When embarking on a new show, hurdles often reveal themselves. These may feel like road blocks, disrupting the creative path. However, it’s important to stay positive and trust that a solution will appear. That solution might take the form of a faster route suggested by a trusty Sat Nav, or even a battering ram to knock the hurdles out of the way.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is fast approaching, and therefore, so is my deadline. I’ve been in a making, creating and brain storming mode, and am now heading into the practice, rehearsal and preview stage. Closed roads, dead ends and end of track notices have been appearing and will no doubt continue to pop up until my show ‘Magical Maestro’ debuts at in Edinburgh on 17th August for 2 weeks.
Today I’ll share how I learnt to trust the directions from my Sat Nav and avoid those pesky road closures.
One of the most important and helpful tools is collaboration. Brain storming ideas, trying out new material, dissecting why something works or doesn’t work with other performers and creatives will hugely benefit and speed up your progress. Finding the right people to give feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism is the crucial factor here; you want to hear from people you deeply trust to help your work improve.
I’m also very fortunate to have a space at home where I lock myself away and can work without being interrupted. It’s a space where I explore ideas, work on new performances and bring new shows to fruition. Then I invite people over to view my work.
I’ve performed ‘Magical Maestro’ a few times already now, firstly during a run at the Colchester Fringe Festival last year and more recently earlier this year at the Sheringham Theatre, Norfolk. However. I want to improve on the show and move to a version 2.0.
To give you an insight into working on a new show, the creating and collaboration process may look something like this:
Inspiration hits and you have an idea that needs expanding on. You share the idea and brain storm it further, if it doesn’t sound like it will work, bin it and make tea.
Re-think the idea, share and flesh it out, take suggestions, draw them out, make the props (often in cardboard, very Blue Peter…if you know you know), and test it out. If it doesn’t get the reaction you hoped for from your collaborators, throw cardboard in the bin, make more tea.
Remake the prop, retest the idea, make more tea with biscuits to dunk. Go back another step, remake, retest, take on feedback, more tea with biscuits.
Test out again, look at it from a different angle to see if it can be improved further, fill the kettle again with water. Realise it may or may not work after all, either scrap the whole thing and empty the bin, or move onto the rehearsal stage, and celebrate or commiserate by making a pot of tea.
This has been my process over the past few weeks whilst locked in my magic work space. It continues onto the rehearsal stage, and into the preview shows taking place this week.
The show you see is the tip of the iceberg.
If you’d like to see the end result of all the tea drinking, BOOK TICKETS HERE – I’d love to see you in Edinburgh.
