It's fair to say that art can have its therapeutic benefits. But anybody who has embarked on a new project will know that the creative process will probably cause a lot of stress before you can give any sighs of satisfaction.
When you inevitably hit a wall, it can be helpful to have a motivational quote on hand. The volume that playwright Chris Woodley turns to is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. ‘You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path,’ it states, ‘not by your successes or failures.’
It is this notion of making a serious commitment to creativity which inspired and supported Woodley through his transition from high school drama teacher to celebrated playwright and performer.
‘I sometimes forget that that was only six years ago,’ he says, ‘when I said I wanted to go and do a thing, and I went and did that thing.'
Woodley had initially wanted to go to drama school when he was 18, but didn't have the confidence to enter such a high-risk profession at a young age. He opted instead for the academic route, training as a teacher at Goldsmiths before becoming head of drama at a Hertfordshire secondary school.
But some years down the line, the desire to tread the boards still hadn't left him. On a visit to the Edinburgh Fringe the flame was re-ignited while sitting in the audience.
‘I'd always wanted to be on the stage,’ he says. ‘In fact, the moment I realised I wanted to go back, I was watching Orphans by Dennis Kelly, and I thought – I want to do what they're doing, because it's amazing.'
Soft approach
A personal crisis briefly halted Woodley's journey back into actor training but it ultimately gave him the impetus he needed to complete an MA at Mountview. It was that turning point that became the source material for his show, The Soft Subject, which Woodley took to the Edinburgh Fringe. For the past year, it has been touring around schools.
‘In Edinburgh we sold 550 tickets over a month. The final show I did on the schools tour was to 300 Year 9 students on the last day of term. It was intense.’
Woodley has also performed the show at the House of Lords to mark the 30-year anniversary of Section 28 – the controversial law which prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools and local authorities.
What Woodley clearly takes the most pride in is the impact his story has on his audiences. After his shows in Edinburgh, audience members would regularly approach him to thank him for sharing his story, and relate their own experiences.
‘On the schools tour, somebody came up to me and said they'd never seen a piece of work before that felt like it was written and made for them,’ he says. ‘I thought it was really fascinating that I'm coming from a perspective that's very personal to me, and you've found a connection with that.'
The Soft Subject is a story about family, and loss, and grief told through the prism of Woodley's own life experiences. It is structured like a drama lesson, infused with period detail, and is a hymn to his first love – Disney's The Little Mermaid.
It's an extremely personal piece but Woodley has never been in any doubt that it is suitable for younger audiences. ‘I knew that it would be useful for young people to see a teacher tell their story about their own mental health,’ he says. And amazingly, as a direct result of seeing the show, his old high school has formed an LGBTQ student group, to further address the issues it raised.
This autumn sees the start of a second schools tour, this time with a new actor at the helm. As he lets go of the story, what impact has the the play had on Woodley?
‘It feels like taking ownership. You're shaping the success of something, and you're defining your own story. Something not so great happened, I made a piece of art out of it, and I had a really lovely response.’
Chris's tips for taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe
- Choose your creative team carefully – you will be spending a lot of time together
- Your accommodation will be your sanctuary away from the intensity of the festival – ensure that it's a place you can relax in
- Pay for extra flyer distributors – A good promo team is worth its weight in gold
- Remember – it's just a show. It can feel like a mammoth task at times, but it should be enjoyable!
The Soft Subject is available for school bookings across the country. Go to hyphentheatre.com for details. Follow Chris and his company on Twitter @HyphenTC