New material evening

Last night we tried out some new plays at our regular venue, CB2 in Cambridge. Was good fun, very eye-opening, but also what I expected; some of it didn't work at all, some of it really did, I'm happy enough. 'Trying To Like Greg' was a little too wordy at times - I think it will work as a radio piece if I ever find the time, but still not sure. It was saved by some brilliant acting by Emma Spearing - she put everything into it, she probably made it look better than the script ever was to be honest. 'How About You?' - the play I had the highest hopes for, really worked a treat. Yes, so it's still very much a first draft, but it's got a nice tempo to it. The thing that annoys me though is that it's a very 'standard' Paul Richards play - awkward young man, gets confused by the crazy world around him, gets disoriented, falls in love, gets rejected, has a happy ending...maybe I am getting a bit samey, or maybe I've just got a style and I should just accept that's who I am as a writer? It's probably no coincidence that it was the first play I've written since Oscar Pike, and there are strong similarities (especially because both myself and Izzy were in it), but equally it's still an original piece and some of my better lines in there too. I think we'll take that one to the Lodestar Festival, it's probably one of the best things I've written in a while. The final piece, 'Some Kind Of Family Business' worked on paper - it's a nice concept, but it didn't work at all last night. This could be because I was playing the lead - a gangster, and as we all know I can only play myself and this was a step too far. It just seemed too dark (it's about office gangsters, there's a shooting, there's a slightly predictable punchline), my mate Andy Higson thought it was the best piece of the evening but he was very much in the minority, as much as I appreciate his compliments. I think the real problem was that it was one joke stretched out for half an hour. Not sure, but glad we performed it anyway just I know that it's not a goer for the future.

It was a good evening I thought, even though it was just a new material session we had a good crowd in, and it was a long old show (well over 2 hours) but they stuck with it, very supportive and I'm very grateful. After the plays Andy tried out ten minutes of new stand-up comedy which went down (deservedly) well, and Aidy tried out some new songs, both of which sounded great, before ending on his own anthem, 'Fuck Like A Washing Machine'. I'm also very grateful to be working with such brilliant actors, it's a big ask to get quality talent in to perform material they've only read for the first time an hour and half before the show, but Emma, Izzy, Kimberly, Vaughan and Steve did me proud.