Editing Plays

 Monday 21st September. 9.00p.m. I know, I've been somwhat lacking in written this blog, but here I am again.

Yesterday was my turn to set up for Communion at church, meaning I had to buy  loaf of white slice bread, chop it up into small square pieses and then set up the three trays which hold the smll, plastic cups and then, using a plastic bottle with a tube in the cap and filled with Ribena, which is then carefully fed into those cups. It isn't a dificult job, but you have to be precise, filling those cups and make sure the bread is purchased the Saturday before, otherwise, if you buy it too erly, it is likely to go stale.

There  was only one problem. I had the bread chopped up and ready to go, but I was overwhelmed wih how my play writing efforts, had been going that I forgot to pick up the bag orfbread, so, when I got to church, I realised I had forgotten it had to return home to collect it.

On Sunday evening, I went to Milton Keynes Theatre, to see a Michael Ball concert. I had booked a ticket a few months ago as soon as I had heard he was coming I wanted to go. So, I booked, on line, and so I went on Sunday. 

I was completely surprised by the size of the queue as I approached the theatre. Then, to get in, I showed the ticket which was on the ATG app, which makes it easy to store and makes things paperless. But I was supposee to enter the auditorium via door 10, but for some reaon I lqnded up in a lower tier and it was only minutes before curtain-up, that I found out I should have been further up the theatre and in a different seat. Which I found after some effort. It is quite difficult moving along between the seats, with people already seated. You would think, considering how new Milton Keynes Theatre is, that they could have made more room between seats.

What can I say about Michael Ball's prformance? Well, he did not disappoint. He has a great stage sense, and a great sense of humour. When the music for the Les Miserables sequence began, the audience went wild! I imagine he has quite a following on Radio Two, where he has his own show.

New Minister For Shenley

 Monday 7th September. 5.30 p.m. On Saturday we had the induction ceremony for the new minister at Shenley Christian Fellowship at the Oaktree Centre, Paul Thompson-McHenry. I was a graet spirit-filled afternoon, and most of the Shenley membership was there to witness the event. TI’m he service lasted around an hour and then there was food available, a buffet of sandwiches, sausage rolls and other bites.

Monday 14th September. 7.45 a.m. I am continuing to edit the first play, but then I thought that the end of the play isn't dramatic enough and now I have worked out something far better than the rather bland ending it used ro have. I am not going to disclose it here, otherwise it will ruin it for those yet to see it when it is staged. Itm means I have had to unpick the story so as to insert this new conclusion, rahter like unpicking a knitted garment and repairing a hole, by putting in a patch. But it will improve the play and give it a more thriller-like conclusion.

Editing Play

 Thursday 27th August. 1.00 p.m. It is raining, although not heavily. I cannot remember the last time we had even a few drops of the wet stuff. As I look out of the window and glance at the community garden, it looks so parched and dry, it rather puts me in mind of a desert in North Africa, possibly the Sahara.

Monday 31st August. Bank Holiday. 1.20 p.m. I have been working on another play. This is one that I started, but then couldn't find a way to complete it, but I suddenly thought for a while and it came into my head, so it is now more or less complete. I have several plays in the same sort of incomplete state, so I hope I can complete them, given time.

Wednesday 2nd September.  8.0 a.m. Thank goodness it's cool. The heat was far too much. The digital thermometer currently reads 27ºc, so a far more comfortable temperature.

All sorts of odd things are happening within Dexter House. I am not entirely sure what has been going on, but a newish tenant has been vandalising items of furniture and smoking some sort of illegal substance and causing problems so the Police have been informed. No sign of anybody from the Council making an appearance to sort this issue, and it is causing stress amongst some of the tenants.

I haven't mentioned this on this blog, but last Friday evening I drove over to Bedford to meet up with my friend John, to have a drink at the Pilgrims Progress pub. This is a Wetherspoon's public house nd was a former Longhurst and Skinner furniture store. The traffic from the Bedford bypass and along Ampthill Road was extremely busy, and then I parked in Rutland Road, where I used to live before moving to Beauchamp Court and then, more recntly, moving to Milton Keynes, when I married Carol in 2007. There was a very convenient space to park the car, righ outside Rutland Road Church, which was where Carol and I got married.

It was good to catch up with John. We had worked on a series of projects, particularly one that I had attempted to get off the ground, with John woerking on character designs for my project about a puppet dog called 'Bosworth' and which might have developed when I had a television producer had made a lot of effort to get the project off rthe ground, but eventually I had to abandon things which was more than a little bit frustrating. 

Friday 4th September, 9.15 a.m. A good deal cooler this morning. I am trying to get the writing edited, but it is a bit frustrating when the files I have saved will not open properly. However, I will hopefully get the file opened and complete the required editing. I know, that sounds a bit bonkers, back to front, or even front to backwards, but I know what I mean. Also, having several versions of the same scene and then whole sequences that are missing in one version and not in the other, makes it harder to construct a new complete version of a particular scene. (All this must sound strange,because I suppose it is. Some of the characters have different names in different versions an then I cut some characters out completely, basically because, when I started out writing plays, I wanted to keep the number of actors employed to a minimum number, so I had to avoid introducing more characters, as well as simplifying the staging, so there was no need for more sets, lso to keep cots down. The thinking was, keep all this under control, and there i sfqr more liklihood of any of my work being staged.