We might not be able to get out, but there’s plenty going on behind the scenes...
Top of the list has been turning the story ‘Rubbish Heap Rising’ into a play. We always planned to be writing and rehearsing the play in April and May, as we had/have 3 performances booked by festival sponsors. Colourfest (early June) has sadly been cancelled, however at time of writing both Sundara (mid-late July) and Buddhafield (now early Sept) are still in the calendar. They are small festivals and we still cultivate a flicker of hope that we’ll be able to share our workshops and performances with festival families this year.
Ben is our playwright with 15 years experience writing plays for children and families.
As well as needing to be a compelling, engaging and entertaining story, this play has additional challenges....
We need minimal, simple dialogue to bridge the language barrier in Spiti, though we do have a narrator-translator as Kaku will once again join our cast in India.
We must make sure cultural references will work and be understood in both Spiti and the UK.
We need to make sure that we can understudy each other and perform in a flexible way, to accommodate the unpredictable nature of altitude sickness (not to mention any other sickness that might assail us) - a lesson well learned on our last Project in Spiti.
Rehearsals in person might have to wait, but Ben has put his down time to good use, the first few drafts have been picked over, and the next step is a cast read through on Zoom!
Alongside the script development, and also assuming that our summer performances might happen, Louisa is busy making props and costumes.
The final fittings are still guesswork, but we are preparing to emerge from lockdown all ready to go!
Whilst the play itself has been progressing, we have been sadly cancelling our spring and early summer fund-raising events. To cheer us all up, we are throwing ourselves into preparing for a Family Quiz Night In - join us on Facebook Live on Sunday 17th May - more details coming soon!
These photos are from the Quiz Night which was part of the fund-raising events for the 2018 Project - it was so much fun we will definitely hold another one. In the meantime, a virtual Quiz Night-In will keep those skills honed.....
Arjuna is immersed in planning and preparations for our main autumn fund-raising event – which we are very excited to announce is......a sponsored cycle from Rome to Bournemouth!
Arjuna and his cycle team will leave Rome on 21st September, and arrive back in Bournemouth 30 days and 2000km later.
If you'd love to be part of this epic adventure, do get in touch to join the team!
Cyclists will pay their own way and help with fundraising for the Yak Pack.
[photo credit: Pinterest rfnunn]
Arjuna is looking for sponsors from the local business community to be involved right from the start, so drop us a line if you'd like to know more.
And last, but absolutely not least, Penny has been working on the frontline of the pandemic and we are extremely proud to have such an amazing friend.
Thank you Penny, and all key workers out there, for putting your health on the line to keep the country running.
Kommentare