Writers in Residence Season 2003 - University Radio Nottingham
Casual Thursday by Charlotte Cooper | |
|  | | Casual Thursday by Charlotte Cooper |
| | Casual Thursday is not a play about lesbians, marriage, or motherhood. It is a play about the main character, Caroline.
- Listen to Casual Thursday (28k) |
| | | About the play
The Writers in Residence version of Casual Thursday is an abridged version of a longer play written in late 2002. The play attempts to look at one individual's reaction to a sudden bereavement and how that reaction is not always straightforward or the stuff of television or films. People don't necessarily cry delicately into a hanky or become black-wearing recluses. Instead life carries on as those left behind are forced to cope with their own erratic emotions, reconciling them with the way they are 'expected' to grieve.
Caroline's partner Rachael is taken from her without warning, leaving her floundering. Caroline marvels at the sudden silence and the loneliness while realizing that food still needs to be brought and dishes washed and cleaned. Death does not stop people thinking only about themselves or finding things funny but it is such a taboo that the bereaved is unsure how to behave.
The fact that the play focuses on a same-sex relationship is irrelevant to the issues mentioned above. In Casual Thursday the focus of a same-sex relationship highlights that grief transcends the social stereotypes often attributed to gender. Rather than a wife mourning for her husband or a husband for his wife, in my play a wife mourns her wife. Adding ex-husband Jim and daughter Ellie into the mix compounds the issues further. Caroline, suddenly thrown into confusion about her sexuality but not in the traditional way, embarks on an ill-fated relationship with Jim that is seeped in desperation, anguish, guilt and self-interest. Caroline's attitude towards Ellie is also rather unhealthy and is another aspect of her refusal to let Rachael go.
The repeated references to the television characters Cagney and Lacey reflect another aspect of this. While they may seem flippant they are used to illustrate how people can latch on to the smallest things until they become an obsession. For Caroline the in-joke she shared with Rachael comes to represent their entire relationship - when Rachael was alive, Caroline was Cagney but always wanted to be Lacey. With her dead Caroline is free to be who ever she chooses but because of her inability to face reality she is desperate to remain Cagney to herself and in other people's eyes, that way 'nothing has changed'.
The conclusion that Casual Thursday reaches strives to upset the expected. The listener witnesses a character's normal life, then her grief that culminates in anger and breakdown. In conventional terms the audience would then expect her to come out of the other side happy and having learned a valuable lesson. Sadly this is not so. Denial overrides acceptance and, as such, it is my hope that the signature tune of Judy Garland's 'Get Happy' takes on different meanings for the listener as the story progresses and evolves to its ultimate conclusion.
The writing process
Originally, Casual Thursday was written as one half of a double bill entitled Painted Ladies. Devised for live theatre by Short and Girlie productions, the two Ladies gradually became to big and took on lives of their own as plays in their own right. While Short and Girlie have since taken Casual Thursday's sister on to great acclaim, Casual Thursday stayed with me. An ex-Nottingham student I had heard about the Writer's In Residence season from a friend so submitted the play for consideration, all but forgetting about it until I heard that it had been accepted.
Undoubtedly, the people behind the season were exasperated by my subsequent lack of communication and, seemingly, co-operation but I was anxious not to unduly influence other people's interpretation of the play. In distancing myself as far as possible from the production I wanted to see how others would interpret the dialogue and emotions. It was only by doing this that I felt that I could get a real understanding about where Casual Thursday worked and where it didn't. The production team had it tough - written for theatre, the first draft had little consideration for things such as special effects while directions for the actors were minimal.
Upon hearing the broadcast, therefore, valuable lessons were learned for me as a writer. On the whole I was quite pleased with the production that the URN team came up with - the actress reading Caroline making good work of a demanding role. My biggest regret is not becoming involved with the significant cuts that were made when I had the chance. While I realise the importance of time constraints, I did feel that some of the more provoking dialogue was missing altogether.
Since listening to Casual Thursday the play has gone back on the drawing board and is now a significantly different creation. Elements that I feel worked have been developed while those that didn't have been amended. In it's new incarnation, the character of Jim has a voice and there is much more movement and breaking up of the long monologue passages, hopefully making the piece less static and more engaging for the listener. As a forum for new writers, therefore, I feel that Casual Thursday's inclusion in the Writers in Residence season was extremely productive and I would hope that University Radio Nottingham continues with the season next year.
| Credits | Casual Thursday starred - Jenny Crisp as Caroline and Devina Law as Rachel. Executive producer for the play was Chitra Nagarajan and Head technical producer was Tony Johnson. Assistant producers were Naomi Clarke, Pragun Kapur and Wayne j Widdowson. Casual Thursday was directed by Natasha Dhumma and Chitra Nagarajan. Music by Judy Garland featured 'Get Happy' from the MGM feature film 'Summer Stock' 1950.
The Writers in Residence season is an exclusive production of URN1350 and was conceived by Wayne j Widdowson and realised with the assistance of Chitra Nagarajan, URN Drama editor 2003. The soundtrack was written and performed exclusively by Richard Latimer, the lead singer of the Amateurs. Alp Arat took publicity photos for the season. If you'd like to get involved in drama at URN for the new academic year then e-mail: join@urn1350.net |
| | | |
|
|
