Tenth Entry

A lot of people ask "How's it going?" and "Is it going to be good?" I have no idea how to answer that. Everyone wants to know what the "good shows" are but what does that mean? I believe and stand by the belief that theatre is a gamble, like fruit as Jerry Seinfeld put it "fruits a gamble, I know that going in." What I see as good might not be what you see, and then what's the point of seeing shows and constantly critiquing it, it wont hurt to view a show "with a bit of compassion"(Billie Brown)Sometimes the worse shows you see, the ones that really drive you insane are the ones that stay with you and you can even recall details whereas I've seen shows and thought that was good and never pondered on it again. So when people keep asking "if it's good?" what's the bloody point of that question. Maybe I could have a right hand man standing around me...

Person "Is it good?"

Me "It's good, isn't mate?"

Right hand man "Yeah, it's good."

Person "Should I book a ticket?"

Me "Yeah you should book a ticket, shouldn't he mate?"

Right hand man "Yeah, he should."

Maybe just having a few voices echoing that it's good will do the trick, get them off my back.

Of course saying all this I do think you should book a ticket, Declans writing is provoking and I think you'll be able to get a lot of different things from the evening. The actors are brilliant, extremely watchable and you'll be having some good old belly laughs if you let yourself.

But it's good to remember the entire process that goes into the show you'll be viewing. It's a collaboration between many artists and is not just one persons vision but the work of many. The culmination of choices that have been made through development and rehearsals from type of lights to name of characters to space performed in. Some choices are dictated by money, availability others a gut instinct, mood someone was in that day, or even an accident they were in the night before a rehearsal. So in the end when you sit down in the dark for any play to start try to remember Billie Brown and have a little compassion along with you, not just a scale of good/bad.

A little bit about the play...

The characters in this piece play a little game between them where they act out people in their lives as they tell a story. This is great as we only see the other characters in the play through the eyes of Sebastian and Clayrssa (main characters). Like what we do daily when we tell stories to one another and put on voices to portray the person were referring to or use gesture to show their idiosyncrasies. So you'll be viewing the world of these kids through them, what they think of their teachers, parents and school mates and also how they see each other - these are some of the funniest and cruelest moments. I wonder how Mr Greene comes up with this stuff, by the kind of characters he creates you'd think he probably had a terrible time at school (i'll find out and get back to you.)