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Introducing TENDER young playwright NICKI BLOOM
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At 22 years old Nicki Bloom wrote her first play Tender, an astonishly mature work. A haunting examination of love, loss and grief, the production was a smash hit during its debut Sydney season last year. We asked Nicki about the creation of Tender:
1. Tender – how did you choose this name?
The title was the last thing to fall into place – it came well after the play was written. ‘Tender’ is a strange word, at once soft and menacing. It fit the mood and tone of the play.
2. Where did the idea for the play come from?
The play began as an image, a dream, day-dream or conscious creation I don’t know. The image was of a park, a garden at night, the grass bright and floodlit. An eerie green. A park bench. A woman.
3. Was it a difficult path to get Tender produced?
We (director Geordie Brookman and I) had to try very hard to convince people that it would work. It’s a strange play in that it is only following the beat of its own drum. On the page it exists in its own world and in its own structure and I think people found that a little confronting – it doesn’t look the way plays tend to look. Once people had heard it read aloud they could see that it would work and finally we were programmed.
4. You have written prose, poetry, a play, and have a novel in the pipeline. Is there a preference? Do you plan to keep writing in a variety of forms or do you think you will specialise?
At the moment I’m enjoying it all and believe that I can do it all. Plays have taken over for the last couple of years but in 2009 the novel will be making a resurgence. I love each form for different reasons – prose for the deep and complex philosophical and linguistic engagement it offers the writer and reader, poetry as the most pure and distilled version of communication and language, and theatre as the forum where whole worlds and voices are actually enacted. I love the collaboration involved in creating work for the theatre and equally I love the solitude and introspection involved in writing prose and poetry.
5. What does a typical day entail? (Is there such a thing?)
A typical day when I’m writing at home involves a morning dog walk with my dog Tomato and the other four dogs on the farm (we live on a communal property), endless cups of peppermint tea, answering e-mails and writing longhand in the mornings, a break for lunch then typing up the morning’s work in the afternoon. I might read a play or part of a novel after that, and then begin to prepare dinner. Another dog walk when the sun is setting, then Geordie comes home and we spend the evening eating, drinking good red wine and chatting.
6. What did winning the awards for Tender mean to you and your development as a writer?
The awards gave me confidence that I could write for theatre, and they meant that people were reading and approving of my work. More than anything though it was the production of Tender that helped things along, theatre is different to prose or poetry in that it doesn’t exist in its complete form until it is actually on stage, and the production enabled people to see the play in its full colours.
7. What brought about the creation of your company nowyesnow, and what do you hope for it?
The creation of the company was brought about by the desire of Geordie and I to work together and to put a stamp on the work we do together. I hope one day for it to be a real force in Australian Theatre, but for the moment I am happy for it to exist alongside our individual careers. We hope to bit by bit build a floating ensemble of theatre workers (actors, designers, administrators, writers, directors) attached to the company so as that we can create work collaboratively.
8. Your husband Geordie is a director. Does working in the same industry have its advantages and disadvantages?
For us its mainly advantages as we don’t make much of a separation between work and life. It’s nice to have a deep understanding and respect for your partner’s work, an understanding that perhaps would be harder to come by if we worked in different industries. And we’re not doing exactly the same job, which removes any competition between us.
9. When you saw your work realised for the stage last year was it an easy process to watch others begin to own it? Were you involved during rehearsals?
I was very involved during rehearsals, especially because nowyesnow produced the season. I found the process very satisfying and it was strange, but good-strange when Geordie, the designers and the actors began to own the piece. I have no designs on doing any other jobs than my own so there was no jealously or uneasiness in seeing the play begin to belong to others as well as to me. I know that I can’t do what they do!
10. You have worked and lived in both Sydney and South Australia. Where do you feel more at home? Does where you live affect your work in any way?
I was born and raised in Sydney so it will always remain in part my home, but I love living in the country. It would be very hard to move back to the city again – the space and light and air out here is good for me. I feel very at home in both places, and also in Berlin where I have spent some time over the past few years. I’m very lucky in that I have the kind of job that is highly transportable – I could end up anywhere. As long as I have a studio detached from where I live I’m happy. I think your surroundings inevitably influence your work, but for me it’s in subtle ways.
11. What’s happening in 2009 for Nicki Bloom? And for nowyesnow?
In 2009 I’ll be concentrating for at least 6 months on finishing my first novel An Archipelago. I’ll also be working on several theatre commissions – I can’t talk about them yet though. It will be a disrupted year in some ways as Geordie will be working in several Australian states so Tomato and I will be tagging along with him. I’ll also be working on a project for nowyesnow, a theatre piece called Findelkinder. We’re talking to some other companies about a possible co-production for 2010 or 2012. It’s a piece about the dual ideas of ‘the lost child’ and Alzheimer’s disease. It looks to be a very busy year. . . but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
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