A letter this morning from Nick Hynter (Head of the Royal National Theatre Plc), returning my playlet BRIEF CANDLE. This is what Mr Hynter wrote:
Dear Mr Spock,
I have now read your short play BRIEF CANDLE. Thankyou for offering it to us, but it's unsuitable for the National Theatre.
Good luck with your future endeavours.
Yours sincerely,
The arrogance of his reply is simply breathtaking. It's pretty obvious to me that Mr Hynter hasn't actually read BRIEF CANDLE or he would have been far more fulsome in his praise. I doubt he even looked at it. I am not downhearted. If anything I am galvanised, for what is unrecognised now will be eulogised in a few years time. Look at LES MIS!! Look at Joe Pasquale!!!
Another fascinating day at T.A.A.D. This morning Prat invited us all to simply occupy a space in front of the room-length mirror and fart discreetly. It's part-and-parcel of his relaxation techniques and will be very useful (he says) when we come to look at The Selfish Giant next week. Which reminds me - I must go to Mardy's and buy those batteries!!!
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
An amazing first day on my MFA attachment!!!
Phew!! Just got back from my first day at T.A.A.D. (Tifton Academy of Artistry and Dance, see previous post!). It's truly amazing, a real hot-house of creativity and brilliance. The principal, Dr Ephraim Zimbalist III, has a background in torture and callisthenics which makes for a very volatile atmosphere which he actively encourages!! For instance, I sat in on a 1st year acting class today and the movement teacher Prat Skrohtm (a complete god) got all the youngsters to vomit for the first 45 minutes of the class!!! In lesser hands this could have been really weird and even suspect, but Prat has an amazing authority, gleaned from years and years of torture training (he used to teach Dr Zimbalist), which he combines with a truly beautiful inner stillness... He's been teaching his unique methodology at T.A.A.D. for over fifty years and it really shows!!! I'm so looking forward to his next class, "Oscar Wilde and the use of electrocution techniques". He's asked us all to bring in some KY jelly, a dozen batteries and a copy of The Selfish Giant. Not sure if he wants us 'off the book', but I'm going to be prepared for what I'm sure will be an electrifying experience!!!
About those KFC ads!!! Plus other stuff (hint hint!!)
Amazing news from the BBC!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4391731.stm I'd always suspected!!!
Also... TIFTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TIFTON RANG THIS MORNING!!! Apparently, I'm already on the MFA Course and - wait for it!!! - it's an MFA in Theatre Directing!!! Which is my absolute fave area of expertise!!! The course leader, Vernon Jones, told me the course actually started in January and that I had a lot of catching up to do!!! I explained that I only ever received a lovely brochure and he asked if there had been a covering letter and I said (obviously!!) "What's a covering letter?" and there was a long silence at the other end (very Pinteresque!!). Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I'm on attachment to Tifton Academy of Artistry and Dance, to observe the students learning how to become performers and artistes!!! Which is perfect, because I actually pass the Academy on my way to the newsagents!!! It's literally five minutes from my front door!! Anyway, I better go because it's already nearly midday and they'll probably be doing some Staniskovsky... I'll let you know how it goes, okay??!!
Also... TIFTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TIFTON RANG THIS MORNING!!! Apparently, I'm already on the MFA Course and - wait for it!!! - it's an MFA in Theatre Directing!!! Which is my absolute fave area of expertise!!! The course leader, Vernon Jones, told me the course actually started in January and that I had a lot of catching up to do!!! I explained that I only ever received a lovely brochure and he asked if there had been a covering letter and I said (obviously!!) "What's a covering letter?" and there was a long silence at the other end (very Pinteresque!!). Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I'm on attachment to Tifton Academy of Artistry and Dance, to observe the students learning how to become performers and artistes!!! Which is perfect, because I actually pass the Academy on my way to the newsagents!!! It's literally five minutes from my front door!! Anyway, I better go because it's already nearly midday and they'll probably be doing some Staniskovsky... I'll let you know how it goes, okay??!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Well, three p.m. has come and gone, and all I got in the post was a flyer for window cleaning and another for the Green Linnet Kebab House. At times like these, I turn to Alycia Smith's poetry. Here's her LOVE ATHWART, recently co-3rd winner in the Tifton Gazette Easter Verse competition (winner: Henry Gobb). I reproduce it in full:
When clouds were grey you gave me a lift -
Not with a smile or a glass of champagne -
But struggling in first up Tifton Hill
In your Austin Allegro in the pouring rain.
On a more positive note, I now host Google ads (scroll to the bottom of this page)!!! Every time you click on one, I get paid a squillion quid (apparently), so please do click on all of them. After all, it costs you nothing and it may make me the arts supremo I've always dreamed of becoming. Watch out, Dickie Attenborough!!!!
When clouds were grey you gave me a lift -
Not with a smile or a glass of champagne -
But struggling in first up Tifton Hill
In your Austin Allegro in the pouring rain.
On a more positive note, I now host Google ads (scroll to the bottom of this page)!!! Every time you click on one, I get paid a squillion quid (apparently), so please do click on all of them. After all, it costs you nothing and it may make me the arts supremo I've always dreamed of becoming. Watch out, Dickie Attenborough!!!!
A nutty diversion!!!
I suddenly realised that many of you may not have seen (my italics) a Nutrageous wrapper (see previous blog, below)!!! Well, for those of you who haven't, here one is:
A Nutrageous wrapper from my extensive collection
A Shaun Spock Pic
Still no word about my MFA, but - as Mum so rightly pointed out - the post doesn't get delivered in Tifton until 3pm!!!! I'm very excited - today could be the day I find out what I'll be mastering in from September!!! Watch this space!!
Monday, March 28, 2005
The reason we all do this thing called Theatre
I've been hugely inspired by the writings of one Gene David Kirk (check link to the right). Gene is already an MFA student, and judging by his eruditious writings, I'm really not surprised!!! He really has his (artistic) finger on the pulse. I can only step back, awe-struck!! Well done, Gene!!! Tonight for instance Gene has described the awesome thrill of watching a double-bill of old plays in a pub. I couldn't agree more!!! In fact, I'm nodding while I write this... You see, I too have had the exquisite pleasure of having my musical A MILLION DEFINITIONS (co-written with my good friend Colin Phelps, a truly misunderstood* musical genius, in my opinion) staged in a pub here in Tifton. Well, not so much a pub, more a takeaway, the Green Linnet Kebab House. What we discovered, through a time-consuming and occasionally really depressing fortnight's rehearsal, was that you actually don't need silence for a performance to work!! The noise of the arcade machine and Yitzhak (the owner) shouting his traditional abuse at the assorted drunkards who wanted a doner actually lent itself to the rough-house atmosphere we were (initially) trying to avoid!!! In other words, if everything goes wrong you can work it to your advantage!! I'm sure if Yitzhak hadn't closed his takeaway at 8pm each night we'd have got a healthy audience too. Or an unhealthy one (those kebabs look a bit dodgy, nudge nudge!!!) Still, at least there's the review in The Stage.
Gene has also been very critical of noisy theatregoers discussing their shopping. Encore!!! Encore, Gene!!! It's doubly worse in Tifton, because 87% of the local populace are illiterate and malnumeric (source, The Tifton Gazette) . So here, you get people screaming: "I bought a wubbly big jumper in Mardy's and in size 95 too!!!", which is so annoying, especially when it's during Colin's exquisite overture to A MILLION DEFINITIONS... And sweet wrappers, yes!!! I so agree with Gene there!! WHY DO ALL SWEET WRAPPERS COME IN ULTRA NOISY SWEET WRAPPING MATERIAL!!!???? It's beyond irritating. Me, I love a good Nutrageous bar, but I always unwrap it at home before venturing out for my evening's entertainment. If I can do something so simple, why can't others???? I'd rather have a melted Nutrageous and icky hands than annoy my fellow theatregoer - or even worse, thesp up on the stage.
What do you think? Am I right? Or maybe you think I'm wrong? As always, do feel free to leave your comments. This blog can only exist while it has an audience!!! Even a teeny tiny one.
*Thankyou, The Stage (not)
Gene has also been very critical of noisy theatregoers discussing their shopping. Encore!!! Encore, Gene!!! It's doubly worse in Tifton, because 87% of the local populace are illiterate and malnumeric (source, The Tifton Gazette) . So here, you get people screaming: "I bought a wubbly big jumper in Mardy's and in size 95 too!!!", which is so annoying, especially when it's during Colin's exquisite overture to A MILLION DEFINITIONS... And sweet wrappers, yes!!! I so agree with Gene there!! WHY DO ALL SWEET WRAPPERS COME IN ULTRA NOISY SWEET WRAPPING MATERIAL!!!???? It's beyond irritating. Me, I love a good Nutrageous bar, but I always unwrap it at home before venturing out for my evening's entertainment. If I can do something so simple, why can't others???? I'd rather have a melted Nutrageous and icky hands than annoy my fellow theatregoer - or even worse, thesp up on the stage.
What do you think? Am I right? Or maybe you think I'm wrong? As always, do feel free to leave your comments. This blog can only exist while it has an audience!!! Even a teeny tiny one.
*Thankyou, The Stage (not)
Disappointing news
Only 2 visitors to my blog so far. And these were both me, checking in. I must try not be downhearted. Even Sir Cameron Mackintosh has had to struggle with small audiences on occasion!!! Watch this space!!!
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Those pesky clocks!!
Note to self: "Spring forward; Fall back." Needless to say, I got it wrong again this year!!! Mum called me down for breakfast at 6am this morning (I thought), but it was only after I'd told her what a miserable old fart she was (it's okay - friendly Spock family banter - lots of theatrical gestures and rolling consonants!!!) that she reminded me that the clocks always go forward and I realised the error of my ways... slapped wrists all round, I think (not!!!)!!!
Bit disappointed that I've had no comments on my blog so far. I mean, when you think there are over six million people on this planet and the web is like a global forum (my italics). Still, mustn't get downhearted. It's important for my future MFA that I develop a thick skin to deal with the "knocks and blows of misfortune" (gosh, isn't the Scottish Play one of the best plays ever!!!).
Colin (Phelps - composer) emailed me to say we'd had another bad review for A MILLION DEFINITIONS. I asked him to re-frame that comment and try to see the positive side. A bad review is only a good review that has lost its sheen, after all.
Quite a cloudy morning, but only because the sun is too shy to make an entrance.
Onwards! Oh yes, and HAPPY EASTER to all Green Room friends out there!!! Don't overdo the chocolate!!!!!!
Bit disappointed that I've had no comments on my blog so far. I mean, when you think there are over six million people on this planet and the web is like a global forum (my italics). Still, mustn't get downhearted. It's important for my future MFA that I develop a thick skin to deal with the "knocks and blows of misfortune" (gosh, isn't the Scottish Play one of the best plays ever!!!).
Colin (Phelps - composer) emailed me to say we'd had another bad review for A MILLION DEFINITIONS. I asked him to re-frame that comment and try to see the positive side. A bad review is only a good review that has lost its sheen, after all.
Quite a cloudy morning, but only because the sun is too shy to make an entrance.
Onwards! Oh yes, and HAPPY EASTER to all Green Room friends out there!!! Don't overdo the chocolate!!!!!!
Saturday, March 26, 2005
It's Easter!!
Time to wonder about the mystery of Easter. I wrote a short play about it. (I don't have any illusions - I'm sure it's too minimilast for the 21st century. (Oh why oh why did Samuel Beckett die?! Couldn't he just have quietly taken a break??). Anywhere, here it is:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRIEF CANDLE
A short piece of theatre for Easter
by Shaun Spock
The stage is in darkness, but for a candle.
Enter MAN
MAN: Out. (Then, with great effort) Out, I say.
He blows on the candle. It gutters briefly, then expires.
A low sigh sussurates throughout the darkened auditorium.
A distant fanfare. Then -
A silence.
Very slow curtain.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A confession. This (as I term it) playlet was partly inspired by my reaction to the Boxing Day tsunami, an act of nature so devastating and - for me - upsetting that I could scarce put pen to paper. The fact that it has taken me over three months demonstrates the exquisite pain I suffered to dramatise the essentially undramatic (my italics). I have submitted it to the National Theatre, but I can't pretend any great hope: I suspect it is simply too brief for major subsidy or production (although I do see Jim Broadbent as "The Man".) I would welcome your comments.
Oh yes, still no word about my MFA. I refuse to get alarmed or despondent. September is still some months away.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRIEF CANDLE
A short piece of theatre for Easter
by Shaun Spock
The stage is in darkness, but for a candle.
Enter MAN
MAN: Out. (Then, with great effort) Out, I say.
He blows on the candle. It gutters briefly, then expires.
A low sigh sussurates throughout the darkened auditorium.
A distant fanfare. Then -
A silence.
Very slow curtain.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A confession. This (as I term it) playlet was partly inspired by my reaction to the Boxing Day tsunami, an act of nature so devastating and - for me - upsetting that I could scarce put pen to paper. The fact that it has taken me over three months demonstrates the exquisite pain I suffered to dramatise the essentially undramatic (my italics). I have submitted it to the National Theatre, but I can't pretend any great hope: I suspect it is simply too brief for major subsidy or production (although I do see Jim Broadbent as "The Man".) I would welcome your comments.
Oh yes, still no word about my MFA. I refuse to get alarmed or despondent. September is still some months away.
My first ever entry!!!
Gosh! I'm so excited! Just this year I've already directed my first ever stage show - an adaptation of The Oxford Concise English Dictionary with exclusive new songs from my great pal Colin Phelps (thanks, Col!). It played for a strictly limited run of two performances at the Green Linnet Kebab House here in Tifton and completely sold out!!! The only slight negative was the review in The Stage (whose subscription I immediately cancelled, obviously!!!) - unnecessarily personal and unconstructive, I thought, and disappointing considering the amount of research Colin & I put into the enterprise. Anyway, look out for future productions of A MILLION DEFINITIONS: THE MUSICAL. I sent a copy to the Really Useful Group, so who knows!!!!! Watch this space!!!
Anyway, that's not the main reason I'm so excited. No, the main reason I'm so excited is: I'm DOING A MASTER OF FINE ARTS at Tifton University College, Tifton!!!! I saw an ad in The Tifton Gazette and it just looked perfect!!! All I had to do was send in £3,000 and by return of post I got a handsome (full colour!!!) brochure with term dates and everything!!! My one concern is that I don't yet know what it's a Master of Fine Arts in - but hey, let's learn patience, why don't we!!!! As long as it's something artistic and fab I won't mind. It'd be great if it's something to do with theatre (which I absolutely adore!!!!), but I'll just have to wait and see, I guess. I'm sure my three days working as ASM (that's assistant stage manager) on the Tifton Players 300th anniversary production of Noel Coward's CAVALCADE will go a long way. I was even in that production briefly!!!! The smell of the briefcase! The lust of the crowd!!! Oh gosh!!! I just so so so love all things to do with the theatre!!! Fingers crossed!
Anyway, that's not the main reason I'm so excited. No, the main reason I'm so excited is: I'm DOING A MASTER OF FINE ARTS at Tifton University College, Tifton!!!! I saw an ad in The Tifton Gazette and it just looked perfect!!! All I had to do was send in £3,000 and by return of post I got a handsome (full colour!!!) brochure with term dates and everything!!! My one concern is that I don't yet know what it's a Master of Fine Arts in - but hey, let's learn patience, why don't we!!!! As long as it's something artistic and fab I won't mind. It'd be great if it's something to do with theatre (which I absolutely adore!!!!), but I'll just have to wait and see, I guess. I'm sure my three days working as ASM (that's assistant stage manager) on the Tifton Players 300th anniversary production of Noel Coward's CAVALCADE will go a long way. I was even in that production briefly!!!! The smell of the briefcase! The lust of the crowd!!! Oh gosh!!! I just so so so love all things to do with the theatre!!! Fingers crossed!
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