How much work are we making?

written by Toksvig

More about the work I'm making can be found here.

You'll see multiple shows on the go, and even the ones that are listed down the side, which look like they might be done and dusted, are still sort of current.

For me, the work I make never really ends. Some of it has been published, and is now out there in the world, on its own. Occasionally, it sends back a postcard, which is nice.

But would I say no if someone asked me to rework one of those shows for something? I'd say yes, of course, if it was a good opportunity. No work is ever finished.

(Which means I sort of understand why my mother still mothers me, despite the fact that I know to put on a coat if it's cold out.)

Making multiple work raises a lot of questions, I know. I think most musical theatre writers have jobs other than writing musicals, not to mention families and friends. Finding enough time to write one show can be a challenge, so the idea of having many shows on the go might seem impossible.

I don't think it takes more time to write more shows. I think it just makes more efficient use of the time you do have available.

There are regular opportunities to develop new work: workshops, readings, dramaturgy, even the chance for you to just invite a bunch of people over for Sunday lunch and do a table reading of something.

Having a bunch of shows available means you can choose the most appropriate one each time. And by 'a bunch' I don't mean three or four.

By my reckoning, I have about nine or ten shows that are currently active in some way, three or four that are quite far developed but temporarily on hold for reasons beyond my control, and... wow. Thirty three shows in the bottom drawer.

Wait. Thirty four.

No, thirty five!

It's a lot. And why not? The more tiny ideas I have, the more chance there is that I can make an appropriate suggestion during a random conversation, that might then turn into the greatest project I've ever done.

Tomorrow's video is about ways in which we could generate multiple ideas that might simultaneously broaden the opportunity for making more of those shows.

So how many shows have you got on the go?

Here is today's video.