June 25, 2012
My trip to Royal & Derngate theatre last week was interesting, if not unalloyed joy. I saw Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding, which was the second production in the theatre's Festival of Chaos. The production used the same cast as The Bacchae and played up the drama's similarities to Greek tragedy with a chorus, violence in the wilderness, female control etc.
I'm glad I went, but it was patchy–in the word's of the friend who went with me "over-produced". The attempts to give the play a contemporary setting and the use of northern accents jarred. Maybe they were intended to demonstrate the play's relevance today, but they weren't necessary. Were they an attempt to create illusion or anti-illusion? Some of the things that I felt didn't quite work might have been due to the play itself, rather than the production.
Even with its faults, I'm glad I went to see it. Had the production been flawless, I doubt it would have given my friend and I half as much to discuss afterwards, not only about how else it could have been done, but about the themes (feud, revenge and love among them), the poetic language and the play's relevance. I wouldn't have felt a need to read the play to resolve some of the issues.
There is a saying along the lines that it's the rose's imperfections that make it beautiful. It was Blood Wedding's flaws that made it worth seeing.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
June 17, 2012
This week I went to see Royal & Derngate's production of Euripides' The Bacchae, which is part of the theatre's Festival of Chaos. It was an innovative production, not least because of the way it made use of the venue–the former print rooms of the Chronicle & Echo, by setting the play in an underground car park. I don't know whether the adaptation was written to suit the venue or whether the venue was chosen to suit the adaptation, but it proved that it's possible to perform drama anywhere....
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
June 13, 2012
June has been encouraging so far. My story, 'The Adult Prodigy', has been accepted for Nameless magazine; I've had the proofs of 'Heavy Air' for the Bridge House anthology, so that should be out soon; one of my poems, 'Masters of the Air', came fifth in Mary Charman-Smith's competition and another, 'DNA', was shortlisted. I say all this not just to show off, but because it reminded me that sometimes competitions have prize-giving events, and while these are fun, they can also be nerve-wrackin...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
June 5, 2012
Yesterday was Harry and Sophie, our bichons', fifth birthday. They are such a huge part in my life, that now seems like the ideal time to look back at when they first came to live with my husband and me. (Before anyone coming to this blog looking for writing tips turns away in disgust, there is a writing angle to my reminiscences.)
From the first moment that we brought Harry and Sophie home, I decided to keep a puppy diary of all their funny ways, their personalities, the mischief they get up...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
May 28, 2012
Visitors to my website can now be sure of finding something new on a regular basis, apart from this blog. I'm adding the lyrics from
Iyessi songs.
For anyone who hasn't read
Discord's Child, the Iyessi are people living in a remote region of Najarind where sensitivity to the elements and music are of paramount importance. Ro is a young woman who cannot feel the elements as others do and the disharmony this causes leads to her and her family being exiled.
As music is an integral part of Iyess...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : FantasyFiction
May 20, 2012
At last, I've had a chance to read my copy of Telescoping Time, the anthology of chosen entries in the Earlyworks Press Science Fiction Challenge. The stories had to 'make a realistic contribution to the debate about how humans and extra-terrestrial species might prepare for contact and learn to co-operate rather than destroy each other through fear or prejudice, by accident or design.' I'm proud to say that my story, 'Haze', is among the chosen.
Many stories and books have been written, and...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
May 6, 2012
I had to cancel my cover competition. The last minute rush I had hoped for never materialised, and without entries there is no contest. It was really disappointing. I'd expended a lot of time, effort and money promoting it only to receive less than a handful of entries. In fact, I received a better response to my post on a Kindle forum announcing the flop. Initially, I was inclined to think it was a total waste, but I'm beginning to see there are things I can learn from it.
My advice to ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
April 29, 2012
England is currently in the middle of its monsoon season–the ideal time to get some writing done. You can't do the gardening, or go for a picnic, so there's no excuse not to concentrate. Actually, there is. Letting your mind wander as you listen to the rain beating on the windows can be far more creative.
You could start by writing a description of the weather. How fast is the rain falling? What does it sound and feel like? How do people react to it? How do they move? What are their ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
April 22, 2012
This week I was fortunate enough to see Ladies in Lavender at Royal & Derngate, Northampton. For anyone who's never seen the film, it's a gentle story set in Cornwall in the 1930s, which follows what happens when two ageing spinster sisters find and take in a young violinist who's washed up on the beach. There's no sex or violence and no bad language.
It would have been easy to overwrite the play, but it was beautifully understated. This can only work on stage or film if you have actors ca...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
April 15, 2012
One of life's more annoying facts is that it's usually the phrase/sentence/paragraph that you're most pleased with that you end up having to cut from your final draft. In fact, always be suspicious of your finest lines. What makes them memorable is usually that they are different from the rest of the piece and indicate a change of style that creates an (often inappropriate) jolt. They're often descriptive so they could slow down the pace as well. Hardening your heart and killing your 'bab... Continue reading...
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
