Playtime

Now here's an exciting opportunity - for me, at least.

I've been asked to write a stage play based on one of the tvdetective books.  This has filled me with both eager anticipation and more than a measure of concern.

First (being one of life's pessimists), the worries. All that I know about writing plays you could compare with the average humility of a premier league footballer.  Ok, I've read some plays, I've been to see them at the theatre, but that's just enjoyment, nothing to do with thinking about how they work and all the effort that goes into them.

A quick aside here - Arthur Miller is my favourite playwright, partly because he matches my tendency to need some high drama in his work, and little he wrote can be allowed to end without the termination of society as we know it, or at least an impressive pile of corpses. All My Sons.. what a masterpiece!

Which admission, I suspect, tells you something about how my efforts may work out. 

However!  As I was saying... so to try to get an idea of the art of playwriting, I've been skipping through some dusty old collections in my study and doing my best to pick up tips from the masters.  Like so many things in life, it all looks very easy, until the critical moment that you actually try it yourself...

But, I'm going to give it a go, because it's something I've never tried before and I do have that need in me to continually try to break some new ground.  Even if it's with my taste in shirts and ties - they both seem to attract comment aplenty, and often far from positive.  But what's life for if you can't try something a little different?

There's also a sneaking desire in me, which I should really keep quiet, but in the spirit of these blogs will be open about.  It's this - I've always fancied treading the boards, and have a hankering to play one of the parts myself.  For the sake of society I'll probably manage to repress this, but it's there, nonetheless.

To be brutally honest, I'll even confess I've never managed to escape the fantasy of being in a musical.  I'd love to take the part of Joseph (I wore my coat.. with golden lining... aaahhh!), only being stopped by a lack of any musical or acting talent whatsoever.

Sorry, I digress (as usual).  Anyway, the point is that I've started working on an idea for the play, it'll be a new story, not one from the books, and I'll keep you updated on progress.

That's assuming I'm not too embarrassed by my efforts, of course...