Just six days ago I was approached by Josie Rouke, the artistic director of the bush theatre, who invited me to write a play with her for the upcoming event First Time Voters. Initially I was shocked, confused even, I mean I have never written anything 'proper' before, especially for something so important! What if I got it wrong? I had this really weird mental image of Josie sitting there staring at me with a notebook, waiting for me to say something remarkable and then realizing that I was a fake and firing me on the spot! Crazy I know. I guess it's that imagination right there which made her ask me in the first place. I mean even in the worst case scenario that would never actually happen, but once I start I can't stop imagining all sorts of crazy things! I truly think I have a problem...
Two days later I found myself sitting in Josie's flat next to Kirsty Patrick Ward (the director) and all of a sudden it was just pouring out of me. The injustice of the political system, the annoyance of my friends wasting their votes and of course my frustration that I legally am not allowed to vote. You see, I am seventeen years, ten months and twenty nine days old. That makes me twenty-nine days too young to vote. How unfair is that? I now have to wait five whole years until I can vote. Do you know I am in fact praying for a hung parliament, how sad is that?
Over a much needed cup of tea (well, it was ten o'clock on a Sunday morning) the three of us came to the conclusion that the idea of me being twenty nine days too young to vote is actually ridiculous and that a much fairer way to decide would be a maturity test. I mean, some people are clearly too immature to vote. Right?
Once we knew what we wanted to write about that was it, we were off. The test consists of twenty questions, most of which I drew from personal experiences over the years and some which were quite relevant to the election. For example question twelve is 'What is politics for?' whereas question sixteen is 'what temperature do you do your washing at?' Each question meant something personally to me. Being able to write about it gave me a sense of freedom, even if no one else thought it was good, it was how I felt. Leading up to the performance I was terrified, again my imagination got the better of me and I found my self thinking of all the possible scenarios that could go wrong. My favorite one was 'What if someone walks out?'. Thankfully that didn't happen, and I suppose that if it did I would just have to look on the plus side that the 79 other people stayed, so maybe it wasn't personal and that they just had to go.
The actual piece itself lasted all of six minutes, and the actress Susan Wokoma was fantastic! She was cast on Tuesday and performed it a day later on Wednesday evening. I honestly couldn't have played the part better. I must admit it was slightly weird watching her act a part based on me but I would never have had the courage to stand up there in front of all those people so I am very grateful that she was indeed brave enough. As well as writing a monologue for First Time Voters, I also assisted Dan Baker, the project manager, on the whole event so I couldn't even spend as much time as I wanted to with her. Luckily for me she was a pro and pulled it off with the perfect amount of attitude, might I add!
For those of you who couldn't make it on the night I want you to know that you missed one of the best performances of 2010 and I hope that you are kicking yourselves right now! I'm only joking, but it truly was a remarkable evening. The show was an hour and five minutes long, and had four fifteen to twenty minute plays, which were written specifically for First Time Voters.
The first play, How To Vote, was written by James Graham (Whiskey Taster, SuddenLossofDignity), directed by the Artistic Director of Nabokov, Joe Murphy, who worked closely with eight actors including the bushactivists.
The second performance, At The Community Hall, was written by E V Crowe, directed by Hamish Pirie and was performed by The Horn of Africa community group.
The third piece was written by me (Sade Banks), Kirsty Patrick Ward and Josie Rourke. The multi-tasker that is Kirsty Patrick Ward then went on to direct it and the lovely Susan Wokoma performed it.
Last but not least was Once Upon a General Election, written by Joel Horwood (SuddenLossofDignity, Is Everyone Ok?), Colette Kane (Dirty Protest), and Al Smith (Chalk, BBC Switch). Vicky Jones and Phoebe Waller-Bridge the Artistic Directors of DryWrite, directed it and used a variety of actors, to create a fantastically bizarre piece of theatre.
I definitely learnt a great deal from this experience and I am eager to have a go at writing something else. Keep checking the site for my next blog as I will be sure to keep you all updated with my time at the bush! Below I have posted the original play with all twenty questions so please read it and let me know what you think. I have also published it on bushgreen, our social networking and play publishing website, join up and make a comment!
First Time Voters
SEVENTEEN YEARS, TEN MONTHS and TWENTY-NINE DAYS
Sade Banks, Kirsty Patrick Ward and Josie Rourke
Tomorrow, I will be 17 years, 10 months and 29 days old. I am 29 days too young to vote. I have voted for class reps at school, and for head of year, and once on X-Factor but that's because Alexander is my friend's sister. Once, we all sat down on the grass at school and wouldn't go to lessons until we got an agreement on school uniform. The head teacher came out and took off his tie and spoke to us, which I thought was good. I don't think that politicians should wear suits. We got Fridays as a no uniform day. All of my friends are able to vote tomorrow, I'm the youngest in my year. Of my friends who are voting, some of them are keeping it secret, so that we can't try and persuade them otherwise. Two of them are siding with their Mum. There should be a test - A maturity test. Twenty questions. This is what my maturity test would look like.
1. You and your friend get a cab from Clapham to Shepherds Bush. Halfway there, you realise that neither of you has any money. What do you do?
2. You have saved up £500 to go to Aiyanapa with your friends in the Summer, (Aiyanapa is the place to be). You get a letter saying that you owe the Council £300. Do you go on holiday and save when you get back, or do you pay the money?
3. How much should you pay for a four pack of toilet roll? (and not from a pound shop, that's cheating).
4. Someone gives you a huge box of fireworks, what should you do?
5. How should you talk to a policeman, even if they are talking to you like you are nothing?
6. If you are stopped by the police and it is raining, and you put your hood up because you've just straightened your hair, and they ask you to take it down, what do you do? (If you're a guy and you don't straighten your hair, you need to be mature enough to imagine you're a woman, so that you can answer this question).
7. If your friend and her boyfriend are arguing in front of you, and he's a bit violent and you stop them, and then they make up, and it's suddenly all alright again between them, do you say anything?
8. Who should be more important, your friend or your boyfriend (or girlfriend)? (There might be more than one right answer to this question.)
9. If the Queen wanted to legalise cannabis, could she?
10. If you're at a bar, and a guy offers to buy you a drink and you go to the toilet quickly and you come back and the drink is there, do you still drink it?
11. What's the difference between what you need and what you want?
12. What is politics for?
13. All the politicians have got bits of what you like, but there's no-one calling out to you. Should you vote?
14. Is it better to regret something that you've done, or something that you didn't do?
15. What's the difference between left wing and right wing?
16. What temperature do you do your washing at?
17. It's after a rave and your heels are killing you, and a guy you were dancing with at the party pulls up and is like 'hey, I'm going your way?', what do you do? (If you are a guy, you should answer with what you would want your sister to do?).
18. If you read on the internet that Lady Gaga was actually a man, or Jay-Z was a member of a secret society, trying to control the world through his devil-music, would you believe it?
19. Where do facts come from?
20. If you make a mistake, and the same situation comes up again, do you make the same mistake?
Would you like to hear any of those again?