As hinted in an earlier post, I am putting on a play! That is to to say I have found some mad people (namely the Steeple Aston Players) who are willing to be in or be a part of "Dating by the Book", a modern farce set around the adventures of a literary agent trying to find a date for an awards ceremony.
This play was written last autumn as part of Writing for Performance, a foundation degree I am taking at Ruskin College in Oxford. This is my second year and as such we looked at more extensive full-length scripts; this play is 90 minutes long! It represents the longest play I have ever written, it's also a comedy, and rather unusually for my work, no-one dies! Well, okay, there is a death in the back story, but it's all dealt with in the best possible taste. Working with me on Dating by the Book were Barrie Keeffe (the writer of Long Good Friday) and Ade Morris (Associate Artist at the Watermill in Newbury). Both gave me extensive feedback over many weeks to create a script that is, in my opinion, pretty good.
That was then and this is now. Onto the next stage of the Writing for Performance course...
This term, running for the next ten weeks from today, the course requires that I work on a 'Placement'. Of course being an arts course the word placement can mean whatever really the student wants it to mean (within certain unlimited limitations) and so I decided that my Work Placement would be to stage Dating by the Book as a fully rehearsed production to be shown over three days.
The production will be cooperation with the Steeple Aston Players, plus Liz Bishop, who starred in a short play of mine late last year. I will be directing and producing the play, although I will have various mentors from the Steeple Aston Players (experienced people who have put on many a play over the years). The play will run over three nights, 22nd, 23rd & 24th March.
All I need now is a venue!
Paul
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