Letting the story take the lead
In December last year, Hand Pulled Collective, and I ran the first of two development workshops to adapt my short story ‘Dani and the Age of Wonder’ into a full length play. The first workshop was all about story, and next week, we will be delving into part two; design and staging.
Breaking down a story is never easy. We spent the week rigorously digging deeper and deeper to find the heart of the work, its characters, world and message. But thankfully, I had alongside me: director Margaret-Mary Hollins, dramaturge Anders Falstie-Jensen, and an ensemble of beautiful actors.
Two real breakthrough moments in the workshop stand out for me. The first happened on day 2 when we took the story and broke it down one chapter at a time. It was slow work - asking at each point: what is essential? And what if? Those ‘what if?’ questions were the most challenging. They forced me to look at the work from angles I never considered. But through that, came huge revelations. Namely, the central conflict and structure. It led to removing elements that had been around since the beginning, but no longer served the work.
Our discussion was beautifully documented by our stage manager, Chloe Bettina, with colour-coded post-it notes on A3 sheets.
The second breakthrough happened on day 4, and it had to do with tone. We had been wrestling with the world and tone of the Messenger for days. And the way we figured it out was by trying out different things on the floor. Sometimes we left the actors to come up with things by themselves. Sometimes we got them to do both unstructured and directed improv. It was hard to watch at times, because you knew it was NOT what you had in mind. But it was crucial to see what didn’t work, to find what did work. And that’s the thing, you don’t always know what it is you want until you see it.
During one hilarious exercise, we got the actors to create a Messenger HQ!
What I really enjoyed about this workshop, was the organic way in which we worked. Compared to the first Oryza workshop back in 2022, this workshop had a much clearer direction. But, we weren’t tied down to the schedule we had put together. We allowed ourselves to respond to and be directed by what the work needed. That’s what made this particular process so rich and fulfilling.
The ‘Wonder’ Team
Director: Margaret-Mary Hollins
Playwright: Talia Pua
Actors: Dawn Cheong, Pennsylvania Esera, Nomuna Amarbat, Rashmi Pilapitiya
Dramaturge: Anders Falstie-Jensen
Stage Manager: Chloe Bettina
Producer: Natalya Mandich-Dohnt (Hand Pulled Collective)
This development was generously funded by Foundation North’s Asian Artist Fund
Space generously provided by Auckland Theatre Company’s Open House
