How do you imagine yourself in the future?

With a family? Successful? Living somewhere else? Who knows…?

What I can tell you is that in the very near future I imagine myself performing alongside a company of very talented young actors in Live Theatre’s Studio as we proudly present a double bill of brand new and exciting plays.

Tell us about the double bill

Choirplay by Robin French explores the theme of happiness and the endless battle of always wanting more, whilst Breakfast Hearts (also by Robin French) is a dark and funny exploration of the need to be loved and to eat each other.

Rehearsal #1

Last night marked the first rehearsal date for the members of the ‘Choir’. After we all got suitably acquainted with one another over a slice of cake, we split off into smaller groups in a bid to discuss how we imagined our future selves. This is a question which is asked in the very opening line of Choirplay, and a question which I have always struggled with, as whenever I think ahead and imagine what I’ll be doing in the future, when I get there it’s always totally different and nothing like I imagined, so I try not to plan ahead and think about it too much!

Along with fellow choir members, Jess and Steven, we reached the decision that we could never truly know what we would be like in the future but we could have things to hope for and this is what we focused on for the purposes of this task. Coming up with things like; successful, confident, comfortable…

Post-it notes at the ready…we then wrote our ‘answers’ down and stuck them to the wall alongside the answers that the other groups had given. As individuals, we then picked the post-it note that we could relate to the most and read them aloud.

I picked ‘Living somewhere else but I don’t know where’ – I think I chose this one because every time I move in to somewhere new, after a couple of months I start to think about what the next place will be like? I think I will continue to feel this way until I’ve found somewhere that I can truly call ‘home’.

Other answers included; “As a proper grown up’’, “as an old man with nothing to worry about“ and “liking myself more“.

There was something really refreshing and reassuring about hearing what other people had to say. This is something that we would like to potentially incorporate into the final show, asking audience members to write down how they imagine themselves in the future (on their way in) and read a selection back to them, at a certain point during the performance.

Post-it notes

Post-it notes at the ready…we then wrote our ‘answers’ down and stuck them to the wall alongside the answers that the other groups had given. As individuals, we then picked the post-it note that we could relate to the most and read them aloud.

I picked ‘Living somewhere else but I don’t know where’ – I think I chose this one because every time I move in to somewhere new, after a couple of months I start to think about what the next place will be like? I think I will continue to feel this way until I’ve found somewhere that I can truly call ‘home’.

Other answers included; “As a proper grown up’’, “as an old man with nothing to worry about“ and “liking myself more“.

There was something really refreshing and reassuring about hearing what other people had to say. This is something that we would like to potentially incorporate into the final show, asking audience members to write down how they imagine themselves in the future (on their way in) and read a selection back to them, at a certain point during the performance.

Rehearsal #2

The second rehearsal involved a read-through with a difference. Each member of the ‘Choir’ was given a numbered envelope containing a number of fragments from the script.

After taking a few moments to familiarise ourselves with the content of the envelopes, we then set out to perform the play in it’s entirely in a completely different order. The aim of this exercise was for each person to follow on with an extract that we felt connected to the previous extract. This was an innovative and interesting way of exploring the text before we start to look at allocating parts and work on character…something which I am very much looking forward to doing in future rehearsals.

It’s my first rehearsal for Breakfast Hearts tomorrow. I can’t wait!