Paul Ekert - Writing Showcase

The Horror of Improvisation (and why it's actually not that horrifying)

2012-01-25T08:58:00.007Z

Okay, I'll say right now that I am not a fan of improvisation in acting. Yes it can sometimes work, kind of, after a sort, maybe, if everyone has drunk enough beer.... But my experiences of improv-acting is a bunch of actors who turn up and attempt to show the audience how clever they can be. Something that invariably turns into an ego-driven wank-fest of a somewhat tedious nature.

But.... But.... After working intensively with the actors of Dating by the Book, a comedy I wrote and that will play out at the Steeple Aston Village hall on 22nd, 23rd and 24th March, I am starting to realise there is more to improvisation than meets the eye. In fact I am now beginning to understand that it isn't just about a bunch of actors dancing around to 'give me a word audience any word' and acting out scenes that could have been written by someone with brain cells in single digits....

It's about something much deeper. It's about Real Acting.

Last night was our second rehearsal. During that rehearsal, much like the first one, I worked with the cast (I am also the director) to breath life into the characters. It's a rewarding if somewhat challenging process. There are obstacles to overcome, sometimes physical ones such as where an actor should stand, or indeed if they should stand. Sometimes these obstacles are to do with tone of voice, for example, why, when Juliet is annoyed with Jacques, actually really pissed off with him, why doesn't she say so? Why doesn't she just really bollock him?

The answer to both is: it's all to do with character! Juliet is really pissed of with Jacques, but Jacques is her top client and as such represents a source of income. Therefore she can be pissed off, but she can't outwardly show it to him. Jacques is as relaxed as he is arrogant, but when he is cornered, he retreats in a physical as well as an emotional level, which of course is something he tries to hide. But how do we show that? And how do we know when to do something or rather when to allow something to happen?

Simple. Understanding of Character through Improvisation.

The lines that I wrote in this play, the black words on white paper, can only take the character so far. The rest is all about the acting and that comes from understanding the character, actually becoming the character they play and then, when they are on the stage, be able to react to events inside the characters voice and actions. No matter what happens. Scripted or non-scripted. Rehearsed or improvised.

It's a tricky concept for a non-actor to understand. After two rehearsals I am only just starting to understand it myself. But it's magical to watch the transformation from actors reading out lines, into actors starting to believe in the characters and their relationships, and their motivations. Once that starts to happen, the play takes on a life of its own. It becomes this organic thing that grows every time the actors improvise a different way of saying their lines, a new way to react to a line they just heard, a new insight into why their characters are behaving they way they do.

It's theatre people, and without being overly dramatic, it is where magic happens.

Paul

Stage Design (and how little I know about it)

2012-01-23T09:08:00.007Z

Yesterday evening I met a member of the of the Steeple Aston Players to discuss the stage design for Dating by the Book - a play that is scheduled to be shown on March 22nd, 23rd and 24th at Steeple Aston Village hall.

The 'Player' is Jan Liberadzki who is also playing the part of Jacques Noir, a celebrity French chef with a dark secret! Jan therefore has a vested interest in making the stage, upon which he will be acting, look as good as it can be. Jan is also very experienced (in real life he is an architect) and is very good on how he puts his ideas across, and not backwards in pointing out why my ideas either won't work or would probably look a bit shit.

In particular Jan 'created' for me an extra stage entrance by using a physical door at the side of the audience to enter 'Pascal's Cafe' (Pascal is Jacques brother). This relatively minor suggestion had a major impact on the staging of Act 1 / Scene 1, allowing the actors to come up with some very funny physical humour based around the location of the entrance. It also changed pretty much most of the stage directions that I had somewhat naively penned when creating the script.

I am starting to see now why script writers are told "never put in stage directions". Stage directions, to make any sense in the real world, must be created in the venue. They need to be a part of the physical reaction of the cast to the words they are saying, and they need to grow organically out of that physical reaction. Otherwise the play becomes 'and now the actor walks to the front of the stage'. That's not theatre, that's a puppet show, with the writer attempting to pull the strings from some distant historical place called 'script creation'.

The two hours I spent talking with Jan on stage design has saved me hours and hours of wasted rehearsal time. Without them I would have been left trying to figure out how to stage the play to the directions I wrote in the cold isolation of the scripts genesis...

After that meeting came the first ever staged rehearsal.... but that's another blog entry....

Paul

Saying Goodbye to "Real" Books

2012-01-16T08:03:00.004Z

I don't own a Kindle, but I am seriously looking at getting an Android tablet so that I can use the FREE kindle application with it, and the KOBO one too, not to mention a number of other eReaders that are available now.

Currently I use the Kindle App on my iPhone and on my PC, and I love the fact that I can download free classics (I am currently reading Dorian Grey) and read them on the move. I also love the way I can look up words whose meaning I am unsure of. Ever read a word and THOUGHT you knew what it meant but was wrong? Well now I can just tap that word directly on the screen and the definition will pop up to confirm my idiocy or celebrate my genius!

But the real big advanatge is no more back strain from lugging around heavy (1000 page) tech manuals. Now that is what's really selling me on the concept of the eBook.

I am not really in love with books in their physical sense. I see no romanticism about lugging around a large, heavy mass of paper with lettering whose size can not be altered. I would have killed to have an eReader when I used the London Tube to get to work! Can you imagine being able to just slip it in and out of a pocket and read it with one hand while holding onto the bucking carriage with the other. No more waiting for the tube train to get to a straight calm bit so you can turn a page!

Physical books hold a greater disadvantage for me now. As I get older, the small size of print in some thick novels (yes Game of Thrones I am looking at YOU!) is a big problem. My eyes are problematic at the best of times, which means even with glasses I cannot read small print at night. An E-Reader (or e-reader application on a tablet) would overcome that for me. Besides, why do I want to keep filling my house with book after book that I rarely re-read? I used to do that when I was a teenager, but now I realise there are so many books to read and only so many years to do it in...

The brutal truth is; books take up space and the older I get the more of a pain this is, and before you say "use a library" (if I can find one the Torys haven't closed) then be aware that most E-Readers have a lending facility built into them!

Books are great, but they've had their day. Like VHS and cassette tapes, they are a medium that will begin to fade away, although they probably will never die. I'll be sad to see them go, but I will not mourn the major disadvantages of paper (a terribly destructible medium) and it's inability to be easily customised to the reader.

I keep imagining this situation where an academic of many centuries ago is looking at this newly fangled printed and bound book and saying "sorry, if it's not written on a scroll I just don't feel the same way when reading it...." and then earlier still is a caveman saying "Seriously, if you want true story telling it has to be primary colours on a cave wall".

Time moves on! You think the next generation are going to be as in love with "real books" as we are? Or do you think they will want to see a book on a touch screen where they can delve into a word or a character and know more straight away? Right or wrong, that is the future and if publishing firms fail to grasp that fact then they will wither and die on the vine as so many other firms have when faced with Tech-shock.

That said I will not be buying a Kindle and here's why. I find the interface of the kindle (the hardware version not the application) profoundly disappointing. I have written books on how to use computers so I know a cheaply designed front-end when I see it and that's the Kindle e-Reader - the Kindle Fire is something different. The Kindle Touch eReader will probably overcome many of the interfaces shortcomings by simply being a touchscreen, a difficult interface to do cock-up (but for tips on how to do it badly, see MicroSofts latest phones!).

That said, I won't buy a Kindle Touch eReader either for two main reasons, firstly I don't like the eInk technology. When a 'page' is turned the screen inverts its colours, turning everything that was black to grey and everything that was grey to black. It does this EVERYTIME a page is turned and is, for me, a distracting deal-breaker. Secondly, if I buy a kindle (even the Fire) I am locked into buying books from Amazon, and to be honest with you, I have had enough of being locked into a ring fenced market with my iPhone.

So I am going to buy an Android Tablet. Probably this one:

http://www.archos.com/products/gen9/archos_80g9/index.html?country=us&lang=en

The advantages will be that I can buy from a number of different sources (not all ebooks I want are on Amazon). I can also use the tablet for other things, like email and websurfing, even a bit of video watching. The 8 inch format will also be portable and less of an eyestrain than using my iPhone as an eReader. I will also be able to read this tablet in poor light conditions, such as a darkened room. I will also be able to see illustrations in my tech manuals in colour!

The disadvantage will be a poor battery life (in comparison to the Kindle eReader) and a screen which will be difficult to read in bright sunlight. However for me, the pro's outweigh the con's. I want a device that can cope with more than one job and that doesn't lock me into one economical model. Rather ironically though.... Guess where I will be buying my Tablet?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Archos-501840-Tablet-Memory-Android/dp/B005DRAOG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326700767&sr=8-1

Venue Aquired for Dating by the Book

2012-01-10T09:58:00.006Z

I have now secured a performance venue and rehearsal space for Dating by the Book, a full length play of mine that will be shown on the 22nd, 23rd, & 24th March 2012.

The venue is Steeple Aston Village Hall, a grand affair that features a full sized stage, a complete lighting rig and even a dressing room with access to the stage. It will be the most professional looking stage set-up I've ever used. Seating is around 100, which means I need 300 people to see my play. That sounds kinda daunting when put like that, but I am ever hopeful that there exists people who want to see new writing rather than continued rehashes of stuff we've already seen many times before.

Of course getting a paying customer to take a risk on an unknown writer is not going to be easy. It's going to need some great pre-show publicity, a lot of hard work, and some eye catching posters. Thank God the script is good enough so the aforementioned paying customer won't regret his purchase. At least that's what I keep telling myself...

Paul

I. Must. Be. Mad!

2012-01-10T09:22:00.007Z

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

Target: Acquiring Ultimate Scheduling Bliss (The Dark Art of Scheduling a Play)!

2012-01-10T09:12:00.008Z

Of all the things that seem important to putting on a play, such as having a script (fairly basic), finding a cast (fairly crucial) and having a venue (enough said), one of the less obvious requirements is having a good schedule. By 'good' I mean written on a piece of paper with a pencil that is easily erased!

To say rehearsal schedules need to be flexible is like saying the universe is big, or the sun is hot, or the worlds economy is not doing so well. There are so many factors to consider, not least is the fact that other groups/peoples/parties will be wanting to use the venue at the same time. This is a fact of life, venues are not hanging on a piece of string waiting to be casually booked at a moments notice, they are voraciously sought after and hunted down for all manner of events on all days of the week. Combine this with a cast who actually need to live normal lives outside of rehearsal times (actors apparently need to eat & sleep - the wimps!) and suddenly a perfect storm of scheduling chaos is created.

Actually it's not that bad. It's just a little confusing. Sometimes a little frustrating, but when it gets to the point of 'looking as though it might actually work' that then is a state of bliss like none other. Well... Almost.

I am meeting with the cast of Dating by the Book over the next 5 days, at the end of that time I hope to have a piece of paper in my hand that guarantees scheduling bliss for all time.

Wish me luck.

Paul

Kindle Creation

2012-01-09T10:01:00.002Z

A phenomenal number of Kindles were given as gifts this Christmas, not to mention the large number of Android tablets that are Kindle (and Kobo) capable. It seems then crazy to ignore this format. Two of my computer guide books are (thanks to my publisher PeachPit) already available in this format, so I decided late in 2011 to make my crime novel 'Ordinary Monsters' available to Kindle users.

The actual creation of a Kindle edition was fairly simple. Nothing a self proclaimed geek like me can't handle, but the cover proved tricky and I plumped instead for a photograph from a paid web site. It cost me 30 quid and that cost covered the right to use it on an e-book cover. I like the new cover a lot. It says more about the themes in the book, which is never a bad thing.

So if you have a kindle, or an android tablet, or a iPad for that matter, then take a look at the preview. If you like it, the whole book can now be bought for just 77pence!

Playwriting success in 2011

2012-01-09T09:17:00.007Z

I've not been keeping this blog up to date like I wanted and so I now I find myself retrospectively dealing with my playwriting success stories of 2011 (nice to have the plural in there)!

In November I won an award. It's the second award I've won for my playwriting, which is interesting because I've always thought of myself as a novel writer. The first award I won in 2007 and so going at this rate, by the time I am 70, I will have won three more! It seems as though ordering that display cabinet from Argos was a bit premature.

But I digress...

The award was for best new writing and was given for my play 'Man with a Plan' (a seven minute monologue). You can find the script for this play on my web site and you can find photos of me excepting the award on the Ovation Theatre Award website. My play won not only Judges favourite but was also placed as second favourite by the audience voters and Alex Babic, the actor who kindly agrees to take on the play, won an honourable mention as Best Actor. My personal thanks to Alex for bringing that award home for me with a performance that was simply stella.

Also in November I had the privilege of working with Rio Fanning, who has been in everything over the years from Dixon of Dock Green to Father Ted (not to mention playing a baddie in Blakes 7!!!!), and who kindly agreed to take a part in a short ten minute play of mine called Being Dead. This was part of the Haunted production set-up by the Oxford Playwrights. The script for this play is also available on my website. Performing along side him were the equally brilliant Richard Ward and Hester Lott. The play received a very good reception with a number of people congratulating my after the event.

But that wasn't all November had to offer. In Port Mahon, two of my plays - T4-2 and Holding On - were produced and directed by the power house that is Laura Boon of Fairy Dust Arts, an Oxford based production company focused on bringing local artists to the stage. It was here that I met Liz Bishop (playing an android in T4-2) and who has since agreed to be in a much longer play of mine.... More on that subject in a separate post.

And yet there was more. Also in that month, Holding On (yes again) was produced by the Steeple Aston players, or at least two of them in the shape of Carl Tomlinson and Alan Wight. This was the 'comedy interlude' at a local Black Tie event to raise money for a new church bell.

So, like London buses, my plays turned up all at once. Not that I'm complaining. However, 2012 I am hoping to start the ball rolling a little quicker. More of that in a future post.

So long 2011. You were fun and you won me an award. Enough said.

Scottish Sperm by Jacqueline McLaren

2011-08-12T22:18:00.004+01:00

Scottish Sperm by Jacqueline McLaren (Tillicoutry Media)

A young man walks up to a beautiful woman in a bar and says "I want to talk to you, but I don't know what to say". "Is that because I'm so Pre-tay?", is her ice cold putdown. And so begins the romance of Robert (Dylan Lamb) and Emma (Samantha Steinmetz).

It transpires that Robert doesn't know what to say because he is a "blocked" writer. He's also not particularly adapt at monogamy and once he's wooed the all too beautiful Sarah, and indeed moved in with her, he sets about sleeping with Amy (unseen character) who lives in the flat opposite. Robert's character is all about minimal effort. He even sleeps with Amy's flat mate, Sarah (Megan Channel) for no other reason than he can, even though Sarah is the close, perhaps only friend of Emma.

The audience of course has more than an inkling that this will all come to pass. The opening of the play is a chance meeting of Emma and Sarah at an airport sometime after Robert's indiscretions are discovered and he is cut lose by all involved. In truth there is nothing radically wrong with opening a play this way, but in this specific play it does feel as though much of the mystery and fun of discovering the characters and learning about their motives has been removed; replaced instead with an animated version of join the dots.

This technical annoyance aside the dialogue for this play is exceptionally strong, as is the highly focused and almost bondage tight direction (Grant Kretchik) who rises to the challenge of the venues minute playing area. Changing props and moving locations has been thought about almost to point of OCD, although the trade off is a slight mechanical feel to actors actions, as though they are trapped on an unstoppable conveyor belt. The trade off is a minor irk though, performers and production crew deserving a medal for squeezing every last inch of acting space from this meagre staging area.

Oh and the title? Pure product placement. The actors are American, it's set in America and while one of the unseen characters is revealed to be Scottish he could just as well have been Irish, Welsh or Chinese for all the relevance it brought to the play. But for a play presented in Edinburgh it writes its own headlines! Still at least the audience did find out that while Scottish Sperm is supposed to be the strongest, according to Sarah, it still tasted the same!

Four stars for this play, mainly earned by the well thought out direction and Samantha Steinmetz portrayal of the icey, but incredibly vulnerable Emma. See this play and fall in love with her character forever.

EDIT - Corrected character names and cast list.

Flesh Eating Tiger

2011-08-12T22:08:00.001+01:00

Flesh Eating Tiger - Amy Tofte

Flesh Eating Tiger is, at it's core, a love story. Specifically the end of the story. It examines, through free flowing improvisation and a very tightly written script, how each and every relationship has the capacity to implode with the same easy fashion with which it was formed.

But Tiger is more than this. It plays on a stark set, full of torn paper, ladders and other ordinary everyday props that take on new meanings during the journey of this story. And this simple complexity spills over into the production as it emerges that the players themselves are aware of being in the play. Indeed the playwright herself forms a third wheel in this performance, a non-speaking part (for the most), she sits god-like to one side of the stage. Less the omnipotent puppeteer though, as at times she appears to be in fear of her own creations and their unpredictable actions.

Nested loops of plays within plays form and resolve, punched along by a pattern of dialogue that speaks directly to anyone who has suffered the pangs of inadequacy after the break down of a long term relationship.

Sean Breen and Gabriela Trigo-McIntyre, playing multiple parts, attack this script and the improvised passages with a relaxed enthusiasm that has at it's core the beauty of the script to thank. The play feels raw and hungry as though it exists to feed off audience emotion. It gives the impression that each and every performance is a unique event; which is great to see. It is after all the true essence of live theatre.

On the negative side it feels about 8-10 minutes too long, but that could be due to the "cool down" ending, needed to ground the audience back to reality. It's almost as though Amy Tofte feels the need to physically disengage the play from the real world. It's an unsettling process, but experimentation on form and theme is what the Fringe should be about and the playwright must be congratulated for taking the risk.

I'd rate this play as four and half stars. If you enjoy the thrill of watching a play where each performance is a unique event, where the characters appear as real people that you WILL recognise, then this is the play for you. Go and see it at the incredibly cool venue 13. See it as many times as you can.

Bite sized breakfast - 360 Vision

2011-08-11T12:32:00.001+01:00

Bite-sized breakfast - 360 vision

Bite-sized productions are an entirely civilised affair despite the relatively early 10:30 am start time. A fresh cup of coffee and a pastry are provided at the entrance and apon taking their seats the audience are tempted further with fresh strawberries; flirtishly presented on a silver tray.

There are three "menu" selections to these performances, which conisit of four short plays each. If you like the four you've just seen, you can come back on the two following mornings and see a selection of different ones.

The menu I saw was number 3; a selection of comedy, poignant story telling and some emotional hi-jinks.

Bad Bride - Bridgette Burton

This told the comic tale of a bride (Lisa Beresford) who, in order to stay focused, has taken one red bull too many and totally lost the plot. The play is purely for laughs and warms up the audience with the groom's deadpan performance (Sean Williams) perfectly matchingthe brides cloud-9 condition.

Thin Air - Thomas Coach

Next was a touching tale of a hire wire perfomer (Alice Robinsion) attempting to get back on the wire after witnessing the death of her husband. He "went down" (circus vernacular for falling) two days earlier and she has yet to regain her nerve. The performance, from the edge of the audience and balanced atop some steps, is a monologue. It's touching and sentimental, but the writer doesn't focus enough for a short piece, pulling in to many elements that allow the early morning audiences attention to wane. There was also a curious costume decision; lose jumper and skirt instead of the glittering spandex associated with high wire work. The direction also felt a little vague, with the actress failing to give the impression of poise and balance required by these fearless performers.

Thespian - Chris White

This is an actors dream play. Take two men from Brooklands, put them on a bus and get them to run through various films they've seen in preparation for one man to attend an auction and escape his job as a builder. It's a great showcase for both Sean Williams and Andy Hutchison, but the play feels just that; a showcase. Entertaining though it is, there was little depth to this piece, save for a truly touching rendition of Anne Frank.

The Bar - C J Johnson

A choco-holic (Alice) and her personal trainer (A very fit & trim Lisa) battle to the death over a bar of fruit and nut that the addict lusts after and the fitness evangelist despises. And that's the plot! But it's freaking hilarious. Simple slapstick that's effortlessly performed by both women. The costumes (or lack therein) are kind on the eye too!

Perfect Stillness - Jane Miller

A husband (Andy) sits and writes a eulogy for his wife (Lisa) who lies in a coffin beside him. Except she won't stay dead and keeps interrupting his musings to put the record straight about their first meeting, their true origin of his wedding vows and just how much she really hated those little tea pots he kept buying her. This simple story, about grief and coming to terms with loss, caused as many laughs as it did leaking eyes. It had that rare perfection of a short piece, containing a beginning middle and end, while retaining an emotional balance that refused to tip into plain sentimentality.

Something for every one then. Inevitably of course some pieces will work more for you than others, but in a smorgasbord choice such as this it's likely you will find more to like than dislike.

I'd like to give this production a full five stars, but the costume error in Thin Air and occasional unfocused direction brings it down to a unshamful four stars out of five.

This is the second bite-size I've seen at the Fringe, my hope is to see them many, many more. Producers of short plays (that still tell a complete story) appear to be rare animals in this day and age. Supporting those who make the effort is all to important for the future of emerging writers and actors. Go see it and start your day in style with a coffee and a flirty strawberry.

Broken Wing by Leila Ghaznavi - CalArts festival theatre

2011-08-10T16:29:00.001+01:00

Broken Wing by Leila Ghaznavi - CalArts festival theatre

Broken Wing is a love tragedy set in Iran. A young brash American photographer (Matthew Goodrich), is stomping across the world when he gets a job documenting the Damascus Rose Harvest; the miracle of the desert. His host is an iranian man (Armando McClain) whose much younger wife (Kaitlin Cornuelle) is very beautiful, and curious... And so are the cards dealt. It's only a matter of time before temptation leads to tragedy.

The play is set on a typically minimalist Fringe-stage, however the set and costume designer (Kit Stolen) has risen to the challenge to create a simplistically captivating backdrop using nothing more than wall tapestries. These are arranged in a fashion to separate the stage and indeed the time and place where each scene occurs. Lighting (Zach Moore) and sound (Martin Gimenez) also pays a key point in the play and are executed with tight precision by the Venue 13 production crew. The opening scene for example, with the all too beautiful Kaitlin Cornuelle dancing us into the story, is a triumph of the visual performance arts.

That said, however good the technicals are, this play belongs to the expertly crafted story and the almost flawless performances of the actors. Everyone is all to convincing making the horror of the ending, an ending we approach in carefully woven stages, all the more bleakly emotional.

Okay, okay, sometimes the cast fluff a line or a technical problem causes a hiccup, but with a story like this, and acting that engages the audience from the very first moment, it's a cheap price to play.

I'd give this one four and half stars out of five. If you only get to see one daytime show at the fringe, this is the one to choose.

Timothy by Michael Milne and David K. Barnes - Blackwatch Road Studios

2011-08-10T13:58:00.001+01:00

Timothy by Michael Milne and David K. Barnes - Blackwatch Road Studios

Timothy is billed as a who-dunit in reverse. In fact it's more of a who will do it to who (whom?) first and who (whom?) is really wanting to do anything to anyone in the first place(s?). Annette (Olivia Holland-Rose ) you see is living in fear that her husband, Timothy from the plays title (Tom Shah), will kill her. In the hope of finding a solution she invites down to her cellar (don't ask) the almost sensible Yvonne (Alexandra Wetherell) and the scattly loveable Susan (Sarah McGuiness) to find a solution to this worrying dilemma. If indeed the dilemma exists anywhere other than in her head.

It's a play about confusion. A comedy of errors where errors turn out to be truths that later turn out to be something else. Still with me? It's that sort of play. Take your ear of the dialogue for a moment too long and you'll be left seriously out of touch.

Fortunately the dialogue is competent and engaging, and for the most part realised by actors who commit to their character with a gusto that leaves the audience largely untouched by the scripts somewhat pedantic enthusiasm for repeating itself.

Some of the cast are obviously more gusto'd than others, but that is in part down to the character they are playing and the rather wooly, and often unfocused direction.

To tell you more would spoil then ending, sufficed to say it's a play that made me laugh at ten in the mooring and nearly made me jump out of my skin. In addition it plays at the bedlam theatre, which is one of the more spacious stages I've seen so far.

Four stars for this play, bumped up from three and half stars by Sarah McGuiness's performance of Susan, an adorably dizzy blonde who steals the show almost from her opening line. Sarah is also staring at the Bedlam in Hit Comet.

Bash by Neil LaBute

2011-08-10T09:23:00.002+01:00

Bash - written by Neil LaBute (Adika Productions)

Bash is a showcase for the two starring actors (ironically not named in any of the shows publicity). It's important to remember that when you sit down and listen to the three monologues, modern day story telling that takes the audience deep under the skin of the character.

Bash is about showing us how good the student actors we are seeing can be. And yes they are very good, but the price to pay for this is a writing style that doesn't always hit it's mark.

To explain what the three monologues are about would be to give away the plot lines, but broadly speaking we have a young and up coming business exec explaining why the death of a child can be seen as an excepitable loss, a couple enjoying a manhattan party until events turn darker, and a women recounting her life as an abused school child.

Dark stuff. Played with brilliant poise and pathos by the two wonderful actors who show clear understanding of the characters they play. In amongst all this is some grim humour, but we are laughing with the characters not at them, so darkness is relieved; albeit in a stark bleak fashion.

It's the writing that fails on many occasions to fully engage with the audience even though the actors are fully committed. The first monologue has a confessional conceit for it's theme which feels too far fetched while the two handed monologue (yes I know) is really just a one hander with the female roll less than convincingly tacked on the side. Truly the best of the bunch is the third monologue, looking as it does with some cruel and exposing insight into abuse and love of the abuser from the point of the abused girl.

Tough going, but worth it to see performances such as these. However the writing itself does need to be tightened if the show is to be anything over than a showcase for the two lead performers. Sadly some of this showcase is defused by the omission of the actors names from the program. Doh!

Three and half stars. Well worth seeing but perhaps not if you are feeling a little blue.

Edit - I have tracked down the female actors name : Alice Bonifacio. I'll re-edit when I can find the male actors name.

Edit 2 - I've been supplied with the male actors name: Solomon Mousley :)

First review - Satellites - Awful Pie Theatre

2011-08-09T23:55:00.001+01:00

Satellites - Awful Pie Theatre

Satellites is an apt title for Awful Pie's adaptation of D.H.Lawrence's Women in Love, the characters orbiting each other in that way only English manors can allow.

Performed at the Spaces on the Mile, this whistle stop tour of the book (which may leave some lawrence fans with literary whip-lash) is played on a typically minimalist Fringe set, that is to say, black back drops and stark props. The money saved on this appears to have been plunged back into the costumes (Bess Roche), which by an large are of a quality you'd expect to see in a BBC production.

The actings pretty good too! Which of course helps.

First of all the good: Satellites sticks pretty faithfully to the original text with most of the key scenes in place: the opening discussion of Ursula (Ella Thackray) and Gudrun (Lauren Hyett) on the fate of love and marriage; the initial church wedding the sisters dian to observe; the sisters dancing in front of cows (yes she does sing it's a long way to Tiparery); the wrestling scene (no they are not nude) and the drowning in the lake are faithfully remastered for the stage.

Then the bad: some of the adaptation requires a little screwing around with the chronology of the book. The discussion between Rupert Birkin (Frankie Parham) & Gerald Crich (Tim kiely) on bludbruderschaft (appearing around two thirds into the book) turns up on the back of a remark by Gerald that his account with the Pussum "remains open" (which appears fairly early in the book). And there are over examples that may cause faithful fans of the book to gnash their literary gums.

However it's the omissions, presumably necessary to keep the show under half a day, which may irk the literary gums more. Gerald's sister, miss Winifred, has been erased completely from this adaptation, along with the entire art room attic story line, which in turn means we see a lot less of Gudrun, tragic considering the abilities of the actress playing her. Very little of Hermione's relationship with Birkin is explored and Gerald Crich's character is mostly left to guess work, with his work to modernise the mine and subjugate the spirit of the miners finding it's way to the adaptation scrap heap. Most madding of all is the omission of Rupert's painful proposal to Ursula; a decision that Awful Pie should perhaps revisit.

But adaptation is a question of compromise and when adapting a weighty tome such as Women in Love, something has to go and whatever gets kicked in to touch will piss someone off. Still with acting of this level, and it is rather excellent, combined with direction (Phill Bartlett) that borders on laser precision, deciding whether or not to see this show is a no-brainer.

Yes the casting is not always ideal, with Fiona Guest playing six different parts including the rather pivotal Hermione, but thats fringe theatre and isn't something to worry over. Speaking of which Robert Snellgrove also puts in a solid effort with all of his five parts, although at least one, Mr Crinch popping on stage for a quick death rattle before popping off (in a clog type fashion), seemed somewhat superfluous. His German accent also needs some work!

I'd give this Four out of Five stars. Down one because of some slightly dodgy German accents towards the end and because i really wanted to see that proposal scene.

Edinburgh Fringe 2011

2011-08-09T17:52:00.001+01:00

Seems like only last month I was saying goodbye to the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe and yet here I am, sitting on a Lothian bus travelling towards my first show. Food would have been nice but rime is as ever against me.

The crowds here are incredible. Every street is crowded, every area spilling over with people. The Royal mile is, as expected, the centre of chaos.

First show kicks off in twenty minutes. All I have to do is find it.

Reviews of the shows I will see to follow.....

Crush

2010-08-19T17:54:00.001+01:00

Labyrinth is pretty much what I found inside this venue. I wasn't the only one, a group of women who decided I knew where I was going, apparently based on the shaky logic that I was in front of everyone else, ended up following me downstairs into a grubby room with a gleaming metal pole in the middle. My draft wit of "well at least we found the pole dancing room" went down like a bucket of sic.

Eventually someone tracked down the show to a small claustrophobic room called the cinema. With pole dancing in the basement perhaps it's best not to dwell on what type of shows they screen here!

Eventually the show began. Billed as a monologue exploring one woman's impulse to confess her crushes to a group of, often hairless, confused and often painky looking men she once went to school with. It was also adverted as a multimedia event, but this turned out to be some videos of the confused men and a word document with dating tips.

It's not a bad show, it cost me nothing to get in, I even had a few laughs along the way, but at the end of the day this was a loose comedic standup routine similar in style to something Ben Elton was doing back in the 80's, only not as funny.

Marion Allen's number one hobby

2010-08-19T15:01:00.001+01:00

Before you ask, Marion Allen's number one hobby is entering competitions. The sort that you find in Bella or take a break, assuming your ever get that bored at a dentist to read a copy. They are he kind of competition that wins you a lifetimes supply of Crunchy bars, which is in fact what's happened to Marion. Not that this play is about lone women eating chocolate while watching Mama Mia on dvd; far from it.

This is probably going to be one of my favourite shows of the Fringe. Delivered as a 30 minute monologue this mini playlett provides the inner thoughts of a house proud woman whose husband is run down by a teenage drunk driver. Not material for comedy you might think, but the performance, which from time to time is a little hysterical, delves into the pathos of grief and how, through ordinariness one woman copes with her loss. It's through her story we find the humour of coping.

The production is sleek, well written and very well acted.

A good start to my Fringe day.

Alma Mater - Jenny Hughes

2010-08-19T00:03:00.001+01:00

Alma Mater at first glance appears full of cliched stereotypes. There's the graduate who became a teacher, one who became a bastard Solicitor but who secretly enjoys it (he's also gay), one who became an actor but ended up being a female impersonator (not gay just theatrical), one who graduated with a politics degree and can't find a job, and one who dies in a car crash years after they graduate and fall out of touch. Oh and they all shared a house at uni, all were best friends and all went there separate ways until the aforementioned car crash reunites them in grief.

For a moment you could be forgiven for thinking you've wandered into a previously unaired episode of friends crossed with a softer version of shallow grave, but you'd be wrong. Alma Mater is a skilfully interwoven story, part monologue, part four handed drama, it uses every drama device it can lay it's hands on, softly mixed with a dialogue by Jenny Hughes that strays towards patronising but dives the other way when it should, and a deft but subtle piece of directing by Emma Merton.

50 minutes though is to short for this play. At the end it feels like there should be another act (at least) to allow us to enjoy and explore the lives of this tight social unit. If any play can transfer to the west end, it's this one, but it would need to be expanded out, perhaps coming back in a years time after the funeral to find out how all the various plot lines are resolved.

Plenty of good acting here but keep an eye out for the names Joshua Manning and Matthew Romain, scene stealers both they are clearly stars of tomorrow.

Floozy - Amy Tofte

2010-08-18T19:18:00.001+01:00

Floozy is one of those plays that keeps the audience guessing, but not always in a good way. Starting off as a smart sassy comedy drama about two 30-something women flat-sharing after one catches her boyfriend getting more than a little pally with a property developer (what no hi-rise gag?).

The women are Bista (Alejandra Bursik-Cervantes) a rampant goddess of sex, and Victoria (Cady Zucherman) as cold as the ice cream she comfort eats with a "spoon the size of her face". Into this frictional mix comes Kevion (Michael Pignatelli) who blandly sleeps with both women behind each others back and then imploring them to share when caught out.

Okay. The story stArts straight away, characters are solidly created in seconds and with a minimum of exposition we are launched into a number of very funny scenes, many of them powered along by Michael Pignatelli's razor sharp timing that had the audience laughing at lines perhaps a little harder than the material deserved.

Then came the second act and here it's as though the writer , Amy Tofte, realised that her play wasn't edgy enough for Ed-Fringe and whacked in a sudden unexpected dollop of farce. Then when this looked the wrong way to go she changed tack again offering up blood and gore to sacrifice on the alter of cutting edge script writing.

Ultimately act 3 sees some of the cast return as ghosts, which is a shame as there sexually bland spectral performances aren't nearly as interesting as their earthly versions.

Despite all of that, for me, this is so far the best play I have seen at the Fringe. It has some great lines and Amy has created some very believable characters that combined to keep me hooked and often on the edge of my seat. Kudos to one actress whose blood kurdling scream actually did send shivers down my spine.

Id recommend anyone go see this play, but I hope once the Fringe is over the writer takes another look at the third act.

One last comment; the Baddy in this play didn't work for me at all. He was tall and that seemed to be used to indicate scary. It didn't and he wasn't all that comfortable in the part either. Sometimes small people can be scary too and a script like this didn't need the gimmick of a Jaws type character being menacing as though suddenly we were in panto land.

That aside, a play that's well worth seeing and shows the Fringe that you don't need a big venue or star names to create something good.

You can't go swimming with your Ex-Husband - Zoe Cooper

2010-08-18T16:26:00.001+01:00

A divorced couple accidentally share the same lift at work. Then it breaks down and they get to have some unwanted together-time. Starting on such a convenient flook of luck (or bad luck depending on your perspective) this play would be reasonably expected to flounder and die. It doesn't though. Something likeable about these two tragic characters, solidly created by Zoe Cooper, who appear to have divorced because of reasons unclear, keeps the narrative drive moving as we explore their fractured past.

At 50 minutes it felt perhaps a little too long. Suited maybe to a less taxing 20 or 30 minutes. Some of this time is taken up by the almost but not quite amusing voice of the computerised announcer, a cheerful rendition of Eddie the ship board computer from hhfttgallaxy, but the humour is irritating and largely an unnecessary distraction from the two core players.

It wrapped up neatly enough leaving the audience uncheated and well entertained, but it didn't feel like a Fringe play. It didn't feel cutting edge. But the again, perhaps that's not a bad thing.

The title is pants though.

BBC writers seminar

2010-08-18T12:16:00.001+01:00

Cool seminar. Not sure I learnt too much there, but the people on display were by and large entertaining as was the woman in the audience who asked if bad grammar and poor English was now considered the norm. Clearly not someone out to make friends.

Odd thing. BBC staff always have posh voices! Do they come like that to the job? Pre-packaged bundles of perfectly articulated niceness? Or do the gain it, leach like, while on the job? And is vampiric assimilation a better world than school ground nepotism?

Answers on a post card.

Top tip from the head producer for Radio 4 comedy: Be Funny.

Wednesday by Ian Winterton

2010-08-17T23:54:00.001+01:00

Wednesday isn't your light and frothy play. It's not something you'd take a first date to, possibly not any date of any number.

Wednesday is a play that follows 50 minutes in the lives of two men and a woman who's tied to a bed. In the basement. While her abductor sits upstairs and tunes into his weekly dose of Coronation st.

Read the above quick enough and you might think Wednesday is played for laughs. Don't! There's nothing funny about this play and the only laughs to be found are the darkly comic kind that punctuate the gaps between the harrowing gasps of pity from the tied up woman and the brutalised beatings she regularly receives.

It's all justified. It all makes sense. The characters open up in front of the audience, they stay true to the audiences expectations, and even the twists are logically applied to a gripping story that as a bonus has a beginning middle and end.

It has excellent acting, the set, under the arches, claustrophobically dressed, is a gift to the director, but.....

...But at the end, the brutal bitter end of the play (this is one that was never going to have a happy ending) I felt only relief that it was over.

Seeing this type of play is perhaps necessary to remind us what violent people are capable off, and that sometimes they do it for no other reason than they can. But it left me hollow, perhaps because at the end of it I felt as though physical violence had been used as a substitute for character exploration.

Personally I prefer violence that's implied rather than graphically portrayed, here instead I felt like a voyeur on the set of a snuff movie.

Go to see it if you have a strong stomach. Stay well away if you don't.

Edinburgh Fringe - Launch Day

2010-08-17T07:40:00.001+01:00

Today I face the might of Britons rail system as I travel 6 hours due north to Edinburgh and my first day at the Fringe festival. I've tried to get to this event for many years but failed for one pathetic reason or another, the question is; will it live up to the hype?

But that's all to come. First I need to survive the journey!

Launching in T-minus three hours.

Edit - T-Minus 14 minutes.

Edit 2 - Getting to York = painless, albeit the train didn't seem to have much chuff about it. Possibly the slowest longer distance train I've ever been on. Now on the York to Edinburgh train. Much faster and with free WiFi :)

Edit 3 - after a slight cock up with the buses I've arrived at Pollock Halls just below Arthurs Seat in a remarkably sunny Edinburgh. First performance in 2 hours.

Edinburg Fringe - I'll be there soon :)

2010-08-07T07:50:00.001+01:00

Edinburg fringe runs for about a month in August and shows 2,500 different types of performances. Next week I'll be there for the first time in my life, preparing to watch as many plays and musicals as I can in a short four days.

The object of the exercise is to see what modern play-writes are writing today, and to see how my writing shapes up in comparison.

That's all going to happen for me next week! Which leaves me a week to decide which socks to take and which side of my brain to leave behind.

2009 - End of Year Summary

2009-12-31T11:29:00.003Z

Well it was a fairly exciting year as far as my writing goes. A fair bit happened, I wrote two books, one crime novel and one non-fiction, had 4 plays performed, had several articles published and even had time to read out 2 poems at an open mic night in Oxford.

Like I said, fairly exciting!

At time of posting I am also half way through a Creative Writing course in Oxford (to continue until the end of June 2010 and perhaps beyond...) which by and large seems to be having a positive effect on my writing!

So, here goes nothing... In order of how it happened, rather than how I felt about it, this is 2009 in all its techno-glory:

Ordinary Monsters - Crime novel (published by YWO)
Creating Hollywood-Style Movies with Adobe Premiere Elements 7 - Non-fiction computer book (Published by Peachpit)
Dream On - (audio play - 50 mins) - Produced by The Wireless Theatre company
Various video editing articles published on-line by Peachpit press
The Surprise - (Short play - 10 mins) - Performed at the Oxford Playhouse Circle bar
Reasons to Rhyme - (One act play - 25 mins) - Performed by Pilot-light Theatre at the Half Moon pub, Herne Hill
Performed 2 poems at an open mic night in Oxford
T42 - (Short Play - 10 mins) - Performed at the Oxford Playhouse Circle bar

And finally, relaunched my website - www.paulekert.com - to include links to all the stuff above. Check it out if you are interested. Some of my short stories there as well.

And that's it. Doesn't really seem like much when it is compressed like this into one piece of solid timeline fact!

My thanks to all the many people who were involved in or helped with the creative process in one way or another. You know who you are...

Tesco....

2009-12-05T13:34:00.000Z

....Apparently now stock my book. Not totally sure what to think of that...

http://www.tesco.com/books/product.aspx?&R=9781849239936

My audio play "Dream On" is available as a FREE MP3 download

2009-10-26T12:19:00.002Z

The file is now available from here:

http://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/index.php/component/jotloader?Itemid=15&cid=2&id=98

Just Right-click the link on the link and "Save Target As" to download the play.

Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about it.

Download size 52 Mb

Our Plays - Drama

DREAM ON

Written By : Paul Ekert

Starring : Paul Mcewan, Mariele Runacre Temple, Kesty Morrison, Laurence Dobiesz, Hannah Almond and Annie Clark

Edited By : Audio Mill

Directed By : Tom Brazier

Music By : Audio Mill

Robert is having a dream. Breakfast with his wife. His ex-wife. His dead ex-wife. The next night, there she is again, hauntingly familiar in the full personification of her monstrous personality. His current wife is unamused at his nocturnal flirtation with the dead past and as dreams and reality began to overlap, Robert begins a desperate hunt to find out why this is happening and if he is really losing his mind. Dream on. Be careful what you dream for…

Running Time : 57 mins 17 secs

Reasons to Rhyme to be performed this week!

2009-10-26T09:46:00.000Z

Last week I heard, and today it has been confirmed, that a rehearsed reading of my one-act play "Reasons to Rhyme" will be performed in the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill. This is an opportunity for writers and actors to meet up and discuss work shown and also their own projects. See below for details.

Host: Pilotlight Theatre
Start Time: Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 19:30
Location: The Half Moon in Herne Hill
Description - Our Next New Writing Night brings you three new plays from some new and exciting writers.

This evening will be a chance to see three rehearsed readings of new work in progress, meet the writers afterward, give feedback and share ideas. It will be a great evening for writers and actors to come along and see how the space can be used, meet other actors, find out more about what Pilot Light are up to and get involved.

7.30pm start with free entry.

The plays:

Chills by Duncan Gates

"Thursday night at the Mitre - Connie's going to be trouble, Tasha's looking after her as usual and there's something in the toilets... something evil..."

A New Year at Malmaison by Brian Jarman and Michael McEvoy

"It’s New Year’s Eve in the Paris suburb home of a chronically dysfunctional family. Old acquaintances gather to celebrate, but soon some try to settle old scores that others would prefer to forget. Suddenly the lights go out. Then someone suggests a game of Murder in the Dark...

Reasons to Rhyme by Paul Ekert

"In Reasons to Rhyme, love and madness dance a deadly game of lopsided relationships and bitter realities...

Danny is a hard man. An enforcer for a local drug lord. But Danny has found love in the shape of a bar hostess called Tanya. Love doesn't belong in his world. Just pain, fear and hate, and now Danny needs to reconcile the two worlds he lives in, or die in both."

Playbites - An excellent experince

2009-07-16T13:11:00.002+01:00

Mostly due to the outstanding performances of the actors in my play, my short piece "The Surprise" went very well. At least the audience laughed in the correct places and appeared to enjoy the performance throughout. At the end, the director approached me and said how much she enjoyed my writing. Once my head deflates enough to leave the house I will of course begin research on yet more writing.

Like the great Sepp Herberger didn't once say; "After the play is before the play" :)

Playbites Performance in Oxford Today

2009-07-14T10:30:00.002+01:00

I am just moments away from leaving the house. Destination: Playhouse Oxford. Mission: To watch a short play of mine (10 mins) performed along with 5 others!

Am I nervous? No of course not, I never get nervous.

Are my palms sweaty? Possibly, in fact now you mention it....

Aargghghghhghghghghgh

Okay. Calm!

Everything should be okay.

More from me later... AFTER the performance.

If anyone reading this would like to pop by and watch the performance, it is on today (14th July) at Oxford Playhouse. The cost of admission is 5 pounds and includes a sandwich and cup of coffee or tea.

Recession proof theatre :)

Trailer for Ordinary Monsters Now on YouTube (and in this blog!)

2009-07-13T11:04:00.006+01:00

In my quest to forever promote the best ever crime novel you will (probably) ever read, I have created a short trailer on YouTube.

It's not bad if I say so myself. If you don't want to go alllllll the way to YouTube, then you can watch it using the wonder of Blogger softwares Video Play back, although I think the quality is probably slightly better over at YouTube.

The trailer was created using After Effects 7. I'm currently having a lot of fun with that application, so expect to see a few more projects drifting your way.

Oh and if you haven't yet bought my book... Why not!!! ;)

Circle of Truth - Video of Performance now on YouTube!!!

2009-06-23T11:23:00.003+01:00

Way back when, April 2007 to be precise, I was lucky enough to win a place in the One Act Play Festival at the Queen Mother Theatre in Hitchin. The prize was seeing my play performed on two nights in front of a live audience.

Being the video freak that I am, I of course took a camera with me and filmed both nights, compressing them using the magic of video editing to create one seamless account of my play.

You can view it by clicking HERE.

The play is split into two 6 minute halves due to those odd people at YouTube who insist that each video can only be a max of 10 minutes.

Please watch, enjoy, give me some feedback.

Paul

First German review of Ordinary Monsters appears on Amazon.de

2009-04-21T10:38:00.002+01:00

http://www.amazon.de/Ordinary-Monsters-Paul-Ekert/dp/1849239932/

Possibly one of the best reviews so far.

Fifth Book Published

2009-04-13T19:02:00.000+01:00

Fifth Book Published - April 2009

Back on form my fifth published book is a non-fiction computer book, in this case a rewrite of Carl Plumers pervious guide to creating Hollywood effects with Premiere Elements.

Full details on this book can be found by clicking the link "Creating Hollywood-Style Movies with Adobe Premiere Elements 7".

Product Description:

Creating Hollywood-Style Movies with Adobe Premiere Elements 7 is a book that will help users get to the next level in video editing, and that next level goes beyond simply splicing together clips and creating simple titles. In no time readers will be overlaying multiple tracks of videos and adjusting transparency; creating Picture-in-Picture overlays; using key frames and motion paths; setting and refining greenscreens and bluescreens; using color effects for emotional impact; and a whole range of other special effects to help them tell their story. Readers will also discover how to use new features, such as adding Smart Tags, using Adobe Videomerge to place a subject in a new setting, and harnessing the InstantMovie feature for the most creative results. What sets this book apart is the author's expertise in carefully showing readers how to execute each of these movie-making techniques step-by-step in a clear and friendly writing style. With this book, budding film-makers of all levels will find how to create better-looking movies and have a lot of fun doing it.

Ordinary Monsters now available online through Waterstone's!

2009-03-13T08:24:00.002Z

How cool is that? My book can now be purchased from Waterstone's.

Click - HERE - to see that page!

Ordinarny Monsters is also available online from WH Smiths...

Ordinary Monsters mentioned in the Oxford Times

2009-02-24T15:44:00.003Z

Every week, the Oxford Times runs a "Local Author" spot where a home-grown keyboard tapper gets the chance to be mentioned.

Guess what? Yes, this week Ordinary Monsters was given the coveted spot of "Local Author", along with a small ditty on what I have written in the past and also a quick synopsis on what the book is about.

Nice to see :)

Meanwhile sales appear to be strong and the feedback I have received has been sparkling with 2 5 star reviews on Amazon.co.uk and one 5 star review on Amazon.com.

Click here to go to the Amazon.co.uk reviews

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 7,069 in Books

2009-01-09T21:32:00.002Z

Not quite up there with JK Rowling, but still I am proud of my Amazon Sales rank ;)

Alternative Book Supplier for UK Amazon Customers

2009-01-07T17:14:00.000Z

Some people who in the UK who want to buy my book are having problems with buying direct from Amazon.co.uk. I've "chatted" with them today, but not being Steven King, they kinda weren't really willing to do anything to help the situation. So, if you want to buy using your Amazon.co.uk account, but want it this side of the next millennium, please avoid clicking on the Buy Button below and click on this link

Seller: the_book_depository

This will take you to the Amazon Market place. Look for Seller: the_book_depository in the list of sellers (should be second one down) an make your purchase from there.

If you have already ordered through Amazon.co.uk, but have not received a delivery date, then I would recommend you cancel that order and place it with the the_book_depository instead.

Sorry for the confusion. This applies to .co.uk customers only, not .com ones.

My first novel - Ordinary Monsters - has now been released... yeahhhhh.

2009-01-07T07:34:00.003Z

After what seemed like weeks of delays (in fact it was delayed about 2 weeks) my first novel, Ordinary Monsters, has been released onto an unsuspecting world. I have received a copy and I am very impressed with both the cover, the back cover text and the print quality inside.

Odd to see it sitting on my desk, a proper book and all! Been a long time between the original idea (which I had some time back in the early 90's) and the final printed copy.

Cool is the word I am looking for :) It feels cool.

At the moment, because it has only just been published, it's difficult to get hold off, depending really on where you live. People living in America have reported to me they got the book a say or two after ordering it through Amazon.com. While people in the UK have told me that Amazon.co.uk have sent them an email saying they don't yet have a firm delivery date!

Come on Amazon.co.uk. Get it together.

I've no idea when or even if it will appear in bookshops. This is something that I can update here on this blog, but for the moment I would say that this book, like many others these days, is an online sale only.

So, here are some links to the various places you can buy this book: It can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com by going to my home page and clicking on the Buy button, which gives me a referral fee as well, which means I earn a few pennies more as a starving writer ;)

Click here - then click on the .CO.UK or .COM buy button

http://www.paulekert.com/id20.html

Or if you don't want to, you can order it from Amazon.co.uk using the link below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Monsters-Paul-Ekert/dp/1849239932/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230983219&sr=8-1

Or Amazon.com with this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Monsters-Paul-Ekert/dp/1849239932/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231314310&sr=8-2

Or from Barnes & Noble at this link:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ordinary-Monsters/Paul-Ekert/e/9781849239936/?itm=2

So, plug over. I am just so proud of this book I have to tell everyone... If you read about a crazy person arrested in Oxford for telling strangers about a book, that'll be me :)

Where is an acting company when you need one?

2008-12-16T15:39:00.002Z

A frustrating day today.

On the back of being told that my first novel will be delayed until after Xmas, I've now just been given another knock back from an acting troupe.

Short explanation: I have a film script and a video club ready and willing to produce said script.

Problem: I need actors.

Solution: Script was given to the director of an amateur acting society who, after having the script for ages, decided they didn't have people in the right age brackets to play the parts.

My reaction: Bah!

Anyone who has an acting company and would like to make a film with me, please let me know.

Thanks

Delays and more delays

2008-12-16T15:37:00.001Z

Sadly it would appear that the publisher of my first ever novel is not going to get the job done before Xmas. No real explination other than they can't get it done in time :(

Sad, but I am hoping for an early date in Jan 09.

No News is... Well... No News

2008-12-11T16:33:00.000Z

It was at this point in the week that I had hoped I would know the ISBN of my first ever novel. Sadly, there seems to be some kind of delay. How long this delay will last is anyones guess, but I am hoping it will be resolved before Christmas... Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

The excitment builds

2008-12-07T11:53:00.001Z

The countdown is nearing (we hope) the final stages. Soon my book should be available to buy... Bwhwhahahhaahahaaaaa....!

New Blog Format

2008-12-02T11:08:00.002Z

Some readers requested a Comments field for my Blog, but sadly this was not possible using the SiteBuilder software that I am currently using for www.PaulEkert.com . So, instead, I have created this Blogger account and archived the postings from the orginal blog.

With me so far? It's a confusing time for all, but bear with me while I sort it out.

Added Short Stories to Homepage

2008-11-18T14:55:00.000Z

Added a number of short stories from my reluctant laptop, which does appear to be showing its age this week. Some tasks are often beyond its advanced number of years, a bit like its owner.

If you are going to read just one of these short stories, make it "The Nervous Writer" which is just so bizarre I wonder what I was drinking (or smoking) the day I wrote that one...

My personal favourite would have to be "Speeding", but that's just my opinion. If you have any feedback, let me know via email paulekert@paulekert.com or via the guest book, or even in the comments section of this (newly empowered) Blog!

Bringing the site slowly up to date

2008-11-14T13:53:00.000Z

While I'm awaiting any news back from the publisher of my first ever fiction book I've been spending my time bringing this website up to date. So far, I've managed to add various scripts and samples from my novels, and today I've added a couple of articles I've written and co-written. Details of this can be found on the Links page on my homepage...

Next week I plan to add some short stories of mine... Oh yes I will...

PDF accepted!!! Yeahhhhhhh

2008-11-13T10:29:00.000Z

I received and email last night that guarantees sanity in our time. Or at least for me, and at least for the next couple of hours.

The publisher, YouWriteOn.com, have accepted my PDF manuscript, which will now be passed to the printers. If they don't find anything wrong with it (please, please, please don't) then the book will be prepared for final production and could be available to buy before Christmas.

Exciting times!

Publishing a Book – The Ecstasy and the A-A-Agony

2008-11-12T20:17:00.000Z

At the beginning of October, I received an email from the English Arts Council who were, in conjunction with You Write On, offering the chance to win a place in their “Publish a Book” event. Now I get a number of emails like this, most turn out to have as much value as one of those Nigerian emails telling me I am now a Billionaire! But, after trawling around a number of writer websites (similar to normal websites, only with a more artistic interoperation of depression) I came to realise that it might actually not be a con!

So I entered. And I won a place. And that, my friends, was just the start of my problems.

The competition is about exposing new and unpublished talent to the great reading public of this world. However, because it wanted to include a large amount of winners, any editing, and preparation of the book would need to be done by the author.

Me!

They told me to send a Word DOC or a PDF and they in turn would use this to create a cuddly and cute 6 x 9 book, complete with ISBN number and a natty cover that they would design. I had the option of designing my own cover, but sadly time and the weather were against me and I ended up letting that option go.

There was another catch. To be published before Christmas this year (2008 if you are reading this as an archive), the book needed to be submitted to them before the end of October. Therein followed a gargantuan effort by myself and my eagle eyed editor (Lotti my long-suffering wife) that saw us both working long hours and all day at the weekends. By the time we reached the magic cut off date, I think we had both read the novel many times…Mind you, Lotti said that even after her umpteenth read through, it was still exciting, so I guess that’s a testimony to the book in itself.

And yet the finished document was just the start of my problems.

Having done the text edits and corrected my rather vague knowledge of English spelling, I turned it into a PDF, emailed it to the publishers and settled back to celebrate.

Several days later, the PDF winged its way back to me. Fonts missing, they said, not embedded, they said, text not centred, they said.

Much scrabbling around later, I discovered a setting on my PDF creator that I’d missed and a setting in Word that needed to be tided up.

I created a new PDF and resent.

It came back again with similar error messages. This time, presumably out of desperation, they had created their own PDF version of my book and asked if we should “perhaps use this one”, but the nice hand scrawled font that I wanted for the chapter titles had been replaced with Ariel and it looked… Less than optimal.

I reworked. I resent.

And that’s where I am now. Awaiting news to see if my fourth attempt at PDF creation passes the test this time, or if I will have to settle for ugly Ariel chapter headings.

Who would have thought it? When I was writing the book, I figured that and the editing would be the hard part, now I realise the hard part was understanding how to create a PDF that even an Apple Mac would like.

Somewhere, a small furry mammal is laughing at me.