Adelaide, 23rd January 2013

So, this is the popping of my blog cherry! 

Well, it has been a jammed pack start to 2013. I recently completed a proposal for the Unexpected City Funding, which is a new pot of money for South Australian artists to create pop up events to animate the CBD. I have been beavering away with Shona Benson, co-producer of Directors' Collective South Australia, on finalising its pilot programme and putting things in place for the launch. I have held auditions for Kate Mulvany's  The Web which I am directing for the Bakehouse Theatre Company in the Spring and I have also held auditions for the first ensemble for Foul Play, the new organisation that I have just set up and we are not even at the end of January yet!

I must say, I cannot wait to start working with the Foul Play ensemble. I have been calling them individually over the last few days and filling them in with the plan for the year and upcoming events, such as a company photo shoot and an evening of Macbeth where I am inviting the 2 ensembles (a male and female one) around to my house so that we can have drinks and nibbles while reading Macbeth together for the first time. In case you haven't guessed by now our first full production will be Macbeth which is planned for 2014. We will presenting two version of the same show performed on alternate days, one with an all female cast and one with an all male cast. If we are successful with our Unexpected City Funding bid then we will present a series of spontaneous vignettes of well-known scenes / soliloquies from Shakespeare’s much loved plays across the Adelaide CBD at the end April 2013. If we aren't successful, then we will be working on a launch / fundraiser for the company at a fabulous venue just outside the CBD (keeping the location a secret for the moment).

Well, I think that is a good snapshot of what I have been doing, so I am going to finish my first blog with a fantastic quote by Martha Graham (thanks to DHG for emailing this to me!) which seems not only of particular relevance to myself but also to other members of the ensemble at this current moment in time. 

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."

Martha Graham 1928