Lots of excitement this week as we’ve been closing in on the first performance of my new play, Taking a Chance (the ‘on love’ is implied). The process started early in the summer with a commitment to write and produce something for the October Mole Valley Arts Alive festival, and grew with the inspiration of the work of Amanda Dalton in using poetry as narrative, not least for radio plays.
Script written and bounced off Mole Valley Scriptwriters it was over to Damn Cheek, and specifically my normal partner in such things, Darren Cheek, to bring the show together. As this was essentially a live radio play we needed incidental music and decided early on that the simplest, and most immediate, approach would be for me to provide that on sax. Cue an enjoyable time trawling through suitable tunes, most of which will only be played in snatches.
Casting complete, with two old friends and collaborators, and the venue sold out, it’s now a matter of making sure things work, that the team are all prepared and that the incidental details are dealt with. And time for me to make sure I’m on top of all the times, the changes of key and the use of two saxes in turn. After the show tonight, and the audience feedback, it will be time to think about where next with the play, I have radio in my sights but there are already signs of demand for more live shows so we’ll have to see what emerges.
The title of the show reflects the dilemma facing the characters but also the reality of putting a play on - the chance that it will sell, the chance that it will work, the chance that people will like it. The prognosis is promising, We’ll know by Friday
preparation completed the story begins hush of expectation
I hope it went well I was slightly unavailable at the time☺️☺️