Probably The Greatest Goal Ever Scored @ The Horse, Waterloo

My short play, 'Probably The Greatest Goal Ever Scored' was performed as a rehearsed reading for two nights at The Horse, Waterloo, London by the lovely First Draft theatre team this week. Having been selected to be one of seven plays to be performed out of over 250 submissions, this was a nice chance to have a London airing of one of my newer pieces, with the knowledge in the back of my mind that four of them would go on to further production after an audience vote. Freya Alderson and Toby Lizst took to the roles perfectly, Jo Harris' direction added new life to it and brilliant producer Laura Harling put together an eclectic showcase of highly entertaining new writing. Despite getting back late both nights in a row (which as a result has made me look a complete mess both days), I've thoroughly enjoyed these evenings - some really strong writing there, nice venue, nice audiences and great production team. Great to catch up with Az Hussain too (who I met a few years back when she appeared in the London performances of my play, 'An Ambulance Stuck In Traffic' and then we worked together on the Patrick & Cameron radio sitcom) and she stole the show with her performance in 'Big Love' by Alexander Moschos. Also good to go to the second night with Grace (who was in the original Cambridge performance), Michelle and Alan - their support flattered me, wonderful people, wonderful friends.

Found out by via a text from Az whilst on the train back that my piece has been selected for further production and will now run for 6 nights in London next month. This amazed me as it was an audience-vote type situation and I'm an out-of-town writer meaning complete strangers have voted for my work, but it's also made me feel incredibly happy that this slightly daft little play that I'm very fond of is going to be seen by more people. Happy, tired, but mostly happy Paul.

Gig report: Eureka Stockade @ The Portland Arms, Cambridge

Band: Eureka Stockade
Venue: The Portland Arms, Cambridge
Date: 14/03/12
Audience: Enough of them to make us feel wanted
Set: Violence, Been There Before, Without You, Caught In A Fire, All Alone, Ted
Notes: This was the first Eureka Stockade gig since the Christmas show in December, and indeed the first time we'd all been in the same room as each other this year. Without rehearsal I was a little worried, but there was no need to fret as - if anything, the slight fear of trying to remember everything only helped us focus more. This Eureka line up was Rob, Andy, Claudia and myself - both Rob and Andy were in good voice, and it's always a treat to have Claudia play bass for us, she's outstanding (as I've said many times before) and makes my life as a drummer nice and easy. We were supporting Misty's Big Adventure - a band I am a huge fan of and would have happily paid to see anyway, and the whole vibe was just so friendly. Our set went down well with those who could make it for 8.15pm, nice and responsive audience and we confidently played through this short selection of what is probably our strongest material. After us the fantastic Pony Collaboration played a superb set littered with personality, before Misty's - performing as a trio, hit the stage. The 'anything goes' attitude of Misty's Big Adventure is always a joy to watch (I've seen them live about five times now), so much character, the witty material never obscuring from the fact there is a great amount of top-drawer musicianship and lyrical brilliance on display. They ended with 'Two Brains,' which is a wonderful tune on so many levels. A great evening.

Ideas, plans, taking myself seriously, that kind of thing

It's been an interesting week or so, but a good one I think. I've got a lot on my mind at the moment about the projects - not only the continued financial situation of funding them all (I think we'll be okay, especially if a certain fundraising event in July goes ahead) and now just trying to confirm the venues, applications are in, applying for a fringe venue is always an exciting time and we've researched this a lot to get it right this year and the space we want is still available. Getting it right also applies very much to the scripts; had a very intriguing meeting with Grace last Thursday and it raised a lot of questions, good questions, mind. She's clearly a girl beyond her years as she knows a thing or two, and she raised the most important question of all: why are we doing the Edinburgh Fringe? She wants to do things properly, and so do I - of course I do, I try to do everything properly, I even write a blog about it. But the more she spoke the more I realised what exactly the point is she was trying to make; it's been said of me before, I'm doing too much at the moment. The question was asked - why are we taking two shows to Edinburgh? Part of my logic being that it's the biggest arts festival in the world but doing as much as possible whilst up there seemed to be flawed when she pointed out taking two 'nice' shows wouldn't be half as beneficial as taking one spectacularly good one. I'm still thinking we can take two spectacularly good shows up there, but I see her point. She's probably right, which is a tad annoying because she's a fair bit younger than me, but she's still a joy to work with and it's nice to be working with someone who cares enough to get frustrated by my ways. I met with Izzy on Friday to discuss current fringe developments and, apart from the fact I scared her cat (it's my hands - I mean well, but it's my hands) it felt like a very successful meeting, she echoed Grace's thoughts/concerns/hopes whilst also echoing Grace's belief in what we're doing. But all these meetings are very nice, but the fact of the matter is I just need to write the BEST SHOWS EVER.

The scripts are coming along nicely. I say 'scripts', because the way things have been left at the moment is that we'll register and confirm the new Oscar Pike show for the first fringe deadline, and if it emerges in the next couple of weeks that a) I happen to write a strong female-lead play that fully demonstrates the serious acting qualities of Grace and Izzy to the extent they can't possibly not do this at the fringe as well b) we have enough funds to register a second show on the slightly more expensive fringe deadline and c) there is a suitable venue available - then we'll do the whole two show thing. Shame that my '5 Plays In An Hour: Theatre For People With A Short Attention Span' concept seems to have been put aside for now, but that will emerge at some point I'm sure. But if anything, at the moment I have too many ideas and am getting myself in a bit of a stress about it, this is different to my standard (normally at Christmas) rant about a writing deadline. For example, at the moment I have two scripts on the go called 'There's Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Oscar Pike' - both with completely different plotlines. I have no idea which one to go with, I like them both, one of them is very much in the same mood as last year's original show (Is It Too Late To Save Oscar Pike?), the other is more of an ensemble piece which works but doesn't have that Oscar vibe we created the first time around. But then again, a good play is a good play, surely? And every time at the fringe it's like we're starting again, performing to a whole new audience who have no pre-conception of what we do, or what we have done previously. This Thursday I am meeting up with Izzy and Grace to workshop some characters for some female-lead concepts I have been scribbling notes for, two plays, if any of the characters seem to gel I'll notch up some scripted dialogue over the weekend and maybe it could lead to the 'other' fringe show. We'll see, it's a different way of working at least, trying to get out of my box a little and try a few ideas out. It's all good though, ideas aplenty, but good ideas mean nothing to an audience if they are watching a weak show and continually looking at their watches thinking 'this is an hour we won't get back...'

Went to my good friend Marcus' stag do over the weekend and it confirmed one thing for sure: Paul Richards is not good at shooting things. I was laughably bad, awkward and occasionally going for the wrong target, and that was on the rare occasion I hit any sort of target at all. Was it my eyesight? No, my eyes aren't great sometimes but they're not that bad. Was it my physical strength? No, I carry a lot of heavy drums around and would like to consider myself to be strong enough. I think it was purely just a case of me being a bit rubbish at this kind of thing.

On a musical note, the rehearsal with the Dowsing For Sound band last night was nothing short of amazing...again. It's complicated, challenging stuff at times - but all the different time signatures, the switch in feel...it all feels oddly logical to me, a lot more logical than shooting things anyway. More rehearsals with the band next week and we're also back with the choir, this is a truly amazing project. Can't wait to hear The British IBM album either - the songs keep running around my head, I'm not sure what the latest is right now (I think Aidy has done his vocals) but really looking forward to hearing some kind of first mix soon, it's rare I get so excited about a recording project I'm on but this one is worthy of such an emotion. And it's a rare Eureka Stockade gig tomorrow night too, we're supporting Misty's Big Adventure who I am a huge fan of (and have been for years), I like being a drummer very much sometimes.

Ah yes, and that short film, Mr Abernathy, that I was in the other day (brilliantly made by Christopher Dane, and starring Kate Madison, Rob Jezek, Michelle Golder, Alan Hay and Emma Banigan) can now be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnuiSADf2Fk

Currently watching: The Football League Show (is it weird I prefer this to Match Of The Day?), Inbetweeners, Family Guy
Currently reading: Paul Watson - Up Pohnpei...I'm on the last few pages of this, then I'll read some scripts Grace has lent me, before moving on to Danny Wallace - Charlotte Street
Currently listening to: David Ford - Austerity Measures, Elvis Costello - The Spinning Wheel Live, Slow Club - Paradise

Fringe fundraiser 2: the murder mystery

Have to be honest, this was the one I was less confident about. Our second fundraiser in two days, and actually - another cracker. But I had so many doubts, about the script - I had finished it on Tuesday, the cast had a first rehearsal at 1pm today, that was how tight we'd left things, nobodies fault - we're all busy people. I wasn't even sure the script was going to work, this type of show isn't exactly my forte and even less so when I wrote it in such a rush, even I wasn't convinced that I'd chosen the right killer. But after one run-through it was obvious it does work, and after a couple more (it was a fairly long rehearsal) I was suddenly starting to feel excited about this show. The cast were fantastic - that helps, we had Grace, Izzy, Alan, Vaughan and me - but as we know, I'm not really an actor. The characters seemed to work, and were really defined, if a little overblown - but I can defend this by saying they probably have to be in a murder mystery show that only really adds up to an hour so we needed to get the points across quickly. It's a nice concept, we all felt remarkably at ease with what we were doing - Alan's confidence kept the whole thing alive, and Grace took charge in the rehearsals when we needed her to because we all seemed a little unsure, she stepped up and in doing so reminded me why I just want to keep working with her. Izzy is consistently brilliant, Vaughan's cornish comedian role kept the chuckles coming, and even my character seemed to be met warmly with the audience, although that might have been pity as he's a biscuit-choking loser. Great fun to play though. We did the show at the Missing Sock and I wasn't at all familiar with the performance space but it was big enough for us to really make it our own - the death scene through the tinted glass door was actually inspired, I'm just annoyed I didn't think of it myself but Grace should take full credit for spotting that opportunity. The venue's staff all played along with the murder mystery vibe and were very accommodating, the food was excellent, we didn't have a huge crowd in - okay, 15 people, but those 15 people were really into it. I was worried about the costs - £20 a ticket is a hefty sum for a short show, even with good grub, and my programme notes were practically an apology. I needn't had worried though, it worked well as an evening - my very close friends Alister Bunclark, Chris Lawrenson and Mark Allum (Mark appeared at VERY short notice) played perfectly suitable music that was great - despite their own modesty. As normal for such shows, the audience are allowed to vote on who they think killed the lead character. Really interesting - a lot of them were really into it, yet only 3 people got it right. 7 thought it was the host, which is a credit to Alan's performance. I felt satisfied that I'd made the plot complicated enough to throw them off the scent, and everybody seemed happy with act 3 - in which we explained everything. Only a small audience then, on a blustery night slightly out of town, but a happy one - we were called back for an extra, second bow. We didn't hear the calls, we were all chatting backstage, happy that we'd got away with it, which must have made it awkward for the band on stage. But you know, we don't normally get encores in theatre, this was a really good sign that perhaps we'd done okay ignoring the fact I don't think we were too prepared. Even though I've been dismissing the idea all week, I think we can do that play again one day, feels too strong to just throw away.

That was the end to a frantic weekend, what with the filming, the long gig, and then the murder mystery. All of that came after a frantic week. But it's all good, actually, I can calm down for a few days now, things are roughly in shape. For now, at least.

Fringe fundraiser 1: the gig

That was a pretty tiring weekend, but in a really good kind of way. Despite feeling really pretty rough on Friday, Saturday's filming of 'Being Mr Abernathy' was great fun and from there I went to the first of two Edinburgh Fringe fundraisers in two days. This one was the gig - it was the one I felt most comfortable with to be honest, because I understand gigs. I knew where I stood with this one - Jo at the Cornerhouse has always been very good to me and paid half the soundman's fees and gave us the venue for free. We had a great turnout, so I like to feel she got enough out of the evening in the return so we can all be happy. This was a different kind of gig because as you may realise by now I get bored easily, and I was certainly bored of the standard gig formula - you know the one, four bands, half an hour each. This was an Edinburgh Fringe fundraiser so we can get our two new shows up there, so it had to have a gimmick somehow so I wondered if it would be at all possible to cram as many songs in as possible. I set the target of '100 Songs In Five Hours' and people seemed to click with this. I felt sorry for the soundman - he must have been more knackered by the end of it because we had so many acts playing. It was a brilliant night, and people really went along with this slightly ridiculous idea - some more than others, some even quite intensively as they added up song totals on their phones and worked out if we were on track. I booked lots of friends to play and it was great, sadly Rishi had to pull out of the opening slot (partner about to give birth at some point/has given birth already?) so Aidy (with Dave) kindly stepped in to kick things off for us. There wasn't a huge crowd at the beginning but they played with enthusiasm and, for the sake of this challenge, nice and quickly. Steve Matthew - a friend from my theatrical side of things, played an often hilarious set next, felt sorry for him that nobody else was going to join in with the the dance moves he was so keen to initiate. I then played with the Trevor Jones Band - we were without Tony so no bass but acoustically it still works nicely and was well received. My old mucker from Eureka Stockade, Rob, played a brilliant selection of songs, mostly material I don't know actually, before one of our out of town bands, Master Solo added to the belief that there are not any rubbish bands from Norwich - they were absolutely fantastic. And nice people too, I want to see them again. The other out of town band, The Wreck Scene shortly followed - a new punk/rock and roll band fronted by my mate Ade, they're from High Wycombe and were genuinely good fun to watch, I like them very much. Tom Tilbury slowed things down a little (not a critisism - slows songs are okay, although not perhaps when you're trying to get a 100 tracks in - but he's great, and one of my best friends, and it's always a pleasure) and the mighty Dave Greeves swiftly followed; Dave should do more solo gigs, he really is excellent. Jon Orchard - a good pal and somebody I've been working with a lot on a business project recently was next up and he really believed in the concept of the evening, completely rattling through songs - including one he'd written at the bar that evening - to try and get our numbers up. Jon's appearance added a pop element to the proceedings and went down very well indeed. I was then back on stage with a fully electric set with The British IBM (our first gig with this name, having changed it simply from Aidy). I'm really proud to be in this band you know, we really are starting to hit our stride. It's an odd one, we hadn't rehearsed, but we're so comfortable with each other's playing, we are a proper band, it's a lovely thing. I enjoyed it a lot and the audience - and there was now lots of them, responded well and one person even called out for 'Washing Machine' - the song we ended with. A geniuene pleasure, we're looking and sounding like we know what we're doing, which is a good thing because we're back on tour in July. As planned, we left half an hour at the end for anybody else to go up and play a few tunes, I also left this time because having 11 acts would probably mean we would be running late anyway. We weren't, amazingly. It was clear by now 100 songs in 5 hours was unlikely, but the wonderful Annie Dressner stepped up and played a few tunes, and the evening ended with the also wonderful Sam Inglis playing a couple tracks. Sam's a well regarded producer/musician around here and it was flattering that he closed the evening for us, especially with 'Mini Cab Driver' - a song I'd first heard him play about 8 years ago when we were both on the same bill at the now defunct venue, The Sophbeck Sessions. A brilliant evening - in the end 84 songs were played live, by some pretty exceptional people. We had a good turnout, and - at a fiver a head, to make £160 profit towards our shows was a pretty healthy comeback. I can't stress how grateful I am to those who played - but then again I know that sometimes musicians do like to play anyway so I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. Special thanks also to Alan Hay, who kindly stepped in at the last minute (ie; I was chatting to him on the film set earlier that day) to do the door ALL NIGHT and was jolly throughout. And should probably give extra credit to Izzy - yes, I know she's in the Edinburgh shows so will benefit from this, but to host the night, keep the scores, and keep me calm is no easy task, especially as she was drinking, but she did so remarkably. A great night.

The filming of Being Mr Abernathy

Spent most of yesterday on the set for the filming of a new short film called Being Mr Abernathy. It was directed by Chris Dane with a script that he'd written based on a script by Michelle Golder, and I was cast as a chap called Darren. Apart from the Fred's House video shoot last year and a cameo appearance in the 'Firenado' stage show at Lodestar this is the first time I've been cast in something that I haven't written myself. A bit like a 'proper actor' then, but I'm still denying that bit. My character is described in the script as being a 'lanky pencil pusher,' so it's probably obvious why I was asked to be in this one...was great fun though, fantastic short film that I'm looking forward to seeing when it's done. It was shot in a large open plan office in Cambridge, with a fantastic and supportive crew, some very familiar faces, some people I vaguely knew and to whom it was nice to chat to further and some people I'd never met before - but everyone was lovely. Everyone I've met in film is lovely - are they all like that? Anyway, it went well I think, I stumbled across my lines but that's what they seemed to want anyway such is the nature of my character and hopefully it was okay. But I'm not an actor - I just help out, okay? Good, glad we've confirmed that. Straight after the film I dashed off the '100 Songs In 5 Hours' fringe fundraising gig I was organising/playing. More on that later, but I've got to look at my script urgently ahead of the murder mystery performance later. Again though my character is a gangly, awkward loser...so it's not really acting, no.

Gig report: Trevor Jones Band @ The Ferryboat, Holywell

Band: Trevor Jones Band
Venue: The Ferryboat (function room), Holywell
Date: 29/02/2012
Audience: Felt packed (although it's a tiny room), warm and supportive
Set: All I Am, Shine A Light, Badman, Alive, Old Fashioned Woman, Roll On The Rain, I Don't Wanna' Talk About It, Can't Take This Anymore, Falling, Solid Ground
Notes: This was a really good night. Trevor's management wanted to see us as a full band, so we organised this little show on our home turf - it may seem like an unconventional venue but it's also where we regularly rehearse so we were really comfortable with the surroundings. After the mess of Saturday's London gig it was nice to be using our own equipment again, and it was just a lovely evening. Lots of friends came down, I felt we were particularly tight - there was the right level of energy and finesse to the performance, the order of the set was spot-on - we even played 'Solid Ground' right for the first time in a while. Last night's gig was in front of the right people, and it was very much a case of 'job done', awesome.