We have arrived… Adelaide

So. It's that time again, and we find ourselves 726kms (give or take) from home, and Radelaide is alive and kicking - now with us in it.

Today, I am going to do that which I have been told to do; to stand behind my writing. Honestly, I'm not sure this would have been possible without the humbling feedback I have been given consistently over the last few months, not to mention the wonderful hard work that has gone into making the art of fucking a piece in which I think we have all given to it in order to make it *pop* off the page.

Although, something odd did come to me on the 9 hour drive across state: at the first of Ms Divissi's Chateau Shout-Out's I was asked to deliver a 10 minute Shout, which ended up being delivered in the form of performance poetry. Before I started, I added a small, glib moment of self-deprecation, "It's been a long time since I wrote poetry… I apologise." But in stark contrast this morning, I was confronted with a gem of a post on my wall, suggesting that I was a "dark horse", "a poet to boot" and "a wonderful poet [the writer] might add". Another friend said that she had never seen me nervous in my person before, and sure enough, introducing the dress rehearsal of this piece I was hit by a deep impact reminiscent of realising you're on the sickening part of a roller-coaster, but you can't get off… So what is it that has made me so cripplingly nervous about this particular piece of writing?

I guess it's different. It plays with form, and therein is not conventional. And without that seeming conventionality and the borders it provides, I feel it is very exposing. It deals with big feelings. And, there is a risk, with any heightened language that you might be called out for aiming for something too lofty and big for your skill. But, all those things being said - I wanted to create something that as an actor I'd be excited and challenged in playing, I wanted to use words and rhythms that I love chewing up and spitting out, and, I wanted to play with big themes… In these things, I feel we have achieved. The team collectively have brought such a spirit of exploration and curiosity to this process; we are continually finding new things on our feet!

While, like at the shout-out, I was shit-scared to start to reestablish myself as a writer (of sorts) it is the desire to ask the questions this script demands of us as performers that has inevitably become a driving force… And therein, we open in a couple nights. I'm still terrified, but knowing the support and love for this project that everyone else has responded with, I'm excited to take the leap and share the work with you.