I would have loved to come up with a different title for this blog, but that’s the most apt. From July 2018 I have been engrossed in ‘The Disappearance of Eliza Grey’, finishing rewrites, applying for funding, casting it, rehearsing it, publicising it, then performing it and recovering.
It’s a lot of work, and it turned out to be worth it! Phew! People have loved it, and want to get it out there. Fortunately the funding included filming a stage version of it, so that those who can further the play by booking it, or producing it in the future can see it. This film is now available to be viewed. If you want to see it, email me.
And this is where the sink unblocking analogy comes into play. I have a sink that was almost blocked, and I am sorry to say, took a long time for me to get round to unblocking. I tried some little things, like using an unblocked, then a plunger (TMI), but nothing worked. I thought it was going to be messy, and beyond my ability to fix. So I ignored it for a week or so. Feeling frustrated every time I thought about it. Then suddenly I realised that now it the time to deal with it. And within less than ten minutes it was sorted, with much less mess than I thought, and such relief, that I realised that I would always tackle sinks straight away in the future.
That is the process I have been through with the next step for Eliza Grey, metaphorically of course! There was block, I just wasn’t comfortable, I couldn’t get round to working out why, and when I did look at why, it felt like it was going to be messy, but after much frustration, last night, I felt it was the right time to sort it out. As you will probably realise by now, the solution was a lot less messy than I thought. I have tweaked a few lines and now feel ready to get more people seeing the potential in Eliza Grey so hopefully her story can be told more, and help more people.
I do have to say that yesterday I met up with an artist friend of mine, and we spent the morning talking and seeing art, thinking about visiting the Venice Biennale. There is probably no coincidence there, it was like a nutritious meal, setting me up for the work.
Will this be the only time I go through this cycle? Hopefully, but probably not.