short film script

It's such a good feeling when you get on a bit of a roll. I sat down today and wrote the first draft of a ten minute short film, straight off. I'd been jotting down notes for a few days after getting the idea last week, and now I've sent off a whole draft to a few trusted people for comments and feedback (which helps me to put it aside for a while so I can see it better myself). When I say 'a few trusted people' maybe I should point out that I'm in a writers' group that meets regularly for feedback and discussion of whatever work we are doing - so I've sent it to them. (I was going to say 'a small writers' group, but that conjures up quite the wrong impression.)
I know I'll regret sending it out as such a rough first draft when I see all the inconsistencies and jarring, clumsy over-written stuff. But if I didn't send it today it would be too late for the next group and I'd have tinkered with it so much I might have abandoned it by then. All this is irrelevant to me at the moment because I'm just so pleased to have got in the zone again. There were a million other things I should have done today but instead, once I got writing I just couldn't stop (heaves deep sigh of contentment).
Not only that but, thanks to the delights of frolicking in my private blog and the happy coincidence of talking to a director/actress /friend who wants to do a one-woman show, I have also had a great idea, complete with title, for a one-woman show, all full of light and dark and all that, and I've been writing daily snippets towards that with suspicious ease.
Long may it continue.

kneehigh theatre

Sometimes I am reminded of what I love about theatre. Yesterday, as a birthday treat, I went with friends to see 'Brief Encounter' at the Cinema Haymarket. Not the film - the production by Kneehigh Theatre, adapted for the stage from Noel Coward's 'Still Life' and 'Brief Encounter'.
The magic began from the moment we entered the rose-themed cinema. A group of minstrels, dressed as 40's style ushers wandered around singing and playing for us as we took our seats in the plush auditorium. These were all cast members, creating the intimate sense of community Kneehigh create wherever they perform. Once the main characters had taken their seats in the front row the heightened atmosphere of the auditorium transformed itself into the performance as images, action and live music shifted to the stage. If you haven't seen it, go now. It's on until October I think, and there are rumours of it going to Broadway.
It combines stage and screen with gasp-inducing creativity and balances the central story with a glorious 'below stairs' comic element via two other couples who work at the station. And the cast don't even stop working during the interval. Guaranteed satisfaction, and you'll be humming the songs all the way home. Well, I was.
Read more about Kneehigh's ambitious nomadic playful Asylum project - it's looking for support.