The Steel diaries

A two-minute test beacon
By Michael Wheeler

Steel is moving along at the speed of molasses, but the blog waits for no man, so I soldier onwards.

The most positive Steel-related news was that we presented a short section of it at a fundraiser for Stranger Theatre last Friday and it went over really well. It was encouraging to send a two-minute test beacon out there and be reminded that: a) people like the material; and b) James Murray is a compelling actor. Good work Jimmy. Before I was excited – now I’m psyched.

We had a good rehearsal to put that section together, too. One-man shows are kinda crazy for the actor. There’s no one else there for them to deal with – no objectives to achieve based on someone else’s behaviour. It requires more imagination, more storytelling, more admitting that the audience is indeed there in the room with you.

We’re still trying to figure out where the show will go on. There are promising developments with a space we will be seeing in the next couple of days . . . we shall see.

There has also been some good news on the fundraiser front. We’ve found a space! But I will leave it to Praxis Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, Simon Rice, to flesh out the details for you at a later date.

Am also musing on how to generate free publicity for our show. We have a very limited budget. If you’re working with a theatre company and have anything opening between now and March, we’d love to have a little thing about Steel in your program. We will obviously do the same for you. It costs virtually nothing and every person who sees it already goes to the theatre. It’s a good deal for everyone all around.

I’m having breakfast with Andrew Zadel (the playwright behind Steel) tomorrow as he passes through the t dot. With any luck, I’ll be able to convince him to contribute to our next Steel blog entry.

Stay tuned.