Hotlight on Writer Jingan Young

We ask Jingan a few questions about why she wanted to write for Heat & Light, how to beat writer's block and if she's any good at maths.

When did you decide you wanted to write and is this your first play?

I've always written for fun. It really all started with songwriting, that was what I was working towards; having a career in music, through that I discovered a love for narrative incorporated within poetry. But I have to say, whether it was short stories, poetry, I've always written, I've probably got around twenty unfinished "novels" on my hard drive. Just releasing that energy. Actually, I used to record a diary but it became too tedious so now I just write any old nonsense if I need to empty some space in my head.

I didn't grow up around theatre and I had absolutely no concept of it except for Musicals, Shakespeare, some Tom Stoppard and Chinese opera (I'm from Hong Kong). However I did grow up around some serious cinephiles so writing dialogue and telling stories was what initially appealed to me. I had written a few short one act plays in my teens and then when I moved to London one was performed at a development for writers event and was severely critiqued! It was upsetting but I took it as good advice and just wrote more. The Heat & Light project actually motivated me to enter the Verity Bargate Award at the Soho Theatre and I actually just sent it off, my first full-length play!

Why did you apply to Heat and Light?

I was looking for some creative projects in association with young people's theatre and came across Heat & Light which was part of The Hampstead Theatre! I had no idea it existed so I decided to apply for both acting and writing.

What were your first thoughts when you found out you needed to write a play inspired by maths and coincidence?

I recall a sort of "oh no" moment, probably a few minor swear words but immediately following that, I thought that instead of taking the theme 'literally' I wanted to challenge myself by looking for the subtleties within it. How could I use maths and coincidence as a framework to build something complex and riveting for an audience.

Are you any good at maths?

Proudly I can declare I got a B at GCSE (don't ask me how I managed that) but as my friends will tell you, no, I'm not very good at maths. Adding, multiplying... I can't even calculate a tip so going out to eat with me is quite the chore!

What inspires you to write and what helps when you have writer's block?

Inspiration is a funny thing isn't it? It comes and goes. I think the best thing is just living (no matter how pretentious that sounds) but it's a good starting point isn't it? Listening, participating and engaging in the world. But I've learnt that as soon as you have that "bing" moment in your head you have to write it down. I have consistent writer's block, and because I'm not very good at sitting in one place the only solution for me is to be doing something. Seriously, just do something, anything. You could go for a walk, write a song, talk to a friend, mull over whether you'll do the washing up...bake a pie. Anything and everything helps.

Do you have any other theatrical ambitions?

I started out as a performer so I'd love to act professionally on stage. I used to be a dancer too so something that incorporates all those things...

What did/are you studying at University?

I'm at King's College, London doing my BA in English with Film Studies.

What do you feel you have gained from being a member of Heat and Light?

Being mentored by playwright James Graham and director Thomas Hescott: they have both been incredibly supportive of us writers and actors and gaining insight into the professional world so invaluable. Also being given the opportunity to work with a group of talented young actors, watching them take the text and making it their own. I can say this for my group of actors that they are some of the most creative and passionate people and have allowed me to see my work from different perspectives. You sometimes forget that through the learning/rehearsal process you meet all these new people and I've made some strong bonds. I've met some incredible people and their passion for what they all do inspires me.

You are also an actress; will you be auditioning for next term?

Definitely! With it being the final project for Heat & Light I think it would be incredible to be a part of.

Hotlight on...Satinder Chohan

A bit of a Q&A with brilliant playwright Satinder Chohan, who wrote last term's commissioned play 'Crossing The Line.'

Congratulations on Crossing The Line. It was a great play to be part of.
Word that comes to mind is ‘big.’
Big issues – morality, class, youth, Somali ‘piracy,’ East/West divide - amongst a few.
How did you get started on this play?

I started with a big idea! Of young people and their place in the world...narrowed down to a group of British gap year students on a tall ship on the Indian Ocean, who encounter a group of young Somali pirates. I was really intrigued by the idea that at an age where British youngsters are thinking about university or a job, youngsters of the same age in Somalia could be headed for a life of piracy on the seas. Gap year students or pirates - both are young adults searching for something in an uncertain world. Contrasting the two sides threw up endless creative possibilities - and the global politics that connects them, even more. So I began by reading a lot of often sensationalist and biased news material about pirates, researched as much as I could and then, tried to do a lot of imagining!

Big cast – have you worked with such a big cast before and how did/do you find it?

No, I'd never worked with such a big cast before. I learnt so much from them. So many talented, enthusiastic, committed young actors, who worked for one another and really poured their energies into rehearsals and the production. The cast made the experience for me. There was so much more we could have explored together through character and story than we had time for.

Big play – any writing plans for the year?

I'm currently working on a couple of plays. One is set in a beauty salon in deepest, darkest British Asian suburbia. The other is a play inspired by the ancient Indian sport of kabaddi, with an Olympic theme, set in 1936 and 2011. I'm also working on a film script about a group of teenage girls, who are searching for their missing friend. Ideally, I like focusing on one project at a time but I've been doing a lot of project juggling lately - the only way to work when trying to make a meagre living as a writer!

First theatre memory

Books, films and music (Western and Indian) were my creative nourishment when I was growing up. We knew very little about theatre in our house and until university, I'd only been to the theatre on school trips. So my first theatre memory is vague - the Unicorn Theatre mixed up with Clive Owen at the Young Vic mixed up with The Winter's Tale and King Lear thrown in. What I do remember though is the wide-eyed excitement of being in a real life living breathing musty old theatre, waiting to watch a story unfold.

How did you get started in show business (specifically playwriting)?

Showbusiness - I wish it were as glam as that! I've wanted to write since I was very young - plays, films, novels, poetry, everything. But it's taken me a while to find the confidence to get writing again. I was working as a documentary researcher when I realised I simply had to tell my own stories, to create other worlds, to create my own vision of the world, before I got locked into a routine working life. So I took the pay cut and wrote Zameen, a play about suicide farmers in Punjab, India. Zameen went on a national tour and initiated me into the joys and frustrations of play-writing. I'm seriously hooked now.

Favourite play

Impossible to choose! I love Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman/All My Sons, Sam Shephard's Buried Child, the surreal symbolism of Strindberg's A Dream Play, the absurdist nuttiness of Pirandello, the politics of Brecht, The Tempest, the rural melodrama of Lorca's plays - very classic fare. More versed in literature and film, I feel like I'm still figuring out this theatre lark - finding my voice, my process, my aesthetic tastes, so I'm discovering brilliant old and new plays all the time.

Favourite working writer

Dead or alive, it's too tough to choose a favourite. I'm still getting to know the work of a lot of living writers...Off the top of my head, I hugely admire Caryl Churchill - the way she boldly experiments with form, structure, language, always pushing the bounds of drama through her writing and her politics. She's an incredibly fearless writer...Others I like include Sam Shephard, who writes about dysfunctional families against visceral emotional and physical landscapes - he's so edgy and mythic... I love contemporary work that's abstract, expressionistic, symbolist, that challenges language, so look out for writers like Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Enda Walsh and Oladipo Agboulaje too.

Favourite working actor

Easy - all the heat & lighters on the production of Crossing the Line. Not an ego in sight. Some exciting talents for the future - I expect big things from them!

Favourite working director

Directors like Indhu Rubasingham and Bijan Sheibani. Between them, they've directed some of my favourite recent plays - Rubasingham (Ruined and co-director of The Great Game) and Sheibani (The Brothers Size and Our Class). There's a real power and intelligence to their productions and an innate, sensitive understanding of the distinctive worlds of their writers. They're brilliant directors with unique vision.

Finally, in the vein of Jerry’s Final Thought, a piece of writing advice or tip you have for other writers? Or a general life quote?

I'm not at a point where I could possibly impart advice to other writers but I would say - writing is a life's mission, so be prepared for the long haul! Writing is about play, creativity, imagination - yet it's also about hard work, discipline, patience, sacrifice and striving to be a better, bold writer all the time. It's tough and confronting but even so, incredibly rewarding!

Hotlight on... Tom Cooper

Tom Cooper, Lighting Designer, talks about how being involved with heat&light has helped him kick-start his career:

I got involved in heat&light back when it first began and I was still at school. I have always been more interested in the backstage side of theatre, so this is where I started. I began assisting the in-house technician in the Michael Frayn Space and operated the lighting and sound on numerous productions.

In 2007 I was offered a place on a three year degree course in Theatre and Performance Technology at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), which I’m sure was helped by my involvement with heat&light. This course gave me an excellent grounding in all aspects of technical theatre and stage management. Although lighting design is what has always interested me most, as theatre is such a collaborative art form, I feel that learning about the roles of everyone involved in putting on a production has put me in good stead.

I am just about to graduate from LIPA and have recently moved back down to London. Since I’ve been back, I have designed the lighting for the heat&light project involving five short plays at Hampstead theatre, a graduate production of Arabian Nights at Chelsea Theatre and have been lucky enough to shadow Colin Grenfell, a well-established lighting designer on productions of Fidelio and Don Giovanni at the Opera Holland Park.

heat&light has given me a fantastic opportunity to work with young, talented, up-and-coming directors in a well-equipped space, with an excellent support network –a brilliant environment in which to experiment and to push my own boundaries, which is invaluable experience for me as a young designer just starting out.

To find out more about Tom, visit his website.

Never Enough to Live in the Now: Photos

It's over for another season. After three hugely successful sell-out shows, we would all like to give our thanks and congratulations to the hard-working and committed cast and creatives who enabled the production to happen. We would also like to say a sad goodbye to Kelly Wilkinson, who is now moving onto exciting new projects after six years as the creator and practitioner of The heat&light Company.

Set Designer Florence McHugh took some brilliant photographs of the dress rehearsal on Thursday 17th June 2010:

Do Us Part by Karis Halsall

Living off the Land by Emily Cooper

Zeera by Zia Ahmed

Sometimes I Miss Us by Stephanie Potter

Discoverie Space by Sotirios Hatjoullis

See more on our Facebook page here.

Hotlight on... Alex Thorpe

Interview

Alex Thorpe directed Zeera and answers some quick questions for us about being a creative force off the stage...

What theatre work had you done prior to heat&light?

Professional Education: Central School of Speech and Drama
Little Angel Theatre: Puppetry Workshop Leader, Producer
Almeida Theatre: Workshop Leader, Assistant Director
National Youth Theatre: Workshop Leader (Assistant)

What have you learnt from your experience in the Summer Season 2010?

That no project can ever just happen two hours a week. Whether it's worry or panic, excitement or enthusiasm, the directing bug just hits you and you can't stop. Not only have I enhanced my skills working with actors, I have also directed a film, choreographed a movement sequence, developed a script... the list goes on. heat&light really does throw you in the deep end but maintains a safety net to allow you to experiment with new ideas that you might never have had the chance to develop before.

How has heat&light helped in beginning or furthering your career?

I joined heat&light after being appointed Assistant Director on the main youth show at the Almeida Theatre. Since starting, I have since been asked to direct a short curtain raiser as part of the above production as well as been short-listed for Birkbeck's MFA Theatre Directing.

Do you feel you have improved in any specific or technical areas?

It has allowed me to practise and develop some of the most basic skills a director needs. This has included how to communicate with a wide cross section of people such as writers, designers, production staff, producers and theatre staff, as well as actors.

Would you recommend heat&light for anybody looking for a way into theatre, and why?

Yeah, why not! It is a great opportunity to try out new skills in a safe and semi-professional environment, putting skills into practice by working towards a realised production. It's opportunites like heat&light through which the beginnings of new companies are made... what's not to like?

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Rehearsal Room Images

Last week, one of the groups rehearsed at the Clean Break studios in Kentish Town. They worked on some important movement scenes. Take a look at these pictures:

One week of rehearsals left!