Writing My Play - The
Glory Of Athens
When I moved to Brunswick
to stay with Barbara, my LETS host for my last 2 weeks in Melbourne,
I was invited by Albert Hudson to see a play which was being performed
by the Moreland Amateur Theatre Group (a member of Moreland LETS).
It was called Miracles, and I was so impressed with the performance
that I left inspired, and told Albert that it had given me a great
desire to write my own play some day.
Well, that day arrived last
week. And so now I find myself in Shanghai, writing a play about Ancient
Greece! Unusual? Yes. But when you've got the internet as your research
tool, you can write about any place from anywhere.
So let me tell you what
I've gone through so far �
First of all, I've become
a virtual recluse since I decided to undertake this project. Coming
up with a subject was difficult (as always). I wanted to write a humorous
play, but with an inspirational message. I wanted to write a one-man
play, so I could perform it on my travels around the world. I wanted
it to be of a professional standard, so I wouldn't be embarrassed
by it. Then when I got an email suggesting I write about Pericles,
I knew it was the perfect subject. And as I'd already written a humorous
speech about him, I had something to start off with. But that was
only a start. There was lots of padding required to turn a 7 minute
speech into a 60 minute play.
(If you aren't familiar
with my humorous monologue, 'Pericles - Athens Most Glorious Ruler',
you can access it from my web site www.JamesTaris.com
and go to the Public Speaking web page. Then you can read it FREE
online.)
My only other experience
in writing a play was in high school (2nd form) when I was about 13.
I'm obviously not a seasoned playwright. So I wasn't aware of the
logistics involved when considering the amount of time required for
writing, rehearsing and producing a play. The internet shed some light
on this dilemma, and I soon adjusted the time allocated for writing
my play from the initial 3 weeks, to a more realistic 14 weeks. Most
amateur theatre groups are advertising rehearsal schedules going over
2 months, so I've given myself another 10 weeks to learn my lines.
All in all, this means I'm
aiming for a World Premier performance of my play, The Glory Of Athens,
to take place in the last week of November while I'm in London! (Well,
that's the plan anyway.) I haven't made any contacts yet, but soon
I'll be writing to all 32 Amateur Theatre Groups in London (list is
from www.amdram.co.uk) and seeing
if I can persuade one of them to accept me and my play for a one night
show.
Seeing there are 12 characters
in the play (all monologues, therefore suiting a one-man performance),
I've even thought about expanding it into a multi-role play and getting
an Amateur Theatre Group to put on a Full Stage Production. If that's
possible, it'll be ready for it's World Premier (I just love the ring
of that) by February while I'm in Chicago. This will give the group
enough time to read the script, accept it, audition for roles and
rehearse the parts. A process taking about 5 months.
Will I have amateur theatre
groups fighting to get the right to perform my play? Hardly. But there
are some groups which are interested in producing unknown plays, and
I'll certainly fit into that category.
Will I make a fortune from
my play? In my dreams! In fact, I plan to give it to them for FREE!
Why? Because then it's more likely to get produced. And the world's
greatest work of art cannot be enjoyed by the public if it's never
put on display. (I use this as an analogy, not a claim to the genius
of my yet unwritten work.)
So that's my dream. I've
had hundreds (thousands?) of dreams in my lifetime, and they don't
always come true. Yet I find myself in China, on the first leg of
my 400 Day World Tour, and 17 more countries ahead of me. This was
also a dream not so long ago. Recently I've felt everything falling
into place so perfectly. Like magic. I've had great support from my
family and friends worldwide, and I know that if I want to get something
done, all I have to do is ask. And ask, I shall. For the doors of
opportunity open to those who are unafraid to ask.
This
article is taken from the ebook,
400-Day LETS Odyssey
About
the book
|
James
Taris web sites
JamesTaris.com
LETS-Linkup.com
Rich-Bastards.com
Honey-BeeBooks.com
TheGloryOfAthens.com
TravelWithoutMoney.com
ChineseArt-ChineseArt.com
ShanghaiPhotoGuide.com
ShockProofMaterial.com
2pups.com
