Flood of Ideas

Now it might appear that the majority of my time has been spent in revamping the site. But his couldn't be further from the truth. The Royal Military College of Science production of Prime Directive is making steady progress. They were extraordinarily privileged to have a professional actor, Mr Jon Kelly, take over the reigns as director for a couple of nights. The input he has had has revolutionised the production. Kate is displayed with the humour required to keep the booing and hissing at bay. Dick now comes over as an Evil dick. Harry is more powerful... I could go on all night.

But more to the point, this is going to be a very successful performance. And the cast and crew are the first participants in Prime Directive: The Production Diary. This companion to the manuscript is a history of what happened at the Auditions, Blocking, Read Through, Scripts Down... all the way through to the Performances and a handy little section, simply entitled In Retrospect.

This will be an invaluable and comical tool for anyone putting on Prime.

But why have I entitled this Ramble 'Flood of Ideas'? With the site's revamp, I was required to under go the pain of posing for a photographer (I've always hated having my photo taken). Thankfully the photographer (cheers Thelma) was a hoot. And I spent most of the session rolling about.

In that one photo call, I managed to define the underlying plot to my current Work In Progress (Now entitled Punchline) and develop the idea for two one-act plays.

Punchline is currently on hold as storyboarding starts on the two one-acts, entitled Folio and Shoot. These plays occur over the same time frame. So they can either be played as standalone plays. Or a company can put both on to create a two-act production. Daring companies can produce them both at the same time... But I'll reveal how that works in a future Ramble.

Why have I started looking at one-act plays? Because of publication. Try and publish a stage play in these times, and after a while someone is going to suggest self-publication (a polite way of saying Vanity Publishing). That's not a road I'm willing to take. But one act plays can be published on the basis of a solitary production. It's not a guarantee, but it's a hell of a lot easier. With a couple of one acts published, agents and production companies look at new playwrights like myself in a different light.

So here I am. New site. New ideas. New production of Prime. All I need now is an agent (Anyone listening out there?).

By the time I make my next Ramble, the production of Prime Directive will have occurred. And I know I'll have a lot to reveal then.