Play from the past

I’m currently working on too many projects. In the day job I’m battling with a couple of huge projects which are causing me to lose sleep. In my time, I’m into the books for my degree and working on the scenario (yet again) for The Breakfast Show.

As The Breakfast Show is somewhat of a departure for me, it’s taking quite a bit of time to develop. Seeing as it is such a change, I have to ensure the scenario is brilliant before I start writing any dialogue; else this one will run away from me. But I’m itching to get on with it. It’s just so damned frustrating.

I started to feel there was no way I was going to get another play out there at this rate. But then I received a couple of emails from my co-writer for a play that’s on the Shelf: ‘Stage F(r)ight.’

Phil had entered one of his scenes into a competition and it did very well. It reinvigorated his interest in the play. We both know there are a number of problems with the play; most of them minor (a couple of loose plot lines, an idea inserted that was never followed up). But the major problem with the play is length. It’s about 2 hours 30 minutes long!

As good as this play is, no one is going to sit in a theatre seat for that long, even if it did include the best actors in the world.

Phil has been looking over the manuscript for a couple of weeks and realised we have to do something with it. The other night, he took the gutsy move of taking a few copies of the script to a local pub where he knew a couple of amateur actors were going to be hanging out before a rehearsal. He chanced his arm and asked if they would be kind enough to read a scene or two aloud for him, so he could get a feel for how real the dialogue was.

The result: The read the entire thing and delayed their rehearsal so they could see how the play ended.

I love this play, but here’s what Phil said:

It was hilarious to the point where in some cases the cast couldn't read the script because they were laughing so much at each others' dialogue, and even I was in fits at some of the interpretations. When we got to the end of the first Act I suggested we stop or at least break to get the beers in, and they absolutely refused point-blank and kept going. I just became a passenger; the audience for our own work.

It was almost surreal - it was almost as if they had completely forgotten I was there, because they wanted to keep going for themselves - they had to know what happened next, and I if I'd tried to take the scripts back I genuinely don't think they would have let me!

When it got to Stan's final speech, one of the girls was even in tears, and at the end they actually stood and applauded. F*****g applauded.

…

Talk about the shiver... I'm still getting it. I think it ranks right up there with any of the highlights of my life to date. When I left to drive home, I actually had to stop and take a walk because I was damn near crying.

Okay, so I love this play. I know it needs work, but I still love this play. But it would appear an audience loves this play. In a theatre or not; paying punters or not; far to long to be correct; but this play has had it’s first public performance. And they loved it!

My only regret is I wasn’t there. How I would have loved to hear these characters – as they are only in my mind at the moment.

Needless to say, Phil and I are meeting up again in the near future to get this thing polished and ready for submission.

My hugest thanks to Phil and the folks in the back bar of the Vic! You’ve just made a playwright very happy; and determined this play will be performed to a larger audience. And it will be huge!

OMG!

Okay, I’m now in shock! This will be a short post as I don’t have too many details, but I have a long last been approached by a professional company! I wish I had more to add at this time, but that long awaited call looks as though it’s happened!

Winning makes you feel…

Alright! I admit it! I haven’t posted in ages; but as per normal I have a series of excuses.

1. My studies have got in the way (I had no idea doing an MSc in a subject I enjoy so much takes up so much of your time).
2. Work has stepped up a gear with loads of projects needing to be completed at the same time.
3. I’ve been acting in one of my plays!

And it’s point 3 that I want to concentrate on today. The Academy Players produced Denim from the 21st to 23rd of April this year. It’s fair to say there were some nerves in this production, as many of the principle actors had never stood on a stage before, there were fears they would never learn their lines – and advanced ticket sales were beyond poor (indeed, days before we opened there were discussions regarding pulling one of the nights).

But we opened on the Monday night and were delighted to have around 20 to 30 people in the audience. We were over the moon when our ‘newbies’ pulled something remarkable out of the hat, in that they played their parts so well, the other members of the cast we doing their best to concentrate on their roles; rather than stand back in shock at how well these newcomers were doing.

For the first time in my playwright career I saw the power of ‘word of mouth’. Sure advanced ticket sales were poor, but the second night saw so many people just pitch up at the door having spoken to someone that saw the play on the Monday. Then on the final night, where we only expected 15 people in the auditorium, we ended up with 60+! Just walking the bazaar’s in between productions all of the cast were hearing people saying “you’ve got to go, it was fantastic!” and one that stopped me dead was from a student attending the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC). In this course there is a large academic element. At this point in the year they are required to submit an 8,000 word MA essay and a 15,000 word Defence Research Project. To say this takes up a lot of their time would be an understatement. I watch these guys daily stressing so much and challenging their time-management to destruction point. One such student explained to me:

“What with all this going on, the last thing I needed was to go and see some
amateur play. But seeing as the boys (two of the cast were ACSC students)
were in it, we reluctantly agreed to go along and support them.

And I’m so glad we did. It was great! I was cracking up from beginning to end. There
was nothing amateur about it – this was real theatre. I would have happily
have paid to see this in a ‘real’ theatre. I’m not joking, this was one of
the highlights of the course for me.”

Moreover for me as a playwright, the final night had greater importance to me. I was our adjudicated performance for the Royal Navy Theatre Festival. We had the great fortune to have Sonia Woolley as our adjudicator who not only made the cast and crew feel at their ease during the production, but gave amazing feedback to enable each of the cast to grow as actors and enable the production crew to make the whole experience of going to the theatre more enjoyable and more exciting.

On Friday night, we had the Awards Night where 19 awards are presented for theatrical endeavours. We walked away victorious! The Academy Players won:

Best Overall Production: Festival Champion
Best Director (Paul Graham)
Best Stage Set
Best Lighting
Best Technical Achivement
Best Actor (Stuart McQuade, playing Pete)

We also collected ‘Highly Commended’ awards for:

Best Supporting Actress (Tamsen Clark, playing April)
Best Female Newcomer (Melanie Wright Cooper, playing Hazel and Charlotte Causton, playing Zoë)
Best Male Newcomer (Brian James, playing Customer 1 and Nick Brittain, playing Customer 2)
Best Actress (Melanie Wright Cooper, playing Hazel and Charlotte Causton, playing Zoë)
Best Actor (Brian James, Customer 1)

My congratulations to all involved! It was a great run that truly entertained our audiences. But don’t just take my word for it… Chris Mills, our producer, has uploaded a 10 minute extract of the play on YouTube... have a look!

But the night didn’t end there. I had entered my new manuscript ‘Error of Comedies: Occupations’ in the Best Original Stage Play category. Winning was great, but the review given by Sonia Woolley took my breath away. Making comments like “A concept worthy of Ayckbourn…”, “Great commercial potential…", "Inspired…” made the process of writing worthwhile.

There has been a slight attitude within the Royal Navy Theatre Association that I play at being a playwright. I saw a fundamental shift on Friday evening. People spent the evening coming up to me and asking about my plays as they were thinking about what they had to produce to win the festival (seeing as this production brings my tally of winning the RN Theatre Festival to 3 times) and asking for copies of Error of Comedies: Occupations.

This has reinvigorated my interest in writing for the stage. I now know more than ever that I want to be a full time playwright. I have a few years left in the service, and now my goal is to find a means of making play writing my full time career when I leave.

Winning doesn’t just make you feel good for a few minutes, it can make you think about where your life is going… And what you are going to do to change it.

Did I really write that?

Put 14 chairs in a circle, pass out a script, tell people who’s who and get them to read it to each other.

There’s your makings of a ‘read-through’.

To the uninitiated, this can be painful process. And we had a few ‘actors’ at the read through who have never trod the boards before. They found the process decidedly uncomfortable, as they wanted to wander around the stage, interact and put some physicality behind their lines.

And I can understand why. But this isn’t the function of a read through. It’s there to ensure the cast has a common understanding of the script and its plot from the director’s standpoint. It’s more of a challenge with something like Denim, as for all but 5 people attending, this was the first time they witness the story from start to finish.

In the auditions, the director purposefully only employed scenes from Act 1: to keep the twist and the counterplot of the second act hidden from the cast and potential audience.

To walk the stage and perform a read through would take at least twice as long – hardly and effective use of time.

So there we were, sat holding a script and talking when it was out turn. It was delightful to see that people had already developed some form of character for the person they were playing. Everyone was modulating their voice to attempt to convey some from of emotion… But they joy for me was there were a number of belly laughs! There were also some physical flinches… To me, that’s job done! The words were enough…

If my words spoken aloud with no direction or coaching can get people laughing and reacting, it means that the dialogue is right. No one was saying “that would never happen” or, “isn’t that stretching the imagination a bit”. They were behind the play.

And you could see the casting choices were correct: Customers 1 and 2 play too nicely against each other; one wide and cheeky; the other thoughtful and concerned. Pete was a joy, setting himself up well as the total wideboy, but developed into his true self as the play developed. Hazel had a true command and has a voice that enables her to put true emotion behind what she is developing. And Sybil… Dear Lord… She’s really going to steal the show as she displays no shame.

And there I sat, acting the disgusting drunk blurting out my lines at the appropriate point. I was overjoyed to see nearly all my lines attract a laugh (as I intended the character). But I felt myself wince more than once, knowing the guttural level of humour which was about to be delivered. More than once I found myself thinking “I am a very naughty man”. I remember when my wife and I saw the Pewsey Vale production and she kept on elbowing me, saying much the same.

Where did I get these lines from? I don’t talk like that in real life… I don’t use humour that base on a day to day basis… So where does this stuff come from.

Throughout the read through, I started to worry the remainder of the cast would assume these lines showed my true character. I needn’t have worried as it turned out, as they asked me how I thought these things up.

And I was reminded of something I wrote many years ago. “It’s like controlled schizophrenia.”

When I write, I try and place a shape to the characters. Before the scenario, I write detailed character biographies to guide me to who this person its. As the scenario develops, the characters take over in my mind and they ‘tell’ me what they are going to do and what they are going to say. Sometime I have to hold them back, but many is the case where their ‘idea’ is better than what I had in the synopsis.

So, although I’m the one that put the words on the page, in many ways it’s not me writing – it’s this person I’ve created telling what words to put down.

Anyway, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

An actor’s life for me

The new director at the Academy Players has cast Denim.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I had to stand back from the auditions process other than being an actor myself. We only received the confirmation of roles this morning as the Director had quite a headache regard how he was going to present his image.

This revolved around the person who would play Giles. He wanted Giles to be in his early to mid twenties, and that meant all the other characters would have be aged around him. It also means the play has to be set in the early 90s to maintain the plot line.

With a lot of effort – and asking me if it would work from the playwright’s perspective – he managed it. And the list was emailed out today. And what did I get?

Doug.

I am now terrified!

I wrote the damned thing, but the prospect of playing Doug fills me with fear. I thought I took actors feeling into account when I wrote a play… But now knowing I have to be a filthy disgusting drunkard with poor hygiene… Damn… That’s not right… Hell…! I’ve just remembered what happens with Sybil…! Who’s playing that part…?

OhmygodwhathaveIagreedto?

This is going to be frightening. But it’s also going to be great fun. The cast selected is brilliant. I can’t wait to see Customer 1 & 2 playing up to each other. April is going to be a knock out. Zoë is going to have too much fun. Pete is going to be a scream! Sybil…? Dear Lord… She’s going to steal the show! Doug… I guess he’s going to be passable.

Time to stand back and learn my lines.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this play develops. We have the read through tomorrow night, so I will report on the casts views on the script.

Under starter’s orders

Denim looks like it’s underway again.

The Academy Players are looking to produce Denim at the end of April. This time (for the Academy Players) I get to stand back from the production side of life and live the life of an actor. Paul, the producer of this year’s pantomime, has been hauled in kicking and screaming to take the role of Director – and it had to be said that he is taking to the role with gusto.

It can be very daunting directing your first play, but once you read a script and see what journey it’s supposed to take the audience on, then you’re on to a winner. And that is exactly what Paul has managed to do.

Two audition nights were set, one for Tuesday night and the other for last night. On Tuesday we had a multitude turn up and the auditions were stunning. Many of the attendees had been involved with the Pantomime – but what they presented in the auditions was like nothing we saw in the panto.

In panto, you have to over play everything. In a ‘standard’ play you have to connect with the part and build the character, not only in your mind, but over the course of the play. We had the Baron, Stepmother, Prince and Cinderella there… And they all became different people on the stage.

We also had a couple of newcomers arrive who had never stood on a stage, let alone take part in an audition… They blew me away! (I can’t say what they did to the Director as he has the casting decision to make – which I have no part in.) They presented themselves confidently, clearly and with defined humour. I’ve rarely seen that from total newcomers to the stage.

For me, it was terrifying. It was the first audition I’ve gone for in over 2 years. Add to that, I was auditioning for a part in one of my own plays.

I told Paul I am willing to take any part he considers me good enough for, but it was strange when I was reading the parts. At first I thought that I wanted to be Customer #1 – but someone else not only read him better, but look more the part. Then I wanted to be Doug – then I saw that I maybe wasn’t the right build or age for the part. Then I wanted to be Giles (and I really thought I would never want that part, what with it being so close to home) – and realised if I took the part, I would make the casting process for the remainder of the cast very difficult.

So I have no idea what part I could be considered for. Worse, I have no idea what part I would like to play, given the talent who auditioned.

Due to a low turn out last night, there has to be another audition call – it looks like there are enough women interested, but as with so many AmDram productions, it’s men who are lacking. So I guess I will hear something by the beginning of next week.

Let’s see what, if anything, I get. If I do get a part, I know I’ll be delighted with it (unless they want me in drag).

I forgot how scary it was to audition; I even forgot how difficult it is waiting for a decision… But here’s to waiting.

Panto success

So that’s pantomime over for another year. The Academy Players presented ‘Cinderella’ over the period 17-19 Jan 08. The cast and crew worked their hearts out and made a performance that exceeded my expectations and thoroughly entertained all the audiences who took the time out to see us and part with their hard earned cash.

Time to name names and give them the chuck ups they deserve.

Matt Bell – Buttons
A rock. His consistency of performance ensured the success of the pantomime. He is one of those actors who always thinks when he’s on stage. Hence when things went wrong (and they did) he was the first man who could be able to pick it up and make the performance get back on the tracks.

Stuart McQuade – Baron Hardup
When I decided that he would be singing ‘I will survive’ I knew that he would steal the show. And he did, with humility and generosity. He saw how far he could push the characterisation and took it there. A character that the audience fell in love with from the outset.

Maureen Baskerville – Evil Stepmother
Evil in a nice way – one that never scared the kiddies, but was still nasty enough to boo! A calm and collected performance that always amused. Especially when she pinned Buttons to the wall!

Dominic Evans – Gertrude
Stuart Simpson – Griselda
The ugly sisters that were best described by a young girl in the audience. ‘It was a good panto because the ugly sisters were really ugly’. They worked so well together as they took their characterisations in different directions, but ensured they complimented each other. A beautiful display of how to break the forth wall. Over the top, but believable in the pantomime sense.

Tamsen Clarke – Prince Rupert
Melissa Kendal – Cinderella
Two newcomers to the Academy Players who brought the panto to life. An earnest prince a stunning Cinders for the little girls to fall in love with. These two have to act again, as there’s raw talent there!

Charlotte Causton – Fairy Godmother
A fairy with attitude. The way the audience loved ‘what she does at parties’ demonstrated how well she connected with the audience. One of the finest and most accessible fairy Godmother performances I’ve had the pleasure to see.

Roger Trueman – King Cuthbert
A king with a slight Del-Boy twang. Always regal with an occasional slight toward the ludicrous. A King the audience sympathised with and wanted to support. Clear delivery and a strong presence. Again, another joy.

Becki Scott – Dandini
Loved a good thigh slap! Expressive face and full of confidence. Always willing to charge off and engage in the performance. As you would want with Dan, there was nothing understated about this performance.

Gilly Emberey – Prime Minster
Regal, considered, clearly delivered and confident. Added a touch of class and sophistication to her scenes that drove the plot forward – else we were going to see Rupert’s stipend cut off.

Chorus
As we had a minimal set, I warned the chorus that they would become the true set. And they became moving wallpaper – making each scene come to life with colour and animation. It would be an understatement to say that the production was a success because of them. They ensured that the audience spent their time looking at the actors which drew them in far more than any lavish set could have done.

Paul Graham – Producer
If it were not for Paul, this panto would not have happened. Diligent, considered and sympathetic. He pulled out all the stops and ensured that every technical aspect of the stage management went unseen to the audience – which added such a professional polish to the run.

Chris Mills – Sound
If he keeps his finger away from the space bar… Faultless. After a lot of work re-orchestrating the music and linking all the sound files together, an atmosphere the enhanced the look of the play was achived. Often an overlooked area of theatre, he gave this panto it’s fourth dimension.

Iain Cattroll – Lighting
A real challenge here as we had the lighting rig changed in the middle of the rehearsal schedule. Added warmth and clarity to the event. I know that I made his life difficult by employing a minimal set, but he rose to the challenge and delivered a plot that brought the characters to life and added pace and urgency to the show.

I could go on forever… And I will have to thank others later. But this was a show to be proud of. Full of energy and full of laughter – even when it was not supposed to be there. A few lines that will stick with me for quite some time:

“What are you looking at him for?”
“She!”
“Deja Vu”
“…is a mouse!”
“Who wrote this stuff?”

To all involved – including the audiences – many thanks for giving us all a wonderful production.

That’s the very last time that I direct a panto…






Until the next time.