Heating the Ink - Update

Dilemma: how does one make the invisible visible?

I’m seriously asking pals - thoughts on a postcard please.

This was the hurdle that we full-throttle flung ourselves into this week. How do we show what a character is experiencing internally? The pain, discomfort, the anxiety – everything. The whole point of invisible illness is that you can’t see it (clue’s in the name).

The problem with trying to show pain on stage is that it is, fundamentally, intangible. We never know how anyone else experiences pain, only how we ourselves do. And so how can we show a character’s pain to an audience? And more than that, how do we show that it’s not the same pain they saw represented earlier? That this is hurts where as before it ached. That it’s changed or developed or is actually just rooted in a completely different bit of the body? So we need to find a way to show it and explain it.

Pain is just one of the ways we’re looking to describe the experience of invisible illness but obviously it isn’t the only aspect. There’s a plethora of emotions too  – a tasty cocktail of frustration, fear, anxiety, not to mention the positive bits (I genuinely believe there are some!), the pride of doing what should un-doable, feeling cared for and looked after. But all of these are frustratingly personal and internal.

We’ve set ourselves a bit of a challenge in making this piece but hey – ain’t that the fun?

And of course we’ll be looking at healthcare as a whole – something that most people can relate to. From GP appointments, to extreme waiting lists, endless referrals. and the absolute heroism of medical professionals.We all know the NHS is a mixed bag, but aren't we all fecking grateful it exists?

I was thinking about this a bit and remembered a BBC questionnaire that did the rounds a few years ago where you could calculate how much you cost the NHS. I thought it was fascinating, and sobering – my total was easily in the hundreds of thousands – because it showed exactly how pricey this healthcare stuff is.

So, those are the thoughts that have been plaguing us this week.

More updates soon!

Sweeney x

And now for something completely different.

Well it's been a while since we last shared any news and to be honest, it's all change round these parts... if you missed the exciting news here is is (screenshot for your reading ease).

And this week is when it all began... 

Our project has been funded by Stellar Quines “Make Mend Do” programme – which we’re so lucky to be a part of. We’re one of four funded projects who are responding to

How have the rights of women changed since 1918 and what does the future hold?

(If you want to read more about the other projects, check out Stellar Quines twitter page here)

Rosa and I have chosen to look women in medicine and particularly on the gendered experience of medicine, specifically when dealing with invisible illnesses and conditions. We’ve been talking about this show, or something like it, for months. This is because we have the same condition, which I’ve known about since I was three, and Rosa only found out recently. Both having Ehlors Danlos Syndrome (to find out all about that – check out this page) it seemed fitting that we made a show that explored, not only our own experience of medicine and healthcare, but spoke to a broader range of female experiences. Hopefully the piece will also shine some light on how healthcare and treatment could be improved.

To learn more about how other people view invisible illness and think about medicine, we launched our survey last week. The responses to that have been amazing. It’s so useful to get insight and information from all kinds of people, from those whose lists of conditions could fill a book, to people who can’t remember the last time they went to their GP.

This weekend we started looking at the play itself, putting some very early material in front of actors. Which (indulge me in a sidebar) is a complete shift in how I normally do things. Anyone who’s worked with me before (apologies Low) will know that I like to have a full 7th draft of a play before even going near a rehearsal room, where I will then whine in the corner because I’ve used “right” three times in four lines. I'm a delight to work with, I promise. Anyway, this was a totally new experience – but so useful! In practical, dramaturgical ways, but also in reassuring us that the experiences and problems we want to explore are understandable, relatable and, in some aspects, universal.

We've loads more planned for this week and we'll be keeping you all updated as we go!

Sweeney x

Shows. All the shows.

Edinburgh Fringe 2018 kicks off this week and I have to say, staring down the barrel of it without a show to worry about, isn't exactly the worst thing in the world. Mostly because it means I have much more time to actually see shows! Who knew that was the point in the whole thing?

So instead of being bombarded by TwentySomething news, I thought I'd bombard you with my very scientific and entirely unbiased top show picks for the Fringe this year. 

By no means are they shows either made by people I know or ones I want to see myself... Of course not. I'm a theatre professional. Nae favouritism here.

My home for the Fringe is at Summerhall and the whole programme looks amazing. I started going through my copy by turning down the pages with shows I wanted to see... the thing looks like a concertina artwork now. However, my top pick is -

Everything Not Saved 

I saw Malaprop's two shows at Summerhall last year and was completely in love with them both. I'm literally still telling people how good BlackCatfishMusketeer was. Everything Not Saved is going to be my first show at Summerhall Fringe and I cannot wait. 

/https://festival18.summerhall.co.uk/event/everything-not-saved/

I'll also be spending a fair bit of time at my old Fringe home, Assembly, mostly to see these two -

Fringe Wives Club Glittery Clittery 

I've been waiting for this show to make it's way to Edinburgh ever since it started in Adelaide. Everyone I know who's been to see it has absolutely loved it. It promises sequin covered feminism  and I have no doubt it's going to live up to the hype. 

https://www.assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/fringe-wives-club-glittery-clittery

The Dragon and the Whales 

My pals at Modest Predicament have put together a beautiful children's show which will be on at Assembly Roxy at 12pm every day. I have it under good authority that it is not just a children's show, but also the perfect way to cheer up a hungover morning. 

https://www.assemblyfestival.com/whats-on/the-dragon-and-the-whales

My last recommendation is more like life advice. Go see this show. It will be good for you.

Hot Brown Honey 
If you haven't seen HBH before, you haven't done Edinburgh Fringe right. Their show is incredible. It's important. It's hilarious. It will recharge you and send you back out into Fringe madness feeling empowered and ready to change the effing world. GO SEE IT.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/hot-brown-honey

Moving across town, our spy on the inside, Rebecca Low has given me her top picks from the Traverse programme. She recommends Underground Railroad Game, Class and Coriolanus Vanishes. 

Which leads us quite nicely to our final recommendation of EdFringe18

Youthquake : The Breakfast Plays 

So I might have told a tiny white lie when I said I didn't have a show to worry about. Amazingly I was chosen to write a Breakfast Play for the Traverse (*cue mild panic*). And so my play Squall will be on from Wednesday 15th. 

Although it's on at 9am, the joyous thing is you get a cup of tea and a breakfast roll with your ticket. So come for the bacon, stay for the theatre. 

https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event-detail/1469/breakfast-plays-youthquake.aspx

So, hope y'all enjoy your Fringe. Look after yourselves. See shows. Have fun cause one day it'll be September and the whole thing will be over.

Sweeney x

Prague Fringe 2018

We're all finally back from Prague Fringe 2018 and what a truly excellent time it was. 

Important information, beer at the Fringe Club is now 43kc - an insane piece of inflation which now puts the cost of a pint at almost £2!!?? What is the world coming to? 

Once again I spent the Fringe wearing two hats of stressed out venue supervisor, and slightly less stressed out playwright. My favourite thing about this double life this year was being able to chat to all the Fringe regular attendees (people who have been flying out for the Fringe for years) about The Orchid. The response was simply wonderful and I'm so proud of the whole cast and obviously Ms Low for wrangling 4 plays out of them in just a few short weeks. 

That's right, these dafties put on a different play every night for the audiences of Prague Fringe. I was able to see three of the performances this year - which I was very happy about - and was just as excited as anyone else to see how the brand new couples worked. I'm eternally grateful that this company were keen to make this play work the way I had imagined it.


The guys are posing in front of our BEAUTIFUL venue, Cafe Club Misenska. The room is a mismatch of alcoves and carpets and random chairs. It was the perfect place to put on the show (and not as exhaustingly warm as our previous Prague Frigne venue...)

I want to say a particular thank you to our excellent cast. Suzanna, Rowan, John and Tom - you guys worked so hard and were utterly excellent. If you could try not to lock yourselves out of an AirBnB next time, that would be great.

I'm happy to report that the audiences of Prague Fringe Festival liked The Orchid so much that we came 4th overall in the Audience Award! For a show that only ran for four nights of the Fringe - I am pretty dang happy about that result! 

It's a mad festival to say the least and it's been amazing to take another show over there. I hope we get to do it again in the future. There's nothing like the warm atmosphere for companies in Prague and, coming from Edinburgh last year, the small size, intimate venues and amazing staff care, were just incredible.

Up next for TwentySomething... 

Ask us in a few weeks! 

Sweeney x

Flower Power (All things Orchid)

We've had a fair few busy weeks here at TwentySomething. The Orchid  had it's Edinburgh previews at Assembly Roxy and it was time for our second (probably going to be) annual TwentySomething Pub Quiz. It's been non-stop I tell you. 

The Orchid 

The Orchid previewed over the weekend of April 21st/22nd at Assembly Roxy and went pretty darn well. Thanks to everyone who came along and, as always, to our amazing cast of actors. Both they, and Low, worked incredibly hard to rehearse not one, but two plays. Because at TwentySomething we enjoy making things just a little more complicated than absolutely necessary. 

The Orchid tells the story of a couple, Alex and Sam, and their relationship. The audience watches as it grows and develops. Because of how I wrote it, we wanted to emphasize that this couple could be absolutely anyone and that the important thing is who they are to each other and who they are together. To that end we had a different couple each night. Saturday was John and Tom, Sunday was Rowan and Suzanna. And if you come see the show in Prague, you'll see a different couple on each of the four nights we're performing! (Oh yeah, four plays for Prague - nbd) I'm so glad we were able to make the show work this way and so excited to see our two new couple combinations in rehearsals over the next few weeks. 

Can we also have a moment to appreciate this gorgeous image? Cat Thomson is amazing. And we're very close to having this image turned into beautiful posters, courtesy of the totally wonderful Katie Wilkinson (who designed our Hell Has No Fury poster) who we've so glad has been able to work with us again! 

Cat also popped along to our dress rehearsal for our Sunday show and snapped some lovely photos of Rowan and Suzanna. 

Pub Quizzin'

It's safe to say our pub quiz was another riotous success. We managed to raise over £150 for the Prague Fringe Fund. Our winners were.... my family. They went home with four tickets to Summerhall's Courtyard Ceilidh and a bottle of rum (my sister disappeared pretty sharpish with that.) As always we had a plethora of fantastic raffle prizes. The winners went home with booze, vouchers and even more tickets for Summerhall events, plus a Tennant's brewery tour. 

Thanks to everyone who came along. We appreciate your support SO MUCH and literally wouldn't be able to keep doing what we're doing without it. 

If you weren't able to make it along, here's a question for you. This was part of our Explain a film plot badly round. Basically, what's the film? 

 

Sudden inflation causes a housing crisis

Tweet us your answers! 

It's less than two weeks before I head off to Prague, the rest of the team will be following quickly afterwards. Make sure you're following us on twitter and instagram to keep up with our time at Prague Fringe. We cannot wait to be back there! 

Sweeney x 

The Turn Vol. 1 Speak

The Turn kicked off last Saturday night with what we hope will be the first of many evenings like it. Vol. 1 Speak was host to a whole range of performers from singers to actors to playwrights to spoken word artists and dancers. It was a brilliant evening of performance and concluded, as was only proper, with an excellent ceilidh (top tip, at your next ceilidh event, as the band if they know the Sprial Dance - you will not regret it.) 

First things first I want to thank all of our amazing performers and I'm going to do that with the help of our gorgeous event photography, courtesy of Cat Thomson. 

Rachael Sweeney and John Crooks 

Rowan Hall and Rosie Al-Mulla (reading a piece from The Orchid)

Erin McGee who performed her play Scuttle

Matt Norris (singer/songwriter) 

Jess Matthew (poet)

Charlotte McLean (dancer) 

Steph Leach and Hannah Sutherst

We cannot say thank you enough to these amazing performers! And to everyone who braved the awful weather to make it to the show! 

So, on to the next one for TwentySomething. We have a few (LOL we're so busy) things coming up in the next few weeks.

Dates to Remember

April 21st and 22nd - The Orchid at Assembly Roxy 

May 6th - The Second Annual TwentySomething Fundraising Quiz 

May 30th-June 2nd - The Orchid at Prague Fringe Festival (if you happen to be in Central Europe, come check it out!) 

That's all from us 

Sweeney x

clappity clap. 

Ahoj Fringe Fans

Ahoj.

That means Hello in Czech.

Why do I know that?

Well, because
...
...
...
WE'RE GOING TO PRAGUE FRINGE 2018.

Yes, that's right, they're letting us back, and we are so excited.

We're taking our new show The Orchid, another play by me, which is looking better and better by the week.

We'll be performing at Cafe Club Misenska from 29th May to 2nd June, but if you can't wait until then, (or don't fancy the luxury of a RyanAir return trip) keep an eye on our social media because as usual, we'll be previewing it in Edinburgh before we go.

I don't want to give away too much about The Orchid just yet, especially as we have another exciting project to keep you occupied, but I will share the image you might have seen floating around our Facebook/Instagram

This is our gorgeous poster image taken by the wonderful Cat Thomson. 

Those are, of course, Low's hands, which also made an appearance on our Hell Has No Fury image. Although this time they are a little more recognizable and much colder given this was taken in the meadows at 10am in the middle of December. Never say we don't suffer for our art.

Our first event of the year The Turn: Speak is getting well under way and we'll be releasing information about the artists who will be performing with us very soon.

It's all very exciting.

Sweeney x