Tuesday, September 19, 2006

A room with no view

I realised what I don't like about my current job - I'm in a room with no view of the outside - no sky, no trees, no fresh air, just air conditioning and a view of the corridor to the staff room, which means everyone stares in at us as they walk past. And it's a "sitting in the same place all day" job - also very bad for the soul, as well as the bum.

Went to West Yorkshire Playhouse on Friday to see "The Overwhelming", a play by J T Rogers, directed by Max Stafford-Clark. It's a National Theatre/Out of Joint production currently touring, and if you get the chance to see it, go. It's funny, moving, and ultimately shocking play which left us talking and thinking long after the final curtain call. The cast were excellent, several of them playing multiple roles, and the play itself is so layered, with multiple stories weaving in and out of each other, that you cannot help but be drawn into the complexity of life in Rwanda in 1994, and wonder how you might have dealt with the situations as they arose. Powerful stuff - this is what theatre should be.

Also saw "Volver" over the weekend, and loved it. It's very much about women, and the relationships between sisters, and between mothers and daughters, and the roles women play. Men are absent, mostly - from the film and from the women's lives, although they have been catalysts for the action in some cases. Penelope Cruz is fabulous, in fact the whole cast just seem to click. And the idea of a farting ghost is just too funny. I really want to see it again.

And now I really need to do some writing. The advantage of a dull job is that it leaves plenty of thinking time - now I must convert that into words on the page.

3 Comments:

Blogger Chris Parr (ukscriptwriter) said...

The problem is that thinking of all those ideas whilst at work makes work the last place you want to be. You would rather be at home writing.

7:40 am  
Blogger Dominic Carver said...

That would be good but I work evenings and by the time I get home at 2am all I want to do is sleep.

11:49 pm  
Blogger Ann said...

Hi Sal! Thanks for visiting my blog! When I made the comment you mentioned, I'd just finished reading about the film you had shot one week and all the work that went into it. So, to include you in the conversation, I mentioned you. That's all, really. Since you make films I figured you knew more about acting than we did! LOL.

That was such an enjoyable night. Everyone was so welcoming to newbie me crashing the party.

It's been fun blog-hopping off Billy's list and peeking into another realm of writing besides book publishing.

Best wishes with your film! What comes next with it?

3:12 am  

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