My Sunday afternoons are hectic again; I’m directing another play for the Riverside Youth Theatre.

My last production was Nick Dear’s poignant play Lunch in Venice. It went very well and was incredibly enjoyable to direct.

And I was delighted when three of my excellent cast were nominated for awards at the Elmbridge Drama Festival. No mean feat since there were over 50 young people performing in that festival!

This year I’m directing John Godber’s classic classroom comedy Teechers.

I have a cast of 23 young people and had to think hard about how I was going to stage the play.

The difficult thing with finding plays for youth theatre is there are so few suitable ones with large numbers of parts. And even then, most of the parts will be minor walk-ons which doesn’t give a lot for the young people playing them to do for the three months or so of Sunday afternoons spent rehearsing the play.

It’s a challenge.

I chose Teechers simply because although the play was written for three actors, it is highly adaptable for any number of them – though admittedly, I would have struggled to use more than 30 young people!

It is a very popular play and it’s highly probable there’s a production of it being performed right now as I write (and indeed as you read) somewhere in the world.

It was written back in 1987 and to be honest has dated a bit, so we’ve had to change some of the language and references to make it more current for my cast.

Cookery classes are now ‘food tech’ . O’ Levels are GSCEs, and the third year is now of course Yr9. We’ve also had fun with some of the northern phrases that don’t mean anything to us: ‘twagging it’, for example.

We’ve approached the text as a team, all pitching in when we felt a word or phrase needed to be changed.

Last week we finished blocking, and with (my) 41 french* scenes, it’s been pretty manic! This Sunday, I have asked the cast to come in school uniform so I can shoot some publicity shots, so should be a laugh!

For me, it’s about the young people involved. I need to make sure they are happy and have fun.

The main thing I am doing with this production is to have all 23 actors on stage all the time. We are presenting the play as part of a double bill, since Teechers is a short play, so we’ll perform both acts without an interval.

Normally, when I’ve seen other productions done with large casts, some of the actors play the teachers.

But I wanted to do this production differently and so I am having the all actors play pupils dressed in school uniform, with some of the pupils then acting at times as teachers by simply putting on a jacket and grabbing a briefcase, if you see what I mean.

This means I can keep everyone involved so if they are not acting as a teacher in a particular scene, then they’ll be acting as pupil in the class, etc.

I must admit, keeping all the young people in the cast focused is hard at times, but they seem to be enjoying the process.

Oh, and my set consists of 16 yards of yet to be acquired cloth, 16 broom handles to hang it all from, and 23 brown plastic chairs in a semi-circle.

Interesting, to say the least, lol.

Cast:

Adam Amin
Alex Alderson
Annabel Smith
Chloe Gay
Emily Doyle
Emma Heaton
Emma King
Georgie Palmer
Jack Simpson
Joe Welland
Lara Henderson
Luke Dowding
Mark Forrest
Matt Knight
Natalie Nanda
Nicola Legg
Pete Williams
Ryan McAndrew
Sherice Griffiths
Sophie Lee
Tom Addy
Toni Doncaster
Wesley Stephenson

Teechers (and Charles Way’s Playing From The Heart) will be performed 10-12 December 2009 at the Riverside Arts Centre in Lower Sunbury.

I’ll keep you updated on our progress.

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*A ‘French Scene’ is a numbered division of a scene or act in which a major character/s enters or exits. Apparently this is how french drama is written. I always divide up any play I am directing in to french scenes and so helping with the blocking/rehearsing. The actors and I then have the play broken down into small chunks and can then work on it in a much easier fashion.

It’s been a while since I was last part of a drama festival entry, though I’ve seen a few productions over the past couple of years.

I’m pleased to report, however, that my Riverside Youth Theatre production of Nick Dear’s ‘Lunch In Venice‘ has been entered into the 2009 Elmbridge Drama Festival at the Walton Playhouse in Walton-on-Thames.

The play will be performed on Wednesday 4th March at 7.45pm.

Wow, what a feeling!

The first professional performance of a play I have written took place last night in Hammersmith, London W6.

Though having any performance of a play is a great achievement for any writer, it’s important for me as an aspiring playwright to move forwards from writing and directing my own work with local amateur dramatic groups to getting my work professionally produced.

I also had my first experience of directing professional actors, which to be honest was a bit daunting at first, but I soon took it in my stride. I had a vision of the characters and how they talked etc and as soon as I got this across to the actors, they responded well and their professionalism bore more than just fruit.

Because of the nature of the evening we were allocated an hour for what should have been a quick discussion and ‘table reading’, and then a couple of run-throughs. Sadly, the actor playing the teacher was delayed and we ended up with about 20 minutes of rehearsal time in which we had a discussion, reading and runthrough all at once.

There simply wasn’t the time for me to do my usual ‘I wont interrupt but will just bring it up in passing later’ – I had to get right on in there and ‘direct’.

The actors had their ideas, having studied the text for the last couple of weeks, but they were looking to me as their director (and in this case, as the playwright too) for guidance and of course ‘direction’ on wether what they had interpreted was right for the piece.

I’m actually amazed how much I learnt about myself as a director in the 20 minutes I had working with these professional actors. I’m so grateful for the experience and really look forward to doing this more.

There was a smaller than usual audience of about 50 last night, and when it was time for Room 20’s debut performance I was at the back – with a small hand bell!

Although I had taken my ever faithful Mac with me, complete with a sound effect of a school bell ready and waiting in iTunes, it wouldn’t play.

I download the file from the internet a few days ago, and for some reason, although it is saved as an mp3 file in iTunes, I have to be connected to the internet to play it. Weird.

Luckily I discovered all this in the interval, and then had to think frantically about how I was going to do a sound effect of a school bell.

I managed to catch the eye of the building’s manager and beckoned him outside the room to explain my predicament. Thankfully he took up the challenge of a hunt and just as the play was being introduced a couple of minutes later, he appeared with three different bells – god knows where from – and I just grabbed one and rang it as the play started in front of me!

It was great to watch, and weird, in the sense that I was rather detached.

I’d spent a lot of time interviewing some of the young people from the Riverside Youth Theatre during the summer, from which the idea for the story and indeed the style of dialogue came, and after at least twenty hours of writing and editing for what was a short play of about ten-fifteen minutes (In my haste of trying to source a bell sound effect, I forget to time it.) it was now being performed and coming to life in front of me.

It had come from inside my head and was now ‘alive’ going into other peoples’ heads, and as such wasn’t mine any more. Very weird feeling.

There were a few ‘nervous’ laughs at the beginning, as always seems to be the case when watching an evening of plays in which you don’t know if what you’re going to see next is a straight play or a comedy.

You end up laughing a little even, if a line or action wasn’t particularly funny, just so that you don’t feel a pratt for not laughing if indeed the play is supposed to be a comedy. Then when you realise it’s a serious play, the laughter stops and hopefully by then your hooked.

This is what happened last night and I was so pleased with the subsequent deathly silence from the audience, not a rustle of sweets, or shift of position on the chair, or a checking of the watch, nothing – just silence. It was great!

By Act III, (Room 20 was written as part of my Nuffield Theatre Writers Group coursework and the brief was to write a ten minute play in 3 acts) the actors had really gotten into their parts, which was fantastic considering they’d only had 20 minutes of rehearsal with each other, and ‘Jase’s last speech in which he really shows his insecurities and the true reason for his bullying was very emotional for me.

You’d have thought I would have been fine with it, but for me it was exactly the same as if I had been watching a moving part of a film or another play. The fact that it was my play and I had written it and I knew exactly what was coming didn’t make any difference.

I was very surprised to have felt like that, which is a true testament to the quality of the acting: In fact a couple of members of the audience said it was ‘powerful’ – which was a great compliment.

Talking to the actor afterwards, he said he could really feel for ‘Jase’ at that point and had felt he had ‘got inside him’ which for me was an odd thing to hear, but I could see exactly what he meant, and it had definitely showed.

Brilliant.

I must thank the actors Lee Peck and Phil Gerrard for a great performance and bringing the characters of the bullying student ‘Jase’ and the caring teacher ‘Tim’ to life. It was great to watch. It really was a pleasure to work with them and to see the results of their hard work – Thanks guys!

Also, thanks to Mark, Adam, Fleur and Viv, from the Riverside Youth Theatre who came to see the performance. It was so great to have your support, guys – Thanks!

So, the first professional script-in-hand performance (rehearsed reading) of my work has made it from the page to the stage as they say, and boy am I pleased with the results.

It didn’t win the competition, but I’m not surprised given the high standard of the entries. I was up against professional playwrights all used to having their work performed, so it was really comforting to hear that mine was of an equal standard and didn’t stand out as being any different from them in terms of the quality of the work.

So, onwards an upwards. Time to get on with some more writing. I’m working on my next piece of coursework for the Nuffield Theatre Writers Group, a 44 minute radio play suitable for the afternoon slot on Radio 4. The third speaking character that I have been looking for but has held me up for a few weeks, came to me as I was waking up this morning, so I’m really pleased.

I now need to put in a lot of work, as it’s due by the middle/end of February, and the rest of December is basically booked up with event work in Coventry and a Christmas holiday with Rich in Italy. (Lake Garda with day trips to Verona on Chistmas Eve and Venice on Boxing Day! Lovely!)

Right, I’m off…

–

Oh, and a PS: My one act play ‘A Spade, A Clock and Pair of Bloody Scissors!’ (written in February 2006) will be getting performed in the New Year, (4th Jan) but more on that in another post.

Oh and a PPS: Happy Birthday, Dad!

Earlier today, clearing the office, filing and other such mundane things, I came across my folder for Lunch In Venice and realised I haven’t posted anything about the play for ages, and now of course, sadly, it’s over.

But I’m not going to let it go without saying a few well deserved thank yous.

It was great. Truly brilliant. In fact it was the best show I have ever directed. Such a pleasure. And that for me, is purely down to my enthusiastic and brilliant cast. Sunday afternoons have been so much fun!

Mark, Pete, Rianna, Tom, Chloe and Claire all took to their parts very well and got everything they could out of the characters and the script, and it showed too. Fantastic job!

It is a very well written and clever play and these guys jumped at the challenge of getting that across to the audience. It was a real pleasure to watch every night. Thanks guys and well done!

In addition I used five other RYT actors from the other two plays in ‘Triptych’ to play my ‘Troupe of Acrobats’.

Adam, Fleur, Luke, Daniel and Mike did a great job and even though they were only on stage for 90 seconds, they really put their all into it and enhanced the whole production. Thanks guys!

I also need to thank Carole, Alan, Sue, Clare, Kevin, Ian, Chris, Viv, Janette, Ellie and indeed the Tech Team (Zandr, Beth, Charlotte, Richard, Stephen, David and Sherise) for their work behind the scenes for great costumes, set, props, lighting, sound and stage management. Couldn’t have done it without them!

Oh and Rob too for recording the ‘Carnival of Venice’ on his accordian for us. Thanks!

And finally, a big thank you to Ian, Hels, Jon, Tommi, Frank, Mark, Ciara & Ciara’s friend for coming along and watching. It was great to see you and thanks for your support.

So onwards and upwards (though I’ll be hard pushed to top this one!), plenty more in the pipeline…

As well as the homework set after each fortnightly session at the Nuffield Theatre Writers Group, we are also given longer term projects that build on all the skills we have been studying in the sessions with the aim of writing a full length play at the end of the programme.

Our first such project was a short two scene piece (literally two pages) made up entirely of snippets of overheard conversation – I did mine after a trip to Morrisons! It’s here if you are interested.

Our next project (over the summer) was our first ‘play’. The brief was to write a 10 minute play (a popular format in the States, I understand) in 3 acts.

Why 3 acts?

Well, the brief goes back to the time our mentor, Director, John Burgess, was Head of New Writing at the National Theatre.

One year, there was a surpless in the budget and an idea was put forward to commission 10 writers to write a 10 minute play each. It was decided that to make the performances much more interesting for the audience, the plays would need to be written in three acts, that way Act I of the first play could be performed, followed by Act I of the second, and then of the third, and then back to Act 2 of the first play, etc.

The result was an evening of quite different plays, where you didn’t know which installment was coming up next, almost like a ’soap opera’ with individual stories being played out.

Well, the summer is now over, and Room 20 has made it out of my head, through my MackBook, on to paper and down to Southampton (and in London by now!) and I’m happy with it.

Mind you, it’s taken long enough. I had no idea how much work could possibly be involved in writing a ten minute play.

There were a few last minute changes (including a character name which I knew needed changing, but was stuck on – Thanks Tom) but I have tried to include all the things I have learnt so far, and hope I have been able to write something good and worth reading; a complete play with believable characters and a plot and all in 10 minutes. Not easy, I can assure you.

Anyway, I handed it in last Thursday at our writers group meeting, and as soon as I had we were being set our next project. We now have until the end of February to write a 44 minute radio play.

44 minutes?

Yep, that’s the length needed for the afternoon play slot on Radio 4. We were given three examples, one of which was directed by John, and another was written by Sarah Daniels.

Time to study the format. Gonna be tricky. Haven’t got a clue where to start!

Umm, ideas anyone?

–

Must end by saying some thank yous.

Writing, I’m learning, isn’t necessarily a solitary job. Many people’s time and efforts have gone into Room 20.

I see things, I overhear things, I think things, I listen to things; and they all go into my writing. (Even a comment said to me in passing is now an important part of the end of the play – Thanks Mike.)

Sometimes, however I need somewhere to start. And for this play I ‘interviewed’ some of the young people from the Riverside Youth Theatre, and from that came the idea for the play and the inspiration for the characters and the plot.

So a big-massive-huge-gynormous thank you from me to:

Tom Addy
Mark Forrest
Peter Williams
Annabel Smith
Katherine Parkinson
and
Michael Smith

Room 20 is now here on my blog for downloading if you want to read it.

Any comments good or bad, very much appreciated.

I needed to buy a toaster for my Lunch in Venice rehearsals.

The whole cast eat pizza throughout the play and they will need to practice eating and acting at the same time. Not easy.

I had permission to splash out a massive £3.50 on a Tesco’s Value toaster, then decided to the blow the budget and get a 4 slice model instead of the 2 slice, so I could toast twice as much in one go!

Rich and I went over to Brooklands this afternoon and, having spent 15 minutes trying to get a parking space on the M&S side, (Credit crunch? What credit crunch?) we had a quick forage for the Tesco’s toaster.

No such luck. They had the 2 slice model, but the 4 slice had been discontinued. Oh well. I could have gone for the 2 slice, but something was saying said not to.

Anyway, off we went to Curry’s and Argos round the corner. Rich wanted to look at TV’s and guess what, completely by accident, I came across an Argos Value toaster complete with a ‘cool touch’, a ‘variable browning control’ and wait for it, a ‘cancel button’!

Whooppee!!

And to top it all, it was a white 4 slice model at a bargain £6.92!

Naturally I queued up with my little bit of gold coloured plastic and waited!

- Cashier number 5, please!

Two minutes later I was the proud owner of a FREE 4 slice toaster!

FREE????

Yep – courtesy of the marvelous Marks and Spencer!

You see, I bought some underwear there a couple of months ago – though now they are coming unstitched so I popped into the Brooklands branch after I’d parked and asked for a replacement.

They offered a refund, but I think the poor trainee must have got a little confused.

The underwear had come in a pack of three, and I had bought two packs. However, I’d left two pairs at home, since they were in the wash, and so she had four pairs in front of her, which I dutifully pointed out.

“Oh, four”, she said, and promptly typed x4 into her till, refunding me 4x£3 for two packs of value underwear at £3 per pack! So, £10 up since I had two pairs at a pound each at home in the wash, I was able to get a toaster effectively for free and still be £3.08 in credit!

Thanks M&S – RYT will be making very good use of their FREE value toaster, and I’ve got another £3 to buy some more value underwear!

Well, it was sunny yesterday. Not particularly warm sunshine – it being the end of September and our little planet being farther away from our star at this time of the year – but sunny all the same.

I spent the afternoon in the company of some great young people from the Riverside Youth Theatre. I’ve got to know them well over the past year and have the pleasure of working with a small group of six of them as we rehearse Nick Dear’s Lunch in Venice.

Having spent the previous week on an in-depth script discussion and detailed read through followed by some characterisation exercises, we moved on to blocking this week.

We started by watching a slide show of the various landmarks and views of Venice and it’s culture as highlighted in the script, then worked out all the french scenes in the text and looked a little at some of the beats, then after a quick run round to inject some energy, we started the blocking process.

Normally, I have to say, I tend to use the pre-blocking method, ie: plan everything – or most of it anyway – beforehand and then just tell the actors where they’re moving, changing things as you go along if bits dont work quite as you thought they would. Certainly easier with larger casts; and for smaller less experienced ones too.

Well, with this cast and this play, I have taken the decision specifically not to do any pre-blocking at all. A first for me, since I am heavily relying on the actors to know and understand their characters and the play enough to be able improvise the blocking as we go a long: Finding out what works and what doesn’t.

After a little awkwardness to start off with (where I was seriously questioning if I’d made the right decision: having only covered the first page in the first half hour) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole cast took it in their stride and postively relished in the idea of being allowed to be a big part of the blocking process.

Far from the usual: “Where do you want me?” or “I don’t know where I’m supposed to be.” I was generally getting the: “I think I should be here at this point. Is that okay?”.

In fact, it very quickly got to the point of some major discussions on the characters and indeed their status in the positioning on the stage at various times.

Ben: – “I think Harley should be like sat on the other side of Bianca. He’s needs to be on the edge since he’s like really on the outside. Of the group I mean. He’s like trying to fit in but it’s only the start.”

Bianca: – “Yeah. I agree. Also means my line to Conrad makes more sense that way since I don’t have to talk across Harley.”

There were times when I was wondering who was actually directing. But it was a really great feeling! A joint ownership of the production.

Brilliant.

When we put together the first half a dozen pages we’d worked on, and ran it through to see who could remember what, each of them did remember, and it looked a fantastic. Obviously I’ll be working on honing specific detailed ‘business’ but the general positions and moves of the characters looked great.

It was a joint effort and everyone had a say. Whenever we had conflicting ideas about a certain move we invariably tried both and found out which worked and which didn’t. The end result was that everybody felt they moved ‘naturally’, and not simply because they had to.

Bloody hard work, mind!

After a couple of hours of this intense way of working, I was shattered. (Probably why I have a headache today!) We all discussed how the afternoon had gone and everyone commented on how much they felt they had really got into the play and their characters, and so quickly too.

We were all surprised; most of all me, I think. Young people need to be given much more credit and be allowed to experiment more. I can honestly say the results speak for themselves.

This is going be a good production, and we’ve only had two weeks of rehearsal!

So, more actor-led blocking next Sunday.

Lets hope the sun is shining again so we can be down in the park by the river. Being outside was quite a new expereince for us all too. Since the play takes place in a square in Venice in the heat of a summer’s day, it’s very apt that we should be blocking it by the Thames in the sunshine.

–

Lunch in Venice by Nick Dear will run from 4th-6th December at the Riverside Arts Centre in Lower Sunbury. I’ll be setting up a group on facebook to help promote it.

CAST:

• Harley – Peter Williams
• Ben – Mark Forrest
• Bianca – Rianna Dearden
• Conrad – Tom Addy
• Emmy – Chloe Gay
• Vivi – Claire Leonard

(Oh, and since Vivi only appears in the last third of the play, I have asked Claire to be my Assistant Director, which has already proved to be another excellent decision!)

Yep, Sunday’s will be fun again!

After our summer break the Riverside Youth Theatre met up again last Sunday. It was great to see everyone again and meet some new members too.

I’m looking forward to helping out on the committee (we meet again in a couple of weeks time) and hope I can be of use since I’m going to be sorting some publicity for the group and future productions. As well as writing a few press releases, this blog should help, and I’m sure I’ll be making use facebook too!

So what’s next for RYT?

Well, we’re going to be doing three one act plays on the 3rd-6th December 2008 and I’m directing one of them, Lunch in Venice by Nick Dear.

Lunch In Venice is a great play. I love it!

I first came across it when I began reading the plays for young people commissioned by the National Theatre as part of their New Connections program. The play appears in the 2005 anthology along side Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill and Chatroom by Enda Walsh.

Incidenly Deborah Gearing’s first play, Burn, is also there. Deborah Gearing? Well Deborah went through the very same Nuffiled Theatre Writers Group that I am in. And this play was her ‘graduation piece’.

Oh and there’s also Through the Wire a musical one act play by Catherine Johnson. Who’s she? Well you may not know the name, but you will know the ABBA musical Mamma Mia (now a film) and it was Catherine who wrote it.

So why did I choose Lunch in Venice? Well, basically because it was the first play I’ve read where I had to read it through again – immediately! Here’s what’s said in the production notes:

In a tranquil square in Venice five teenagers eat pizzas and talk. The weather is perfect, the food delicious and the talk engaging. But Lunch in Venice is a play where the realisation of what has already happened to the characters gradually creeps up on the audience and, from the point where the penny drops, they will receive an emotional jolt. Their perception will be dramatically reshaped in much the same way as the characters’ perceptions have been reshaped by the dreadful moment Nick Dear has subjected them to.

It’ll be challenging to direct, but I’m looking forward to it.

In addition Emma Dow and Gill Lambourne will be directing the two other plays.

Emma co-directed our last production Into The Woods and will be directing All’s well that Ends as You Like It by Michael Green.

This as the name suggests, is a Shakespeare parody and is from ‘The Art of Coarse Acting’. Michael Green coined the term “Coarse Acting” in the early 1970s — A coarse actor is “one who can remember his lines, but not the order in which they come. One who performs . . . amid lethal props. The Coarse Actor’s aim is to upstage the rest of the cast. His hope is to be dead by Act Two so that he can spend the rest of his time in the bar. His problems? Everyone else connected with the production.” (Michael Green)

Coarse Acting is now a recognized theatrical skill: it takes a company of highly-skilled and committed actors to master its delicate art. I’m sure the talented bunch at RYT will be more than capable!

Gill directed last December’s production of Cider With Rosie and this year will be directing Stone Soup a morality play by Paul Thain.

In this allegory of modern society, derived from an ancient folk tale, the wise Sophia enters a starving village and declares she will feed everyone with her magical stone soup, and in this way gradually encourages the villagers to share their own hoarded goods for the benefit of the community as a whole. Mr and Mrs North hold a monopoly on the cooking pot and use this fact to try to gain control of the soup. When Sophia philosophizes about peace and justice she is labelled a subversive by the autocratic government figure, General Mayhem, who attempts to nationalize the soup and place it under government control. In the end, however, the spirit of sharing and co-operation prevails.

We had a read through of all three plays last Sunday and since each play offers something completely different for the young people everyone had their favourite.

Auditions will be held this Sunday, and boy is that going to be difficult. With thirty or more young people to cast in the three different plays, it will be very hard for each person to get the play they want, let alone the part they want.

I have six parts to audition for in Lunch In Venice (though additionally there is a role for “A Troupe of Acrobats” so anybody who hasn’t a major part in the other plays can join in if they can juggle! – I knew me teaching them how to juggle earlier in the year would come in handy at some point!) and like most directors, I have a pretty good idea who I want to cast.

Auditions, though, are important because it is then that you find the surprise actor who you hadn’t initially thought of or the actor you thought would be brilliant turns out not to be quite so good and doesn’t fit in with the rest of the cast.

If I’m honest, I hate auditioning.

One has to rely a lot on experience and going by what you know about the person and what you have seen them do before.

It’s always the case that there are actors who can sight read as if they knew the whole script backwards, and who can do a brilliant audition, and you think ‘yeah, gotta have him’ and then you find that he doesn’t take direction well, thinks he’s god’s gift to acting, wont work as part of a team and is basically crap.

In complete contrast, I know one young actor (not at RYT) who is a very slow sight reader. He is very self-conscious and hates auditioning (to the point of almost avoiding it) because he believes he will never get a part. The upshot is, he can act and is a bloody natural, though you’d have a hard time convincing him. I cast him as the lead once, purely based on what I had seen him do in another production, and irrespective of his reading/audition. Needless to say he was brilliant.

My main problem will be getting the good actors who I know I can work with. Lunch in Venice is going to be very demanding. There is a lot to understand in order to convincingly get it across to an audience. The trouble is the very good actors will also be in demand by the other Emma and Gill, so we’ll just have to share them!

Though I do, as I say, have the semblance of a cast in mind, it’ll be fun working with the young people, whoever I end up with.

I’m really looking forward to it. Roll on Sunday!

Sunday, and after a Saturday of not much at all, I went to Sunbury for the Riverside Youth Theatre’s AGM.

I was elected onto the committee as the publicity officer and after an hour’s meeting it was time for the post AGM entertainment: A live Who’s Line Is It Anyway? style show.

I’ve spent the last six Sundays running an Improvisation Workshop where the young RYT members have been learning a variety of improv’ techniques.

It was brilliant. We were in the studio at the Riverside Arts Centre and had set up some staging and even had a some proper lighting too. (Thanks Aaron!)

I hosted and about a dozen or so members performed a variety of games from the show: Foreign Film Dubbing, Dating Show, Press Conference and some hilarious Alphabet Scenes.

The members were all brilliant and audience was great too; All willingly chipping in various locations and character styles for the actors to improvise with on cue.

It lasted forty five minutes – too short as we could easily have gone on, but we had too stop for some lunch.

A good time was had by all, with some really pleasant comments from various parents afterwards too.

We were supposed to have had a picnic afterwards, but with our great British weather as it is we ended clearing the studio and having our lunch inside, during which it was announced that Lewis Hamilton had one the Grand Prix.

Another good day for me in Sunbury. I do love spending my Sunday afternoons over there. There such a great bunch of people; adults and young people alike.

Next week it will be our last Sunday before we break up for the summer. I’ll be having my first committee meeting and the members will be rehearsing for a show they are putting on for the Shepperton and Sunbury Arts Association – a week of various arts related workshops and shows put on every summer in the centre. RYT will be performing an evening of drama and songs on Friday the 18th.

And when they return in September? Well it’ll be straight into auditions and rehearsing for the next show, a production of three one act plays to be performed in December.

Oh, and yours truly will be directing one of them: Lunch in Venice by Nick Dear. More on that later.

Right, now I’ve done my blogging and indeed a whole host of other things on my MacBook today (including my Nuffield homework), I’m off to bed; some of us have to be up early in the morning – like five o’clock! I’m off to Warwick Racecourse for a couple of days; more corporate hospitality supervising. (Think I may just take my MacBook.)

Just a quicky!

I’m off to Silverstone for theBritish Grand Prix.

Well, practice and qualifying anyway. Cant see the race as I need to be back for the Riverside Youth Theatre AGM!

Bye for now…