With the 50th Anniversary Production of West Side Story making it’s way from Sadlers Wells to Woking next month, my interest in producing/directing my own version has again been rekindled. I played Anxious in my first school production at Eggar’s in 1982 and have loved the musical ever since.

Anyway, I thought I’d start with a little bit of research and typed ‘West Side Story’ into Google - like you do. I immediatley came up with the stage script, which I certainly didn’t expect to find - especially when you consider it’s actually on a movie scriptwriting site!

Thinking you may be interested too, here’s the link: West Side Story Script

So, me thinks I might have invented a new verb! Well, Alex, you read it here first!

For those who wish to be illuminated, the term playwright is not a variant spelling of playwrite, but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder (as in a wheelwright, cartwright, or shipwright). Hence the prefix and the suffix combine to indicate someone who, like me, crafts plays.

So, since the term playwrighting means crafting a play (as being distinct from writing a play, since the act of crafting a play requires learned skills and is much more than the specific act of writing) I have taken the noun ‘wright’ to also be a verb: ‘to wright’ meaning to craft.

And so, to quote my facebook profile (seven friends and counting, and at the rate of adding one friend every two hours!) being a playwright, I guess I wright plays.

Spirits lifted by a thoughtful thankyou, I spent yesterday afternoon in a mild mood of creativity. The result, amoung other things, was this poem/lyric; the subject of which sadly seems to be regularly in the news…

Leaving Me To Die

and did you see them laughing
and did you see their highs
and did you see the vodka talking
glassing up their eyes

and did you hear me screaming
and did you hear me cry
and did you hear the shank unsheathing
searching for my thigh

blood across my street now
red alley where i fell
dont know why
but cold i lie
with sky the news to tell

and did you watch them racing
and did you watch them fly
and did you watch those hoodies hiding
leaving me to die

© PAFoster 26/05/08

Ernest Hemingway once bet that he could write a novel in six words.
For sale: baby shoes, never worn. - he won the bet.

I’ve been thinking of a few today, so here’s what I’ve come up with…

Last predictive text; first predictive lorry.

Bling, phone, wallet, keys, girl… Gun.

Son, seeking, sees solemn soldier’s suicide.

Finally, since I’m a playwright, here’s another; in words of one syllable, naturally.

To write, or not to write…

For more on this see the Six Word Stories site. (Thanks Alexandra.)

Oh and if you’re feeling creative, have a go and email me yours; I’ll be pleased to add them to a list and post them here on my blog.

Have fun.

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My Ode To Thomas Drew
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now let me tell a tale for you
about a boy who knew
that love in life comes only once
his name was thomas drew

at school a girl they called her sue
long hair and well to do
she took his breath away from him
and fell for tommy too

her birthday came a party threw
and with it special brew
he kissed her hand and held her tight
and danced the whole night through

they did the things all lovers do
pubs clubs and movies too
and underage they were of course
but no one ever knew

was sixteen then but not dear sue
arranged a rendevous
and in her room they lay entwined
were both in honey dew

a moment shared could not undo
and now she was but two
her mother came to say goodnight
a sight to misconstrue

she loves you thomas drew
she loves you thomas drew
she loves you still
she always will
she loves you thomas drew

her father freaked he floored tom too
and in a rage he flew
he locked her in the bathroom scared
their passion now taboo

in overdrive his weight he threw
and called his boys in blue
she needed tom she cried for him
a swab found residue

the bastards they did interview
harass and then pursue
hed lost his mind and run away
arrested waterloo

they charged him then for raping sue
her mind in turmoil too
and soon they hauled him off to court
inside denied she grew

the judgement came with much ado
a cell a borstal screw
who beat him up and buggered him
each arm a dark tattoo

ignored him then as he withdrew
his body black and blue
and from his bunk he hanged himself
his check well overdue

she loves you thomas drew
she loves you thomas drew
she loves you still
she always will
she loves you thomas drew

they sold his soul for hell to chew
and all for loving sue
so when the boy was born to her
she named him tommy too

and so his tale ive told for you
my ode is all but through
we love him still we always will
my father thomas drew

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Copyright © 2008, PAFoster
All Rights Reserved

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Hi Everybody,

All going well here.

Been up and well for 11 days and counting (a record for the last twelve months!) and been very busy too.

I think the Lamotrigine is kicking in. (Now up to 125mg)

First time in ages that I have been able to do all the things I’ve been needing and wanting to do. I have even achieved things that have been sat on my to-do list on my computer since January!

Plenty of things to be blogging about at the moment, just not enough time to do it.

Just got back from doing the weekly food shop (though I admit I spent the hour in the car reading Tony Kusher’s Angels in America for my homework while Richard whizzed round Morrison’s with the green boxes in the trolley!) and have a had a few minutes to blog while Rich is cooking dinner.

Will watch the Gadget Show, then get back to some more writing.

Yes, this week I’m writing like mad. (Another first in ages). I’m on a deadline for next Monday; but that’s another post! More info later. (I can hear Pete cracking the whip!)

Have had this poem/lyric as a draft post for a while now (it was written on March 15th) so thought I’d post it today.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Richard’s calling me for dinner. Adios.

Just found a couple of very helpful sites I know I’ll be using again and again and again. Just wish I’d discovered them earlier.

The first is a great rhyme finding site. Just enter any word and it lists rhymes by number of syllables (default) or by number of letters (though can’t see the point of this myself). You can also include phrases in your results. Very useful, quick and easy.

The next (helpfully recommended by the site above when there are no rhymes) is onelook and is great for a number of dictionary type things including crosswords.

Enjoy.

Well, three and a half months after sending off my script of Kath and Kin it has come back with my first official rejection letter.

The Bush Theatre kindly wrote in their stock letter:

Our reader enjoyed Kath and Kin but I’m afraid we can’t see an opening for developing the piece here at the Bush.

The first of many, I’m sure. I’m not disappointed since I’m at the bottom of a steep learning curve. Besides I’m on the third draft of Kath and Kin at the moment and shouldn’t really have sent it to them in the first place.

Each producing theatre has it’s own criteria and although most will receive well over 1000 unsolicited scripts in a year, they will only produce one or two.

Fin Kennedy received rejection letters from all the London producing theatres for his play How to Disappear Completely And Never Be Found, then in 2006 the play won the Art Council’s 38th John Whiting Award for New Writing, the first time an un-produced play had won! Needless to say, it has been produced since.

PS: Just read the play for part of this fortnight’s Nuffield Theatre Writers Group homework. It’s is very clever in its construction and writing. Just the sort of thing I like. (Also, oddly enough, it makes good use of the shipping forecast in it, as does Kath and Kin.) Thanks Pete, for recommending/lending it to me.

Amanda has lent me 3 of the NT Connections books (the National’s new writing initiative for young actors creating theatre) which I’m looking forward to reading as they are on my list. Thanks Amanda!