through the packed foyer to the toilet, as I do…IBS is no laughing matter, I'll have you know.

At first, I assumed there must be a show on, so I was shocked to realise, as I reacquainted myself with the crowds, that everyone was actually there for the introduction courses. Playwriting, acting (I’ll be steering clear of that, learnt my lesson) and directing.

We were led upstairs to our individual meeting rooms. I quickly scanned the faces and was somewhat relieved to find that, at fifty-one, I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Most of the writers were around my age. Phew!

The course was amazing, but the real magic happened on the last night, us playwrights, ahem, and I’m one of those now, were asked to write a five-minute play. We came together with the other groups, so the actors could perform our scripts, directed by, you got it, the directors.

We had the studio for the night, and let me tell you, we were buzzing. The atmosphere was electric; we were chatting, meeting the actors and directors, and going over our scripts. Everything was going fabulously until one of the mentors announced that the writers would come down to the stage to introduce their plays.

What! I’m not prepared for this. You want me to what?

Ok, so after a trip to the loo and five minutes of deep breathing exercises, I was back in the room…sort of. My turn came, and I can’t tell you what I bumbled out before I scurried off the stage because it felt like some weird out-of-body experience. But the play went brilliantly, and I had never felt more alive. At that moment, I knew this was me, this was where I belonged.

What happened next in my life completely blew me away – I’m sworn to secrecy for now, but all will be revealed on the 21^st of January. ;)