WHEELLERNEWS 2008
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I know I've been a bit busy of late... it's been a busy month... but I'm pleased to report that Oaklands Youth Theatre are now through to the All England Theatre Festival Semi-final with their production of GRAHAM WORLDS FASTEST BLIND MAN.
OYT Graham at the All England (Totton) Drama Festival.
Oaklands Youth Theatre has performed at the Royal National Theatre in London as part of the Lloyds Bank Young Theatre Challenge (Hard To Swallow 1989), the National Student Drama Festival (Chunnel Of Love Scarborough 1992) but we have never won the Totton Drama Festival in all the nineteen years we have participated in it. Indeed the plays I have directed/written have never progressed into the second round of this particular Festival (though I believe Hard To Swallow should have done back in 1988 but in those days youth groups were not allowed to progress beyond the first round).
Yesterday all that changed. You can not believe how excited I was… well… we all were! The performance ended and the audience clapped for longer than I can remember at any play I have ever directed or attended. When the cast re-emerged for the adjudication they were clapped up the stairs and back into their seats which was lovely! We had virtually no "supporters" there so it was mostly members of the public who we did not know. Everyone was saying we had to win… I hoped this was not the kiss of death… but feared it may be.
When it came to the awards the first two went to other groups. Then my friend Danny won two for his SUICIDE DOT COM production (Technical Achievement and Adjudicators award for use of multi media). I began to fear that it was not to be our night. How wrong I was!
I was awarded the Best director award (I was delighted, as although I've been nominated previously, I've never actually won it previously). Michael Mears was awarded Best Youth Actor (male) for his portrayal of Graham. Gemma Aked Priestley won the Best Youth Performer (female) for her feisty Maud (Graham's mom). My Daisy (Wheeller) was deservedly nominated for best supporting youth player for her role as Junie (Graham's sister).
Then they came to announce the Runners up and the winners. I should have had more faith in the play I have championed on this site many times previously… saying that along with MISSING DAN NOLAN it is my best.
Oaklands 006 with SUICIDE DOT COM were the Runners Up.
Oaklands Youth Theatre with GRAHAM WORLD'S FASTEST BLIND MAN were the winners!
Between us we won 7 of the available 11 awards!!!
In this, the final year of Oaklands, we have managed to achieve this elusive Holy Grail (19 years in search of it!). I am also SO delighted that it came with the play that I have stood by for so many years.
It seems that in this new incarnation, it may finally get "out there" and be a play that people do use… I still maintain it is my best along with MISSING DAN NOLAN… hopefully this will stop it from being one of my plays that so many seem not to know about.
Both GRAHAM and SUICIDE are to be performed at the second round of this competition in Shaftsbury on April the 19th… can't wait!
Amazing news also from DBDA who told me that the first edition of GRAHAM has virtually sold out… so contacted me to ask if I had any changes I wanted to make. Talk about timing?
So… this new fifty-five minute much improved version will be released very soon with Danny's fab backing cd and multimedia footage. The play will be re-branded (revised) with a new cover and will come out alongside the DVD of the now award winning OYT performance that is currently at editing stage. I am told that the DVD will be out within a month! It promises to be incredible… filmed with numerous cameras and cranes and tracks… can't wait to see it… and will tell you all more once I know!
It is my understanding that all of this will also be available to my Australasian readers through Maverick… though I am awaiting confirmation of this… once I send them the final script!
For now I'm going to try and get over the excitement of it all… and well done to Graham for giving the world his inspiring story… do please check it out!
I have reduced the copies I have on Amazon in the hope of encouraging some of you to read the original version of the play and see how good it actually is! Do go and get a copy from the seller Eed Sud etc.!
Mark
This is now the third time in 25 years that I have put this on... it is my proudest moment... not so much for me but for who Graham is just such an inspiration to evereyone who comes across his story!
I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.
1/ OYT Graham production
2/ Jamie in the Land of Dinnersphere – at the School Food Trust
3/ Philip Allan Update courses featuring Mark
I no longer send my news through my old mailing list. If you wish to receive Wheellerplays News you will need to subscribe to my Wheellerplays Yahoo Group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wheellerplays/
Original Soundtrack and multimedia by Danny Sturrock remixing the original songs from Race To Be Seen by Graham Salmon, Mark Wheeller & Steve Wyatt. Featuring the voice of Bernadette Chapman. Oaklands Theatre: 5th (not the 6th) 7th and 8th March It will also be presented at the Totton Drama Festival (Hangar lane Arts Centre (Totton) Southampton on Saturday 15th March. |
Here is my Director's note from the program for the above production:
When we heard that Oaklands was to end I made a swift decision to make GRAHAM OYT's swan song. Before I say anything else I will add that we are all determined that OYT must continue to grow and flourish, hopefully with the same name OYT (Oasis Youth Theatre). By keeping our name we will also be able to hold onto our unique history! However whatever the future holds… this is our final full scale production under the Oaklands banner.
I chose RACE TO BE SEEN as my first production when I arrived here in 1987. I had presented it a few years earlier at my previous Youth Theatre in Epping where it had been praised beyond anything I'd ever done and was given considerable national TV coverage. It was similarly successful when presented here and certainly helped in a big way to establish me as the brand new Drama teacher. I remember Graham and Marie coming to see the production and when they arrived the cast gave them a spontaneous standing ovation as they walked into the Community Lounge. Two years after this Graham was my Best Man at my wedding. We had moved from having a subject/researcher relationship to being the best of friends. A few years later he and Marie became Godparents to our children.
In 1999 tragically, after a long and brave battle against cancer, Graham passed away. I wanted to do something to mark his life. The original play told the story of his sporting prowess but told little of the man. I decided I would re-visit it and tell the story of our relationship and how the initial play came about. I was nervous about directing the play, partly because I appear as a "character" in it so gave it to the Eastleigh Borough Youth Theatre who did a great job and took it onto the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In the years since Graham's passing we have become much closer to Marie and I am very proud that Marie has chosen to come and see the production here at Oaklands again… I know it will be very difficult for her… but I am truly grateful that she has chosen to come along and be supportive (again).
I am actually really pleased to have found such an appropriate opportunity to put this production on… I thought I could never do it. I am also so fortunate at this time in having the multiple talents of Danny Sturrock on hand to assist bringing my dream to life of showing original footage of Graham's athletic achievements which has never before happened in any production in such an integral manner. Danny has also responded positively to my suggestion of creating a soundtrack for the performance which makes use of samples from the original songs I wrote (many with Graham) for the original EYT production featuring the stunning voice of Bernadette Chapman (who I have tried in vain to contact).
Barrie Sapsford is the one remaining link from the original EYT production. Barrie, now running a film production company, is filming the production with a plan to release it on DVD so OYT's final offering will be remembered.
I should also credit the Therfield School (Leatherhead)'s award winning production of this play which I was fortunate enough to see last year. It inspired this re-write and also a number of the production ideas. It certainly pushed me and Kat our wonderful designer, in a new direction with it… so thanks Cathy Hudson for your ideas which we have attempted to further develop.
I hope this production lives up to my high expectations and provides a fitting climax to all the work Oaklands Youth Theatre has done over the years… long may it continue…
If you were involved in the original 1983 or 1987 production you will be given two complimentary tickets for the night of your choice (if available).
We anticipate demand for the tickets to be high so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Tickets available from Oaklands reception 02380 739797
Oaklands Theatre: 8pm. £4 (£3.00 concessions)
Jamie in the Land Of Dinnersphere
Wow! What a day we had.
At the end of February we were invited to take our production of the above to show to the board of directors at the School Food Trust. We performed in a salubrious DFCS office to a small audience of a contingent of three from dbda (D B herself – Dawn Boyfield) and four members of the Board of the School Food Trust including the Chief Executive! Not the ideal audience for such a participatory play (we really wanted 60 KS2 children) but our young cast from Oaklands did us proud and pulled out a lifetime best performance. It was fabulous to see the adults participating so fully in the interactive workshops and the Chief Executive becoming such a fabulous sprig of broccoli!
The SFT agreed immediately that dbda can use their logo on the books that are due to come out later in the year and are holding meetings to discuss if they are able to use the play in any other ways. They were really pleased to hear from me that people have already been in contact with me to purchase advance copies and that other productions are going on up and down the country before it is even published! Advance copies are still available… but not for long now as we will soon be subject to contract. It is an ideal project for an NRichment group such as ours or a BTech commission or a GCSE cross phase project. Please contact me on Wheellerplays.com should you require any further information.
This will surely give JAME a fabulous kick start in life… and very serious accreditation!
I am delighted to say that details of all the "public" courses I am running are now available to browse online: They are all marketed by Philip Allan Updates
http://www.philipallanupdates.co.uk/Resources/20080122121234ResFile.pdf
The first is: Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3 ()
London: Monday 28th April 2008. (With Drama guru Andy Kempe!)
Back by popular demand… this is the fifth time Andy and I will have presented this which focuses on a scheme of work based on my play (which Andy edited for Nelson Thornes) Arson About. Each delegate will get a complimentary copy of it at the conference.
Then:
26th June (London) "Paper 2 Edexcel GCSE - Approaches for Success
This course does what it says in the title really… one particularly interesting feature (to me) is the use I've been making recently of KILL JILL which was written as a big production at Birmingham Rep but has recently been used to illustrate how Body props can be hugely effective. It also examines how at Oaklands we have managed to improve our results in Paper 2. It challenges the popular conception that the devised option is the easy option but gives some ideas as to how devised work can be structured to become more imaginative!
Monday 30th June (Manchester) & Thursday 3rd July (London)
Guiding Students to A* Achievements in Drama – The Directors Cut.
The massive success of this course jointly run by myself and Tim Ford (the amazing director from Birmingham Rep has led to this latest couple of repeats… it features some amazing work from Tim… and I'll let others judge my offerings… but suffice to say the feedback has all been amazing.
This course looks at predominantly presentation work and my favourite moment is where Tim deals with a problem I often have where students come up and say "I've finished." He has the most amazing ways of developing work which even to my eye seems "finished". It really is a fabulous course… and well worth booking if you've seen me on my own… Tim's work is something else!
Tuesday 1st July: (London) Edexcel Paper 1 Unit 1 & 2 - Guiding Students to A* achievements in Drama – The Teachers Edit.
This course explored different ways of inspiring students to greater achievements within Paper 1 Unit 1 and 2 of the current Edexcel Specification. This is a repeat course as a result of the popularity of the course when it was first presented earlier in the year. It looks a t a scheme of work we use based on Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphries which tells of the tragedy of the (now controversial) Child Migration Scheme here in the UK that continued until the late 1960's. (Unit 1)
Each delegate will also be given a complimentary copy of MISSING DAN NOLAN as this will be used as the text to be explored in Unit 2. MISSING has proved to us at Oaklands to be the ideal script for this unit as it features challenging opportunities fro both boys and girls (it can also work well in a single sex setting) and it features (unusually) as it's main characters people who are the same age as the students studying the text. Even if you didn't want to use this text… there will be a range of practical ideas that can be used equally well with other texts.
All these courses I am involved in running are positively practical… and will give you lessons you can return to your school and use immediately.
Should you be interested for me to come to your school to work with your students (and/or teachers in your consortium) then do contact me either through my Wheellerplays group or on Wheellerplays@gmail.com I am best when working on the Edexcel GCSE syllabus as that is what we do at Oaklands.
I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.
1/ OYT Graham production
2/ Sequinned Suits success
3/ Driven to Distraction – update
4/ Jamie in the Land of Dinnersphere - update
5/ The Oaklands Plays – update
6/ Wacky Soap in Teaching Drama
7/ Arson About – A course for teachers
6/ Suicide dot com
I no longer send my news through my old mailing list. If you wish to receive Wheellerplays News you will need to subscribe to my Wheellerplays Yahoo Group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wheellerplays/
After 30 years, my play GRAHAM – WORLD'S FASTEST BLIND MAN is finally being noticed! I have said many times on these pages how it is my favourite of my plays (along with MDN). And my Youth Theatre will be presenting it early next month… if you are in or near Southampton at that time please do try to come and see it… it will be the final proper production OYT present (as part of Oaklands as we hope that Oasis will adopt the OYT name when the new Academy opens) although we plan to be presenting some excerpts later in the year to celebrate the last 21 year of OYT.
The production is due to be filmed on DVD (professionally) and will, we hope, be available for other schools to purchase in the not too distant future!
Here's the information on the mailer for our production:
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In 1987 Graham Salmon MBE came to Southampton to see Oaklands Youth Theatre's first production of this play recreating his amazing life story. Much has happened in the past twenty years and this new one-act play version completes his story.
As a baby Graham became totally blind, with an eye cancer which was incurable in the late 1950s. In later life he achieved fame for being the world's fastest blind runner (100m in 11.4 seconds) and hitting a "hole in one" in The British Open!
"Graham Salmon is the most inspiring athlete I have met; I say this without a moment's hesitation even though I have enjoyed the rare privilege of sharing the company of Muhammad Ali, Stanley Matthews, Gary Sobers, Martina Navratilova, Nadia Comaneci, Arnold Palmer and countless others in the course of my job."
Robert Philip Daily Telegraph.
Tragically, cancer returned … this time in his leg. Graham had to undergo a rare hind quarter amputation. His enthusiasm for life was undiminished, but the disease had not been halted. Graham passed away in 1999.
This new version of the play, written originally for Graham's wife, Marie, is being performed by the Oaklands Youth Theatre, members of which, since that original production in 1987, have gone on to appear at the Royal National Theatre, The National Student Drama Festival, The Edinburgh Festival and also to tour abroad. In 2003 they presented the acclaimed Missing Dan Nolan and it is in this same "reality" style (using the words of Graham and the people that knew him) that this play has been developed latterly. We are hopeful that this version will become the definitive production of this play.
Vibrant, committed, unsentimental and truthful l... teamwork one always hopes for, but sees all too rarely. The individual performances were first class and the direction showed the same flair, imagination and rigorous discipline as the writing.
Paul Fowler Adjudicator at the Woking Drama Festival (2003) where OYT won the Youth Award with their performance of Missing Dan Nolan
If you are able to prove you were involved in the original 1987 production you will be given two complimentary tickets for the night of your choice (if available).
We anticipate demand for the tickets to be high so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Tickets available from Oaklands reception 02380 739797
Oaklands Theatre: 8pm £4 (£3.00 concessions)
I've recently had some contact with a teacher who writes on the TES Staffroom boards singing it's praises as a lively school production. Here's what she (Japonica) wrote:
I have loved it and it does look spectacular with our multi media back drop......My husband designed wonderful media sets of 1970's living rooms with a TV that actually plays 1970's TV programmes… It went down a storm parents, SMT and kids loved it and the multi media worked almost seamlessly!!!! All the kids are now down loading the songs onto their iPods!!! It really was a success and I bask in the glory (for a brief moment!!!!) I would highly recommend it to anyone and my kids really enjoyed it! It is funny and upbeat and very surreal! We managed to get hold of some great 70's costumes from a local fancy dress shop and it just gave everyone a real buzz!
Thanks again!
Japonica TES Staffroom (Drama) notice boards
If you haven't yet taken a look at this script please do so… you can look at it online before committing any cash at the following URL… it may be worth a quick read through!
http://www.mavmuse.com/musical.asp?MusicalID=114
Driven to Distraction
Danny and I have now delivered a detailed story outline to the commissioners and are awaiting news from them on how they wish us to proceed… early reports suggest they like what we are planning! Delivery date for the script is the end of March… watch this space!
Jamie in the Land Of Dinnersphere
If you are interested in having an advance copy of this exciting new TIE play about school dinners please contact me on the following email: Wheellerplays@gmail.com
After that there will be a scheme of work for playwrighting with KS2 and a grand in-role drama about Cultures for three classes working together!
Arson About a course
Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3 (Philip Allen Updates)
London: Monday 28th April 2008. (With Drama guru Andy Kempe!)
Back by popular demand… this is the fifth time Andy and I will have presented this which focuses on a scheme of work based on my play (which Andy edited for Nelson Thornes) Arson About. Each delegate will get a complimentary copy of it at the conference. See this link for more details:
http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag6.pdf
There are also a couple of courses booked in for later in the year… I will announce them as soon as they appear on the Philip Allen web site.
All the courses I am involved in running are predominantly practical… and will give you lessons you can return to your school and use immediately.
Should you be interested for me to come to your school to work with your students then do contact me either through my Wheellerplays group or on Wheellerplays@gmail.com I am best when working on the Edexcel GCSE syllabus as that is what we do at Oaklands.
Suicide Dot Com
Congrats to Danny and his team for their exceptional production of his new play. It received a deserved standing ovation… an amazing achievement! We hear next week whether it has been selected for the NSDF. Good luck to all of you!
I have listed the items that appear, as you may want to scroll down to the ones that interest you.
1/ Looking back at 2007
2/ Looking forward to 2008
I no longer send my news through my old mailing list. If you wish to receive Wheellerplays News you will need to subscribe to my Wheellerplays Yahoo Group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wheellerplays/
Happy New Year!
The highlight for me is the fact that, after 30 years, my play GRAHAM – WORLD'S FASTEST BLIND MAN is finally being noticed! I have said many times on these pages how it is my favourite of my plays (along with MDN). I hold Graham (the man) in such high esteem.
My own Youth Theatre has been bowled over by Graham and his achievements as we approach our performances just before Easter. It is one thing for me to choose to do it… but more amazing was the Therfield School Leatherhead production which wowed the adjudicator (and Sir Michael Caine!) at the National Drama Festivals Association Finals in Wales on 18th July at the Albert Hall Theatre Llandrindod Wells (Wales). I was lucky enough to see the production and I have to admit it has seriously affected the approach I am taking to directing it… so thanks Cathy for your imaginative interpretation.
I am also pleased to see that at last some schools are starting to use it for their GCSE courses… (why after so many years of ignoring it???)… it is such a good choice for students wanting to achieve high marks as it is open to imaginative interpretation and for the person playing Graham an amazing opportunity for achieving full marks in acting!
Joe Newton, who played Graham in the Therfield production walked off with the award for The Most Promising Youth Participation. Well done Joe… it was a most impressive performance confirming my contention that this role offers a young actor in either exam or Festival a real opportunity to shine! Let's hope the OYT production proves half as successful and that Graham's name and achievements can be broadcast more widely!
Too Much Punch also achieved Festival success this year. Perth's Unmasqued Drama Company won the trophy for Best Youth Play in their District Festival and proceeded to the Divisional Festival in Blairgowrie. Well done to them. Punch also hit a landmark performance (5,000)! I could never have imagined when I originally performed it twenty years ago that it would go on to be such a success. Its first performance was a sell-out… BUT we only had 30 seats!!! Thanks here should go to Ape who are responsible for a huge percentage of these performances! It has also become my best selling play script overtaking Hard to Swallow in December which has had that accolade attached to it for many years now.
In terms of new work dbda (who were taken over, you may remember, by Bob Geldof's company Ten Alps earlier in the year) have just published Kill Jill and plan to publish my latest play Jamie in the Land of Dinnersphere in 2008. Jamie has certainly kept Johnny (my co-writer) and I busy this year as we have been preparing to present this in a curriculum innovation of Oaklands (NRichment) and just before Xmas we had the opportunity to present the play to Brian Dow from the School Food Trust. We were delighted with his reaction to it and hope that this may lead to possibilities of touring it into other schools… perhaps even on a professional basis. It is a significant development from the first outing this play had back in 1982 at Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes. What we now have is an ideal piece of work for any B Tech group. We will be publishing the fabulous workshop materials developed by Adrian New of Stopwatch Theatre so that groups who present the play can also use these interactive workshops… making it a truly original cross phase program for schools.
The saddest aspect to 2007, for me (professionally) was the shocking decision to close my school, Oaklands. It is still unbelievable and unreal!
It is very exciting for me to be working with Danny whose fast comic dialogue and fabulous multimedia work are to me "awesome"!
We will be working on this very hard in the next two months!
On a personal level I can't wait for our Youth Theatre production of Graham – World's Fastest Blind Man (5th – 8th March excluding the 6th) and also our reunion production Grin and Fin (July 12th) which will be a retrospective of OYT's work over the last twenty years!
After that there will be a scheme of work for Wacky Soap, playwrighting with KS2 and a grand in-role drama about Cultures for three classes working together!
The MISSING DAN NOLAN article on my MISSING DAN NOLAN scheme of work for the TES magazine is scheduled for the 18th January where I have also been asked to name my favourite children's book… I bet no-one can guess what that is!
London: Tuesday 15th January.
Edexcel GCSE Paper 1, Units 1 and 2: Guiding students to A* performances in drama – the teacher/examiners edit
To see the full details of this course please follow this link.
http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag4.pdf
It will feature some work from schemes of work I have developed one of which is The Dome which is to be published in Teaching Drama.
Igniting Drama at Key Stage 3
London: Monday 28th April 2008. (With Drama guru Andy Kempe!)
Back by popular demand… this is the fifth time Andy and I will have presented this which focuses on a scheme of work based on my play (which Andy edited for Nelson Thornes) Arson About. Each delegate will get a complimentary copy of it at the conference. See this link for more details:
http://www.philipallan.co.uk/pdfs/teadrag6.pdf
There are also a couple of courses booked in for later in the year… I will announce them as soon as they appear on the Philip Allen web site.
All the courses I am involved in running are predominantly practical… and will give you lessons you can return to your school and use immediately.
Should you be interested for me to come to your school to work with your students then do contact me either through my Wheellerplays group or on Wheellerplays@gmail.com I am best when working on the Edexcel GCSE syllabus as that is what we do at Oaklands.
Danny Sturrock's new play Suicide Dot Com is now to be performed on24th – 26 th January tbc. This will be well worth seeing!
Finally we are all, at Oaklands curious to see how the coming of the Oasis Lord's Hill Academy will affect us… information is scarce at the moment but we live in hope that it will start coming in soon!
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