2 Plays for YOU to Read
Dear Blog Readers
Vast apologies, I have been locked out of my own domains by my web host for ages and have finally got access to be able to write another blog!
I recently got an email from the playwright and actor Grae Cleugh, he’s interested in Practical Aesthetics and we’re meeting up later in the month to discuss it. But it got me thinking that I would read his Olivier Award winning play F***ing Games again. I read it again and very much wanted to recommend it to you. It concerns an evening in the life of four gay men, but it’s characters and plot are a sign of excellence in playwrighting, and as a study of human relationships, I find it stunning. Read it.
The second play that I would like to suggest is called Pure Gold by Michael Bhim. I was lucky enough to have an interesting conversation about action with Mike Bhim last week at a symposium of playwrighting organised by the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. The play is about a man’s struggle to hold his head up in the face of unemployment and inherent racism. It is one of my all time favourite plays already. On the face of it, it could be just a plot line from a dour British soap opera, but it’s HOW he tells it with humanity and poetry. I see the influences of Mamet on Mike’s play and I was pleased to hear from Mike that he always carries a copy of Mamet Plays 3 with him everywhere he goes. A man after my own heart. The play is called Pure Gold, please read it.
Why should you read these plays? Will they offer you great audition monologues? No. Instead, they will offer you depth to your knowledge of dramatic literature and broaden your ability to deal with a different range of material.
Finally, I was delighted to hear that one of my favourite theatre companies, the German-based Russian theatre monks of Derevo are coming to Glasgow for the month of November at The Arches. I simply cannot wait. These people are 1000% committed, devoted to their art. They are literally monks workshopping at the temple of theatre. They have made the art of theatre their religion and you can feel it in every moment of their work.