{"id":397,"date":"2016-02-07T13:21:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T13:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/?p=397"},"modified":"2016-02-28T21:18:50","modified_gmt":"2016-02-28T21:18:50","slug":"test-blogpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/?p=397","title":{"rendered":"“Number 17” Blogpost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"No<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018NUMBER 17\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

100 Years of a Borrowash House<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch the Video<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Script commission working with the children of Ashbrook Junior School Borrowash, Derbyshire.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Soot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are always a few defining moments when you\u2019re working on a Community Theatre project. Of course, there is the first meeting (\u201cWill anyone turn up?\u201d); there is the point of no return (\u201cI\u2019ve been saying its months away but now it\u2019s next week!\u201d); and of course there is the moment of applause, of ending, of hugs and of going on your way (\u201cWhat are we going to do next?\u201d)<\/p>\n

But there are also other moments where you realise the importance of what you\u2019re doing \u2013 a small observation, a simple turning point, a quiet but important success.<\/p>\n

Community Theatre comes in all shapes and sizes. As the director of Number 17 \u2013 100 Years of a Borrowash House I was looking forward very much to working with a group of energetic youngsters and to tackling a play the likes of which they probably had never experienced before. I knew we had quite a job before us, but I also knew that we were being well supported by the school. Our initial session came and went and Chrissie, who wrote the play, has described it in some detail elsewhere in this blog so suffice to say that we all had a good time. That was part of the process of getting to know the children, of seeing who fitted where in the script. There were sixty or so characters, and thirty-five performers. We ended up with a couple of helpers from another class. <\/p>\n

Once the play had been cast and the scripts were printed off we all sat in a big circle and began to read it through. One of the technicalities of performing is that if you don\u2019t clearly understand what you are reading you will never deliver it well. Doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s Shakespeare or Peppa Pig, if you don\u2019t understand it, the audience will struggle to understand it. On that basis, I had told the children before we started that if there was anything that they didn\u2019t understand they should put their hand up and either Chrissie or myself would explain. <\/p>\n

We got to page twenty-two. <\/p>\n

Now, Chrissie has put up some posts here about the play and what we got up to, but she has very modestly not mentioned the content of the piece, so I will explain here. Number 17 \u2013 100 Years of a Borrowash House was exactly that \u2013 a real story about a real house, tirelessly researched. In the play, the house was a real live character, played by Dave Wood via a projector and a screen. We began with the house being built, and then we met each and every person that had lived in the house, from the beginning to the present day. One of those people was Chrissie herself, so one of the children was playing her, while another of the children was playing her boyfriend \/ fianc\u00e9 \/ husband. Chrissie had portrayed herself and her husband in a less than flattering manner \u2013 they were the ones that pulled out all of the original features, much to the house\u2019s disgust. <\/p>\n

We\u2019d got to the part in the script where Chrissie and Martin were tearing out the old fireplace:<\/p>\n

MARTIN HALL\tCareful, this mantlepiece is slate, it\u2019ll kill us if it lands on us.
\nNUMBER 17\t\tDon\u2019t tempt me.
\nCHRISSIE HALL\tI\u2019m covered in soot.
\nNUMBER 17\t\tServes you right!
\nMARTIN HALL\tOuch, my finger, it\u2019s bleeding.<\/p>\n

A hand went up. \u201cWhat\u2019s soot?\u201d<\/p>\n

Myself, Chrissie and Dave all shot glances at each other, a little bit in disbelief. Chrissie explained what soot was. A couple of the children had open fireplaces and told us about chimneysweeps. We carried on reading. There were other questions, of course. But that one really stuck with me. This was a bright girl, with a good vocabulary and lots of common sense. But she, and the rest of her class, have only ever known the 21st century. Ask her what Minecraft is and she\u2019ll have an answer for you. But many things, the knowledge of which we oldies take for granted, have never had a place in her life.<\/p>\n

So, we rehearsed and we arranged costumes and we panicked a bit and we got all the fake beards and moustaches sorted out (I\u2019m a firm believer in fake beards and moustaches.) The week of the performance came and things went very well, thanks to a lot of hard work from everyone involved, including the cast. The children wanted to do it all again. The adults mainly needed a sit down. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s very easy to judge projects such as this as based solely on the end product \u2013 the applause, the number of people who turn up, whether everyone remembered their lines. For me the process is the important thing, the learning, the camaraderie, the building of trust. It\u2019s about understanding a community, a play like this one; it\u2019s about making friends with the past. And so while it is obviously great that the play was received so well, the fact that a young girl in Borrowash now understands soot is \u2013 for me \u2013 just brilliant. <\/p>\n

www.jhanby.com<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0038

Howieography<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been an exciting summer for local writer Chrissie Hall<\/p>\n

\u00a0Working with Director Julian Hanby, Poet Dave Wood, under the aegis of Wash Arts and funded by Heritage Lottery, Chrissie\u2019s been writing a stage play tracing the history of a very special Edwardian villa in Borrowash, Derbyshire.<\/p>\n

\"image1

Number 17<\/p><\/div>\n

From the day Victorian entrepreneur Alonzo Cheetham of Victoria Avenue Borrowash bought\u00a0 building land on Princess Drive, right up to the current owners, the lives and times of every \u2018custodian\u2019 of \u2018Number 17\u2019 (including the writer who lived at Number 17 in the 1960\u2019s) have been researched by genealogist Keith Osman, local volunteers from the \u2018Unexamined lives\u2019 project, and history undergraduates from The University of Derby. The play maps a unique history of the social and economic changes of the last century as experienced by families living in Number 17.\u00a0 Several former and the current \u2018custodians\u2019 \u00a0of this lovely Edwardian villa, VIP\u2019s and members of the local community will be able to enjoy 100 years of village history,\u00a0 portrayed by Ashbrook School pupils in a Christmas performance at school on 15th<\/sup> December.<\/p>\n

EARLY DECEMBER<\/b><\/p>\n

The stage is up in the school hall.\u00a0 There are two boxes full of props in the corner of the classroom and there\u2019s some serious word learning to be done.\u00a0 With over sixty \u2018characters\u2019 in the play, and a cast of 35, many of the children will be portraying more than one character.\u00a0 The challenge is to be \u2018in character\u2019 in the right place, at the right time, in the right costume with the right props\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s fun and exciting, \u00a0it\u2019s also hard work – lots of potential for chaos.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re anticipating some crazy moments at \u00a0rehearsals from now on because finally we get to use props! \u00a0So who gets the bucket and shovel and has to collect some nice fresh horse muck for Dad\u2019s allotment? \u00a0What’s that they’re drinking out of the tankard? Who will eat the bloater paste sandwiches?<\/p>\n

As well as some VIP guests, (including The Mayor of Erewash, Councillor Val Custance, Mo Cooper from The Heritage Lottery Fund, members of the community, ladies of the Ockbrook and Borrowash W.I., \u00a0pupils, parents, school governors, families and friends) several of the \u2018characters\u2019 the children are portraying on stage will be in the audience! \u00a0No pressure then!<\/p>\n

\u00a0NOVEMBER\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Counting down to the big day (and night), our November sessions involve devising songs music, chants and poems for the performances, more drama ‘games’ and work on tableau formations.<\/p>\n

With poet Dave Wood, the children create skipping rhymes, chants, and poems about moving. With 100 years and dozens of different ‘custodians’ living in Number 17 there’s a lot of ‘moving experiences’ to portray. \u00a0This is a Christmas performance so we need a carol or two as well. \u00a0No problem for the talented children of \u00a0Ashbrook Juniors!<\/p>\n

CASTING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plenty of parts up for grabs right now! \u00a0Where are the Divas? \u00a0Who can learn words? Who can’t? \u00a0Who wants to be seen and not heard? \u00a0Who has extra talents to show off? \u00a0Dancing? Singing? Cartwheeling? Clowning around? \u00a0Competition’s fierce. Strutt your stuff \u00a0everyone – impress us and you’re in!<\/p>\n

\u00a0OCTOBER \u2013 INTO REHEARSALS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Afternoons working with \u00a09 \u2013 11 year olds at Ashbrook Junior School. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

CREATIVE WORDS AND PICTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

In workshops \u00a0led by poet Dave Wood and writer Chrissie Hall the\u00a0children produced \u00a0six collaborative six lined poems relating to house and home, and 35 cards on which they’d each chosen two architectural features for their ‘house’, \u00a0fixed them on cards and wrote one word to describe their home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"NUMBER<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0MINI DRAMA PERFORMANCES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Using a house\/home related title allocated by the Director, each group collaboratively devised and rehearsed a ‘scene’ interpreting the title, culminating in performances of mini-dramas at the end of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

THE BIG REVEAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the children were still FIZZING with excitement after their performances, we did the BIG REVEAL! \u00a0\u2018Number 17\u2019 project was a play with a public performance at Christmas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The response was lots of happy children and enthusiastic questions.\u00a0Yes, they’d be performing in the big hall. \u00a0Yes, they’d be performing for an audience of other pupils, parents and others. Yes, there would be stage lighting. Yes, probably spotlights!! \u00a0Yes, music and sound effects (provided by undergraduates from the University of Derby). \u00a0Yes, there would be singing. Yes, they’d have ‘stage props’ including beards and moustaches! \u00a0(That went down well). And we\u2019d also have the services of an undergraduate Stage Manager from the University of Derby. \u00a0We hadn\u2019t discussed stage make-up, so when that question hit us we had to be cagey!<\/p>\n

We look forward to developing Number 17 in school over the coming weeks and we thank the staff and pupils of Ashbrook Junior School for their co-operation and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018NUMBER 17\u2019 100 Years of a Borrowash House Watch the Video \u00a0Script commission working with the children of Ashbrook Junior School Borrowash, Derbyshire. What\u2019s Soot? There are always a few defining moments when you\u2019re working on a Community Theatre project. Of course, there is the first meeting (\u201cWill anyone turn up?\u201d); there is the point … Read more ►<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lifestorywriting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}