Precious Things

… is new work being developed by Temeka Lawlor for children and the young at heart.

Temeka was inspired to make this work as a response to 3 things:

  • her journey as a recovering perfectionist
  • the desire to find more joy in the messiness of our beautiful, imperfect universe.
  • her mother’s old match box filled to the brim of tiny things

In early 2022, Temeka began the slow-burn process of bringing Precious Things to life by inviting five talented and inspiring theatre makers to spend five days working in the studio with her.

temeka headshot

The goal was to create a pool of content, ideas, thoughts, scenes, modules and magic. The process was planned and documented on Milanote.

After 100s of hours of preliminary research, planning and dreaming on her own and many hours consulting with her mentors Dave Brown, Geoff Cobham and Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Temeka entered the studio with her theatre-making team and together they created content in response to provocations, improvisations and thought experiments.

“It’s important to have clear goals and plans for your making process, but I’ve learnt you must also be comfortable and flexible enough to go down unplanned pathways if you’re discovering something interesting in the room.”

Temeka Lawlor – Conceptualist/Director/Theatre-Maker/Performer

“As an emerging director/theatre-maker, one of the most important things I’ve learnt from this process is the importance of inspiring, then empowering the creative team; supporting them in a way that gives them ownership of the work.”

Temeka Lawlor – Conceptualist/Director/Theatre-Maker/Performer

“My mantra has become: provide clear directions and then get out of the way!  This approach is the most conducive to producing innovation, creativity and magic.”

Temeka Lawlor – Conceptualist/Director/Theatre-Maker/Performer

Acknowledgements
Conceptualist/Director/TheatreMaker: Temeka Lawlor
Theatre-Makers: Lisa Fanto, Ashton Malcolm, Zoe Dunwoodle, Kate Bonney
Provocateur/Mentor: Dave Brown
Mentor: Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Geoff Cobham,
Administrative Support: Penny Camens through the auspicing of the grant by Patch Theatre Company
Thanks to Simone Avramidis and the Goodwood Theatre and Studios for generous support.
This project was scaffolded by The PaperBoats and funded by the SA Government through Carclew.

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