sustained theatre

By Andy Cheung

Last year I was selected to take part in a writing initiative called Yellow Voices which was an opportunity to write a play over the course of a year with the input of dramaturgs, a mentor and workshop actors. At the end of it all there would be a playreading of the work as part of Earth’s Typhoon Festival at Soho Theatre. Since I am frequently ‘resting’ as an actor, I thought what the heck, let’s do this! I wanted to write a comedy involving a British Chinese family declaring war on their newly arrived immigrant neighbours from mainland China. Thus, the idea for Keeping Up With The Wongswas born and now I’m keeping my fingers crossed it gets produced.

I know that some writers disapprove of dramaturgs and mentors, thinking that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ but having experienced my fair share of writing alone in a small dark room, secluded from the world and cursing anyone that didn’t like the finished work, I welcomed collaborating with other theatre practitioners as part of the playwriting process.

Over the course of a year dramaturgical meetings were held once every two months from which I received feedback on what I had written from established writers and directors David Tse and Philippe Cherbonnier from Yellow Earth and Esther Richardson from Soho Theatre and it was a very supportive process. Only occasionally there would be situations where, for example, one dramaturg preferred one opening scene and another dramaturg preferred a different one, but this is where the writer comes in and has to make a decision as head chef, if you will.

Mentor-wise, my meetings with playwright David Greig offered some respite from the formality of the dramaturgical sessions. I chose David not only because I deeply admire his writing but also because anyone who can get away with the play title The Cosmonauts Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union is cool in my book. Of course I received more feedback, comments and suggestions on my first draft but the meetings with David also entailed discussions of wider things such as how he approached creative challenges and also how to get on in the business of writing. It was great to have these sorts of discussions in coffee shops and it felt like I was in the world of writers at last.

Then disaster struck. I ran out of work and money and with the landlord chasing the rent, it made it very difficult to continue writing to the level that was expected of me. The date of the playreading was fast-approaching and I was getting enquiries about how the next draft was going. I desperately put in an application to Grants for the Arts to support my place on the scheme, all the while kicking myself for not doing so earlier. Just over a month later I learnt that I had been successful and the landlord called off the bailiffs. Phew.

So a second draft emerged as the culmination of hard work and taking on board comments and suggestions from dramaturgs and mentor. Now for the workshop. What a luxury to have a director and actors at this early stage, and to see and hear how the play comes off the page. After workshopping some key scenes, the performers provided their feedback on the storyline and characters, along with questions on what I have just put them through. Interestingly enough, what they had to say more or less mirrored comments made in the dramaturgy sessions, and so I had a very strong steer as to what needed to be done next. Hooray.

In November, ‘Keeping Up With The Wongs’ finally received its playreading. ‘Wongs’ was scheduled to close the five-day festival and I wondered if there would be much of an attendance by the last day. Lucky me though, David Tse, who was directing the rehearsed reading, was also holding an after-show leaving party as Yellow Earth’s Artistic Director. This meant the Soho Theatre studio reached full capacity as David’s friends and colleagues from the theatre world gathered alongside members of the public to see his directorial farewell before getting drunk in the bar with him afterwards. That’s what you call strategy. Oh and by the way, the audience loved the play too, which provided me with the confidence that it could stand on its feet.

During the after-show drinks I ducked out of the hubbub onto the Soho Theatre balcony for a sneaky fag and a woman came out and asked if I could spare a roll up. She turned out to be Lisa Goldman, artistic director of the theatre. She said that she enjoyed the play too, which I thought was a fair deal in return for the smoke.

So, in short, I am grateful for the dramaturgy and mentoring process, I became known to several theatres as an emerging writer and stand a good chance of having my play fully produced. Writing initiatives such as Yellow Voices are not for everyone but for those open to creative support and guidance they can help develop the writer as well as the play being written – not to mention providing a useful foot in the door. History may yet be made. Go Wongs!

For info on Yellow Voices 2009 please visit www.yellowearth.org or call 020 7734 5988

About the author

Andy Cheung

Andy Cheung is an actor and writer selected to take part in the 2008 Yellow Voices playwriting initiative led by Yellow Earth Theatre in collaboration with Birmingham Rep, Soho Theatre and The Young Vic. His play Keeping Up With The Wongs was written during this time