Around this time last year, I attended IdeasTap and Old Vic New Voices 'Shoestring Budget' workshops - on set; costume & make up; marketing & more. We had the best in the business advising us on how to make it happen with much, much (much) less than millions.

Since then I've taken their advice, links and suggestions and managed to put on the critically-acclaimed play End of the Line with IdeasTap Group Award winners: Knocked For Six and now I'm testing my sanity and going solo for Edinburgh 2011, with my new show about a stripper - Dry Ice.

This blog will follow my shoestring-budget bounces through the process from first draft to first night. Oooooh, let's go.

So - all the workshops were clear about a few things. 1) Believe in your idea and know why you think it's unique 2) Make the most of all your contacts 3) Look out for every opportunity you can.

1) I believe in my idea. It's about a stripper on the edge called Nina.  She gets paid £20 a pop to take her knickers off and is almost a decade older than all her colleagues. 

She has a boyfriend who is a struggling half art-dealer half drug-dealer. She has a super religious mum who is on the way to stay and knows nothing about her daughter's chosen career.

To stay sane(ish) she tells deliciously dark, surreal stories of strip club mermaids and throat-slitters; lascivious list keepers and X Factor victims as she plays her part in a game she's not really sure about - by the end, are we?

It's unique because I worked in strip clubs for four years so I know what I'm talking about. It's unique because I'm playing all the characters and I'm doing it in my performance poetry style of storytelling. But I'm not doing that annoying 'lifting the lid' - 'oh look they cut their tampon strings when they're on their period' thing (though there might be a bit of that every now and again). I'm looking to go deeper, to question (not judge) a society that regards strip-clubs as okay and to make people laugh, feel uncomfortable and provoke their wildest thoughts.

2) With all this in mind I embarked on the second piece of Shoestring advice - making the most of your contacts. I'm lucky to have met such wonderful talents in the past few years and here are a few that I'm working with to create a stage shaking show:

Sara Muzio : Architect & Animator (www.saramuzio.net)

Denis Fernando : Piano Genius (www.myspace.com/redcablesunday)

Zoe Buckman : Amazing photographer (www.zoebuckman.com)

I also attended workshops on making a poetry show with the zuper Zena Edwards at the Albany and performed extracts at literary nights I'd enjoyed in the past, such as Book Club Boutique and Literary Death Match - watch a short video of that night here to get an idea of what I'm chatting about (and see my favourite hat of the moment):

http://vimeo.com/17186077

3) IdeasTap and OVNV are bursting with opportunities all the time. I made the most of them and applied for everything that sounded good for the show. I was dee-lighted to be accepted onto High Tide's Genesis Lab (www.hightide.org.uk) where I will be guided by the nutty genesis genius of the Natalie Ibu woohoo.

I also got accepted onto the Fresh Ideas programme from New Wimbledon Theatre, so I'll be performing the show from April 20-23 at the New Wimbledon Theatre Studio, which is v exciting - and all due to checking the IdeasTap Opportunities board and actually swapping tweeting for applying.

So that's the beginning. I am now staring at the maze of madness that is a first draft as well as putting together a flyer with the wizardry of Zia Ahmed and the imagery of Rumi Begum (see pic above).

I will be back in touch soon to untie the Shoestring notes on Marketing and give you a sneak script preview. Don't trip.

Tickets for Dry Ice are available now:

http://www.ambassadortickets.com/2339/681/Wimbledon/Wimbledon-Studio/Dry-Ice-Tickets 

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