Hey Folks,
I’m working on the next and final podcast for Neworld’s PodPlays series. The podcast is a DIY primer on making your own podplay. All this with the hope of inspiring you, Dear Listener, to create your very own podplay.
It’s happening already. Joel Stephanson and Quiet Hum Theatre are producing CORRIDORS, a new podplay that you can experience prior to seeing a show at Pacific Theatre. It’s really inspiring to see folks take on a idea and make it their own. I truly believe that there are more stories than we can ever hope to commission plays for, so I wanted to find a way to put the means of production into the hands of the people – so to speak.
Which brings me back to the podcast. I’m asking the artists who worked on the ten podplays we’ve produced so far to share some of their creative strategies. I’ve received some great responses and advice over email from Jan Derbyshire, C.E. Gatchalian and Noah Drew. So much advice, that I can’t fit it all into the podcast. So I’m sharing some here.
Oh! And remember: it’s not too late to sign up for the PodPlays podcast. You will receive all the podcast episodes in one fell swoop. Ten, unique walks on Vancouver streets, a great way to enjoy the city before the rain sets in…
The route: What do you look for when choosing a route? How did the story relate to the route?
NOAH DREW: Since Podplays are, in a sense, a view with a soundtrack and a story, I think the best routes are really great views. It also helps the sense of drama if there at least one major change in the landscape during the play.
Instructions: was there an approach or image that worked for you when receiving the directional instructions?
ND: I’m a fan of the direct address instructions. When a character speaks right to me, the listener, I feel very included – plus it’s harder for me to miss an instruction when it’s directed right to me than when a character speaks the instruction to another character.
C.E. GATCHALIAN: i have to say, the directional instructions were probably the trickiest part of writing the podplay. because with the directional instructions you have to meet two objectives that may appear to be mutually exclusive: 1. making sure that the instructions are as clear as possible to the listener so they don’t get lost; 2. making sure that the instructions are an organic part of the narrative, that they don’t just appear out of the blue with no connection to the story.
JAN DERBYSHIRE: So yeah, when I first experienced the other podplays I thought a Guide Dog would be a great device for travelling through one of these stories. The guide dog thing wasn’t new. I have this thing about guide dogs, like what if they weren’t just for difference in sight? I could use a guide dog because I feel so blind to so much of what’s really going on in the world. So my Guide dog would help me read people’s energy or something and intuitively steer me away from some situation that maybe I couldn’t handle that day. Anyway, sometimes you have an idea hanging around for a long time that finally finds a home. That’s what happen with the Guide dog in the podplay.
Composing: What’s your best advice to composers and writers when thinking about including sound an music?
ND: In a way, podplays are just a narrative extension of listening to music on an iPod while walking through public spaces. Althrough the storytelling functions of the music and sound design are important, I actually think the combination of music and location should be able to stand on its own as an experience. If the listener is looking at a great of afascinating view while hearing coold sounds, they’ll be excited and engaged.
Rewriting: best advice to writers who need to rewrite?
CEG: Enjoy the ride–or in this case the walk.;-) Rewriting is where it happens, where you have to get tough with yourself as an artist and show what you’re made of. In the end, there’s nothing more rewarding.
JD: I need time between my drafts, a few days at least. I put the script in a drawer and then I can take it out like it’s not even mine and be very objective about it. This is counter intuitive to me. I think I should keep obsessing about it and stay up for weeks deeply questioning each comma and consonant. (Vowels rarely give me trouble). But I have found this obsession makes my writing stiff so I don’t do it anymore. Rewrites for me focus on getting to the clear and the necessary.
By the clear I mean, I have to ask my words, “Are you being clever just for clever sake? Is this clever in the way of the story? I also need to ask each line of dialogue, “Are you who should be saying this? Why? This is because I’ve learned in my early drafts everybody sounds like me and then I have to go through and ask, “Are you talking as yourself or as me.?” Often I find the wrong character is saying something that the other guy should or that what’s being said needs to be there but it’s in the wrong place. This is because when the story comes I just race to get it down and then figure it out later.
Also I was taught to not argue in the moment about notes. Just write them down and say thank you and then figure out which ones are useful. Sometimes when you’re working with people you really trust you can tell right away that a note is golden. That said I think it’s important to work with skilled dramaturges who are interested in helping you get to the story you want to tell and not in making suggestions for a story they want to tell.
One final note- I always ask if the writing is working with the form. This is really important I think in the experience of podplays. I may have a great story but it’s clunky in this form. To make it work might require cuts and changes that I might not normally consider. I try to stay playful right through brainstorming to final draft. I bounce a ball a lot when I walk around to remind me not to take myself too seriously.
What do you know now that would have helped you when you started writing your podplay?
CEG: Two things: 1. How crucial the directional cues are to the form. 2. That there has to be a reason why this walk is happening right now. You can’t just be telling a story while doing the walk. The walk has to be an integral part of the play. And there has to be conflict and tension in the present of the play, not merely recollected.
ND: You’ve got to consider the noises implicit to your route as well as the visual landscape. If you’re overlooking an incredible view but listening to noisy traffic, the moment won’t work very well. These plays are intimate experiences – they’re right in your ears! Finding public spaces that have some sense of intimacy/quiet works best.
JD: Honestly, nothing. The sharing of experience from the podplay teams that produced their work before us was so helpful . A lot of bugs had been worked out with the limitations and the strengths of the form. Those of us who came later had more room to play.
