Blog Archives

No 12 - Friday

12/2/2016

Friday night delight: write a play set in a plane, then change the setting to another location, and then try and make it make sense.

Oh, and bonus points if you write yourself in as a character - eek!

I've done my best, there's probably a couple of things that don't quite work, but hey - it's Friday night and I have a date! #Priorities

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No. 10 & 11

11/2/2016

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Two again for today - this is getting to be a bit of a habit...

Number 1: Weather Girl

Idioms, proverbial phrases, weird sayings that help totally confuse all non-native English speakers. Take the proverbial and make it literal.

So...is anyone feeling a bit under the weather?

(Big thanks to M Night Shyamalan for the truly appalling 'The Happening' which, as I wrote WEATHER GIRL, I realised clearly contributed to my inspiration for this ridiculous end-of-the-world play)

Number 2: BOY/GIRL/OTHER

The challenge today from our lovely task master Sebastian was to write a gender-neutral play (emphasis on the pronouns) with a side order of sexuality and gender.

Writing gender neutral is trickier than I thought it was going to be - I wanted to avoid all pronouns whatsoever which led to some interesting challenges. I think it went ok...

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No 8 & 9

9/2/2016

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Another 241 deal tonight!

Monday's challenge: write a play that begins with the line:

"Let go of Charlie! The truth is, I've despised you since I discovered the truth about you, Frank and the margarine!"

So, I give you: TEMPLE

And Tuesday's challenge: write something political, and heart breaking.

I'll admit now to MASSIVELY cheating on this one by drawing more than a little inspiration from this article.

It stayed with me all these months later, so it felt like an obvious choice for a dramatisation...

SO SORRY

#JuniorDoctorsStrike

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No 6 & 7 - The Weekend Trials

8/2/2016

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Two for the price of one - Saturday was a Musical, Sunday was an...emoji. Thing.

Quite enjoyed the musical and would have loved to have spent more time on it, but life kinda got in the way...

And the Emoji. Thing. Was awful.

Without further ado - THE CLOWN CAR BAR and INCOMPREHENSIBLE

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No. 5: LIFE CHANGER

5/2/2016

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This was meant to be an easy one - to write 'some total shite'.

Thankfully it was not meant in a literal sense - though my niece is potty training at the moment and if you wanted a play about shit I could DEFINITELY write you something gross and unpleasant yet at the same time bizarrely endearing, funny, life affirming...).

I wasn't 100% sure how to start - 'write shit' is kinda vague - it was quite nice not having anything to adhere to, but at the same time my brain clearly needs boundaries so I ended up creating a couple of my own rules to guide me along the way.

See if you can figure out what I've done (clue: it's not subtle. At all)

We also got bonus points for not editing the script in anyway - so here is some undiluted, unfiltered, unnecessary Whelan writing for you.

Minus the shit. Hopefully.

LIFE CHANGER

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No. 4: BUILDING BLOCKS

4/2/2016

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So...today's challenge was meant to be about mathematics. Any kind of mathematics, or mathematicians or mathematical theories, or numbers talking to other numbers about how hard it is to be a number...

I may have gotten a little lost along the way. Turns out there is very little I remember from GCSE maths (bar a2 + b2 = c2, thanks Mr Cochrane!), so, I did something that may be in some way connected to maths and numbers, but clearly isn't.

What can I say? I work with words, not numbers.

BUILDING BLOCKS

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No. 3: SHINY & NEW

3/2/2016

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Write a monologue, they said, make it interesting, they said, draw your inspiration from this picture of an actor, they said...

I'd post the image of the actor on here but he might be a bit, er, concerned, by what I've come up with (sorry dude).

So, here's a typically Whelian-tale full of joy and romance and cheer...oh wait, that's not my style at all...*

*and yes I did just use 'Whelian' as an expression.

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No 2: #29PlaysLater 'NOT FUNNY'

2/2/2016

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When is a comedy not a comedy? When it's a tragedy...

Today's challenge is to take a funny story, the funniest thing you've ever heard, and turn it into a tragedy...

If anyone laughs/giggles/smirks/cracks out a wry smile let me know. I'll have failed the challenge, but hey ho, that's how life goes...

Fun huh?

Oh, and this story is based on true events. I still strongly suspect that me and my friend were being punked, but on the off chance we weren't, here's some advice to the men of the London underground: don't be afraid to wear shorts...

NOT FUNNY