Month: February 2016

My writing heads to the stage

Lee Hall Leave a comment

And so the dust begins to settle after a rip roaring successful run of pantomine shows for my dear Iver Heath drama club. The time has come to ask what happens next?

Well to answer that question would suggest that a new era for me and the club is on the horizon. I say new era because since I have had involvement with this growing community drama club the depth and wealth of talented and helpful people has grown immensely.

Some very loyal followers will know that a few years ago in between drafting books I took a little time out to pen a single act comedy play.

imageHotel dOOM was born! Inspired by the variety of talented personas I share the stage with my characters came to life on the page. Driven by quick to and fro gags with witty humour the play soon took shape. From what appears by name to be something along the lines of horror actually unfolded into a barrage of silliness. There’s mystery, intrigue, innuendo and screams a plenty. Something even the most humour detached will find something to at least smirk about (I hope).

But that’s the ultimate challenge with writing a play. Not only will I be watching the characters I have written face the third dimension, I will also be watching the audience and how they react. Maybe seeing how the audience do react when seeing my writing in action will answer the ultimate question for me.

Can I write?

A very personal question to me that can only be answered by the cast I put on stage to say those lines and be those characters. It is a very self centred question to be seeking an answer for but that isn’t the only thing I am looking for. In the nearly seventy year history of Iver Heath drama club it is believed no one has ever written their own material. Again a self centred feat or with the help of my friends a brilliant achievement for all of us.

Either way to see what I have created from just a simple idea to full on ensemble play in the living flesh is something I am incredibly excited about. To make someone laugh is to live and for me living is telling meaningful stories. That is all I have ever wanted to do. Just hearing the lines read out of the past few weeks has been exciting and the group I have in mind to play these parts are perfect.

Even with my show being directed by me there is also a youth offering for some very talented and awesome kids who some day will find their way into the highest billing for pantomine and summer shows.

Casting for hotel dOOM is this Wednesday and so my #YearOfWriting begins its next chapter. On the horizon of course is my first book Open Evening which arrives at the end of September.

My final note will be to thank my wonderful followers of this blog. Over the weekend my hall of information crossed over 60 followers. Thank you to all.

 

Battling the After Show Blues

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Where do we go from here? For many of my dear friends this is the question they will be facing right now. Some will handle it better than others whilst some will find ways to distract themselves from after show blues.

From bright lights and audience gratification to a level of isolation. Now that is a culture shock to everyone who had involvement with Iver Heath Drama Club’s shows over these past two weekends (and for any other amateur dramatic). Whilst many including me are saying this may have been our best offering ever, that’s lovely but for us after that curtain has fallen for the final time so has the personas that made up such a good show. We say those lines for the last time and we do that dance once more.

Life for the amateur dramatic is of extreme highs on occasion followed by a somewhat even more extreme low. We can wallow and ponder about it for as long as we like but that isn’t the long term solution. Moving on is!

Many of my wonderful followers will know that over the past few months I have been planting many seeds that will hopefully grow over the course of this year, my #YearOfWriting.

The first book Open Evening arrives in just over half a year but before that my writing aptitude gets its greatest and hardest challenge yet. The next adult play for Iver Heath Drama Club has been written by me and will also be directed by yours truly. It’s a rather daunting task considering Hotel Doom, my play is a one act comedy and hopefully people will laugh. After all this time, my writing will be given another dimension by the wonderful performers of the drama club. It may be worth mentioning that according to the club’s 60 plus year history nobody has ever written and directed a play from scratch.

A lot is to happen from now and curtain up of Hotel doom. Much like more is to happen before my first book hits the shelves, but that’s the beauty and thrill of life to me. Not knowing what will happen is something we should all embrace as the unexpected is what we must cling onto so we can make our future what we want it to be. Without sounding too motivational speaker on you all I have found the unexpected to be the place where all my greatest success come from.

So where do we go from here? Into the unknown with every hope something wonderful could emerge at any moment. That is how I get myself out of that black hole of after show blues. We did it and it was awesome. Our memories of the stuff much of the audience don’t see will be what we share as memories. We did this as a team and through the fire we went and out to the other side.

I would like to take this opportunity now to thank everyone who has supported me with my writing and my book announcement last month.

And last but by no means least I would like to thank my drama club family IHDC for this wonderful journey we have been on together. It means the world to me even though sometimes I do moan. The depth and variety of wonderful personalities we have is something that should be celebrated and credited. The best thing we do it what we do together.

A special mention to my good friend Matt Streuli who works ever so hard in publicising the drama club and hopefully someday soon an OBE will be coming his way. In his words and after reading this ‘Get back to work!’ He also has a page on facebook that you should like. 

That’s it for this week. Hopefully my lacking of blog posts will stop from now and the cobwebs have been fully shaken off.