(Image credit to Yle Archives on Unsplash)

This week, I noticed that if I've got a day of creative activity as part of my schedule, I'm less worried about slotting creative tasks into admin days. The purpose of the challenge was about keeping creativity in the mix, and so I've found I'm pretty flexible about how it shows up in my workload, as long as it does show up in some form.

I spent a day in a music studio, working with singers and a pianist on my libretti. It was completely thrilling to hear them out loud for the first time and I had far fewer edits to make than I expected. I found myself focussing more on the artistic aspects of the writing and less on the technical features. I questioned the consistency of tone in my translation, and the relevance of each metaphor in my replacement text. The contemporary aria was my favourite of the day, with the music and the text lining up perfectly for dramatic effect. I'm really looking forward to our R&D time in the autumn.

I also spent a couple of days working with a friend and colleague on some early development for their new play. I had a great time responding to someone's else ideas and particularly generating some physical theatre material. I'm really excited about physical theatre at the moment which almost feels like an artistic homecoming. I've been asking questions this month about pathways and multi-faceted artistry, and whether I can have different strands co-existing; whether I can or should draw them together. I don't have answers, but I think I'll be mulling it over well into the autumn.