Just how bad was it?

Answer: Not very, actually.

Hurrah! Finally got round to blogging about the performance of my plays. A strange experience but all in all -fun and exciting. Much kudos is due to the actors who had less than 3 weeks to rehearse 18 scripts, all of varied length and genre- they all did a super job.
Both my plays were performed pretty much as I had envisaged them even down to the comic timing. Thankfully the audience was appreciative and they even laughed in the right places so to say I am well chuffed is an understatement.

Tonight is the final writing session this term and we will be doing a review of our performed work. It's going to be interesting to hear what my fellow writers felt about the experience and of course their critique too.

I have got my application form for the Leeds Met Screenwriting MA and have been encouraged to apply by some of those who attended the Writers Festival. Just need to get round to completing it now- they require an example of work plus and essay about my favourite film. Which leads nicely to the next dilemma- what is my favourite film....?

Oops...

...just realised I forgot to blog about seeing Lenny Henry in Othello at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

He was good. Not incredible but from his biog in the program this was his first serious stage role and this was only the second night so well done Lenny. The supporting cast were very good as is usually the case with Northern Broadsides, Matt Connor (who I have seen in 2 productions in the last year) deserves a mention as a brilliant Roderigo- someone to watch out for methinks. Conrad Nelson as Iago has had very good reviews and he was good...but...ever since I saw the film version with Kenneth Branagh I struggle to imagine an Iago not played as he did him- with a subtle, understated evil.

The production itself was fairly slick and used a black backdrop with a few props. Can't help but feel they borrowed a little from the style of last years Hamlet at the RSC (which I was also lucky enough to see). It wasn't in the same league as the RSC but still well worth seeing and not just for the play, the WYPH is a lovely venue and we all got to see Lenny in the bar afterwards doing the rounds and chatting to theatre goers, seems like a very genuine and unaffected man.

I believe it has sold out now but if you do have or get hold of a ticket you shouldn't be disappointed.

Rehearsals

Just back from seeing the rehearsal of one of my plays- From Bodrum with Love. Unfortunately I couldn't make the one last week so missed seeing the run through of Dinner for Five.

Initial thoughts? Good, surprisingly so!

Often when you see your work performed or read it doesn't sound quite the way it did in your head when you wrote it- no fault of the actors of course, just individual interpretation of the script. At tonight's run through though they pretty much had it nailed, especially the two main characters. I like to think this is because my writing has become tighter and more fluent and my characters more well rounded.

Really excited about Saturday now, I got to see a couple of fellow writers work in rehearsal too and there's going to be some good stuff performed

Showtime!

Rather excited today. Just had an email confirming that two of my scripts are being showcased as part of the Huddersfield Literature Festival ( Lawrence Batley Theatre, Sat 14th March, 4-6pm, Attic Venue). This is the first time anything I have written has been performed in a venue, I can't wait to see how they are interpreted by the actors. I have been invited to attend rehearsals but don't know whether to go along or not, it might be better to experience the plays on the day along with the rest of the audience...

On a less happy note I have been reading the latest media reports about the cuts being made in TV production, particularly ITV. It seems that a lot of continuing drama ( and presumably one off and two- parters) are facing the chop in favour of cheaper (reading between the lines) reality and game show formats, I guess revenue generated by phone-ins is also a key factor here. This is bad news for both established and aspiring screenwriters I would think. I wonder how much harder it will become over the next few years to get that first commission, will the powers that be prefer to stick to 'safe' well known writers or will us newbies get more of a chance because we are cheap (in the nicest possible way!)?

Makes me think my chosen path may be rockier than I first thought.

AWOL

OK. So not quite absent without leave - more absent minded really. Back now though, having spent most of January and February wading from one domestic disaster to another and furiously trying to write in between.

Finally managed to complete my radio play for the ABBA. How many other writers have to lock themselves in the toilet to write whilst ignoring the Lord of the Flies scenario that prevails elsewhere in the house? Not that many? A lot? Would be quite interested to know the answer actually.

Also, does writing under extreme pressure mean I achieve more or less output than my contemporaries? Thus far I have never suffered from writers block as I am not afforded that luxury- if I get a spare half hour I just have to get on and write (regardless of the rubbish I may churn out).

Anyway, fingers crossed that my play is half decent enough for someone to read beyond the first page. Having spent so long writing and rewriting it I have lost sight of whether it was actually any good in the first place.

Time will tell.

A new 'my first time'

My first official rejection arrived today in the form of an email from Radio 4 RFTP (see earlier blog posts). Quite exciting really! I'm sure however that they become less exciting as they mount up, at the moment it's just nice to have a visual reminder that I had completed and entered something. Good on R4 too for sending them out to everyone, it's horrible to be stuck in the maybe-wondering whether anyone of influence has recognised your true genius. In this case clearly not but then I had already worked this out after reading Jason Arnopp's post last week.

First Draft

It's been a productive week on the work front (productive by my standards- probably not by anyone else's). Tuesday saw the start of my script writing class for this year. The task set over Christmas was to write a 10-15 page theatre script based on the outlines we all did last year. So I that's what I did, sort of!

Actually, what really happened was this; I either procrastinated/was genuinely too busy/or plain ignored the pressing task right through Christmas and New Year. With hindsight I like to think that this was because of nagging doubts about the original story and outline. Finally on Tuesday- the day of the class, I sat down at 9.30am and wrote all 10 pages. Not the original outline but something completely different, an idea that seeded in my brain some months ago which I now realise had been growing without me realising it- hence being able to bang it straight out onto the screen, funny how writing happens like that sometimes. It's the first draft so it needs more work (obviously) but I am hoping it might develop into something submit worthy. I still have my abandoned outline to make something of too- if I can. I think it was too Christmassy in tone, I don't mean the plot was anything Christmas related but it was written mid- December and has that feel about it, now post- Christmas I just can't get into it. Weird.

Annoyance of the week is not being able to get ScriptSmart to download. I had it on my old PC but now have a laptop with Vista/ Office 2007 which doesn't appear compatible. If anyone reads this and has any ideas they will be gratefully received. Of course what I really want to do is buy a copy of Final Draft but sadly that's just not financially viable at the moment. Although... maybe if I sold one of the children...Hmm tempting.