We've got some new entries in the Script Archive.
This time we thought we'd bring you some radio plays.
- Smooth Apparatus by Laura Wade is a short play that tells the story of the morning after the night before.
- Goal Difference, an acerbic commentary on the state of modern relationships by Andrew Viner, was commissioned from the Sports Shorts writing competition.
- Porshia, by Ed Harris, tells the story of a lovestruck office worker who wakes in the body of his would-be amour. It was chosen by The Guardian as a Pick of the Day, and lauded by the Radio Times as "unquestionably drama of the week".
- The Incomplete Recorded Works Of A Dead Body by Ed Hime is a full-length play exploring the nature of art, sound, decay, aspiration, and loneliness. It has been nominated for the Prix Italia for best original radio drama.
As usual, you may need to download Acrobat Reader to read the scripts if you don't have it already.
Less than four weeks remain until the deadline for the Verity Bargate Award at Soho Theatre. I’ve decided to enter the competition for the first time. Most of the stuff I write is co-written comedy, but I’ve been working on a proper, full-length stage play about crime in Glasgow for a while, and I reckon I can do a rewrite by the 6th July. Watch this space for minute-by-minute updates!
I find it almost impossible to overcome my natural laziness without a deadline. Usually I’ll have to finish something for performance, or broadcast, or publication, but when you’re writing something uncommissioned it’s hard not to find excuses to leave it for a bit and play a bit of online Scrabble. (Yes, there is almost no end to my geekery. Speaking of which, I played a game earlier today where I got IRONIST, HOPLITE and DEUCING. I was very pleased. But still lost.) Like a lot of writers, I have always assumed that the deadline sharpens the writing, and makes me produce my best work. Thinking about it now, though, this is a theory that I’ve never put to the test, as without a deadline I generally don’t produce anything. It’s not really very scientific.
As well as working on the Glaswegian script, I’m currently rehearsing in the evenings for one of my first Edinburgh preview performances: the new Pegabovine show, Coat of Arms, which I’m directing. Once again, we had a rehearsal in which we came up with the funniest joke in the world (see my earlier blog entry about Potted Potter), which I’ve subsequently repeated to my friends’ blank, mirthless faces. We’re planning to finish working on the script today, and the first preview is a week on Friday. Hopefully my ‘the deadline sharpens the writing’ theory will also hold true for the acting, directing, and indeed line-learning. Fingers crossed.
It's all change at the mo. Get my grades from uni in a week (yuk) and my three years of microwave noodles and Daytime television are over. It's terrifying how quickly the past three years have gone, but everything's looking good. My summer's filling up nicely with meetings and other projects I've been asked to get involved with so I'm very lucky to have some work lined up already. It is a daunting prospect to leave the security of student-hood and become a 'real' grown-up but thanks to winning the bursary loads of oppurtunities have opened up to me and it looks like an exciting time ahead. So, all you budding comedy geniuses should really follow my lead - landing a placement at the BBC has been fantastic, not to mention showbiz. I saw Les Dennis the other day, jealous?
Following the success of Sport Shorts and World Cup Tapes, we've just launched our new competition with Radio 5-Live: The Royal Tapes. It's an opportunity to debate the Monarchy and get your work produced - starring Alistair McGowan. Winners of previous competitions have taken their writing careers to the next stage - one has been commissioned for The Wire on Radio 3, another produced for 'Brief Encounters' on BBC1, another was one of our Royal Court 50 writers. So if you've got something to add to the debate, then get writing.
The re-write continues and yet again the business of comedy becomes very serious. Things are so hectic at the moment that I'm finding myself having 3 minute bursts of inspiration before stressing about something else I've forgot to post or fill in. Not too surprising then that staring at my computer is beginning to drive me mad - that's why I've rediscovered my trusty notebook. Keeping a scabby piece of paper and a lovely pen close at hand has been fabulous this week. Without forcing my brain to think too hard, when a joke or an idea has popped in to head I scribble it down. That way, when I pluck up the courage to return to the computer I already have a couple more things to squeeze in to my script. I'm sure an obvious tip for all you writers, but a bloody good one.
