The Writer of REMEMBERING YOU LIKE SOMETHING I’D FORGOTTEN has put down some thoughts on the process of writing a new play, in particular the face that she came back to the same play one year on with new thoughts….

Louise Buchler
Where does one start when writing a play about memory? This is the challenge I was presented with when Weaver Hughes Ensemble asked me to write this play. First and foremost the topic is vast as memory and re-call are such an integral part of our lives. With a cast of seven, the theme of memory is explored on many levels with characters such as Joseph, who is trying to forget a particularly traumatic event in his life while his mother struggles with Alzheimer’s, then there is Pandora who recalls her father’s heart transplant and his experience of cellular memory. Miles and Josephine root their memories in the land, Grace cannot bear to be forgotten and Ingrid recalls her mother by cutting herself.

The show has been re-written for the Grahamstown National Arts Festival this year and sees the addition of a new character named Walter. At the moment South Africa is dealing with an influx of people fleeing Zimbabwe and most recently horrific xenophobic attacks broke out, first in Johannesburg and then around the country. The most shocking image in the media was one of a Mozambiquan man who had been set alight by a mob and subsequently burnt to death. This image made me think about ties to the land, issues of displacement and how those fleeing Zimbabwe feel about this forced displacement. Hence ‘Walter’ was born, a Zimbabwean man busking in South Africa to make a living. The creation of this character has meant a shift in the nature of the play – one that resonates strongly with current affairs in South Africa as well as exploring the notion of brotherhood. Walter symbolizes the dream of unity – his music and his love for Bob Marley root him to home. He sees the creation of music as a way of remembering a dream, keeping the hope of peace alive. In its inception the cast explored the idea of memory and despite the diversity of the group and their stories the one common wish was to be remembered. Walter echoes this hope through his music and his belief in the greater good.

Writing this play has been a fascinating experience, the theme of memory a powerful tool as it is one we can all identify with. The creation of Walter has provided a vehicle to explore issues surrounding and encompassed by memory and has added a new dimension to the overall nature of the play. The characters in this play are ordinary human beings dealing with issues bigger than themselves, they are not celebrities or politicians their stories are those of average people leading average lives and this for me is what makes them so powerful, so easily identifiable. They may not change the course of history; they probably won’t get a mention in the newspapers or the eight ‘o clock news but there is something profound in their personal experience and their overall resilience in the face of adversity.

National Arts Festival

As the Lady begins to sing for the SIX WIVES

on the 26th June...we will be opening in South Africa with REMEMBERING YOU LIKE SOMETHING I’D FORGOTTEN…

And then heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with three productions in August.

So how has the LEARY LADIES been:

“Impressive”
The Independent

4 STARS
'Philip de Gouveia's excellent first play...stylishly directed by Timothy Hughes'
Whatsonstage.com

4 STARS
'A truly unique, kaleidoscopic, theatrical experience; not to be missed'
remotegoat.co.uk

4 STARS
'...an arresting and impressive piece of theatre'
musicOMH.com

'a cast of young women who act their socks off, make this play one you should certainly turn on, tune in and drop out to.'
London24

So watch out for the LADIES THAT LUNCH in Edinburgh

And so to South Africa. REMEMBERING YOU will be at VICKY’S at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from the 26th June to 5th July

Last year the play premiered at the festival to critical acclaim. '

A meditation on memory....Faultlessly performed'
Cue, Grahamstown 2007

This year promises to be no different, and what’s more, it that the playwright has developed the piece to bring into focus the current influx into South Africa from refuges fleeing Zimbabwe.

We wait for further news!

part one ends

The SIX WIVES have been playing for 10 days straight. You can't say that we don't make it easy for the company. When you sign a contract with us, you sign. No quarter is given.

Ask anyone about a WHen warm up and a flash of horror and pain will pass across the face while muscles are re-claimed in the thighs. Oh the joy of the same position for 20 minutes straight. A theatre company.. more like boot camp!

But such passing thoughts aside, the WIVES are looking forward to a well earned rest. And some flyering!!!

In the mean time, read this:

Le Cool

Six months following its critically acclaimed debut at Etcetera Theatre in Camden, the Weaver Hughes Ensemble’s The Six Wives of Timothy Leary this month moves to Riverside Studios. Like La Lohan post-rehab, this little number has come out refreshed, reenergised and more than ready to storm Edinburgh this August, where they are set to perform at the Fringe. For those who don’t remember – this 90-minute play examines six women who at one point in their lives fell victim to the enticing advances of American psychologist and LSD lothario Timothy Leary. But victims they were not. No, the women in this tale are glaringly bold and played by a troupe of compelling (and beautiful) young women who have gracefully grown into their respective roles since the play’s last incarnation in Camden. / Chloe McCloskey

How cool is that.

So far with the Wives at Riverside Studios (London)

The Wives has been open now for eight performances, and audience have been drifting through. Not as much as we would have liked but the response has been fantastic.

The production is much deeper and more haunting than last time at the Etcetera Theatre. That is probably due to several reasons. The first is that when mounting a new play you go for simple choices, especially if its unfunded and unpaid. What we mean here is that you look for the direct choices. You look to make the choices quick and be direct. The second reason for a more in-depth piece is that the actors have had a further six months to live with their characters. This has lead to a richer understanding of the words, the meaning, the intentions and their place in the world.

And the notices from the critics have born this out!

The Independent

Drop in, stay tuned, be impressed: finally,
justice to the 'king of acid'

Philip de Gouveia's wittily accomplished first play strives to solve the problem of overabundance and perspective by keeping the central figure offstage. Leary's story is filtered through the six main women who shared his life.

Spanning four decades, the piece catches the women at revealingly angled moments – the shifting contexts differentiated with crisp clarity in Timothy Hughes' assured, expertly acted production.

MusicOMH.com

4 stars

It is an arresting and impressive piece of theatre.

The final scene sees the five surviving wives drinking a subdued toast to Tim as his dead wife appears behind a curtain. It would have been all too easy to have her ‘rise from the dead’ to argue with the others, and it is a credit to the creators that that they opted for a far subtler ending: the light on Marianne going out just a second after it does on
the others.

Remotegoat.co.uk

4 stars

A truly unique, kaleidoscopic, theatrical experience; not to be missed

The Six Wives of Timothy Leary is written with the expertise of an established writer finely tuned with the subtleties of a fresh young mind; brilliant!

So.

It is becoming a very rich and reward experience for all, and which we feel with only grow with the performances, both here and in Edinburgh.

Welcome

Welcome to the WHen. blog.

Here, we hope to further our artistic ambitions, develop our senses and communicate with the wider community.

WHen. has always been about the process. The process of how work is created, how artists work together and how the work interacts with an audience. Over the last few years, the company has been developing a distinct style of work and presence on the theatre scene. One which is based on risk and excitement.

We hope that through continuing to discuss our thoughts on theatre, and the wider community, on different art forms, writing, politics, in fact anything at all, we will enrich our work.

And also have fun along the way.

WHen.