On Collaborative Working (Kingmaker R&D)

 As a poet, I mostly write stuff on my own. I draft a poem, maybe I take it to an open mic, or to my crit group for suggestions, then I polish it up. Perhaps it even gets published somewhere – if I’m very lucky!

But I'm used to a pretty solitary writing process. 

So, I was a bit apprehensive going into the first week of research and development on a new play I’m working on, in collaboration with director Vivi Bayliss. 

Theatremaking is often a collective process – the actors, director and other members of creative team get involved with writing or devising the story – and I was a little bit wary about that aspect of the project. 

I – like many creative people – really hate being told what to do. 

But, I also knew that Vivi is an excellent director and a very safe pair of hands. So, when I showed up on the Monday morning at the rehearsal space, I was ready to experience a new way of making work. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What is an R&D in the context of theatre? 

Any long form piece of writing requires extra pairs of eyes on it. In the world of theatre, R&Ds function as a sense-checking exercise; a playful, collaborative series of activities to test the draft script and see if it works. 

Think about it like the playtesting of a video game, or quality control in the manufacturing process. Is this story watertight, or will it spring a leak? If it does leak, how might we repair the hole?

During our first week, we interrogated the script, excavated the characters and looked at whether their motivations drove the plot forward. (When characters do things because of their intrinsic beliefs, rather than just “because the plot needs them to”, it makes for a much more satisfying story.)

Vivi led us through activities looking into the characters, narrative, timelines, structure and geography of the play, supporting us to find the best way to tell the story we wanted to tell. 

This involved all kinds of great activities, including hot seats with our main characters, drawing a map of the village, and asking 100 questions that we wanted to answer before the end of the week. 

We worked with two fabulous actors – Solaya Sang and Rachael Caulton – and a wonderful dramaturg Alice Chambers to really make sense of who our characters are and what they need. We also had a huge amount of support from our fantastic creative producer Alistair Wilkinson. 

And, as a result of the really thorough investigation, the script has changed massively! 

We’ve removed much of the interactive elements of the first draft, clarified the audience’s role in the story, and explored how the actors will differentiate between characters during the play, using accent, costume and physicality. 

We’ve also really improved the pacing and narrative by moving the interval, adding five new scenes, and completely rewriting the ending! 

The actors did such a fabulous job improvising new parts of the story, and we’ve uncovered some really silly new jokes and visual gags to add to the play too. 

It’s been a really exciting experience, and I’m so grateful to the team for taking the work seriously and having a lot of fun with the world of Little Fidgetton. 

I genuinely thought the process of picking apart the writing and changing things would feel uncomfortable and challenging, but it’s actually been really enlightening. 

Now, I have just two weeks to do the re-writes, before we’re back in the rehearsal room. Wish me luck!

Vivi, Leanne, Rachael, Sol & Alice in the rehearsal space

Bonus content from the rehearsal room: 

- The ice cream van that we chased down the street for mid-afternoon Mr Whippy

- Our afternoon break in the park on the swings in the drizzle 

- Alice harassing the man in the shop to turn on the slushie maker for post-lunch crushed-ice refreshments 

- Learning about everyone’s favourite animals

- Trevor the cat trying to join us for the final read-through of the updated script on Friday afternoon! 

Thanks again to Arts Council England and the  Fenton Arts Trust  for financially supporting the project, and to New Perspectives Theatre for providing rehearsal space this week too!