Eve Leigh- Workshop for the Digital Body

During this public health emergency, the safety and wellbeing of our staff, artists, audiences and families comes first.

We are exploring ways in which we can all remain connected and optimistic. The Bruntwood Prize has always been about much more than the winners. It is about opening up playwriting to anyone and everyone, to support anyone interested in playwriting to explore the unique power of creative expression. Therefore we want to make this website a resource now for anyone and everyone to explore theatre and plays and playwriting.

So we will be highlighting the many different resources archived on this website over the coming weeks.

For the bank holiday weekend- we have permission to share playwright Eve Leigh’s brilliant Workshop for the Digital Body- originally shared on twitter. Eve was shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize in 2019 for her play SALTY IRINA 

 

A question. Who are your favourite playwrights/theatremakers?. A little reminder that not everyone is alive; not everyone is dead; not everyone works in English.

OK, we know each other’s taste a little bit now. Let’s start with some free writing. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Don’t stop writing at all during that time. The writing can be nonsense. Doesn’t matter at all. Just don’t stop.

Watch this:

Right, we watched that. Did you like it? Did you hate it? What about it did you enjoy or not? Don’t forget to keep it really simple in your responses. The dumber the better tbh. “I didn’t like that it was a competition.” “I like shiny jackets.” “I don’t like the colour red. Just observe yourself responding to it. Whatever you liked or didn’t like. To quote the beautiful Adrian Howells, it’s all allowed. For more info on him: 

Me, I like that it’s incredibly silly and incredibly serious at the same time. I like Whitney Houston. I like the escalations. I like that it’s a weird sport, so it makes me think about how all sport is weird. I like the way it plays with gender. I like how powerful they look.

Oftentimes when you’re trying to put a piece of theatre together, you’re trying to be clever. IMHO this is the opposite of what you should do. Be a weird dumb sensory creature. Be really alive to your own tastes. I believe this enables us to make work that is more distinctive.

 

We’re returning to automatic writing now. Set a timer for 15 minutes this time. Write a list of things you enjoy in art. Music you love. The feeling of being in competition. The feeling of being in community. Moments in films/music/games/whatever that meant something to you.

It should start as a list. It’s probably not gonna stay a list. That’s good too.
Read what you have written. This is the beginning of your manifesto. That document – the stuff that YOU actually think is important and meaningful – that’s a huge part of what you have to give to the world.

“What is the RITUAL and how is it SUBVERTED and DISRUPTED? The best scenes have an immediately recognisable structure which is then disrupted – wedding/funeral/driving test/first date/visit to the vets etc. What are our expectations and how are we surprised?”

BAM! This is the real shit. Let’s make a list of rituals for us all in the replies to this tweet. You can make such cool stuff just by taking the idea of an event, or a clichéd conversation, and turning it upside down. Appropriately enough, the best example I know of this is the final scene of Duncan’s play PEOPLE PLACES AND THINGS. SAVAGE and so brilliant.

Ok, time to shake it out. Have a little dance party wherever you are. Here’s my contribution to the playlist:

Read this. It contains a bunch of links to FREE THEATRE you can watch online:

Podcast: Making It with Temi Wilkey

 

Anyway. Thanks very much to anyone who might have completed this workshop. Something wonderful to see you out:

Published on:
22 May 2020