Back to the blogging

i haven’t blogged all summer ! I have been too busy writing other stuff.
It’s hard to know how to use your time . There’s a play to finish ...a few poems on the boil and of course that fantasy novel that I have been trying to finish forever!

I have limited time so what’s the priority....or should I spent time and money on a course instead?
But there are so many courses. It seems everyone is an expect and everyone will take hundreds of pounds just to help you decide what to write and how to write it.

Then there are the competitions! For nearly all you have to pay. For two years I entered magazine comps and I guess spent nearly two hundred quid. I got one poem published and three short listed for no cash and to be fair when I read the winners I wasn’t convinced they were particularly good. But how do we know what is good?

When I produce a play which  I have written and directed I get good feedback, good reviews but I send off playscripts and get very little response....a few showcases of an odd scene is all I have ever achieved.
I sell scripts on amazon but only a few licences to perform. Those that have have been successful.

I go to open mics where poems go down well but sales on my poetry books are very small.
So what do I have to do? Write a sex novel? A crime novel? Like everyone else seems to be doing
I think I have written some good stuff but I haven’t written a great piece...yet. The play or novel that is going to crack it....so back to the laptop and try try again
Meanwhile, my “good” plays can be found at www.bevclarkplays.co.uk some of which are licenced to www.stagescripts.com and some available on Amazon just search Bev Clark ...btw not the books about dogs-  they’re not mine !
You can follow me on twitter and face book  and look out for my play Baggage at the Liverpool Irish festival this October
My poetry books are on Amazon too .

Writing a fantasy novel

In my fantasy novel Sürrǣlia – a trilogy of fable, fairy-tale, myth and legend, there are many characters I have been inspired to write by imagining who would play them in the mini-series!

I suppose if anyone is the visual inspiration for the character of Esméraldi it is Eleanor Tomlinson.

A beautiful red-headed, green-eyed Queen and matriarch. At the start of the book she is much older but her story is told in flashbacks and recollections.

“Esméraldi the Green has a pedigree like no other” said Lord Périon “Her mother was Lavinia De Lahǣ: half fairy, half elven and said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Her father was the noble and gallant Sir Florizel; Knight of Gorron and son to King Florizorre of Florenz and Queen Gelda Longhair of the Norrs. When Gideon the Peacemaker took Esméraldi as his queen she became the mother of a dynasty which would rule not only Panómoria but every corner of Sürrǣlia….” 

I realise fantasy novels are not for everyone and lots might say it’s all been done before from Camelot to Game of Thrones but it’s a world I have had inside my head for a very long time and I feel with all the planning of the structure, back stories, timelines and genealogy I have put into it, I need to get it all down if only for my own peace of mind. Writing a novel is a lot harder than writing a  play. Stop procrastinating Bev, get writing the next chapter – this epic won’t write itself!

I would be interested to hear how many people like reading this genre . This won't have as many battles as Lord of the Rings. No dwarves or monsters but there are Elves, Fairyfolk and different races. There is magic, treachery, love and honour as you would expect but it is also a metaphor for the modern world as it talks of refugees, people displaced and the mixing of races.

 

 

 

Sunny Days- Outdoor Theatre

Oh for Lazy days in the sunshine!

It seems even when I do get a day off I find myself sitting at the laptop when I would like to be taking advantage of the sunshine. Well, it may all be gone next week, Its usually the case as the outdoor productions begin so do the summer storms.

I love an outdoor production in the summer when you can eat drink and soak up the theatre! I haven't actually directed many outdoor events - the last was in 2012 - remember July when it rained nearly everyday? We were performing After the Dream - a modern sequel to A Midsummer Night's Dream - in various outside venues across Wirral. The rain was so bad we ended up in conservatories, barns, community halls and last-minute indoor theatres, just to be able to complete the tour.
Nevertheless, it worked really well inside and the play was a great success. It was my first venture into playing around with Shakespeare. This funny, magical play was interwoven with Shakespearean lines amid the modern mayhem.

The full length play, details of which are on my new website www.bevclarkplays.co.uk  is now licenced to www.stagescripts.com and if you are already planning your next summer's production why not take a look- 4 male 4 female and one garden set. Photos of Hand in Hand Theatre's 2012 production for RSC Openstages, which was previewed at Contact Theatre Manchester can be seen at www.handinhandtheatre.com/gallery 

When the two couples are celebrating their 20th anniversary both are experiencing married life very differently and when three new Age travellers gate-crash their party a whole new magic starts to take place. The strangers have come to break a spell but with hilarious results.

Shakespeare meets Ayckbourn is how this 90 minutes of fun, music and magic was described. A great vehicle for the forty-somethings!

New theatre tour for two plays about women

It is an exciting time when you are putting together a theatre tour of plays which you have both written and directed. A new team, cast, scripts and new venues.  Baggage, a two hander about a housewife and a homeless woman is a comic-tragic short play that premiered at the Wirral Festival of Firsts in July. The feedback and reviews were so good it encouraged me to put it with another two-hander SPACE and make a mini tour of the Merseyside area.

Space is about a woman, Crazy who is living in chaos. She needs to declutter her house and also her mind. Sanity, her alter ego arrives to help her find some space but can the two of them work together in harmony.
Both plays have themes of women in middle life, the change, marriage and divorce, children, affairs, ailing parents, dealing with death and break up, getting old and trying to stay fit. Depression and loneliness but... there's also a lot of laughter in between the tears and cries of rage.

It might seem a lot of bags and boxes but four actresses give their all in these heart warming plays that will bring a tear to your eye .
The January tour is to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Hand in Hand Theatre Productions and their new associate Tour co. Bus Stop productions.  the tour will be calling at ...
the Blue lounge at the Floral Pavilion New Brighton on Thursday 18th Jan. Then on to the Clwyd room Theatr Clwyd Mold on Fri 19th . THe following day there is a matinee performance at Neston Civc Hall Cheshire. On Weds 24th they will be at the Studio in Widnes, Thursday 25th CASA in hope street and finally another matinee on sat 27th at Tarvin community centre.
All women will find something to relate to in both these shows  all details will be on our website soon at www.handinhandtheateproductions.co.uk and tickets will be on sale from October.

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG

They tell me blogging is the way to get more hits on your website - is this true? Although I use social media extensively I only blog occasionally -mainly because of the time factor. As a playwright, writing for the amateur theatre market, I want to use as many tools as possible to spread the word but so far my blogs haven't generated much response.  When you are trying to set up a small business and promote your own work you have to find the best ( and cheapest ways of advertising).  As a working mum I am squeezing in writing as well as admin, advertising, publicity etc. usually all before breakfast.

So, here goes another 6am blog. While the rest of the house sleep I am getting up to date on three new titles going up on the website www.scripts4stage.com  this month.

BAGGAGE is a two hander for women. A one act play dealing with friendship and homelessness .When Sandra, a tired frustrated housewife meets Annie a woman with a terrible tragedy living rough they find some common ground. This is about their emotional baggage as well as the physical "bags" they carry.
Originally written in 2006 as a short sketch, New Flight Publications published it online and Amazon last September but with it being premiered this month, the script was developed in rehearsals and with new images it was republished to coincide with the first performance.

REMEMBRANCE DAY - a drama about fathers and sons with a ghostly feel. This was originally written in 2007 and produced in 2009 by Hand in Hand Theatre Productions it was successful at both All England Theatre Festival, National Drama Festival and Geoffrey Whitworth playwriting competition and received rave reviews. It was then licenced by NODA and in 2014, two other groups performed as part of WW1 centenary. New Flight took the Rights in 2015 and the script was available on download. This tenth anniversary edition is the first time it has appeared in paperback and it is hoped for the 2018 centenary it may prove popular.
The story of five generations of the Watson family against a backdrop of war. Darren, the young protagonist in 2006 is getting bullied and into trouble. His dad, a veteran from the Gulf War is suffering from PTD. Darren meets a stranger who takes him back to 1916 when he learns a lot about
fathers and sons so he can make his own footprint in the future.
This all male cast requires two young teenage boys as well as three older men but could work for a boys school or youth group as well as theatre groups.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME - a light hearted look at one family who leave the stressful world behind and find some peace of mind is "another place" but where exactly have they been?
This one act amusing  piece was again written in 2006 and although available on download since 2015 this is its first publication.  3Males 3 Females ( including a teenage boy and girl) plus a couple of walk-ons but an ideal festival play.
The Hargreaves are overworked and under stress and their world is running out of time until they end up in an old fashioned hotel in the west country where time seems to have stood still. There is a twist in the tale to leave them and the audience wondering - was it a dream or just a little bit of magic?

Three new titles means New Flight Publications have twelve one act plays on www.scripts4stage.com in a year. With new titles in the pipeline for the coming months. Also, an anthology of poetry A Poem For All Seasons has been on Amazon since Christmas 2016 with a new one planned for Christmas 2017

If you read this blog please leave a comment to let me know if blogging is helping - To Blog or not to Blog is still the question.

Spooky and zany new scripts

The past few months have been busy getting more of my scripts on to Amazon marketplace. Visit www.scripts4stage.com or search Bev Clark on Amazon.

 The latest two one act plays are very different S.P.AC.E is a zany two hander for women: Crazy is a woman lost in chaos, her house is a mess of clutter and junk. Her mind is a mess of memories, guilt and emotions she can't handle. In short, she can't cope. That's when her alter ego Sanity turns up to help but they can't find much in common. Working through the problems and the clutter they eventually find peace, harmony and Space! Laughter and tears....and a bit of Zumba ! Great fun as a short play for "women of a certain age"

Room No.5 is a revised version of my play Box. This is a theatre of the Absurd mystery set in a psychiatric hospital where characters become other characters and we are left guessing who is the patients and who are the medical staff. If you like dark, weird and mysterious this might be for your group. Two females and three males - with an extra actor "in the box" A great bit of fun and madness.

Both plays can be found at www.scripts4stage.com or on Amazon 

Other new plays include a short drama My Life Unspoken. A woman nursing her dying husband is taken back to her past by the visit from a stranger. Jessie's Tree a play for young people and saga through the 2Oth century. 4 separate scenes the first set in 1918 just after WW1 two children form an unlikely friendship through grief. then in 1940, two local children meet two evacuees. In 1967 a group of teenagers learn first hand about the reality of loss in the summer of love until finally its Halloween 1999 and Jess's birthday party reveals a secret that links all the generations. Funny, sad and heart warming a great play for schools and youth groups. 

what's coming up in the next few months? Baggage is to be revised and updated as the premiere of this two handed takes place 15th July and the new copies will be out by then. RIP Mr Shakespeare, our award winning play, will be changed to a black and white copy. the full colour version was a limited edition for our celebration year. so, if you would like the full colour version buy it now as it will only be available in b/w soon. 

New titles for the summer and autumn in the pipeline plus a new poetry anthology before Christmas 

So I better get writing. 

WALK ON BY.

WALK ON BY.

(A trip to the city prompted a short piece of creative writing)

I gave him my lunch. His gaze, half grateful for the sandwich, half lost in another place. Yet he managed to turn to the next passer-by and ask “any spare change?”  Perhaps he would have preferred my coins to food but I knew that would only end up on drink or drugs and what the boy needed was sustenance.

I only hovered for a moment, just long enough to notice the filthy blue sleeping bag, his scruffy hair, his white vacant stare. A hint of a handsome boy now almost a corpse.  I walked on, each doorway it seemed was a space for littered bodies. There among the cacophony of gulls, buskers and the beating of feet hurrying about their lunchtime business, were cardboard boxes and plastic bags holding something resembling “wrapped-up people.”            

I found myself looking down at my feet to evade the beggars’ eyes. I couldn’t help them all.  I was to be like all the others who managed to avoid these desperate pleas; no doubt passing here every day, now experts in avoidance with their designer carry bags – Were they blind or just hardened to it? 

The woman in the shop told me it was like an epidemic – young lives lost to addiction and neglect. There were so many of them the council had gated off an area behind the multi-storey car park where they all congregated: It was like a little village she said.

“It’s the Spice you know? It’s killing them. “

I wondered where their mothers were – the women who bled to give them life. Had they abandoned them or were they left somewhere grieving for their lost sons and daughters?

I wondered why all the empty buildings couldn’t be opened up –made into liveable, safe accommodation. Why wasn’t someone, somewhere, helping?

This is a proud city. Its heart beats with its music. Its history flows through its blood. Its people look out for each other; stand up for each other… yet its streets are awash with the homeless, the lost- unwanted and invisible.

Poetry Should Be For Everyone

My first book of poetry - A Poem for all Seasons takes a journey through the months of the year with poems about the weather, nature, the location where I live and memories and feelings of joy as well as loss.

My poetry, especially in this anthology, is what I would term as popular poetry it is not the abstract complexity of ideas and textures you get from much of the "literary" poetry that wins awards. This. I believe. is more for the ordinary people who like a rhyme or two, like something familiar they can understand and relate to, without having to think after reading it - what did it mean?

So much poetry I feel is to "clever" for its own good but of course, like art or theatre it is in the eye of the beholder. We all have different likes and dislikes and different ways of appreciating a walk along the river.

These poems, I hope, just create pictures and stories that are recognisable in an instance. As the reader scans the words they are there in the moment and it helps them make an emotional connection with the time and place.

Poetry is probably the most subjective of all the art forms and everyone can find something that appeals to their our sensibilities. Words take us to beautiful evocative places - they can make us feel every emotion under the sun.

The poems in this little book are just my ways of recording the world around me and I hope others will enjoy them for that.

I begin with a dedication to Holly - Holly Green was the young Wirral Poet Laureate in 2007-2008 and as a school-girl her grasp of language and imagery was more superior than many three times her age. I doubt I shall every be as good but her being part of my first community pageant All Along The River was a honour. Although I wrote most of the poetry, prose and music for this extravaganza for Liverpool's Capital of Culture, I could not have done it without the input of the other writers, poets and musicians who contributed to it and so it is in memory of that project my dedication is to her.

Some of the poems are just capturing the seasonal flavour as in "Winter Childhood" when an old man in a nursing home is looking at old black and white photos and remembering the fun of his childhood playing in the snow.  Other poems are more cynical like "Another New Year's Day"

There are poems about famous landscapes "Another Place" - the iron men standing in the Mersey sculptured by Antony Gormley - in this poem I imagine what the iron men may be thinking and how we define freedom.  "London Tripping" is a fast rhythmical poem about a trip to London and the train journey home to Liverpool. £" "River Sunday" paints a busy picture of all the sights one can see in just one morning along the River Mersey. Alternatively, "River Morning" shows a different side to the river through nature.

Liscard Cemetery has also been the source of much inspirations and "In loving Memory" is in this book but other poems and stories are also waiting to be published.  Vale Park , set on the promenade in New Brighton has also been a source as in the poem "Benches".

Poetry is all around us and in each one of us. so I hope if people consider buying this as a Christmas or birthday gift for someone they will appreciate the love I have for my surroundings.

The book is available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poem-All-Seasons-Collection-Poetry/dp/153996423X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481107716&sr=1-1&keywords=bev+clark

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Haunting tale for Winter Nights

Now it's cold outside  why not try a ghostly supernatural drama for a dark Winter evening? This one act drama has a cast of six characters - three male three female and would make an ideal festival play or as part of an evenings drama. If your technical department are ambitious and like a challenge there is plenty for them to get their technical teeth into as sound lighting and effects will really enhance this creepy tale. Available on Amazon.https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1539518833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479315357&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ghost+crib+by+bev+clark

When farmer Hornby and his wife keep a secret they could not imagine what the consequences would be. Their young daughter is haunted by nightmares but are they visited by a ghost from the past ?
This is my six play on Amazon or you can find out more by visiting wwwwww.script4stage.com.scripts4stage.com  or like our facebook https://www.facebook.com/1092254910846022/photos/1100389356699244/s/ or follow us on twitter@scripts4stage.

Writing is more creative than housework any day

Cold mornings and blocked noses are good excuses to stay in bed but if you are like me and feel guilty about the washing up still in the sink or the pile of clothes in the dirty laundry basket,then creeping back under the covers and forgetting the world is hard to do...so I grab my iPad and tap out some notes....it makes me feel - well at least I am doing something. what's more important ? Washing up or creating a possible masterpiece ? Perhaps, not a masterpiece but I have two new plays, a couple of half written poems and a short story that is getting longer each day. Ideas are not the problem. Starting is not the problem. Finishing them - is !  O I know how they'll finish, well most of the time but I just don't have time to finish!! O for a day that has thirty hours or more. O for a P.A who could type as quick as I think . O to make just enough money so I can give up work and finally have time to write and do the housework... or better still afford a cleaner !  I have finished some plays of course they are now on my website.www.scripts4stage.com. And now four of them available on Amazon. just search one act plays by Bev Clark but I have so much more to write ....so for now the dishes can wait!
What do I write ? Drama comedy horror romance I think I can tackle most genres although supernatural and twist in the tale are my favourite.... and that reminds me my new ghostly one act drama The Ghost Crib should be out next week on Amazon . A haunting period drama about a girl possessed.  I have also just finished putting together a book of poetry. Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself I am finishing some stuff. Now should I get up and go to Tesco or should I write another chapter of my fantasy novel ? ... decisions ...decisions.  Follow me on twitter @hihtheatre or @scripts4stage.com

New Play shows how emotional baggage can weigh you down.

My new play BAGGAGE- is about two women and their very different emotional baggage which they carry around with them. Sandra, a fifty something mother of three and wife to Pete is weighed down with real baggage - Christmas shopping but also the constant worry and needs of this demanding but "normal" family with its tears, tantrums and fussiness.

She meets Annie, a stereotypical bag lady weighed down with trolley and plastic bags in which she carries her life but her emotional baggage is far heavier than anything  Sandra can imagine.

These two different women forge an unlikely friendship.

This one act drama touches on many issues, death and grieving, mental health, homelessness as well as the place of women seen still as wives and mothers. Women of a certain generation still being somewhat trapped between ideas of their modern role and that of past generations.

This drama has moments of humour and comic banter and moments of tragedy and despair requiring two mature actresses to give both emotion and empathy to the roles as well as possessing good timing and delivery.

An excellent festival play running under fifty minutes and a minimal set.

 Previous plays of mine have been successful at both All England and National drama festivals. Remembrance Day and Bentley: road to Justice both northern winners 2009 and 2011 and recently R.I.P MR Shakespeare was also Northern Winner 2016. Remembrance Day and R.I.P both NDFA All Winners finalist as well. The Black Eyes best youth play and semi finalist for central region AETF 2016.

 For details of all my plays check out www.cripts4stage.com.
Baggage is now available on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Baggage-One-Act-play-two-females/dp/1537570498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478556468&sr=8-1&keywords=baggage+by+bev+clark as are R.I.P , Make Me Invisible and When The Dark Sea Cries. New titles being added all the time. Please follow me on twitter @@scripts4stage

Period drama for large female cast

As dramas such as Poldark hit record viewing numbers it is clear period dramas which offer adventure, romance and wild landscapes could be as popular on stage as they are on screen.

Bev Clark’s new drama When the Dark Sea Cries, takes us to fishing village on the coast of North Somerset circa 1850s, where a tempest is raging in the Bristol Channel and the men of the fishing village are all out at sea. The women folk remain waiting…. and this play is about eight women in particular.

The main protagonist is Kate Martyn a woman in her mid-thirties who has three young sons, one who is deaf and out in the storm with his father. Kate, though poor and illiterate is strong-minded and sharp-witted. Her older sister Marianne who has been married twenty years has no children and now shares a secret with her sister.

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Their mother Ma Bess has already been widowed by the sea and fears this storm will bring more tragedy. Emily Tavener is wife to Jack, one of the skippers and mother to some of the crew. She is a woman nursing her own grief already. Bryony, Tilly and Lizzie are the younger girls who each have family on the boats and as the matriarch - Old Susan with her philosophy and experience watches over all the women of the village, a story unfolds in the space of one long night.

Into this storm-battered dwelling comes Dr Richard Trelawney an Irishman travelling from Bristol who has lost his way. Susan believes his arrival is providence for indeed he is able to give some help to the group of women but for Kate it heralds the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

A violent storm brings them a miracle but also a tragedy… yet hope for new beginnings. Originally inspired by a quote from the poet Ted Hughes 

“The sea cries with its meaningless voice treating alike its dead and its living…”

This one-act drama offers a cast of eight female characters, one male and one teenage boy. Ideal for a festival play it is now available on Amazon.com Licence available from www.scripts4stage.com 

NEW PLAY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

New for 2016, MAKE ME INVISIBLE by Bev Clark - a play for young people which explores the world of an adolescent boy who feels he is alone, isolated, bullied and not understood by his peers.  Through his older self as the narrator and his younger self as the protagonist, we see through his eyes, the gangs of kids who pick on him and belittle him and finally ignore him as if he is “thin air”.

He sees them all as animals - the long-legged laughing girls are hyenas. The goading name-calling boys are monkeys. The foxes who pretend to be his friends but then laugh behind his back.  The owls, ravens and snakes each find a way to hurt him.

When he cannot cope with the stress of the classroom or playground he retreats into a series of surreal, dream-like scenes expressed through physical theatre, movement, sometimes with music - sometimes with poetry.

His one fascination is with the sky and the stars. From an early ambition to be an astronaut he now wants to fly so he can be lifted up from all of his earthly unhappiness.

The ending is ambiguous left for you to interpret whether he overcomes his obstacles or submits to his failings.

A poetic one-act drama for teenagers allowing for some improvisation and devising around the issue of loneliness and isolation.

The script is available to buy from Amazon.com for £4.95 and performance licences are available from www.scripts4stage.com