What next?

THE Cucumber Writers have been meeting for almost a year now, and this month we had our first get together in the new Birmingham Rep building.

It was a chance to take a look back at how much we’ve achieved so far, as well as trying to establish where we’re going.

Coming off the back of our most recent rehearsed reading, we’ve decided that our productivity is quite possibly our greatest strength.

We’ve produced two rehearsed readings of our work this year, with hopes to stage a third before the end of 2013, and all of that has a knock-on effect.

It’s made us realise that we can write pieces and finish them.

It’s given us the idea that we can ask people for help, and we won’t be laughed out of town.

It’s proven that there is an audience for new writing, even if so far we’ve only been able to call on freinds and family to make it up for us.

There’s a power to making things happen, and writing for the theatre can feel very powerless when you’re sitting writing dialogue for imaginary people.

You can dream up a cast of thousands in a cathedral of a set, but without a director or performers or space, it’s all stuck as a dream.

We have (with a lot of help from a lot of very generous people) made some of our writing into a reality, and that feels like an incredible power to wield.

We recommend it to anyone, and it forms a core part of all of our plans for the future.

 

Alex