Here I am feeling as if I’m at the helm of the Enterprise, or the Millenneum Falcon, or the TARDIS, or any other sci-fi spaceship of which I can draw an extremely loose comparison to Paul’s base of operations.

So I guess this post seals my dedication to communicating PAFoster’s projects to the public, a little like a blood oath but without the risk of hepatitis.

As already mentioned, I, Peter Williams, have taken on the role of Publicity Officer for PAFoster – Playwright.

This will include blogging on here, updating Twitter – trying painstakingly to fit something into 140 characters, which will make me wonder why I’m not just blogging on here; I’ll get used to it, I’ve still got my Twitter training wheels on – and of course managing the PAFoster – Playwright YouTube Channel.

So be sure to check them all out, though the latter is only in its prime, being created yesterday an’ all.

I will, however, be uploading all kinds of content over the summer including interviews with Paul about being a Playwright – I’ll be sure to get some hints and tips out of him for any budding writers out there – insights into Paul’s next play, other projects in the pipeline, and many other things that will build up somewhat of a documentary, all making me feel like Michael Moore but without the professionalism, and the interviews with Marilyn Manson.

I jest. Marilyn Manson may be involved at some point.

I’ll also be posting a review of Paul’s most recently produced play Spaceboy here on the blog in the next couple of days.

So that was a summary of what you can expect from me as PAFoster’s Publicity Officer. I’m very glad to be a part of Paul’s ’2010 Summer Internship Programme’, and you’ll be hearing from me again very soon.

Damn. I’m sure I had Marilyn’s number here somewhere.

It’s amazing how a couple of days can change things.

One day I’m sat there having a laugh and a joke with Paul about being his PA for the evening’s performance of Spaceboy – which for the record I thought was absolutely incredible – and within a couple days I’d taken on the role as part of Paul’s ‘Summer Internships’ programme!

I guess I’d better tell you a bit about who I am for those of you who don’t already know.

My name is Tom Fidler, I go to Riverside Youth Theatre and am a keen actor – though doesn’t necessarily mean I’m any good – and met Paul there nearly three years ago.

We’ve been good friends since.

It was really the idea of getting into play-writing that allowed me to help to help Paul in the position I am now, and I will, in the future, write some plays with added expertise from some playwright called PAFoster…

But that’s for another time, this is Paul’s blog and so from now on I’ll keep it about him and my role as his PA for the summer.

When my exams are finished I will have all the the time in the world and hopefully the added assistance of a Macbook Pro to help me along with assisting Paul and keeping you up-to-date with any progress either on new or existing projects.

With my (and Pete’s) internships underway, there will be some changes to the way things are done, so to keep up-to-date on projects and any important information on the play front then I recommend you become a fan of the facebook page PAFoster – Playwright and also follow @PAFoster on Twitter.

My friend Pete (*PW) and I (*TF) will be tweeting as well as Paul on all things PAFoster-Playwright related.

Paul’s personal twitter is now @FuckingMangoes which incidentally is the name of the latest play Pete and I will get a sneak preview of on 26th June, and not some sort of sexual fruit fetish, lol.

Oh, and you can of course follow me on twitter too if you like: @TomFidler

Anyway, be sure to look out for my posts and tweets in the future, but until then, this is it for my first blog post at PAFoster.com.

I have to say if you’ve read this far, you’ve done well (and so have I, lol) as in all honesty blog posts aren’t my speciality considering I’ve only ever posted two before.

Until next time, sayonara!

In accordance with my beliefs in supporting and indeed encouraging the creativity and development of young people, I’d like to introduce you to Peter Williams and Tom Fidler.

Peter will be spending time during the summer assisting me and helping to build my playwright profile online in an effort to give PAFoster-Playwright a wider following and Tom will be helping me to organise things whilst out and about.

Peter is a member of the Riverside Youth Theatre and has always enjoyed writing and film-making and now maintains a weekly vlog too. He asked me a month or two back if he could shadow me and help out a couple of times during the summer to which I readily agreed.

Tom too is a keen actor at Riverside and a developing playwright in his own right who has always been keen to learn what he can from me. He has often joked about being my PA when I get to be a ‘celebrity’ and we are always making in-jokes about this. (The name PAFidler being one of them!) Recently though, he has become quite serious about it and has asked to help out too.

Spaceboy was a huge success and I am pleased that both of them saw the production and were equally as amazed with it as I was.

I think they were so totally bowled over by their experience that they have both been very keen to do more for me and help out wherever they can in an effort to learn more about the life of a playwright.

And as this fits in with my policy of helping young people to achieve all they can in this world, I’ve decided to take them both on as ‘Summer Interns’ and given them each important responsibilities, an real things to do in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

So I am pleased to tell you that Pete will now be my Publicity Officer (PO) and Tom will be my Personal Assistant (PA).

There is going to be a lot happening this summer, including a rehearsed reading of my new play, and I am going to need all the help I can get!

Pete will be responsible for upping my profile on the web. I am pleased to say he has already created a ‘PAFoster-Playwright’ YouTube account and will be uploading various short films he’ll be making about what is happening in the world of PAFoster- Playwright, including interviews, rehearsal footage, performance footage etc. Pete will be writing too; reviews, blog posts, and anything else that may come to mind.

Tom will be responsible for getting me organised when I’m directing/rehearsing or having a play reading or whilst working any other projects, of which there will be quite a few over the summer.

Both Pete and Tom will have access to my blog, (where their names will show as the author of any post they write and publish) access to my facebook fan page, where they be able to update the status and post things there too like photos or videos, and also access to the @PAFoster twitter account where both will be able to tweet on my behalf too.

If Tom tweets it will have *TF at he end of the tweet and if Pete tweets it will have *PW so you will know who’s tweeting based on their initials. I’ll tweet with *PAF so you know it’s me.

So, over to you Pete and Tom! And welcome to the world of PAFoster the Playwright.

The production was truly excellent and very highly praised by the audiences in after show discussions. I’m a very pleased playwright!

I am so grateful to Nell King (Director and Anna), Nathan Trapnell (Director and Nathan) and Alex Paterson (Hayden) for all their hard work.

Thank you too, to Scott Freeman (Sound), Jason Orbaum (Lighting) and to Nina Lemon (Artistic Co-Director for Peer Productions and The Black Box Theatre) for recommending it be produced.

And a huge thank you to both audiences who took the risk on coming to see a new play by a new playwright and in a new theatre too. I am so pleased you were just as amazed and praiseworthy about the production as I was.

I couldn’t fault the sound, light, staging, acting or direction. The whole production was an excellent interpretation of my script, and to be very honest, I really could not have done it better myself.

Spaceboy is my baby. I conceived, developed and gave birth to Nathan Greene, Anna Walker and Hayden, and indeed the Spaceboy himself, David Walker. I nurtured them, gave them a helping hand and unleashed them into the world. And I’m so pleased they have all been warmly welcomed.

They now all have lives of there own. I was even asked by audience members during the post show discussions what happens to them after the point at which the play ends.

To which I answered: “I’m sorry, I’m just the writer, I haven’t a clue. I stopped writing about their story then.”

It was almost as if these characters are real people, and I’ve just told the story about what happened during two weeks of their lives.

Obviously, as the writer, I included some ‘character history’, but I have no idea what happens in their lives after the traumatic events during that fortnight.

Should I? I really don’t know. How could I?

I must admit, I had unreasonably high expectations for this World Premiere Production, not to mention grave concerns that it might not be any good, especially as (unlike other works of mine) I was to have nothing to do with the production.

I was being paid a royalty for licensing of my script, so whatever they did with it, was entirely up to them. I had no control. (Yes it was a little difficult to let go, not unlike letting your child go to school for the first day.)

And yet Peer Productions at The Black Box Theatre certainly met, if not exceed those expectations, and I had no reason for any concern at all. They just made my writing sound and look even better!

The play has been to various people in various formats, crying out to be noticed. There’s been some nibbles; long-listed in a writing competition and even considered by Radio 4 – the first part, ‘If I Fall’ – but now I’m so pleased to say that it has been produced, and what a brilliant production it was as too.

For those who missed it, you certainly did miss something! And I’m not saying that because I wrote it! I’d say the exact same words if I’d seen that production and it had been written by somebody else.

In fact, I was so mesmerised by the show, especially when my character of Hayden (Alex Paterson) came alive in the second part – Moondust Will Cover Me – there were many, many times I actually forgot that I did write it!

At one point when Hayden had his back to me because he was sat in a certain part of the audience – the show was staged in traverse with staging at each end too – I glanced at the faces of the front row of the audience facing him. Each were transfixed. They had exactly the same frozen expression of intense involvement in Hayden’s story. It was amazing. And those exact same frozen expressions were held for minutes, not seconds. I was completely freaked out!

In fact I was so blown away by this 17 year old’s entire performance, I gave Hayden Alex’s surname in recognition of Alex’s outstanding acting and highly realistic characterisation of my tragically love-troubled teenager. (I must also point out that this is a true testimony to the highly skilled directors, Nathan and Nell.)

Whilst the other Spaceboy characters had surnames, Hayden never got one. But he has now, I have corrected the character list in the script to include his full name, Hayden Paterson, in Alex’s honour.

I now have very fond memories of Spaceboy. I’ve made some truly great friends and even have a framed poster in my office as well.

But it’s time to move on. Time to get something else finished on its its way into production. I’ve been given a whole new boost to my confidence and am busy finishing my Nuffield Theatre Writers Group Full Length Graduation piece; more on that later!

The World Premiere of PAFoster’s Spaceboy has been such a fantastic experience for me; the best of experiences for any playwright, I’m sure. There really is nothing like the immense feeling you get from watching a superb production and performance of a play you have written.

Thank you all so much!

So here’s the news I’ve been wanting to blog about for ages.

Spaceboy is getting its first production this weekend! (4th/5th June) I am so pleased.

Yes, that’s tonight, I know, but depression isn’t concerned about time, so I guess I’m lucky I came back from the blackness yesterday. I have know about this production for well over a month now, but this is the first time I have been able to write about it! I was getting concerned that I wasn’t going to fully engage in the amazement of it all.

It was nearly a year ago now that the play was a given a professional ‘rehearsed reading’ by Actors and Writers London, and now finally makes its way on to the stage for the public to see.

Spaceboy is being produced because John Burgess, my mentor from the Nuffield Theatre Writers Group, put another writer, Nina Lemon, in contact with me. Nina has just started in the current Nuffields group; my group having completed the programme at the end of December.

Nina runs a theatre company called Peer Productions, based at the Woking Youth Arts Centre, a five minute walk from my house, and she asked to read some of my work.

Needless to say she loved Spaceboy and I was pleasantly surprised back in April when she asked if they could produce it.

I’ve now met both Nell King and Nathan Trapnell who will produce and direct the play as well as take the roles of Anna and Nathan. They have also cast Alex Paterson in the role of Hayden.

Alex is a member of the Peer Productions Youth Theatre, and is also at Woking College with my friends Mark Forest and Adam Amin from the Riverside Youth Theatre – Small world.

I recently saw Adam and Alex perform in ‘The Interview’ for part of their AS Drama exam at the college and having directed Adam before at RYT, knew he would be good. I was also entralled with Alex’s performance and am very pleased that he’s been cast as Hayden in Spaceboy.

For those of you who know the play and it’s origins, you’ll know that Hayden‘s part, played excellently by Tom Addy in the London rehearsed reading, is a very demanding series of monologues performed one after the other and lasting about twenty five minutes.

Hayden is my favourite of all the characters I’ve created thus far, and I’m pleased to say that Alex, having thoroughly researched his part, has just as much enthusiasm and understanding of Hayden and his issues as I do, which is fantastic and very gratifying for me as the playwright.

My play will be performed as the second in a double bill with the short piece The End Where I Begin, written and directed by Kirsten Hill.

The venue is The Black Box Theatre, a small studio style theatre in Knaphill near Woking where Peer Productions is based.

The 50 seat studio theatre is cosy and very intimate, which to be honest, as those that saw the London reading will know, suits Spaceboy very well indeed

The booking details for the show are all here and again, appologies for the lateness in blogging about this; as I say, depressive episodes are a law unto themselves.

Spaceboy
by
PAFoster

Part One – ‘If I Fall’

Single, self-employed Nathan falls for his next-door neighbour, thirty something Anna Walker.

But Anna has a painful past and a troubled teenage son; and when a local lad goes missing, Nathan’s new relationship is tested to the brink.

Part Two – ‘Moondust Will Cover Me’

Fifteen year old Hayden is a little confused and thinks he’s in love; and that would be fine, if his new found friend wasn’t hearing voices.

I am so pleased that a lot of friends are coming to support me and the cast by seeing this production.

I have also developed new friendships because of because of it, including Tony Chessman, an aspiring writer too, and Lewis Flude who was stood next to a Pet Shop Boys fan in a record store talking about the PSB references in my play! Weird or what? But that’s another story!

Lewis and I have both been following each other on Twitter for ages, but never realised we both knew a lot of the same people from different social groups – Spaceboy has revealed those connections.

Oh, and I nearly forgot!

I am honoured to have been invited to take part in an after show Q&A style discussion with the directors/cast, where we’ll be taking about the play and the writing of it. So get your questions ready, and surprise me!

Hope you can come; it’ll be good, very good. Come and see why, say Hi!

Best wishes!
A very (at last) happy Paul.

PS: Better introduce Tom (the ultimate) Fidler, a great friend and keen to learn writer from Riverside Youth Theatre, who has, since I’m now being referred to as a “minor celebrity”, lol, dutifully elected himself as my PA – After dinner speaking engagements, book store openings, breakfast show interviews, and indeed any other public appearance or product endorsement requests should be directed to Tom, lol. I’m far too busy writing!

Public thanks again to my close friend Tom Addy, without who’s care and support, Spaceboy would never have seen the light of day.

Thank you Major Tom xx

My short play in three acts, was written in 2008 as an early assignment for the Nuffield Theatre Writers Group and will be performed with six other plays from members of the 4th group as well as other short plays/sketches written and produced by university students.

Tickets are £6.30 (£4.30 students) and are available from the Nuffield Theatre Box Office on 02830 671771. There are two performance times, 5pm and 8pm and the show lasts for approximately two hours.

Room 20 is in silence – at least it should be.

15 year old Jason Forrest is nearing the end of his second day of Isolation for the relentless bullying of another student, but Mr Brooks is supervising the last couple of periods – and he’s not in the mood for marking.

This will be the play’s first actual performance (it had a rehearsed reading in London in December 2008) and I’m looking forward to seeing what Student Director Jonny Haines has done with it.

(I hasten to add, it should be interesting to watch from my ‘writer’s’ perspective since initial discussion showed the director didn’t seem to understand what my play was actually about; Having his own complex ideas about the play’s simple theme. Oh well, I hope it’s worked out okay for him, and at least it’s being performed!)

Updates coming, I promise.

So where’d the first quarter of 2010 go?

Oh well, what’s past is past. Time to get on with the present and plan for the future.

I’m feeling so much better these days. I seem to be on the right level of medication to counteract the effects of my bipolar disorder and am thus able to concentrate and do things with my days.

And best of all, I am able to enjoy my life and write.

So here goes.

I have entered ScriptFrenzy – an annual scriptwriting event encouraging all those wannabe scriptwriters to get of their arses and do something about it. And all with the support of thousands of other people doing exactly the same thing. (Just over 17,500 this year.)

ScriptFrenzy lasts for one month – April – and the goal for everybody is to write 100 pages of script (not necessarily in one actual story). The script can either be for tv, film, stage, radio, comic book etc.

Ths idea stems from National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) which has been running across the world every November for a number of years now, with the objective of writing a 175-page (50,000-word) novel. (120,000 people took part in 2008 and 20,000 completed the goal.)

Of course, with all of this, the objective is to write, write, write a first draft. Nothing else. If you complete the page/word goal then you win!

And after you have won, then that is the time to take that hastily written 3 pages a day script, or 6 pages a day novel an do something with it, like editing, writing more drafts, and hopefully on to submitting the finished work somewhere for performance/publication.

So wish me luck.

And boy do I need it.

I only decided to do this when I came across the site a couple of days ago. And it’s not as if I haven’t got anything else to do.

This month I have also planned to finish and submit my full length Nuffield Writers Group graduation piece, which is nearly completed, (and overdue) as well as get most of the way through a novella I’m writing for a good friend to read to his three year old child; Hi Josh, it’s on its way – Chapter 5 today!

So, as well as working in Coventry, and all the other stuff one has to do, I’m going to be very busy this April. No time to suffer from depression!

And I’ll keep up my blog too, letting you know my progress every few days if I have the time!

Oh well, that’s my first 450 words written today – there’s a counter at the bottom of my input box – but it doesn’t count towards anything, so I had better get on with some scripting!

Cheers!

I sent them Spaceboy back in August, and was beginning to wonder what happened, thinking I had somehow missed the ‘no thanks’ email months ago.

It appears the reason it took so long was because it went further; the Bush readers found it a “really interesting piece” and passed it on to their ‘creative associates’ for “a second look”.

Sadly, they felt they couldn’t develop it as a production at the Bush, but suggested a couple of other theatres to send it to, which indeed I shall.

And secondly, I also received news today that Room 20 will be performed twice on Saturday 24th April at Southampton University as part of their ‘Nuffield Writers Showcase’.

A group of student directors and actors are producing seven of the ten minute plays written by members of the 4th Nuffield Theatre Writers Group as one of our assignments.

I’m looking forward to meeting my play’s directorJonny Baynham next week.