I noticed a big disparity in the diversity of artists I like and the diversity of artists who actually get to speak a little more about their craft and share their knowledge.
Here are some my fave playwrights:
Jeremy O. Harris
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Ryan Calais Cameron
Conor McPherson
Jackie Sibblies Drury
David Ireland
Franca Rame
Ciara Elizabeth Smyth
Anne Washburn
Jasmine Lee Jones
Andrea Dunbar
Brian Friel
Getting hold of plays and watching plays:
Abe Books for cheap second hand books
For Informational Purposes Only This Is A Website That Exists
You can watch any play in the National Theatre Archive by appointment for free at their building next to the Old Vic Theatre. Search their archive here
Every play that plays downstairs at the Royal Court in Sloane Square (London UK) has 8 standing tickets available for 10p. Just turn up and ask.
lol that's great. I love it that threatening to eat him works just like that.
If you're a member of the London crew then we started sharing our writing on a private riseup pad instead because formatting here was a nightmare. The link for that is in the new Signal group.
If you're just an internet person then hello and thank you! I think we're gonna use this community to just share resources now and maybe have some open discussions about relevant topics. xx
Heads up everyone, because formatting is a nightmare on here we've started sharing our writing on a riseup pad instead. The link is in the Signal group. xxx
I've given up trying to sort out the formatting blip below. "he's a very mad man" can be replaced with "she's a very mad mam" if ya want.
JADED rummages through the pockets of his huge coat, before finding his VAPE PEN AND JUICE, amongst the various bits of rubbish and lint, is a small, portion-control-sized pot of jam.
SHERBOURNE: Why have you got a tiny pot of jam?
JADED: Oh… it’s er, it’s for the bees.
OFFALY: It’s for what?
JADED: It’s for the bees.
ARFUR: What bees?
JADED: Well exactly, you barely see them at all now, and when you do, they’re always struggling, and sometimes all they need is a little bit of sugar and they’re off on their way
Pause
SHERBOURNE: singing, quietly and slowly at first He’s a very mad man
OFFALY: He carries around a pot of jam
ARFUR: He told me that it’s for the bees
SHERBOURNE: But I saw him rub it on his knees!
OFFALY/ARFUR/SHERBOURNE: starting to dance around JADED
He’s a very mad man
He carries around a pot of jam
He told me that it’s for the bees
But I saw him rub it on his knees
*dancing with increased fervour*
He’s a very mad man
He carries around a pot of jam
He told us that it’s for the bees
But we saw him rub it on his knees
OFFALY/ARFUR/SHERBOURNE: dancing with increased fervour still He’s a very mad man He carries around a pot of jam He told us that it’s for the bees But we saw him rub it on his knees
OFFALY/ARFUR/SHERBOURNE: dancing with increased fervour still HE’S A VERY MAD MAN HE CARRIES AROUND A POT OF JAM HE TOLD US THAT IT’S FOR THE BEES BUT WE SAW HIM RUB IT ON HIS KNEES
OFFALY/ARFUR/SHERBOURNE: dancing with increased fervour still HE’S A VERY MAD MAN HE CARRIES AROUND A POT OF JAM HE TOLD US THAT IT’S FOR THE BEES BUT WE SAW HIM RUB IT ON HIS KNEES
JADED: I’M A VERY MAD MAN! (pulls his trousers down) I CARRY AROUND A POT OF JAM I TOLD ‘EM THAT IT’S FOR THE BEES (rubs jam on his knees) BUT I REALLY RUB IT ON ME KNEES!
OFFALY/ARFUR/SHERBOURNE: muffled, licking the jam off JADED’s knees, alongside CHEESECAKE HE’S A VERY MAD MAN HE CARRIES AROUND A POT OF JAM HE TOLD US THAT IT’S FOR THE BEES (releasing their mouths from JADED’s knees) THE PALS: But he reaaaaaaally rubs it on his kneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
Lights down.ARFUR is picking their nose
SHERBOURNE: aw, Jesus Arf
ARFUR: what?
SHERBOURNE: come on that’s disgusting
ARFUR eats the bogey
SHERBOURNE: ewwwwww!! JADED: arrrrrr!!! OFFALY: smiling Arf…
ARFUR: I like picking my nose. I like picking my nose. It’s satisfying. And it’s tasty. And it helps you breathe. The only reason not to pick your nose is the fear of being judged. So, when you pick your nose… (really starting to enjoy themselves now), when one picks one’s nose, one gets the satisfaction of peeling a gnarly globule out of a fleshy cavity, a tasty little salty snack, clear airways, and, liberation from shame.
OFFALY: Nose-shame in that.
JADED: weyyyyyyy ARFUR: weyyyyyyy SHERBOURNE: weyyyyyyy
ARFUR: Nose-shaming (pleased with this term) Is a white supremecist colonial construct.
JADED: Designed to keep our airways blocked
ARFUR: Stop us breathing!
JADED: Keeping us anxious
ARFUR: Dulling our sense of smell!
OFFALY: So we can’t smell out the rat!
SHERBOURNE: Ah now guys, leave the ratties out of it. to ARFUR Do you feel like this about scabs?
ARFUR: …Alright I kinda feel the same about scabs.
SHERBOURNE: Okay but scabs, there are good sound medical reasons not to pick your scabs, so…
ARFUR: Well, speaking as a Trade Unionist
SHERBOURNE: Former trade unionist
JADED: Woah
OFFALY: Yeah what was that?
SHERBOURNE: Sorry sorry, dunno where that came from
ARFUR: It’s calm. Speaking as a former trade unionist, I know that the best way to deal with scabs…
JADED: Here we go
ARFUR: Is to just picket.
JADED: weyyyyyyy OFFALY: weyyyyyyy SHERBOURNE: weyyyyyyy
I'm gonna transcribe the exercise here:
**The imaginary machine: Chicano recycle/reuse environmental initiative **
Chicanos have always been de facto resourceful environmentalists, recycling old cars and using walls instead of canvass. We have taken this tradition of using huge junkyards into the performance realm. During long workshops, this exercise can help the group shift creative modes and engage in a sculptural installation. The exercise goes like this: spend a few hours visiting local junkyards, thrift shops, and friends' backyards. Each person individually compiles bits and pieces of broken machines, cars, useless technological gadgets and old tools. We reconvene at the space and lay out all our findings on the floor. We spend a few hours creating a single (useless) elaborate machine which can operate as an "apocalyptic altar to the end of Western Civilisation" or a "third world robot". Try lighting it in interesting ways. A few people may wish to insert themselves into the image."
Amazin will have a proper look later
Context makes a difference, for example as I understand it in the US people working in hospitality are not entitled to minimum wage because of the expectation that they will make up their wages with tips. In this context suggesting that you're stealing labour by not tipping is completely fair.
In the UK all legal workers are entitled to Minimum Wage, but because of the decades long housing crisis most hospitality workers are not making a living wage. Often people struggle to get the hours. If folk are getting enough hours to make a living wage, then they're probably not regularly getting the bare minimum of two consecutive days off that we need to recover from work.
In large corporate fast food restaurants like McDonalds and KFC, workers are banned from accepting tips. There are other contexts where maybe because the workers are considered low status tipping is not banned but it just doesn't happen. Have you ever tried to tip in a Wetherspoons pub? It's really hard, you put your hand in your pocket and dude's already on the next customer; they're just not expecting it.
I didn't grow up with a tipping culture. The kinds of places where people do that were not the kinds of places we went to. They were posh. I didn't grow up going to cafes, restaurants, taking cabs. So when I moved to the city and started eating out, I didn't really think about tipping, especially as I was struggling to make the bill anyway.
Then I started working in a coin operated laundry. It was interesting because you had local working class people coming in and doing their own laundry, and rich tourists and gentrifiers coming in and asking for Service Washes. A lot of the local working class people were South Asian, and I noticed that these folks would tip me even if they'd done everything themselves, just as a kindness and a sign of solidarity "get yourself a drink" they'd say. Conversely, when the American tourists came in with a big bag of washing and an even bigger list of demands, I'd work hard for them expecting a big tip, and I'd get nothing. This happened again and again. A few times a working class person who normally did their own would be short on time and ask me for a service wash, and they would regularly tip me basically 100%.
After this I started tipping way more. What I learned is that tipping is not a reward for good service, but a gesture of solidarity. It says "I know things are tough, I appreciate what you do, here is a token of that." When you tip someone, you see them, and you share a little of what you have. I love to tip people when they're in a bad mood, because it makes it abundantly clear that you are tipping someone to make their day better, not to reward them for good service, because the service probably wasn't that good!
My approach to tipping:
-Always tip cash, if not possible ask the worker discreetly if their boss gives them the digital tips. -Tip indiscriminately and regardless of service -Tip more if the workplace is particularly known for treating workers badly (e.g. Wetherspoons) -Try and tip in places like Chicken Shops where people aren't used to being tipped.
*Hospitality workers often organise themselves in small radical grassroots industrial unions, where they have much more democratic control over their struggles compared to traditional trade unions.
International examples: International Workers of the World (IWW), International Workers Association (AIT-IWA) UK examples: IWGB (can't remember what it stands for), United Voices of the World (UVW).
Picture by Tero Karppinen
This weekend I went on a drive with my old man to a local bookshop picked up a copy of The Forager's Calendar by John Wright, hoping to get some guidance on what I could forage in January around my village. I live among Heath and Moorland, so a lot of things that might be common elsewhere in this lowland temperate rainforest in North West Europe might not be common at home. Heath soils are sandy and well drained, in the moorlands I'm not sure, is peat very rich? There must be good soil somewhere because historically the village was a self-sufficient farming community. But... even though it's a harsh landscape it's the Heath that feels like home to me. Maybe it's because it's Common.
So I managed to find a few things that might grow in January here by looking up our local trees in the index. I worked out what the local trees were by buying a Collins Gem copy of the aptly titled Trees for a couple of quid (International English trans: £2 more or less) which was really useful. It turns out the Heath is mainly Scots Pines and Silver Birch, and elsewhere the dominant, or at least my favourite, tree is the mighty Oak. Aaah.. the Oak..
I suppose because I was looking at trees the foraging selection I came across was mainly fungus. I didn't recognise any of them and none of them seemed to appear in January. That was until I was almost at the very end, and I saw a picture of some reddy brown mushrooms whose caps made them look like they'd been in a fight. I was sure I'd spotted some sadder looking ones under a clump of Scots Pines at the top of the hill that looks over my village. The ones in the book are called Trumpet Chanterelles, and they're apparently pretty tasty. But the ones I saw looked kind of sickly and slimy, so I don't think I'll try and eat them. This book isn't an identification book anyway, so I wouldn't want to pick anything to eat based off of The Forager's Calendar book alone. If that wasn't discouraging enough, we've had a cold snap the last couple of days and my old man reckons that the frost would have seen the mushrooms off to wherever it is mushrooms go after the frost.
So it looks like my January plans to forage in my beloved Heath are scuppered before they've even started. So I suppose I should start looking towards the Moorlands and working out what grows there.
How are things where yous are? What's growing around you and do you know if you can eat it???
We might need a community meeting at the start of each work week so that we can update each other on everything and make any decisions that need to be made. So that could be pretty groany. Probably dependent on the quality of the snacks. Which will depend on the season, your local ecology, and whether you have some good snack-makers in your tribe.
tl;dr: snacks.
Some actors worth checking out some of whom don't get the opportunity to speak a lot about their craft:
Daniel Kuluuya
Letitia Wright
Joe Gilgun
Susan Wokoma
Gina McGee
Alison Brie
Paapa Esieedu
Ian Hart
Mark Rylance