There isn't a point I can mark as the start of the journey but I'd say a significant point in the Return to YinYang Mountain was the first 'attempt' which came in the form of The Other Side of the Mountain. I wrote this around 2002 and it was performed a couple of times, once in 2003 as part of a Trilogy of my plays (along with Love is an Urban Myth from 1998/9, and When Time Stands Still dating from around 2000/2002). These were produced by me under the auspices of Bamboo Grove Theatre Company which I set up in 2002 in tandem to my work as Playwright in Residence. [Bamboo Grove ran its course after 8 years or so but they were 8 happy and productive years] But The Other Side of the Mountain story started even earlier. I first started thinking about it in the early 1990s, with the initial inspiration being Scott of the Antarctic and my interest/fascination in the 'madness' descending on them as they sat in their tent, knowning they were dying. Quite when the drama morphed into a Daoist drama I'm not sure but by 2003 the Daoism took it over. And so, reflecting from another part of the moment, I suppose it was my first Daoist drama (indeed my first Daoist inspired writing). Perhaps I should label it as 'Daoist infused'. This is all by way of an introduction to announce that as I move further into the Return to YinYang project, I've been revisiting my time with The Other Side of the Mountain and you can experience this journey too. You can download the playscript here (as it was in 2005) or view recordings of rehearsals from the two performances in 2003 and 2004. Please bear in mind that the technology (and my skill level) were very different a couple of decades ago! But hopefully they still have something which may appeal to anyone with an interest in the Dao. Comments are closed.
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