Christmas show - performance 2

I'm actually a little drunk. And the sad thing is, I had planned to have a big night out after the show this evening (as it's the last Saturday before Christmas and all that) and some of my friends who kindly made the trip over seemed keen too - then that damn snow started getting pretty heavy, and I decided against it and drove home whilst still legal. I got drunk watching 'The Football League Show', mostly watching highlights of Rochdale v Shrewsbury I think, or it may have been Yeovil v Exeter, or whatever - it's just football, the great thing about football is that I can just sit there watching the ball being kicked around and can be completely enthused by it all - I'll support the team in blue for these highlights, the team in red for the next 4 minute clip etc, football is great at any level. Anyway, the second performance this evening, this was the only night that on paper hadn't sold out, and then we lost one or two people from the audience due to the snow, we gained a couple along the way, but had a few spare seats tonight. Those who were there though were mostly from Burwell, they were Vaughan's crowd. We should have known what to expect really, it's the same as last year's Christmas show when the Burwell crowd came down, and indeed our performance of the fringe show in Burwell. I'm not sure if Vaughan's friends are a fair assessment of the small town/village/whatever it is of Burwell, but from what I know, everybody in Burwell drinks a LOT. They treated both shows like a panto this evening, even though the second show wasn't one - fuck they heckled at everything, in a positive way but still...come on guys, let us get on with the play. It was all in good nature, but at times I was slightly frustrated. But they're lovely, if pissed, people who support their man (Vaughan) a lot, and I respect that. As a result tonight's show was a little bit of a lively farce, I could get agitated and touchy about the script and to be honest at times I was/am, but it's Christmas, and we made a lot of people laugh tonight. It's not what I want for the future - obviously I still want people to laugh, but I want a solid, structured show. I've got big ideas for next year's Edinburgh show, which, whilst may mean a few changes here and there to the current working team (not that there was anything like a contract or anything like that, but this little team of ours have been through a lot together this year - Brighton, several Cambridge dates, London, Edinburgh), tonight wasn't what I want for 2010. Maybe I should just get out of my own arse and look at the simple picture; I write plays, people turn up and laugh at the jokes. That's all good, but I'm itching for something different, somewhere along the line. Equally, I thought of a new plotline for 'Alex' tonight and part of me wants to keep this character going further. The bigger part of me says 'no Paul, 3 plays is enough for the same character, it's been wrapped up in a nice year from Christmas show to Christmas show - this show is a perfect conclusion' but then part of me thinks this idea is a goodun and one more, whilst there's still an audience for it, is a good thing? After all, despite the snow, we've still practically sold out 3 nights in a venue that before I put this team together we couldn't even sell out 1 evening. I'm confused, so many ideas...so many of them probably won't work, but I know somewhere there's some potentially really, really great things. One thing I do know for sure is that in a theatrical sense I should probably never go on stage again, I've been shite for the last 2 performances. Even the 'awkward charm' thing doesn't work anymore, I've just been rubbish, but I'm glad I know that. At the end of 'The Football League Show' they played Bob Dylan's version of 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' and for the first time this year, as I'm slouched in my little flat finishing a can of Holsten Pills, I felt incredibly festive.