Winning Makes You Slimmer!

Oh boy! What a Ramble this is going to be!

I hope I’ve mentioned that my friends at the Collingwood RSC produced the premier of DENIM for me… (Yep, just checked, it’s in the ‘Mark of a Gentleman Challenge’ Ramble) Well, what I didn’t realise was that when it was reviewed by the regional paper (and what a fine review it was) that it runs an awards process. This culminates with what they describe as the ‘Oscars of the South’. A splendid evening in the beautiful Winchester Guildhall… All the spotlights, nominations, fancy frocks… the lot.

DENIM was nominated for three awards: Best Supporting Actress (Karen Coles – Bless You!), Best Director (Peter Trott – one of my readers, that had the courage to premiere the play and learn how to direct with the help of the Collingwood RSC Company – plus a damned fine friend to boot) and Production of the Year 2004!

We pitched up as a company, determined to have a good time. It was so obvious that was DENIM was the only original play there, we couldn’t get anything – so the beer pumps beckoned, the food made us salivate and the opportunity to have a boogie made us all merry. I guess that I should also point out, that when we arrived, we were told that a Comedy had never won the top trophy in the Awards history.

Time to get ‘socially confused’!

Did we celebrate when Karen won her award! Champagne… Dancing… Cheering… Then it was Peter’s turn… Thank goodness we had a few drinks inside of us… Nothing came, but we cheered the place down for the winner.

Production of the Year came around… We were all joking what we were going to do to the winner… Then the Guest of Honour read…

“The winner of Production of the Year 2004 is… COLLINGWOOD R… S…”

We never heard the ‘C’… Let alone the word DENIM.

We won! What a party!

Why did I say that Winning Makes You Slimmer…? I’ve never jumped so much, I’ve never danced so much, I’ve never cried so much, I’ve never ran around the place celebrating and making sure that everyone near me felt they were part of the production… I think you get the picture.

This was a big win. The awards were from noted critics. The awards were made against over 80 other productions (both amateur and semi-pro). The awards were in the papers (Even Navy News picked up the story!).

Happy…? Me…? You bet your as…

Inquest Blues

I Rambled some time ago that I had lost a damned-fine friend and critic in Steve Hilder. I have to state that my family and I miss him dearly. He’s been gone now for over 18 months, but there are still evenings where I find myself trying to find his number on my mobile phone, to ask him what he thinks of a passage I’ve just written.

We have his inquest this month (March 2005). It’s so obvious that the Police want the inquest to determine that Steve took his own life. But I know that he didn’t. I have to take the stand and say as much.

But will the coroner let me know when I’m required…? Hell no! ‘Just keep these dates free’ is the response – like none of us have any other commitments.

Every time I see the PRIME DIRECTIVE (OBSESSION) link on this site, I think of Steve: the fun we had in that production, his face when he won Best Male Newcomer (and the looks on our faces), the stupid drinking evenings after a rehearsal, his appetite for life, drama and yet more life.
Yes he’s missed… More each day unfortunately. It’s just another hurdle his family and friends have to get over.

For all those that knew Steve that read this Ramble… I know how you feel… But no matter what anyone says, Steve will always be Steve – and that’s a man that made our lives a little bit better to lead.

Blue Skies