Theatre of the Absurd

Fantastic night with Red Kettle. My actors and director were superb. Eavesdropping on the audience after seemed to offer positive feedback. My cowboy was popular. every woman in the audience wanted to go home with him and every man wanted to be him (even the gay ones.)

Some of the other plays were great, some a bit disjointed. The physical comedy in the suicide one was great. Good timing. There were 3 plays with coffins, a dying person, a dead returned father and Bernard Farrell's set in an undertakers. I loved the Beckett homage but I'm not sure it would take another reading as far as story and understanding goes.

I'm not that good at Beckett. I saw Waiting for Godot finally at The Gate last year which was fantastic, and Krapps Last Tape and a few with the Beckett collection on TV, Play, the one with the lips (Not I?) and the one with the woman buried in sand - very funny. See the Youtube link. Is this Theatre of the Absurd? My play had elements and I need to explore them if I am to turn it into a full length play. Must study Ionescu and Albee apparently.

Red Kettle New Playwrights

Getting very excited about my play. 8 plays in a row tonight at the Royal Court Theatre - lovely with lots of cherubs and chandaliers to look at - and the press and other playwrights and all that and a party after and being put up for the night in a hotel. Hope they repeat the plays after. My actors are Charlie Bonner, Jan O'Sullivan and Michael Power and my director Joe Meagher, a talented bunch.

Fishamble in Dublin did a similar thing with 14 new writers in 2003. Wonder why they didn't repeat it. I would think it would go down well as lunchtime performances or perhaps as film shorts.

http://www.fishamble.com/shorts.htm

Red Kettle

Red Kettle - isn't that a great name for a Theatre Company.
I don't know a whole lot about theatre really. I probably go to 3 productions in a year - 3 more than virtually anyone else I know. Red Kettle are taking a play of mine, a 15 minute play. My first production. It's very exciting and a learning experience. I went down to Waterford (lovely place, never been there before) to meet them all and Bernard Farrell too. (v famous) Met my director and one of my actors. We're doing the first read through soon. Bernard said a writer always learns from the first read through and he should know.
The contract says 10% of box office if my play's the only production for anything afer this event, after the usual costs. I don't see much likelihood of a repeat performance though as one 15 minute play is 3 actors and the rest. Touring costs more the more people you have. Maybe I should write a monologue.
I was looking for a play to go to in a couple of weeks in one of the new theatres that's started up around Dublin, the M50 loop - Helix, Draiocht, Civic, DunDrum, Mermaid and as far as I can see, they are all empty for that week. What's the point in the government funding the setting up of theatres if they can't afford to put anything on in them?