I went to see a new NT Connections piece at Sheffield Theatres last night. If you don’t know, NT Connections is a National Theatre scheme in which up and coming writers are commissioned to write a play for a cast of young people. The shows are performed all over the country, by different youth groups or schools, and some are then shown at the National. I spoke to someone who works at CAST in Doncaster and they said that they were in the middle of their performances too and that the show she saw last night at Sheffield Theatres had already been performed at CAST by a dfifferent Company. The most famous of these NT Connections plays is DNA by Dennis Kelly, which is now on the GCSE Drama syllabus.
The show I saw was called "Stuff" and was written by Tom Wells (who incidentally was in the audience). It was about a group of young people trying to organise a surprise birthday party for their friend, Anita. The problem is that she has recently lost her Dad to cancer and is unlikely to want to have a party. In essence it is a play about doing your best, not always getting it right, but at least trying. The play finishes with a song that one of them has written to their friend, which goes something like "Shit stuff happens. Sometimes shit stuff happens. But that’s ok".
I know that "shit stuff happens" to all of us…, sometimes. The challenge is to remain positive and focussed, when it does. Sometimes that can take a while, depending on the level of "shit" we are talking about.
Recently the University has been talking about graduate attributes (what you take away from University in addition to the skills and knowledge you acquire on the course) and one of the most important of these has to be 'resilience'. Resilience is about keeping going when things go wrong, is about picking yourself up and carrying on and not allowing the "shit that happens" to de-rail you. When making a piece of original work (e.g. a production) there are always lots of things that can go wrong, but the secret is to be able to see the "big picture" rather than the smaller problems. In the case of Performance, the "big picture" is the show. When an audience comes in to see the show they don’t know anything that has happened before.
I know that they had problems in rehearsals for "Stuff" too. I know this because my daughter was in it. There were times when she was concerned about the show and other times when she was really excited. There were frustrations when people were unable to come to rehearsals and when they didn't seem to be making progress. In the end, though, it all came together and the show was great. These challenges are at the heart of every production; every rehearsal process.
So when you are in rehearsals and "shit stuff happens", don’t be too downhearted. Think again and find a way through it. Keep making progress. Discard things that aren't working and trust yourself that, whatever ideas you've had, there's a better one just around the corner. Through these experiences we can learn ways of being more resilient and that can help us in everything we do.
A list of the Department graduate attributes: Confidence, creativity, resilience, curiosity, globally minded, adaptable
P.S. Our very own Screenwriting lecturer, Hattie Naylor, is writing a script for NT Connections next year, called something like "the marxist in heaven"
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