Monday, 27 January 2025

Starting Schellberg 7


 

Yes, I shall be starting this soon. I’ve already made quite a plan and even written a couple of draft chapters. But there was something missing. In one of those eureka moments that come when you’re way from your desk and doing something completely different I realised what it was. I don’t want to say too much as I don’t want to create any spoilers. However, I will say that someone I had thought of as a minor character will take on a bigger role and will bring cohesion to the whole story.

Some of the features in the whole book include:

Distaste of Hitler and the Nazi regime

The Swing Youth

The speakeasy

An Italian father

A girl with a lot of creativity

A home opened to artists

A fiancé lost in the Great War.

The White Rose movement

Communication with the Allies

German resistance

A relationship with a niece

Helping said niece with the return of her war-damaged fiancé.  

Theatre, theatre and theatre

Espionage

Tuesday, 14 January 2025

The Speakeasy


 

There will be an underground space in the book. It will be created by Gabriela and used by her niece. We will have already met Anika in The House on Schellberg Street and we see her again along with her aunt in The Class Letter.  

It will be in the basement of a popular club, but behind a special door that only the performers and their audience know about.

The stage will be easily dismantled and all equipment quickly hidden.

The performers will be directed by Gabriela and her friends. The actors will mainly be Anika and some of her class mates.

That it is literally underground and hidden will add to the atmosphere. 

It will indeed have the atmosphere of a speakeasy. There will be a fug of cigarette smoke. Visitorswill consume beer, wine and champagne. Perhspa they will enjoy the odd Schnapps.  

The actors will be more Brecht that Stanivlaski. Their movements will be exaggerated. Sketches will include song and dance. There will be that alienation technique. The shows will also resemble a cabaret

I’m actually going to have to spend some time writing some of the sketches. This will be quite difficult but it can also be a lot of fun.