Spotlight On: The Making of A Pocketful of Stories, Playwright’s Perspective
5-minute read // Published by Young Peoples Theatre, August 2023
Written by: Claire Thomas, playwright of A Pocketful of Stories. Foreword by Chelsea Willis.
Pictured: Gabe Widseth, onstage as the author in A Pocketful of Stories.
Join us for a three part Blog series, from the playwright of A Pocketful of Stories, Claire Thomas as she takes us through the creation process of our upcoming production. Claire is a talented writer, and this is her debut production as a playwright. Claire is a Theatre School Coordinator and tutor at YPT, and very fittingly is continuing the William Ford tradition of writing stories for our students, with this 75th Anniversary production. A modern ‘Ford’ production if you will. This three – part series will give you a glimpse into the writing process and how these stories came to be.
Chapter One – The Stories
Since the show has started, a few people have asked me where I get ideas for the stories and how they evolve. Which is both an easy and a difficult question to answer! Most of the ideas are from little moments that cross my path and tickle my creative spark. I have to admit, when I get the idea for a story, the characters usually take over and the story tells itself in my mind – I have to try to remember what happens so I can write it down! The best place for this lucid state is when I’m bobbing about in the shallow end at Bar Beach – so if you see me staring blankly into the distance, you’ll know why!
The Pocket
This was the first story I wrote many years ago. It was hatched as I walked along the beach on a particularly breezy day. As per usual, I was keeping my eye out for any bee’s that had washed up on the shore. I had found a few and was having great difficulty in transporting them to a safe spot in the dunes. I thought to myself – ‘it would be so awesome if I had a magic pocket that sent the bee’s safely to a pollen-filled flower!’ Later that day, I thought about how that sounded like a cute idea for a picture book and started to write some sentences down. After many edits and readings to kids, The Pocket is now one of my favourite stories, as it very much embodies me – the crazy insect saving lady!
Pip
I’m not entirely sure where the idea for this story came from. I vaguely remember deciding to make a seashell homage to May Gibbs gumnut babies! Collecting seashells is something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember – I suppose I want to capture the beauty of the beach and take it home with me. I adore the shapes, textures and colours of the different varieties. It was fun to figure out a personality for each of my favourite shells!
In a way, Pip also became a homage to the amazing crews at theatre who shine a spotlight on the performers and make the shows run smoothly!
Koo-Koo Gossip
One day I was sitting on the deck in our leafy Rankin Park garden when several kookaburras decided to engage in a hearty round of laughter. We affectionately refer to them as ‘koo-koo’s’ and tell our cats that they are laughing at them because of their silly kitty behaviour. I started to imagine two gossipy, hysterical birds making up stories about the animals around them! I enjoyed finding rhyming words that worked together and retro Aussie names for each character, as well as slipping in my own name as the theatrical possum!
The Plok
This was one of those stories that woke me at 3am and wouldn’t go away until I crawled out of bed to find a notepad and pen. I’d been performing in a production called “Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill. Two of the scenes were titled something like: the boy who didn’t know what pain was, the boy who didn’t know what fear was. One of the scenes was a list of random and slightly incorrect facts, one being: what is a plok? These words somehow managed to slip into the story-telling part of my brain and were tapping on my ear drums saying “the plok who didn’t know what feelings were!” Thus began the story about a little creature who discovered a world outside their burrow and the joy of learning new things!
Poppy’s Pond
This story was first called ‘The Accidental Pond’ and came about after a large storm had harassed the Hunter for a week. I was discussing it with my students to make sure they were okay as I knew many homes had experienced damage. One girl said they were renovating their backyard and all the rain had pooled to create an accidental pond. Those two words stuck with me and the funny little village was born where a plucky girl called Poppy decided to turn something troublesome into a beautiful place.
Tamiko
I’m very lucky to teach drama to many gorgeous year 2 classes at YPT. I’m in awe of their vivid imaginations and giggle at the funny things they come up with! In one lesson, we had been exploring sea creatures and finished with a puppetry activity. There were dolphins, whales, fish and octopus characters swimming about the room! At the end of the lesson though, there was one turtle that didn’t want to stop singing! We swam down the stairs so mum and dad could enjoy the song before home time. Well, this musical turtle was so fabulous that she really needed a story about her. So, thank you Ruby for giving me the idea for Tamiko the pop star! She is energetic, clever, talented and a great friend, just like you!
Part 3 coming soon…
YPT’s production of A Pocketful of Stories opened on 25 August and runs until 9 September. This is a perfect production for little ones and great introduction to theatre. We look forward to sharing Claire’s stories with you all. To book tickets go to ypt.org.au/bookings
