Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
Mother of twins Phillipa has got a lot on her plate... A daughter with a mental illness that needs constant attention, a husband with an ego in need of regular stroking, a dog to feed, constant reminders of her estranged Evangelical mother...Marcus, a born-again Buddhist, enters the picture with the promise of new beginnings. But that might be a little harder for Phillipa to take on than she thought.
Here, Writer of 'The Middle Way' Lucy Combe pens an open letter about the performance.
“I first drafted 'The Middle Way' many years ago while studying Creative Writing in London. I received some helpful nuggets of advice about the play which I chose to ignore in favour of focusing my attention upon ‘the starting’ of other sparkly pieces. Fast forward to a new chapter and a resolve to ‘complete’.
Of all my half projects shoved in that metaphorical drawer, 'The Middle Way' was calling me the loudest, so I picked her up again. Going back to a piece you started at a different life stage is interesting and much has changed from the original in terms of plot and character. The centrality of spiritual life as rescuer is still key though, as are our outward identities as constructs. I’ve always been fascinated by the roles we, as humans, play and the comfort drawn from belonging to a club, even if this results in the swallowing of individual desire.
Central to this notion in 'The Middle Way', is the splintered Phillipa who finds herself at a crossroad having spent much of her life hiding from the legacy of a power imbalance, only to be confronted by her history in unexpected ways.
After rewriting the script to a point where I knew it wasn’t done, but also wanting to set it alight, I was lucky enough to be pointed in the direction of the wonderful Matt Hawkins and his recently formed company, South Australian Playwrights Theatre. Matt’s passion for the craft of writing knows no bounds and he assisted me greatly in further rewrites. Around the same time, I was being bowled over by Samantha Riley’s creative talents. Sam hadn’t been in Adelaide for long when we crossed paths and I convinced her that she really wanted to direct my play despite having hundreds of her own balls in the air!
Despite having a theatre background, I was adamant that I didn’t want to direct my own writing, and the more I watch Sam in action, I could not be further convinced that this was a sensible move. She brings with her a professional career in musical theatre and cabaret and has this ability to enable the actors to find the subtext and emotion of the language through their physicality. It’s beautiful to watch. And while she is performing this magic, I’m still stuck on page three, wondering if that comma should in fact be a semi-colon.
Collaboration is a word we often use and although it sounds cliché, creating 'The Middle Way' as a team has been invigorating. Sam is adamant that actors should be allowed to do what they do best which is create characters, however, she also sets the right parameters for them to be able do so successfully. Our actors bring their all to the rehearsal room and are simply gold.
Creating new theatre from the ground up with like-minded souls has been exhilarating and it is with a trepidation that is to be expected, but also deep excitement, we await opening night!”
Of all my half projects shoved in that metaphorical drawer, 'The Middle Way' was calling me the loudest, so I picked her up again. Going back to a piece you started at a different life stage is interesting and much has changed from the original in terms of plot and character. The centrality of spiritual life as rescuer is still key though, as are our outward identities as constructs. I’ve always been fascinated by the roles we, as humans, play and the comfort drawn from belonging to a club, even if this results in the swallowing of individual desire.
Central to this notion in 'The Middle Way', is the splintered Phillipa who finds herself at a crossroad having spent much of her life hiding from the legacy of a power imbalance, only to be confronted by her history in unexpected ways.
After rewriting the script to a point where I knew it wasn’t done, but also wanting to set it alight, I was lucky enough to be pointed in the direction of the wonderful Matt Hawkins and his recently formed company, South Australian Playwrights Theatre. Matt’s passion for the craft of writing knows no bounds and he assisted me greatly in further rewrites. Around the same time, I was being bowled over by Samantha Riley’s creative talents. Sam hadn’t been in Adelaide for long when we crossed paths and I convinced her that she really wanted to direct my play despite having hundreds of her own balls in the air!
Despite having a theatre background, I was adamant that I didn’t want to direct my own writing, and the more I watch Sam in action, I could not be further convinced that this was a sensible move. She brings with her a professional career in musical theatre and cabaret and has this ability to enable the actors to find the subtext and emotion of the language through their physicality. It’s beautiful to watch. And while she is performing this magic, I’m still stuck on page three, wondering if that comma should in fact be a semi-colon.
Collaboration is a word we often use and although it sounds cliché, creating 'The Middle Way' as a team has been invigorating. Sam is adamant that actors should be allowed to do what they do best which is create characters, however, she also sets the right parameters for them to be able do so successfully. Our actors bring their all to the rehearsal room and are simply gold.
Creating new theatre from the ground up with like-minded souls has been exhilarating and it is with a trepidation that is to be expected, but also deep excitement, we await opening night!”
