I am very excited about a performance in February of my new play, The Gate of the Year. If anyone in the Belfast or County Down area is interested in auditioning, the information is below: -
A new play by Gareth Russell, author of Popular and A History of the British Monarchy, is a re-telling of one of the most famous events in history - the French Revolution - told from the point of view of the upper classes, who stood to lose everything as their world shattered around them.Set in the modern day, The Gate of the Year imagines the events of the revolution as if they occurred in the twentieth century. Inspired by real events, its characters include the charming and mysterious Queen Marie-Antoinette, the fiery revolutionary Jean Marat, the quiet conservative Marc de Bombelles and the beautiful but unpopular duchess, Gabrielle de Polignac.The Gate of the Year will run at the Belvoir Studio in Belfast for three nights from 20th February 2014 and rehearsals will start in January, although they will be flexible due to exam commitments. Auditions will be held on 17th and 20th December, at the Rainbow Factory on College Square North (17th) and Belvoir Players Studio (20th). Audition extracts are now available by contacting popularauditions@yahoo.com. Please contact ASAP to reserve a spot!
This sounds amazing!! I live in the states and so my chances of seeing this performed are nil... Would it be possible for me to read the script(after the show closes of course)? I read your "Audacity of Ideas" and loved it!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds amazing!! I live in the states and so my chances of seeing this performed are nil... Would it be possible for me to read the script(after the show closes of course)? I read your "Audacity of Ideas" and loved it!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI saw your play at the weekend and would like to offer some constructive feedback. I sought out this site as I wished to learn about the mind behind the piece. The thought, effort and consideration behind the script was clearly evident. The performances were universally excellent. Very impressed. But, as they say, the play's the thing.. The sophistication of the concept was in inverse proportion to the paucity of actual drama. A literary force was obviously behind the work, with scant regard given to dramatic tension, pace, duration of scenes, action etc. etc. I genuinely felt sorry for the fine cast, lost with little direction and such a compromised script. It was like a vacuous shell- there were lights, actors, sound effects, an audience, but ultimately (ironically, given the lofty subject material) signifying nothing. I was not entertained, moved, provoked.. anything. The small audience did not help, granted, but that was not the issue. As I stated, I wish to be constructive here. You need to go back to the basics, walk before you run, understand what makes a play tick, then your obvious talent may have a hope of translating itself into this medium.
Good luck
Yours sincerely
BTW, don't expect you to publish my comment, naturally!
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI came to see the Gate of the Year on Saturday night at Belvoir and I just wanted to let you know that I thought it was incredible! I've seen a lot of your other plays and I thought the Immaculate Deception was amazing, but Gate of the Year was something else, really! It was so clever and so brilliantly written that I'm still thinking about it now. It's made me so interested in the story of Marie Antoinette and the French revolution, which I didn't know a lot about before. The cast were incredible and my drama professor said he had come to see it and thought it was one of the best plays he'd seen in a long time. So I'm glad I went! I thought you portrayed both sides very fairly and you really cared about the characters and their storylines. I thought the actors playing Prince Charles and Gabrielle de Polignac were absolutely incredible, by the way, although everyone in it was so talented.
I love your books and I've enjoyed every thing I've ever seen of yours, but Gate of the Year was one of your best. It was just beautifully written, directed and acted. My parents and I loved it, and so did my boyfriend, who does History & Politics.
I wanted to pass on my congratulations to you and everyone involved!
Sarah Graham x