What a week!

Quite a few developments this week - I finally completed a full first draft of the script (more on that in a sec), a production page has been created on the Archway Theatre website, and I've got the ball rolling on workshop dates and actors.

So the full first draft has been done and delivered to a few interested parties and I'm awaiting their feedback. My view? It's a loooong way from being ready! But that's not necessarily a bad thing - at least I'm able to see that it needs work and know how I'll do so. I've spent a fair bit of time re-writing sections of the first act, so that's shaping up quite nicely. The second act, however, was very much 'bashed out'. My thinking for this was simple - although the rep committee need to approve the script, I've got a few months to do so. For me, it's better to get the story out and on paper so that I know the general shape, and then go back, rewrite, edit etc. On top of that, I'm going to hold at least one workshop with some actors to tear the whole thing apart, right down to the bare bones of it, to really test the text. Who knows, maybe it'll evolve into something else entirely - we'll soon see...

Beth's story?

So I've had some pretty great news today - the rep committee have agreed that publicity can begin for the play. Just means I need to finish writing the damn thing! As it stands now, Act 1 is six scenes and 29 pages long; Act 2 has three out of four scenes written and is only 12 pages long - eek. But I'm not too worried, I'm expecting the final scene to be the lengthiest but I reckon I'll gain a lot of material from the workshops with the actors.

Speaking of which, I had a quick drink with Emma this evening who I've worked with briefly before. As a woman she read the play differently and had an interesting perspective on the characters. Interestingly, she felt the male characters were more well rounded but Beth just comes across as a bit of a bitch. It is possible that the actress that plays Beth will need to work hard to bring through her sensitivities. However, she does go from quite nice to very nasty in a very short space of time so I think I'm going to go back and add a bit of backstory for Beth.

I also need to establish what makes Peter stay at the house - why doesn't he just up and leave; what's keeping him there? What drives the magnetism between Beth and Peter?

It's going to take some fiddling around with the whole thing but this is why I'm going to workshop the play - it's highly likely that the actors will be able add to the characters and story (and probably help remove things too) that I'm not too worried at this stage.

Plan? Finish a complete draft in the next fortnight and workshop within a month. Easy, eh? (Yes, you're right - those are indeed my Famous Last Words.....!!)

The Coma and the shadows

Finished reading 'The Coma' by Alex Garland. Very interesting book with some really clever ideas about perception of reality and dream-like states - both of which are themes that 'The Family' tries to explore...

I'll read you the blurb from the inside cover: "A young man is brutally assaulted late at night on an Underground train by a gang of thugs. Beaten unconscious, he lies for days in a hospital bed - but appears to make a full recovery. On discharge from hospital, Carl picks up the threads of his daily life, visiting friends, seeing his girlfriend - until he starts to notice strange leaps in his perception of time, distortions in his experience. Is he truly reacting with the outside world, or might he be terribly mistaken? So begins a dark psychological drama that raises profound questions about the boundary between the real and the imagined."

The book's more surreal moments contain an essence of something I'm trying to capture in the play. Whilst reading it I kept thinking how good it would be as a short film - and this raised an interesting question for me: 'does my writing contain an element of screenwriting as opposed to/well as playwriting?' It would be fair to say that I have more experience of watching film and TV and studying the quality of words. It's no secret that I'm a huge Doctor Who fan - at times when watching it I hear specific lines that leap out: often fantastic, sometimes cringing. But there's something magical about what is written for that show - perhaps that is a feature of writing for sci-fi? But I've noticed a similar trait in my writing - specific lines that leap off the page (hopefully not into the cringe category!).

On the other hand, ITV's Whitechapel debuted Monday night and was, without a doubt, brilliant. The performances were excellent and the writing superb - but I don't remember any of the lines. But then does that matter? Does remembering a line mean it's good? Or does it stand out for another, more negative reason?

In other news, I've had some flashes of inspiration for the final scene of the play. Shadows will play a part so need to go back into the first act and add some hints to it. This actually comes from the poster design - when I made it about six months ago I knew I wanted the image of dark shadows appearing to push through - I had no idea why but that it had to be included. And now, it all slots into place... 'citin' stuff!

The Family - The Poster

Just a quickie - here's the teaser poster for The Family. 99% certain that is going to be the title - nothing else could be more appropriate really...

Currently reading 'The Coma' by Alex Garland. 2 quid in Fopp and proving to be very useful study material... It's a very short book and it's taken me an hour to get about a third of the way through so expect some form of review shortly.

Playwriting-wise it's all going very well - currently working on Act 2 Scene 2 at the moment. It's crap at the moment and definitely needs work - but at least I'm able to admit that!

The frustration on his face...

Joined a band recently as their lead singer. The songs are fantastic - all written by our drummer. Just come back from a rehearsal and it's really interesting to see his face while I'm singing. Ultimately I know he wants me to be able to reach the notes he's hitting but, as I'm quite new to this singing malarkey, my voice just isn't flexible enough yet. So when the harmonies don't work out or something isn't right I like to have a quick look at his face to see his opinion. And it got me thinking - how will my face look when the actors don't quite do something as I envisaged it - will it be an expression of annoyance and frustration or of surprise and excitement? Only time will tell I guess...

Giving in to temptation

I've spent the last week taking charge of my life. I'm starting to speak my mind a lot more (not that I was particularly shy or retiring before) but I just feel like it's time to grow up and get on with things.

I've never really seen the point of blogs before. I get the whole personal diary thing, or blogs from public figures and organisations - but never really understood why people would want to read a complete stranger's most intimate thoughts. I've also thought of it all as a bit of an ego-trip - to big yourself up into thinking that anyone would give a shit about what you've got to say.

Earlier this week (Tuesday 20/1/09) I had a chat with Gary from my local theatre group. Last summer I sent him the first draft of the first act of a play I'm writing - and then I just left it. The theatre were keen but for some reason I just pushed it all aside. Then I bumped into gary while choreographing the panto and he seemed sooo enthusiastic about getting a meeting together. So I went to the meeting with a little trepidation - I genuinely didn't know what to expect, would he shoot it down in flames and tell me I couldn't write for toffee? Would he think I was a perverted deviant for the 'adult' nature of the text? Or would he just say that it was good but not what they were after, do I have anything else...?

Well, as it turned out - none of the above. There were a few grammatical things and a few writing tips (personalise this bit here, why say this when you could say more with a look or gesture, that kind of thing) but it was all incredibly encouraging. We talked about potential actors, chatted about deadlines and I left the house buzzing. I've made some changes to the first act and now moved onto the second act (it's a bit similar to that 'Second Album Syndrome' bands get but I'm on track now).

Part of my problem has been that I don't really have an outlet for my ideas and thoughts - I'll go to bed at night and not get to sleep cos I've all these ideas in my head. So what I'm hoping is that this blog will act as an almost 'Making of' for the play, what's influencing my writing, how the writing is going, and for me to have a bit of a rant about my frustrations. I'll probably chuck in one or two reviews of stuff I've watched/read/listened to etc.

And so begins my blogging. 2009 has got potential.

(Temptation-wise, I've also given in and shall shortly be acquiring an iPhone - more on that as and when!)