Miniaturists 60

This week I spent a lot of time buried in books and in meetings about my upcoming workshop. However, I did get the chance to catch a show today and it was a wonderful inspiration for my project.

In East London there is is an Off-West End theatre called Arcola Theatre. They present a fantastic program of work throughout the year and strive to be topical, diverse and supportive of new works and talents. Today they hosted Miniaturists 60 which is a writer/producer curated event featuring new short plays. It is not unlike 8Squared/New Writers' Night which I helped produce last academic year at Central. Arcola has two performance spaces and Miniaturists 60 was presented in their main space, Studio 1.

Studio 1 is a three-quarter thrust set up with stadium-style seating and a mezzanine level that seats just shy of 200 patrons. I loved the space. I have spent a fair amount of time in three-quarter thrust theatres with stadium-style seating and have come to truly appreciate the inclusion and intimacy the audience has with the play and its performers. If you don't know, three-quarter thrust means the audience is arranged on three sides of the stage and stadium-style seating means each row of seats has its own level as the layout steps upward away from the stage. Stadium-style seating is fantastic for short people like me because the person in front is a level down and thus, their head is not an obstruction.

The program itself consisted of six short plays by different writers. The first called Lifeboat by Laura Amy Riseborough was a one man, direct-address piece that was absolutely hilarious. Direct-address means that the actor speaks directly to the audience. In this case, he eventually zeroed in on his target, a young lady. I'm sure the woman must have been warned that he would be focused on her but she was not "in character". The actor took on the role of a man desperately and clumsily navigating the world of romance.

Next up was The Fool on the Hill by Afsaneh Gray. This short had a message about diversity and fear and how we, as humans, often clump ourselves in our social groups made of similar people and find it difficult to welcome the new and different into our mini-societies.

Three Men and Some Baggage by Nick Myles was next. This told the tale of friends and unexpressed feelings of attraction. The play examined how when a new love interest comes around the threat can prod us into terrible behavior if we haven't been brave enough to express our true feelings to our dear friend and crush.

We finished the first half with Blinkers also by Laura Amy Riseborough. This was another adventure through hilarity from a writer I am now keen to learn more about. A woman arranges a date to a dining-in-the-dark restaurant experience because she can't bear to "face" her boyfriend when she breaks off the relationship. The whole scene was played in darkness and the couple struggled to communicate and to eat in the "messiest" break-up of all time.

After an interval, we came back to Disclaimer again by Laura Amy Riseborough for another spin through the comic genius of this writer's text where a woman with a few body image issues was finally getting frisky with the man she desires. For anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and then worried about getting intimate with someone, this play makes us laugh at our insecurities instead of cry.

We finished the night off with One Day Before I Die by Rosie Kellett which gave us a new explanation as to why someone might "ghost" us. If you don't know, "ghosting" is a term used most often in the dating world for when you are seeing someone and communicating with them on a regular basis and then all of a sudden they stop returning messages, answering the phone and showing up. They disappear, like a ghost.

It was a fantastic evening. Lots of laughs. And so great to see new work especially in the short format, which is very underserved. I will definitely be looking out for more Miniaturists 60 events as I understand they happen several times a year.

In the meantime, it's back to the books!
Until next week....
Take care!
-m