Update on my work !

The long awaited update… or maybe not so much!
As a freelancer you will tend to find we work on project after project and have very little time for documenting our work. Or at least we see it as secondary to the action going on in the room.
Which we blissfully ignore until it comes to funding applications, paperwork or self promotion.
Often we have these conversations at networking events or coffee catch ups and its only then we take stock of the work we are doing, have done and are planning to do.

So I suggest you go make a cuppa, because this is a long one!

When the pandemic hit, I was in the midst of working on a really great film project with the 60+ group at The Lyceum in Edinburgh as well as starting a new project with the National Theatre of Scotland and running my own drama classes in Buckhaven.

Sadly I lost all of this freelance work, like many others and our beloved, lively and bustling industry took a dark, quiet and worrying plunge. It went to blackout and the curtain remained closed for a very long time.

I was fortunate enough to be working from home for Fife College but not in a theatre role, in the role of tutor… but I was student-less and like many others finding themselves changing their practices or adopting old roles and dusting off once worn hats, I felt lost and unfulfilled.

Now, I am very lucky I still had an income and very fortunate to have been in a very supportive environment but I won’t lie, I can’t. Loosing all that work, those connections & experiences took its toll. I was well and truly down in the dumps!

Let’s fast forward to the beginning of 2021, the work slowly started coming back and let me tell you I was ready. You all know I am nosey and love a blether, so it will come as no surprise I took part in many, many online networking and workshops during the lockdown so I felt raring to go with new and freshly cemented politics about theatre arts and community working.

So 2021 - one of the biggest years in my career to date & who wouldve thought it be during a bloody global pandemic eh!

Young Quines!
I launched Young Quines in partnership with Stellar Quines. A new and innovate youth theatre for young women and non-binary folk aged 14-21 in FIFE!! You read that right, i’m still buzzing - Fife specific.
This came out of a period of research and development visiting Fife schools’ drama departments, colleges and speaking to our young people. It was super clear to me that the lack of confidence, self belief and support available to these young women and non-binary folk was startling and quite honestly infuriating.

I grew up in Fife and went to so many meaningful and really great youth theatre experiences and it was becoming clear to me that this was no longer happening on the same scale or quality in Levenmouth or further afield.

We are now quite far into the pilot of Young Quines and we are having so many good moments of joy, learning and creating such as brilliant way of working in Fife.
There are four hubs: Levenmouth - Tuesday Nights / Anstruther - Wednesday Nights / Dunfermline - Tuesday Nights / Kirkcaldy - yet to be confirmed.
We have employed 8 artists at varying stages of their careers, all with a direct link and connection to Fife through work/live/play ideals.

You can find out more below:
Young Quines / Stellar Quines
Local News / Fife Today
The Stage
YouTube

Buckhind Players!
After a standout our year with our very first Panto in 2019 you can imagine our disappointment when we had to close our doors for April 2020.
However its not all doom and gloom, oh not its not! We did lots of online engagement, managed to stay connected as a group through video calls etc and we were awarded funding!
Yes that right, we are not as skint as were or pot less and penniless as Widow Twankey would say…
All the money will be going towards our future productions and the launch of our new Youth Theatre.
This group continues to grow in strength, creativity and kindness and never fails to inspire me and motivate me so here’s hoping we are back on stage soon!
Buckhind Players

3D Theatre!
My drama group for the bairns of Levenmouth - 8-12 year olds on Friday nights. Not everyones idea of fun but trust me I love it! These young people are so brilliant, and honestly just refill me with energy come a Friday night. They are so kind, funny and hard working. This year we plan to put on productions and engage with our local community. In this group I want to help create pathways into the theatre arts for these young people so they can see that being in the arts is a viable career option and just as valid as being a baker, bus driver, doctor or teacher.

Awards!
And we can’t let this blog go published without mentioning that I have been very fortunate in the last year to win awards…aye that’s right plural. What are you lot like? Nominating me and getting me all emotional.
In all seriousness though as a theatre maker and director I just do the work, I am lucky enough to get to work with people who are incredibly creative, inspiring, funny and talented of all ages and that for me is why I do it, that and I just love story telling and making folk laugh.
I was and still overwhelmed to be honest at the kindness of these nominations and wins but I shall accept them in a dramatic flare none the less. Cue the music.

Staff Innovation and Recognition Award - Fife College
(I was nominated by students in custodial settings, so that meant a great deal)

30 Under 30 - Young Womens Movement Scotland
(I made it onto the top 30 inspiring women in Scotland under 30 list, nominated by very kind collaborators and friends - this was really really cool.)

Framework Theatre - The Scottish Emerging Theatre Awards 2021
WINNER :
Flourish Award - supported by Vanishing Point - Celebrating a standout artist who has progressed greatly in the past year.
RUNNER UP :
Community Award - supported by the Citizens Theatre - Celebrating an emerging theatre practitioner or project making a difference through theatre.
LONG LIST NOMINEE:
Innovate Award - supported by Grid Iron - Celebrating a project that pushed boundaries of form, delivered by emerging theatre makers.

In amongst all this I have also been able to connect and work with some of my favourite collaborators again too, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland as part of their Back In The Room workshops and Creative Consultancy programme. Tina West and Fife College Acting Students on some really cool autobiographical work and various other little bits of work.

So aye, not a brag but its definitely been quite the year and honestly just such a joy to be working again and to be making waves within Fife feels like a big moment for me as an artist. A huge thank you to everyone who made my 2021 probably my best year yet.
Our industry took such a beating and jobs or opportunities now are so sought after and competitive that I truly believe we will see a return of grass roots working, people embedding their work back into their communities and hopefully a a reshuffling of who makes up our audiences.

As always, if there’s any work I can offer others I will do, similarly if you have an idea that I can help with, please let me know! Always happy to blether.

My hope is to make blogging a regular thing to allow insight to what I do and how you or your young people can do it too, this might be writing or videos - we shall see!

Thanks again and if you made it this far - thanks for staying!