Last Monday, 29th June, I had the absolute pleasure of watching my new play Spaceboy being given a rehearsed reading in Hammersmith by Actors and Writers, London.

This was fantastic! The whole process of rehearsing on the Sunday and then having it performed it on the Monday evening was just brilliant.

Working with the professional actors and Director was really good for me, and listening to them bringing Spaceboy alive in front of me was very rewarding.

I think what pleased me most during the rehearsals was that none of the actors questioned what they were saying. There was no misunderstanding of the script, or wanting to change lines or words or anything. They said that was testament to the quality of the writing, which is a lovely thing for a writer to hear from an actor.

One bit I particularly remember was the big houses scene in which NATHAN, watching his beloved Heroes, receives a panicked phone call from a lost David. This was the first scene I wrote back in November last year, and to see it performed for the first time was magical. It looked and sounded exactly as I imagined it when writing — Amazing.

The performance on Monday evening, was electric.

I was so pleased that a number of friends had made the effort to come to London to see it. It was so good to see them.

Richard came too, which was lovely, because he never reads my work, much preferring to see it.

And so Spaceboy was unleashed on an audience of professional actors, directors, writers, and their and my friends, and I was just hoping it was going to do what I wanted.

I was doing sound from my Mac so was sat at the side, and it all went very well.

I spent a lot of time staring at the audience; looking at their postures, and the reactions on their faces. It was pleasing to see so much concentration, and no one looking at their watch!

One thing that did concern me to start off with was the amount of laughter in the first act.

I always expect some to start off with, because an audience never really knows quite what to expect from the beginning, however there was more than I had anticipated.

I have no idea how to write comedy, but clearly there were some very funny lines because the laughter wasn’t isolated, the whole audience were laughing, loudly!

Obviously Spaceboy is a serious drama, and the darker it got, the more silent the audience became as they became completely wrapped up in the play.

And boy was I pleased!

Part One, If I fall, is the story of NATHAN and his developing relationship with his next door neighbour, ANNA.

An underlying current is her sad son, 16 year old David, and when David’s friend goes missing, it has disastrous consequences.

We never actually see or hear David, (a very conscious decision on my part) but his unearthly presence is felt more and more as the play proceeds, getting uncomfortably darker and darker.

During the interval a number of people came up to me and said, “I really, really want to know what David’s done.” — And I wasn’t about to disappoint them.

Part Two, Moondust Will Cover Me, is HAYDEN’s story.

In terms of chronology, we go back to the begining again and watch and listen as HAYDEN’s relationship with his new found friend David unfolds. And all through this, as alluded to in the first part, the dark disturbed presence of David and the consequences of his actions are slowly revealed.

NATHAN was played by James Price and ANNA was played by Laura Fitzpatrick. Both were superb and completely understood their characters, adding real depth to my writing.

Interestingly, although it was the director Peter Mair‘s choice in who he cast, I was pleasantly surprised to find both actors matched my expectations in terms of looks and character, so I was very pleased.

They were exactly as I had imagined.

Casting HAYDEN however was a little trickier.

He is 15, and I knew casting a fifteen year old character from a group of adult professional actors wasn’t going to be easy.

There were in fact two possibles, both in their early twenties, one of whom had successfully portrayed my teenage character JASE in my short play Room 20 last December, however I’d had a phone call from Peter a couple of weeks before the reading was due to take place.

He told me that both actors were unavailable for that day and asked if I knew anybody who could play the part.

Well I did, naturally, but had no idea if it would work out that way!

My main problem was the part itself.

HAYDEN speaks in monologue for eleven different scenes; about half an hour in total. No easy feat for any actor.

Couple this with the dark nature of the piece, and the confused struggles the character has with his sexual orientation, (which he openly talks about since the monologues are mainly his thoughts) and I was beginning to wonder if the person I had in mind to play HAYDEN would be up for it.

On the plus side, he was 15 and could relate easily to the teenage language in my writing; but on the minus side, I had already been told by a number of friends who had read the play previously that the character of HAYDEN was so intense that a strong adult actor would be needed to play the part and that a young looking 19/20 year would have been my best hope.

Well, I gave a copy of the script to one of the young actors at the Riverside Youth Theatre where I spend my Sundays. I explained I needed someone to play the part and asked if he could read it and let me know what he thought.

Thankfully, Tom loved it, and agreed to play HAYDEN for me!

I was thrilled! It wasn’t going to be easy for him, and I really admired his courage.

I have directed Tom, and knew he would be more than capable, but being 15 and acting a difficult part in monologues for half an hour (during which your sexually confused character explains he’s just wanked off a boy in the back of a bus) in front of an audience of professional actors in London would have been incredibly daunting for any young amateur actor.

What was so pleasing for me was Tom completely understood the writing, HAYDEN’s character, and indeed the play. And what’s more the whole confused sexual orientation thing didn’t phase him at all.

He did it, and what a fantastic performance too. One of the emails I received said:

Just wanted to say again I loved Spaceboy – you have a real talent for writing – keep up the good work! Also, Tom gave an amazing performance for one so young, which is another credit to you!

When the play was over I was invited on stage to receive feedback from the audience. A slightly nerve racking experience.

I was very quiet and slightly lost for words when thanking the cast and director for their tremendous efforts in bringing Spaceboy to life.

This was my first full length play to recieve a rehearsed reading and feedback, and I really didn’t know quite what to expect.

But I needn’t have worried. They absolutely loved it. There were many very positive comments on the high quality of the writing.

Though the first comment did however throw me a bit: An older gentleman clearly had issue with my decision to use the present continuous tense throughout the piece. He said it didn’t work and that I should rewrite it in the past tense like other monologues are.

Thankfully, there followed a rather large chorus of disapproval. Many said that the whole present continuous tense thing was one of the things that made the play so different and exciting, the very fact that the story was unfolding for the characters at the same time as the audience had pulled them into the story and held them there.

A couple friends told me later that I really couldn’t have expected better feedback. They were very pleased, as indeed was I.

I had many private comments from members in the bar afterwards, including some great ones from the cast who were being told how exciting the play had been to watch.

I also received some emails the next day too:

I have already described ‘Spaceboy’ as the most thought-provoking reading I have seen at AWL since I started attending in 2004. Not just in regard to content, but structure, and approach; almost demanding of the audience that ‘you better listen to this’.

And in relation to Part Two, and Tom’s performance:

I found the writing and the acting absolutely enthralling and, again, thought (and emotion) provoking…. How wonderful not to have 15/16 year old expression hijacked by clapped out comedians.

Naturally, I’m thrilled. My hard work on Spaceboy and its component parts If I Fall and Moondust Will Cover Me is bringing rewards.

Buoyed up by the excellent feedback, I’ve decided to take Spaceboy further.

I need to make a few minor adjustments; things I noticed during the whole process of rehearsing and the performing of Spaceboy and to take into consideration a couple of other minor points from the feedback: like it not being exactly clear what the relationship is between the different characters mentioned in the beginning – something that I can now see having read it again, and is easily rectified.

And then, well then I’m going to send it off to some London theatres dedicating to discovering new contemporary writing and wait and see what happens.

And if anything does, you’ll be the first to know, I can assure you!

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Many, many thanks to my friends Adam, Chloe, Pete, Rianna, Jon, Alex, Clare and Viv for coming to see the show and supporting me by being there, and a huge thank you to my great friend Tom Addy for a remarkably professional performance. Well done, Tom!