• Starters 1 – Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Peter Brook, Augusto Boal and Rudolf Laban.
• Starters 2 – Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski, Steven Berkoff, Jean-Louis Barrault, Katie Mitchell, and Emma Rice [Kneehigh and Wise Children].
• Starters 3 – Edward Gordon Craig, Mime, Mask, Commedia dell’ Arte, Political Theatre, Verbatim Theatre.

Each Starter is £40 or there’s a Starters Bundle where you can buy all three Starters and get £20 off – £100 instead of £120!

The aim is to introduce the main facts about each practitioner and style, including practical work as always. This means that teachers can give a flavour of any of them as a ‘starter’ to a new group of students, swapping and changing according to how the work went down with their students. It also means that the teachers can look over the complete list and can be assured that with Jeni’s usual carefulness, the work on each area genuinely reflects the flavour of each practitioner or style. Sometimes teachers [and Jeni understands this having been there herself] fly to what they know best because it’s safe. In fact, engaging with something that is new to them can be exciting and inspirational for both teacher and students.

So why did I not put my poems together in a book before? I don’t really know. I have literally files and files of them from childhood onwards, many of them appearing outdated now but also many sounding as fresh as if written yesterday. And I still write them … since compiling this first anthology I’ve written ten more. The title of the book reflects the fact that the poetry in it covers my writing journey from fifteen years up to the present day – the stepping stones of different periods of life and experience

For me writing poetry is visceral and as necessary as breathing. It’s an intensely personal art form, far more than writing a novel which, perhaps because of the many voices of the different characters, always feels at one remove.

As soon as I’d got the poetry book ‘out there’ I wanted to curl up into a little ball. It feels as if I’ve put my naked self on show, utterly terrifying. Then I comforted myself that the book doesn’t only contain poetry. Key to the finished product are the wonderful illustrations provided by a good old friend of mine so, even if people aren’t turned on by poetry, they might enjoy the pictures, both black and white and colour.

The book is only available directly from me at present, though it is placed in local libraries and one or two other places in Cornwall for people to look at.

E-mail me if you’d like a copy: jeni@dramaworks.co.uk

You’ll need to add your name and address of course.

The book costs £6.50. I will give you my bank details if you request a copy and send it by post on receipt of that amount.

As a taster, here is a poem I wrote recently about my hometown, Penryn, one of the oldest towns in Cornwall. By writing it I was elected as the first poet laureate of Penryn. That seems to be a good place to start!

Two Cornish words may need explanation: an ope is an alleyway, an opening. And Polsethow, which is where I lived when I first moved to Cornwall means ‘the place where arrows are lost.’ Penryn had a teaching abbey of monks up till the time of Henry VIII when it was demolished like so many others. All the land stretching up the valley from the abbey was where they hunted and lost their arrows in the boggy ground.

MY HOME TOWN
Penryn, Cornwall

First landing was where the arrow falls:
Polsethow my first harbour.
History pulled me in: monks,
jostled cottages, timeless
opes, lanes inviting
beasts for market,
the wood, then a deer park,
the lowest lake a stew
for carp, eel, pike, rudd;
venerable monks ate well.
An ancient oven hides
next to a garage.
Old and new rub shoulders,
breathe the same air.

There is a whisper in the wood –
The song of holly, oak and
hazels sprung from monks’ plantings –
a sense of peace in the abbey field
where ancient stones
nurture their past in corners
and plug the neighbours’ walls.
Old and new rub shoulders
breathe the same air.

Swans swap between
lake and estuary
twenty-one last Sunday,
spreading sails beside dunlin,
knot, curlew, oyster-catcher
under the omni-present
clamour of the gulls.
This is Penryn; harbour no more
of ships but of folk, old and young,
students, fishermen, shopkeepers
busy hub of flourishing life
wrapped round by ribbons
of the past so that always
old and new rub shoulders
breathe the same air.

I have written poetry all my life, since my school set a competition for the school magazine when I was twelve and my poem was chosen. Thereafter there wasn’t a school magazine in which I didn’t have a poem. I’d got the bug. It was helped by my inspirational English teacher, then called Mary-Rose Bateman, though later she married and became Mary-Rose Farley, who I visited and kept in touch with until she died about three years ago. ‘Batty-B’ as she was called in school parlance, spotted some ability in me and encouraged it. She invited me to put any poem I’d written into her pigeon-hole; she would read it and comment helpfully. She’d set me tasks too: a sonnet – Shakespearean or Petrarchan – a villanelle [difficult] and so on. These were the stepping stones of my craft and I remember her with gratitude to this day for her support.

Poetry is my go-to comfort blanket. I write my way through bad times. Sometimes this means that the poem is pretty bleak but never mind, I have shaken the mood off and written my way through the trauma! But there are happier poems too of course and even some funny ones.

So it’s poetry that shot to the top of the kaleidoscope tube this time. The poetry library in my home-town, Penryn in Cornwall, held a competition to find the poet laureate of Penryn. Before you laugh out loud you should know that there is a very large society of poets in this area many of them very good, well-known and much published. I belong to the famous –reputed to be the best in England – Falmouth Poetry Group. We’re a mixed bunch, but what I like about the group [headed by Penelope Shuttle who has many publications] is its kindness to those who need help or advice. Nobody squashes the lacking-in-confidence and many newcomers flourish through the regular helpful feed-back they receive.

I’ve belonged to the FPG since I moved to Cornwall in 2001 and before that belonged to a group in Tunbridge Wells. In Cornwall apart from attendance at the FPG I have boosted my confidence by going to open-mic sessions. And I enter competitions. So following my latest compulsion, which is to ‘get my poetry out there’, I entered the poetry library competition.

Turning up to the grand finale at the Famous Old Barrel pub last Thursday I looked around – the place was packed – and recognised many other poets I’d met at open-mic sessions in Falmouth. My spirits fell. Lots of good writers. What made me think my contribution would be any good? I’d only entered at the last minute, thinking I might as well. The subject had been to write a poem about Penryn. It hadn’t inspired me but as I thought about it in those last few days I realised how much I did know about the town – the second oldest [by a few weeks] in the whole of Cornwall. I’d walked every inch of it and its surroundings, discovering much about its history as I did so. I loved the woods, the estuary, the lakes. The poem flowed out…

Just as I was thinking of leaving and walking in the dark up to my home by the bottom lake, hearing who was third [a poet friend of mine] and second [a regular open-mic reader and a student at Falmouth University] like a dream I heard my name read out.

So there you go – the first Poet Laureate of Penryn and environs, crowned with a wreath and lauded and heaped with little gifts and a certificate. I’ve already sent two more poems. It shows how a bit of appreciation can fire up both spirit and creativity.

At present, I have a poetry book in the offing. It’s being illustrated at the moment, by an old friend who is also a talented and creative artist. He’s sent me a few pages already, and the images are stunning and certainly enhance the poems. Then I need to find a publisher for it.

I’ve been writing a book about stalking, based on my own experiences of being stalked for two of my University years. I’d buried this deep because it had been so frightening, but, after more than 20,000 words written, I’m not enjoying doing it nor do I think it’s up to scratch. Maybe at some point I’ll turn it into a short story.

I wrote many short stories in my thirties and forties, when children and work prevented me from immersing myself in larger projects. Some of these did well in competitions back then. I may brush them off and make them into a collection – with the stalking one too.

Creation and Destruction, as the novel around Hades and Persephone is now called, has been languishing with a publisher for a few months. Hope I’ll hear something soon.

I want to write a memoir about my mother’s Alzheimer’s, which will include many poems I wrote about that experience. Perhaps I’ll turn to that and give stalking a rest.

The novel I began about another ancestor of mine, Caroline Herschel, has stopped at about a third of the way through. I need to do some research in Hanover, where she was both born and spent her last years. She was treated like a returning film star when she returned [unlike in this country where her work was ignored, despite her brother William insisting to the Royal Society that much of the work was her own]. Because Hanover valued her so much, I know there will be priceless information in the museums there. I need to go there [when I can afford it], spend some time trying to find remnants of the town as it had been in the eighteenth century and talk to the museum curators, so that I can finish the book.

Then there is the story of my Dad’s parents, sketchily mentioned in my novel The Courage Game. That clamours for my attention, especially as my sister went out to Nakusp and took more than eighty photos on her phone of the court records from my grandfather’s trial. Such wonderful fodder for the book.

But meanwhile, until my mortgage finishes [soon] I have to make a living, so am also still writing new resources for Drama Teachers!

You see what I mean?! When will I learn to prioritise and not try to do everything at once!

I always feel a shaft of joy to greet a new year, no idea why since mostly things just settle into the usual rhythms: writing [too many things at once, usually, which means slow work on them all and divided time – not really the best way to go about things!] However, this is what I’ve always done so probably will continue and eventually something will be finished and there’ll then be less division in my days! Hoorah! Then there are my joyful moments [not that I don’t feel joy when writing, but there’s also a lot of sheer slog] – these are my two walks a day with my lovely black labrador and time spent with my family and friends.

Some good things have happened since I last blogged. My story about the Greek gods is with a publisher at the moment and I await his judgement. Fingers crossed. If he takes the book, I shall be plugging away at everyone to buy it, so beware! People enjoy the Courage Game and, though this is very different, it has been something I’ve been passionate about all my life. Heart and soul went into its making…

I’m also bringing out a book of poetry. I’ve written poetry since I was twelve, when a competition was mooted in my school and I thought I’d have a go – and won it! I thought – think I’ll carry on with this and have done so ever since, but never got round to doing anything with them. I have chosen the poems and the order and a friend, a wonderful artist, is illustrating it at the moment. It should be ready to go quite soon…

And I must still continue with the remnants of Dramaworks which, now it has been siphoned up by Digital Theatre, is under the new name of Drama Teaching Resources for Schools. The heart has gone out of it for the present but I’m writing more resources since the news that the plays which had always been used for A level exams are no longer permitted – they have to be published by a ‘proper’ publisher. Grrr! Of course this took the heart out of what I have left of my long-time drama work. I’d already written more than fifty drama resources and thought to myself, enough is enough – now concentrate on your other writing. But needs must – I shall continue to write more drama resources just to keep the site viable – for now. Two are on the Plays for Schools site now and I’m halfway through a third…

The sun is shining; the frost is crackling and laced over every branch. Think I’ll take the dog for a walk …

Have a very happy and productive New Year, friends all … may all things good and beautiful come your way…

On the Home page of Dramaworks those words were always at the forefront: ‘Dramaworks is a small publishing house for plays and teaching resources…’ In those days I produced hard copies only. Now they’re all digital. Many of those plays have been produced in professional theatres to paying audiences, mostly by T.I.E.s and small touring groups.

All the plays designated as suitable for A level have been carefully chosen for their more challenging themes and content. All are at least one hour long, as demanded by some exam boards. Full-length plays are in a separate category. I have indicated those that are suitable for A level candidates, as at least one board asks for extracts to be performed from a full-length play.

I really wonder why plays specifically written for young people to perform should be disparaged. Your students might find one of these a better fit than is annually produced in the mad scramble to find something suitable on bookshops’ shelves.

There is ‘Exploring Theatre: Stanislavski’ a great big Stanislavski file, which I wrote during lock-down, which is more complete and expansive than any previous ones. It also uses completely new exercises for each component of the System. Whether you already have one of my works on Stanislavski or not, this one is a must-have. Order Exploring Theatre: Stanislavski – Cost £50!

Also in this section is the first of three resources all called ‘Starters’ which contain information and exercises on a variety of practitioners and styles. The work on each practitioner is designed to last around 3 to 4 periods of lesson time. They contain enough to give a real flavour of each practitioner or theatre style through practical work and all use exercises that are mainly new too.

This means that teachers can offer more than one practitioner option to their students, by trying out the styles and the kind of work each involves in a short time period. Sometimes, I know from experience, a teacher is so busy that they fly to what they have always done, often regretting that those old lesson plans now feel stale and worn.

I delved into my old workshop material to come up with ideas that fitted into a do-able length of time, with practical work that I kept separate from the exercises used in my older resources. Now I no longer do workshops, it struck me I could free those exercises for further use.

Starters 1 contains Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Peter Brook, Augusto Boal and Rudolf Laban. Order Starters 1 – Cost £40.

Starters 2 will contain Emma Rice and Kneehigh, Steven Berkoff, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jacques Lecoq, Katie Mitchell and Edward Gordon Craig.

Starters 3 will be styles rather than particular practitioners. It will contain Physical Theatre, Political Theatre, Commedia ‘dell Arte, Mime and Maskwork, Verbatim Theatre and Street Theatre.

I will get on with the two next Starters resources as soon as possible, plus some new plays that I am writing for the play section.

Keep checking this site and I’ll also use alerts for any new material on social media.

Jeni

Coming soon are one-hour-long plays about Extinction Rebellion and a group of aid workers in a war-zone, plus a full-length play based on my own novel The Courage Game, which is about my great-aunt who was a militant suffragette. Since its publication a couple of years ago, I have been asked to do many talks to Schools, History Societies, WIs and Book Reading Groups. I enjoy this very much! I dress up [approximately] as a suffragette and [can’t help my background] find myself acting out some of the scenes, such as forcible feeding and my great-aunt’s hold-up of the mounted police in Birmingham! I have all her medals too, which has been an enormous help to what, for me, approximates to the lovely heydays of running drama workshops.

I’m hoping that these plays will continue to be a help to busy teachers. I’m aware of the new demands made on students and that part of the skill for A level is to make appropriate cuts without losing the sense or the flow. For this reason all the plays at A level are at least one hour long, to allow for reductions.

Of course there are plays for all levels from Year 7 to Year 13. I am writing new ones for the lower end too. Some will be suitable for performance; others are what I call ‘training plays’, that is they encourage teamwork and are a good practice in all the basic performance skills. Then there are many plays for GCSE level as well as those mentioned above for A level, and equivalent examinations.

More ideas are flowing and, if you have any ideas to give me, please e-mail me: jeni@dramaworks.co.uk I though perhaps something about the current spate of riots? But if you can think of subjects that are more light-hearted I’d be grateful!

Those of you who have written plays, please send them to me – hard copy or by email to the address in the above paragraph. I will put anything up on the site that I think is useful. The whole idea of the plays was that it was a sharing scheme: teachers get a quarter of each sale, which I send at the end of the year. It won’t make you a millionaire, but will give you the satisfaction of knowing that your play has been picked up and performed.

Another question that is commonly asked by teachers is ‘Are these plays published?’ The answer is ‘Yes’; All plays are registered with Nielsen and with ISBN numbers allocated to them.

There is an ache in my chest over this loss. I have lived and breathed it for so long, starting simply with running workshops and youth theatres until I decided it was worth writing resources as well. When I started teaching I had been surprised by how little there was in the way of books which were helpful to drama teachers. Plenty of books about theatre and practitioners, but all theoretical. Almost nothing that was hands on advice about how to translate those theories into practice. I started with the father of realistic/naturalistic theatre: Stanislavski. So successful was this immediately that I realised I’d found my metier. I went on to Brecht and Artaud before tackling slightly more fringe figures. Then I decided to create practical approaches to set texts. One teacher said shortly after I’d decided enough is enough – I’d written about twenty or more of these – that please could I write about her chosen set text [which I hadn’t already covered] because ‘without my suggestions and guidance though the whole text’ she didn’t feel capable of teaching it. There have been so many of these encouraging and heart-warming comments. I ‘m so grateful for them all.

I realise how lucky I have been. The experience has given me confidence and a whole raft of knowledge. How many people can say that they’ve made their own career and enjoyed every minute of it? And the workshops took me all over the UK, to places I’d never been. My first black labrador, Daisy, and I travelled everywhere together. If she wasn’t allowed in a cubbyhole in the school I was visiting, she would be parked in a shady corner of the grounds with the boot open. She never tried to escape. The plus side for us both were the walks and explorations of new places. And being together.

It is good that Digital Theatre will keep my legacy alive. Not so good that there are schools who have not joined because of the cost of DT. I wanted so much to make my resources available to all.

I decided it was better to open this site now to get you all used to its name and location in case DT decides next week that I must close Dramaworks down. James, my wonderful website manager, and myself have therefore been very busy getting everything in place.

Soon after its opening I shall be putting up new plays from a pile I have accumulated and, as ever, I am asking if any of you have written plays which you have squirreled away in a bottom drawer of your desk. I know that it’s hard to find plays with the right mix of characters and, just as importantly, with all characters having an examinable length of staging time, so there’ll be some out there, I’m sure. If so, think how good it would feel to share your prowess with other teachers and receive a share of any sales as well. A win/win scenario.

You don’t have to work on any of these. Once I’ve seen a play I can tell whether it’s good enough to put on the site and I will put it in the same format as the others myself.

Please send any offerings by post to Jeni Whittaker, 2 College Wood, Penryn TR10 8NB or as an email attachment to jeni@dramaworks.co.uk