Noisy Words @ Traverse Theatre

In the last few weeks, I also had the joy and frankly, nervous exhaustion (in a good way) as 1 of the 5 writers involved in the experimental and rather wondrous Noisy Words, a weekend of writing and composing for the stage at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. We met up on the Saturday morning deep in the bowels of the Traverse, with strict instructions not to bring any ideas, then we met actors, musicians from the Red Note Ensemble and composers. After 90 minutes of inventing something out of the air that might suit a short play, each of the writers was randomly matched with a composer, and the game was ON. Basically over the next 36 hours we experimented, edited, rehearsed, and eventually came up with 5 short plays (1 for each 'couple') complete with specially composed music. Then rather too quickly (eek), we were all in our seats in the Traverse watching the paying audience file in. I silently cheered after we had 3 audience members in the door, but by the time the show began, we were near to a full house (isn't it great to see that people still want to see experimental new writing!).

It was fantastic to see the other plays performed and mine alongside. I'd started writing about a mischief-maker, but in the end my idea expanded into an experimental piece about the Devil turning up in a suburban house, with the narrative 'driven' by a beautiful and rather haunting piece of music, my composer partner Dan came up with. It seemed to go down well, and the lady next to me (who I didn't know) prodded me in the arm afterwards and said it was her favourite - I don't care if she was lying. One of the really fantastic things about the event was the inevitability of it. Many things film-wise or art-wise can bring with them a raft of disappointments - you have to get used to working on things that never get made or get made and not edited, or get made and edited and not released. With Noisy Words, we were all aware that whatever we produced, it was going to be performed in front of a paying audience. I loved the experience - especially the chance to play around with language, and work live with a composer, musicians, director, dramaturg and actors. If Noisy Words comes up again, I can thoroughly recommend it.

Merry Christmas blog-readers. I wish you tinsel and inspiration.