one step at a time ...

creative processes are pretty fascinating. as a group, we have developed a way of devising collaboratively, and each show takes a unique path within that process.

with our current work-in-progress, familiar features, we have had a couple of weeks of struggling, going off on tangents and around in circles, until last night when the introduction of a new idea (just as we were agreeing that we had to stop exploring new ideas and focus on the essence of the work) led to everything falling into place.

all the time we spent on tangents, false starts, going down dead ends and wrestling with conflicting ideas - is it time wasted, or is it a vital part of the process? i believe it ultimately enriches the work. every possibility that we explore answers some of our questions about what we are trying to do. an intriguing path may not end up being the final way, but we learn a lot by exploring it - and that feeds into the layers within the work, even if it's so buried that the audience may never know it's there. it's like painters who build up layers and layers of paint in order to achieve a particular effect.

the new idea last night gives us a practical framework, which supports all the essential ideas we want to talk about in this piece as well as giving a clear start and end. it's important that we have a strong structure as we're dealing with both online and offline audience, & need to think about how the experience will be for both audiences.