Welcome to Stage One!

Hi from David.

The first post of the new blog. You do of course know that aisteoir is Irish for "actor".

I don't know the Irish word for "actress" but that's okay because I don't much like the term anyhow. Reminds me of "poetess" or "sculptress". Yuk. Like calling a female motorist a "driveress".

But, moving on. I just want to take this opportunity to welcome you to the world of drama. It's an ancient art form, dating back millennia. I'm sometimes surprised it's survived for so long.

I mean: look at the competition. TV. Film. Video. Online gaming. Even blogs like this one. So what's so special about drama, the theatre, that it's endured for thousands of years?

Theatre is little more than a conversation.

Except it's carried on in public, in front of an audience. And people (usually) pay to come along and hear the conversation.

Basically a play need be no more elaborate than one or two people talking to one another. (In fact, it can be even simpler: the so-called one-person show.) That's generally speaking a stand-up comedian entertaining an audience for an hour or two, but sometimes a play is written to be performed by a single actor.

That takes some skill. And a genuine lack of stage fright. The good news is that, long before you'll be in that scary position, you'll have shared a stage with a number of other players.

Sharing a stage means that an actor has lots of support from other actors. If you miss a line, a fellow-actor can improvise while you remember that line.

There's more to acting than you may think. In the weeks to come, we'll be covering many aspects of it. Stuff like projecting your voice so you'll be heard at the back of the room. Walking, sitting, laughing, hand movements, entering and exiting.

But first, we'll be looking at writing for the theatre.

"Author, author!"

That's a shout I haven't heard in a long time. It used to be commonplace. You heard it on opening night, when the playwright would be sitting somewhere in the theatre to watch his or her piece being performed.

If the audience liked the play a lot then they'd rise and applaud — the so-called standing ovation. If they thought the play was awesome, they'd call for the author, who would then appear in the spotlight and take a bow.

Quite right too. Without the author there wouldn't be a play. You'd have actors wandering about a stage with nothing to say.

Okay, okay, I know that's what mime is all about, but you get my point :0)


In the first couple of weeks we're going to look at playwriting. You'll discover how it's done, how to write dialogue — that important on-stage public conversation.

Together we'll devise a play, one that will include all the members of the group. It'll be new, something never seen before.

We'll work out the plot. Will it be comedy, tragedy? Who's to say?

Everyone will work on a single character. You'll be working on your character. You'll develop his or her personality. You'll write the words your character will speak.

When that's done, we'll rehearse the play at Anaverna.

Then we'll perform it! On opening night, when the play is over, the audience will applaud and yell "author, author!"

That will be your cue to step forward and proudly take a bow.