Some Plays By Paul Richards - the first tour

Well that was fun. I was back in the office today and spent a little time trying to justify the last four days - it was a tour that lost money and felt like it killed my little car. But can you really put a price on feeling that you're really working towards something really quite marvellous? Tiny steps, really tiny steps perhaps, but steps that still mean you're actually doing something worthwhile with your time? Seven and a half weeks ago I wrote a show, last week we started touring it - even by my own impatient standards this was probably pushing it a bit. It's my first foray into an 'almost solo' show ie; a show I can pretty much nail by myself, and then have an actress contributing a few lines just for when the audience get restless of my ranty, big-handed ways. The actress in question was Claudia McKenzie - an old friend of mine of many years and one of the best musicians in Cambridge. This tour was her stage acting debut, just to add a little more pressure to the whole thing, and Izzy directed it before heading off on her travels around India. Working with Claudia and Izzy on this has been fun because they're two of my favourite people, yet it still couldn't hide the fact that this was virtually a solo show - a first for me, with barely any time at all to actually learn the lines due to gigs/other projects, and just lack of actual days. We had a mini UK tour ahead - 5 performances, in 4 days, and some rather lovely press coverage ahead of the shows including a journalist in Wales describing me as being a 'lanky hero'.

People who have seen a lot of my work have disagreed with me when I've said 'Some Plays By Paul Richards' has a 'typical Paul Richards script' because, certainly with the first half of the show at least, it's all the more darker. I never intend to write anything that is particularly happy or sad (apart from the forthcoming Christmas show, which will be the most sickeningly joyful thing ever performed - promise) so it's interesting to see what people thought of it. The format of this show was also a bit different - I decided to make it all the more informal and introduce it at the start, have a little chat to the audience, explain to them that after the plays I shall tick them off on the whiteboard and they can applaud if they wish, and then after the intro I left the stage before returning 'in character'. It's a concept I thought up a day before the dress rehearsal - simply because I hadn't had the chance to print out any programmes due to the fact the flat I'm renting was flooding so I was back living with my parents for the week as the floor dries out and they don't have a printer. It really worked - it just seemed to make the audience relaxed, it was only one step away from saying 'are you sitting comfortably?' to them...

After an awkward and at times horrible dress rehearsal at CB2 in front of an invite-only audience (sorry Rich, Chris, Michelle, Heather and Cathy that you had to sit through that) in which it was clear I wasn't exactly nailing this show, we hit Norwich the day later for the first performance. I like Norwich - I really do, I liked it when we played there on tour with the band last year, but it's all bloody one-way isn't it? Parking issues aside, our venue - The Tea Lounge, was lovely and Dina the venue manager looked after us well. It was a quiet start to the tour, an audience of 4 - Dina, my mate Jack, my mate Liz, and Liz's mate Daphne, and another slightly shaky performance on my behalf although a million times better than the dress rehearsal, and Claudia had already nailed her lines by this stage. But a nice start - and a sign that this material does work, I just needed to get my confidence up. Brighton the next day, and after a scary moment with my driving (won't go into details but let's just say we were momentarily driving the on the wrong side of the road with the traffic about to come towards us...Claudia's calm reaction of, 'I think something silly just happened there...' kept me calm as I quickly had to turn around feeling slightly embarrassed, if not relieved) we checked in at the hotel and made the longer-than-expected walk to the Ambassador. Despite a radio interview, being heavily publicised on another station, and newspaper coverage - not to mention the fact the venue had it's own PR team, clearly the people of Brighton just weren't up for seeing our show. We had an audience of one - Aidy, my bandmate but above all a friend, who came up from Cambridge to see the show. I really appreciated him being there, as much as it was weird as he was sat completely by himself. We did the full show for him though, and as time progressed it felt less awkward, he's a decent audience member laughing at the right times. Performance was another slight step-up, I missed out a few good lines in the second half and stumbled a little, but it was nothing that affected the plot and you could just feel that it was gradually starting to feel like a proper show. Enjoyed Brighton after the show - the three of us went for a few light drinks, there was a good vibe in the air.

The next morning we set off at a stupidly early hour (7.30am) to Wales, a five hour trip to a tiny village I couldn't pronounce (or spell) to do a show I was slightly worried about. Although it was starting to feel stronger and stronger as a piece, this was always going to be a performance where, for the first time, we'd have a completely neatural crowd. It helped that we got there an hour and a half early so we had some relaxing time, it helped that the staff at The Royal Oak in Rhandirmywn were so supportive of what we were doing, and it helped that the audience were absolutely wonderful people. Mostly of an older nature, you just got the sense they wanted to like it before it even started. My confidence was up, the informal introduction was more informal than ever, and we breezed through the show - some proper big laughs in there, the punchlines actually felt like punchlines, even the dog in the audience enjoyed it. Shame we couldn't hang around for long after the show but we had to dash off to the next one - Bristol.

By this stage we were really enjoying the tour - we had a show, a show that was working. My car on the other hand wasn't having such a great time - some of the noises it was starting to make were rather alarming, it was even drowning out the wonderful music of David Ford that was on the stereo. We made it to Bristol 50 minutes before the show - slightly cutting it fine, but in the capable hands of my close friend Matt who showed us to the venue where we met Kirsty who booked us for the performance. Caffe Clifton (yep, Caffe is spelt like that) is a lovely little space and a perfect setting for the play. Audience of 4 for this one - Kirsty, Matt, Matt's new girlfriend Abi and an random stranger who must have seen a poster, CD player skipped a bit but aside from that a fairly solid showing, we got laughs in the right places. Great social afterwards too - we hit some pubs, ate some good food, drank whisky that costs £8.50 a glass in an exclusive little bar, great to catch up with Matt who is an impeccible host and just one of those brilliant people you're lucky to meet in life.

Hungover and with a car that was still protesting, we drove back up to Cambridgeshire yesterday for the final performance, this time in Gamlingay. Not being arrogant or anything, but this was a cracking little performance - by far the best one yet of 'Some Plays...' - simply because we knew the show inside out, we had a vibrant audience, it was just a great way to end a tiring but great few days. As the performances progressed it was clear that both Claudia and myself were hitting our stride - I was cutting lines off the cuff that I didn't feel were working, adding a few more in every now and then, the whole show felt very natural by the end of the short run and I was starting to feel really at home up there. Shame it had to end after 5 shows really...

Claudia was a joy to tour with, just relentlessly optimistic about everything, despite the really long hours on the road, and looking at her schedule (she makes me look lazy) it's a miracle she was available for 4 whole days in row.

Anyway, this week I shall mostly be nailing the scripts for the Christmas shows, recording congas for my mate Bryan's new album and er, booking another tour for early next year.