While transferring dates into my 2009 diary, I've just got rather excited about some of the theatre I've got lined up for the new year:= A View from the Bridge (Ken Stott, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)
= Entertaining Mr Sloane (Mathew Horne, Imelda Staunton)
= Dancing at Lughnasa (Niamh Cusack, er... Andrea Corr)
= Waiting for Godot (Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart)
= Hamlet (Jude Law)
That lot's got me thinking about why I've never really tried to write for the stage; I think I'm too frightened to leave behind the televisual/cinematic bag of tricks. Because I tend to prefer high-concepty stuff, I always feel - rightly or wrongly - that I haven't got anything very compelling to say through my work.
As a result, I try to tart it up with bits of flashy technique (juxtaposition, transitions etc) and window dressing (mise en scene, 'extending the frame' through sound, etc) - especially after studying screen narrative so closely during my MA. Maybe I should go through my notebooks for a suitable idea and force myself to write a one-acter, just for the exercise.
Anyway, bring on those cramped seats!
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