It’s been a long three years with lots happening, and very little of it important to anyone but my family, who are at the centre of all my sunshine and storms. Everyone goes through times in their lives where things feel out of control. My response was to hibernate for a while, so that’s where I’ve been.
In 2023, my partner of fifteen years, San, was diagnosed with cancer. Thymoma, a tumour in his Thymus gland. My mother noticed a change in his voice. That slight octave shift sent us to our GP who asked for an Xray. Two weeks later, after tests and biopsies, San was admitted to Melbourne’s Austin hospital’s thoracic surgery unit, who removed the gland. Fortunately, the cancer had not spread.
Later, the doctor would admit that few with Thymoma ever have the choice of surgery because symptoms rarely reveal the condition early. San’s tumour grew across a nerve that affected his voice. We credit my mother, our GP and the brilliant doctors and nurses at the Austin, at the Olivia Newton John Cancer centre, and the Australian public health system that had San in their care within days, and have helped him recover, and remain cancer free for the last three years.
At the time of San’s surgery, I was busy with a new play that I produced and directed at Chapel Off Chapel.
There were the good reviews…
The young man featuring in the photos is Stephen Loftus. He starred in the show, and without him there would been no need for any reviews. He sang, danced and held focus from start to finish, while making the entire piece his own.
There were more critical reviews that I can’t seem to find at this moment. 😉 Those harsher reviews made their impact, because the moment I read that issues felt preachy, regarding trans rights, queer inclusion and gender fluidity – I knew I’d overwritten and I wanted to take the whole thing back and redraft.
As a piece of first-run theatre, it was successful. It was finding its feet through a first staging and certainly would have benefited from a longer run or funding to allow it to develop further.
We don’t really have a theatre circuit or support network, where ideas can be worked on and improved before being presented as final in this country. That’s a legacy of a small entertainment industry that relies largely on funding, rather than operating as a legitimate business based on profit and loss. Perhaps that harsh reality would only make things harder – but you can only complain about what you know.
I have a film script in development with producer Spencer McLaren. Spencer has a podcast, McLaren Versus… which is well worth everyone’s time. His discussion with Eddie Perfect, the creative mind behind the Tony Nominated Beetlejuice, spoke about this same lack of development to support musicals in this country. Perhaps there’s a growing synergy to get something started and fill this void.
But this is a post to fill in the gaps from when I last posted, and the highs and lows I’ve travelled in that time.
In 2024, after my partner’s health scare, I completed my Masters.
I plan to post my research project that analyses the emotional responses of characters, both positive and negative, at any point within any story. The tool I created is based on established developmental psychology, and incredibly useful as it allows writers, actors, directors and anyone tasked with evaluating a story/script, to check that the correct emotional responses to a situation are in place.
In 2025 I wrote a new novel, that sadly didn’t excite my literary agent as much as I’d hoped, so I’m now turning the story into a TV concept and pilot episode.
That brings us to 2026 – and hopefully more regular posts. If things fall into place, the funding for the film I wrote will get over the line this year, and finally move from development to production.
Apart from that, it’s back to the business of trying to get work produced. Wish me luck.