| In
this Special Feature for January Kate Wyvill from
Sanity Production tells us how she went from actor
to mother to writer to producer to actor (via
Script of course).
‘Going Potty’
from Page to Stage
I have been asked to share with Script
members how I took my play ‘Going Potty’
from the page onto the stage. I suppose the main
criteria were sheer bloody mindedness, keeping
a grip on my fear, getting as much help and advice
as possible and finding the money. My background
is 17 years as an actor and a period as an arts
venue manager. I had written stage scripts in
the past for children’s theatre with other
actors through improvisation or through book adaptations.
This, however, was my first adult play that I
had tackled on my own and I really didn't have
a clue whether it would work and how I was going
to make it happen.
I started writing ‘Going Potty’ in
October 2003. I had three little boys under the
age of six and I was at home in desperate need
of an outlet for my creativity so I wrote about
marriage, children and work-life balance. It was
originally a 30 minute radio play as the idea
for it came from the ‘sounds’; the
predominant sound being the clashing of coat hangers
as Emma squeezes herself into her wardrobe to
hide and escape from her children, her husband
and her life. And that was how it all started.
I read the first drafts to friends took advice
and kept writing.
Then I heard about Script and
joined because I wanted to be in touch with other
writers and find out what 'help’ was out
there. Not only was I housebound but I was new
to the area (having spent 17 years living in Australia)
and I didn't have any contacts in the industry.
The first ‘help’came in February 2004,
when I decided to attend a Script
dramaturgy workshop led by Hanna Slattne and I
took ‘Going Potty’ with me. The workshop
was a real boost, not only did I learn from it
but I met other writers, raw beginners like myself
and found the whole experience very encouraging.
Also I of course met Hanna who kindly agreed to
read my play and offer advice. We met in London
and emailed to each other a few times which I
found a great support.
More help from Script came in
the form of their script reading service. I was
a bit nervous about doing this in case the feedback
was - get another career. Confidence in your writing
when you start off I think is the biggest hurdle
and I didn't know how I would deal with criticism
from an anonymous somebody. Anyway I sent the
script off and then took on board the comments
in the feedback, which were extremely useful.
I needed also to get the play in front of an audience
this was vital as that would be the real test.
One of my life long dreams was to perform at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe so I decided to take
‘Going Potty’ there in 2004 to test
it out. This was an extremely expensive, exhausting,
nerve-wracking, stressful exercise . However,
the audiences enjoyed the play and the reviews
were good, which proved very useful in the future
for getting a foot in the door to other theatres.
So I kept going.
I spent 2005 rewriting and extending ‘Going
Potty’ into a full length play. Friends
had to endure more readings and I used the Script
reading service again to get feedback on the new
material which again was very helpful. Now I had
a full length version I needed an audience and
in March 2006 I approached the Arena Theatre in
Wolverhampton about staging it which they agreed
to as a co-production, we then followed this with
a couple of nights in a small theatre in Bridgnorth,
Shropshire. This was again a test of the material
as I had introduced another character, who has
to be played by the same actress (me!) without
the actress creating a different character, and
I wasn't sure how this was going to work, also
I had a whole new Act and the staging logistics
of that was tricky. The show was a success with
the audiences which encouraged me to keep going
and improving it. So then I approached the Lichfield
Garrick Theatre about a co-production and the
Birmingham Hippodrome Patrick Centre about hiring
their venue. I also applied for and received an
Arts Council England grant and raised the rest
of the money from private sponsors. In October
2006 we had a two week season and some very encouraging
reviews from the press. During this time I also
began sourcing a London venue, as this was my
ultimate intention for the whole process. The
New End Theatre in Hampstead agreed to include
us in their spring 2007 season and we are taking
the play there for a four week season from the
7th March this year. I'm currently trying to raise
the money (and I thought Edinburgh was expensive).
Who knows what London will lead to; I have a few
dreams and a few plans. On the other hand the
whole thing could die a very nasty death.
So, it has taken 3 years to get ‘Going Potty’
to this point. I originally sent the script off
to various theatres but they weren't interested
and I realised the only way I was going to reach
an audience was to produce it myself. It has been
extremely hard work getting the play onto the
stage in front of an audience. My company Sanity
Productions Unlimited is basically ‘me’,
(plus my long suffering husband-cum-production-manager-cum-shoulder-to-get
hysterical-on). I do everything in any spare minute
I can find. I also have this irritating obsession
of paying actors the correct wage (a bit old fashioned
I know), I think our actor in Edinburgh was the
only one at the Fringe being paid Equity rates.
So I have to find the money to do that and pay
the director, stage manager, ad infinitum. However
the benefit of producing my own writing is that
I now have a group of business sponsors who I
can approach again to help me get my next play
‘Marbles’ onto the stage plus I have
some extremely useful credits for my writing and
the confidence to keep going.
Kate Wyvill
www.sanityproductions.com
Special
Features Archive
January
2006 - 'Happy Birthday Script'
April
2006 - The Script/Raw Edge Monologue Competition
winners
June
2006 - Ian Kennedy on writing for the BBC Radio
Drama 'Silver Street.
September
2006 - playwright, Alan Pollock, on the tough
choices writers have to face.
December
2006 - Brian Langtry on his journey via pop and
folk bands to writing and producing musical theatre.
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