London

After the successful Edinburgh run, Dad's Money is coming to Pleasance London for three nights in October.  Please  join us - this whole theatre thing tends to work much better with an audience.

Here are some of the nice things journalists said:

**** (Scotsman)  'Pure  pleasure... Dad's Money is bristling with fresh, funny lines you'll be quoting for months… the actors transform

 it into comedy gold.'  

**** (Fringe Review)  'As a piece of theatre, it is very difficult to fault. Wittily and maturely written and performed with real flair and spark, this is a real gem of a fringe show .

When

Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th October at 19:45.

Where

Pleasance London, Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF. Five minutes from Caledonian Road tube

 station. Map here .

Tickets are £10. You can buy them here  or ring 0207 609 1800.

The show's had good reviews and it's got a fantastic cast. Please come if you can.

Rats to riches

I have to help with the get-in and get-out every day, as Martin's shoulder prevents him lifting anything heavy.  At the end of every show, I take the water trough downstairs and pour it into the flower beds outside the Dome.

On Saturday I gave a dead rat a bath.

Today, we had a great review in the Scotsman, and sold the most tickets we ever have, ending up selling out.  The box office staff were so pleased for us, they wrote us on the board twice.

Better than dead rats.

Press

We've had three more press mentions worth mentioning. Firstly, an interview on fringereview. I sound like a bit of a wally.

Next, we're part of a behind the scenes photo story in the Guardian.

Finally, an amazing review in the Scotsman.

Flood

Edinburgh's treating us pretty well so far.  Our audiences are fine - averaging in the low twenties, but now the early days of comps are over, those are twenty paying guests.  We're still waiting on further reviews to come out, but in the meantime we're one of the few shows with reviews stuck to our flyers and that seems to make a difference.  A large part of our audience this afternoon were people I'd talked to earlier in the day.  

That said, I was unable to get to the Dome yesterday because of an intense downpour which

caused a huge puddle beneath the underpass. Here a man with a moustache is trapped on the other side:

For a play about two brothers in a flood, we've suffered more than enough flooding.  The last day of rehearsals in Dulwich was interrupted by a burst water main which meant that Martin and Maureen had to ford the south circular to get to work.

Up here

I've been meaning to write the last few days, but it's been pretty busy up here, getting the show in, rehearsing and the frantic efforts sorting out everything from sound effects to publicity.  But we got a review today.  Here it is.  There's always time to boast.

****

Dad’s Money is a deeply poignant and sparklingly witty depiction of the reunion of two estranged brothers after their father’s funeral. The hinted existence of a store of money which each brother believes to be his by rights is the catalyst for an argument which unites them even as it drives them apart.

The production starts promptly, dreamy guitar music fading, leaving only the sound of distant running water. We watch as Tom Napper and his brother Joe argue violently – an argument nominally about their father’s money but one that digs into far deeper frustrations rooted in Joe’s abandonment of Tom and their father, and, even further back, in Tom’s bullying of his brother when they were children.

The plot is simple – two brothers trapped in cellar, rising floodwaters – but it is in the way the minutiae of their relationship is revealed that this play really sparkles.  Consistently impressive is the way the production sounds. The sound of water is ever-present but never overwhelming. Sound effects are sparse, but perfectly judged, and Gavin Osborne’s specially-composed music gives the production a melancholy, unworldly feel. The staging, too, is well judged, never getting in the way of the action or distracting the eye, but aptly complementing the performance. I was struck by the way the production, through slight modifications in arrangement of a few props and changes in the actors’ body language, made it natural to visualize the slowly rising water.

JJ Wright and Martin Miller have outstanding chemistry as the two siblings, and at whatever ebb their interaction is at, whether they are fighting, comforting, or trying to outwit each other, there is not one moment which seemed forced or false.

I was somewhat confused, however, by their promotional literature. The leaflet seems to sell the show as pure comedy, and I was expecting a raunchy, tasteless, post-Six-Feet-Under funereal grab-the-money farce. The show is indeed funny; in fact, it is very funny indeed in places; but I was astonished by how much more emotionally mature this production is than its literature seems to promise.

As a piece of theatre, it is very difficult to fault. Wittily and maturely written and performed with real flair and spark, this is a real gem of a fringe show.

- Fringereview.co.uk - 

The Two Joes

As a result of Martin's accident, we now have two actors playing Joe Napper in the show. Here both Joes show off their slings (Richard's on the left, Martin's on the right).

This allows Martin 

time to rest (without Richard, 

he'd have to do thirteen straight shows in a

row before the day off, and twelve more after it) and  allows the show to go on if performing turns out to affect Martin's recovery.  But it doubles rehearsal time.  Here Tom (Jerome Wright) surveys his injured brothers.  Everyone's tired, some are carrying injuries but we're working very hard to get the show ready in time for opening night (OK, afternoon).

Post-preview post

Last night around forty people turned up at the cricket pavilion to see the world premiere of Dad's Money.  Fantastic to have such a big audience - and the cast did a great job.  It's been a huge struggle through injury, orthopaedic surgery, and all the normal pressures of getting a show on with the added difficulty of lack of time.  Jerome and Martin did very well, and we had some great feedback afterwards.

Martin Miller gets into character.

With the preview over, we move on to the detail.  Getting the show on a stage was a huge challenge and now we must add the texture that will bring all of these brothers to light.  And rehearse Richard into the role of Joe as well.  Two casts to deal with - but each actor brings different ideas.

The cast were prickling slightly at rewrites in rehearsal today.  It's tricky, writing as well as directing - sometimes I can seek writing solutions to directing problems.  But detailed character work with both Joes brought nuance to the new, sparer scene one.  It's hard, but it's exciting.

Preview

Tonight at eight o'clock, Dad's Money will be seen for the first time by a paying audience.  I've washed my good shirt and had a shave.

Bit of a rush now.  More later.

Recast

We’ve found the only actor who could possibly replace Martin Miller…

…it’s Martin Miller.

And Richard Fry.

Martin is so good, it takes two actors to replace him.

Richard is so good, he alone can bring the might of two men.

Martin heads up to Edinburgh on Sunday bravely carrying on in the face of dislocation, broken bones and sensible medical advice.

Richard will play the role for two shows a week, and take over in the event of any problems with Martin.  He’s also in his own show, Bully (Gilded Balloon, midday).  He’s also got a beard.

This gives the audience the opportunity to see the role of Joe Napper with and without facial hair.

Rehearsals have been a lot of fun.  Martin returned this morning and he’s got a lot more energy and colour back.  He seems to be on the mend.  Then Richard came along tonight (after a long day at work) and worked on the same scene we’d just done with Martin.  It’s tiring for Jerome, playing with two different actors, but for a writer it’s an amazing opportunity to see what two different actors do with the same part.

Like almost-namesake Martine McCutcheon in My Fair Lady, Martin(e) Miller in Dad’s Money is carrying on with the show, with a little help from Mr. Fry. 

Casting

After an incredible effort to carry on with the show despite his fractured, dislocated shoulder Martin sadly had to leave the production on Thursday.  Very sad for him and for the show.

I've been hitting the phones to try and find an actor who can play the part and is willing to take on the challenge at short notice. 

I'm seeing people today.  Fingers crossed.

Blocking

It was a hard day in rehearsal yesterday.  Losing nine days to injury would put us up against it even with Martin fully recovered.  As it is, he’s brave but gets tired quickly.  A long slog in a hot room blocking the show – painstaking, gritty work – was hard for all of us.  We got through all of scene two (the busiest in the play) and I’m very pleased with what we achieved.

I had spent the weekend holed up with Maureen’s model box and some toy actors.  (Joe is played by two whisky corks with a paperclip to remind me which is his good arm, Tom is Ghosttooth, a toy given to my girlfriend by a boy named Hamish). 

This week will be a tough grind towards our first preview on Saturday.  The cast are worried they’re under prepared and won’t know their lines.  Martin’s still unsure if he should carry on with the show.  It’s a difficult time.

 

Dislocation

Martin dislocated his shoulder during rehearsals last Saturday.  The paramedics were great when they arrived, but Martin had a long wait for them while in a lot of pain.  Arriving at the hospital (King's on Denmark Hill) there was another wait as his shoulder had to be X-rayed before they could try to put it back in.  When the OK came, Martin was brave enough to let a tattooed charmer called Matt put his shoulder back in without a general anaesthetic.

They X-rayed again after relocation and unfortunately a small fracture was now visible in the top of Martin’s humerus.  It seemed likely he’d need a screw in the bone to reattach it.  However, the consultant deemed it unnecessary and we were very happy – surgery would have caused Martin further pain, trauma and recovery time.

Luckily, Martin wanted to continue with the show, so I wrote his character into the script as wearing a sling due to a dislocated shoulder (I’m very creative).  That way, he could rehearse the show as it would be performed.

We still hoped to have some of our planned week rehearsing in Somerset.  Martin had to pop in to the fracture clinic on the Tuesday, and we hoped to head down to Somerset later that afternoon.

Martin came in to rehearse on Monday.  He was in a lot of pain and discomfort, in addition to which he was nauseous from the painkillers, but stuck it out and carried on working.  It struck me that, just as any person can get injured, any character could get injured.  When Martin started playing Joe with a dislocated shoulder, Joe started using his injury to manipulate his brother.  Martin was very gutsy all day.  I felt proud to have him in the cast and incredibly guilty this had happened through doing a play.

The fracture clinic on Tuesday brought bad news.  It was decided that Martin did need an operation to fix the fragment of bone in place.  This screw would then have to be removed in six weeks’ time – causing another period of recovery.  Martin continued to think of the show, asking the consultant if he could keep the screw in longer than six weeks, allowing him to finish the Edinburgh run before returning to hospital.  The consultant agreed.  There were no beds available that day, so Martin had to go back the next morning.

Martin returned to King's just before 7 am on Wednesday and went under late morning.  The operation went to plan, but he was feeling pain in the shoulder and missed the consultant on his rounds so they kept him in an extra day.

He's out now, and still wants to do the show.  The doctor says there’s no reason he shouldn’t, as long as he’s not required to perform any movements that cause him pain.  Our ‘giving the character what Martin’s got’ technique will hopefully take care of that, but we won’t know for certain until he sees the consultant a week on Tuesday.

I very much hope Martin can do the show – he’s very good, he’s my friend and he’s got injured rehearsing it - but of course it mustn’t interfere with his recovery.

I feel very lucky to have such a stalwart man in the cast.  I hope he can carry on.  

Woody & Me

With two days to go before rehearsal, I cut the following out of the play:

A Roman shipwreck

Uncle Bastard

The red map

Susie ‘bang-em’ Bingham

Albert Napper

Gold coins

Insurance

The shack

Tom’s will

A curse

Cable-ties

I also moved the play twelve foot vertically downwards into the cellar.

I read once that Woody Allen cut all the murders out when he was writing Manhattan – he realised he didn’t need them to tell the story.  (They later became Manhattan Murder Mystery).  I’ve ended up scything a lot of the big backstory out of the play to concentrate on the two brothers looking for money – and all the emotional consequences of the decisions they make along the way.

Losing all this underbrush brings the humanity out more.  Also I don’t have to spend stage time explaining how Roman gold’s been in the family for generations, and other big chunks of story that shone so brightly at me when I was brainstorming this back in February.  After wanting to write about brothers and family, I gathered up a whole lot more big glittering things into the bulging plot.  Now I’m cutting them out again, back to the spare story I began with.

It’s a lot to change.  It’s a lot better.

Rehearsals

We started rehearsing yesterday.  That's why I haven't been posting much - racing to get the script in a decent state for the cast.

I am making this picture especially big to mask the current lack of content.

Poster Evolution

Designing the poster for the show has been a long, hard process - but I'm very pleased with the final design.  Other people seem to like it too.  That's really more important - after all, I'd watch the show if the poster was an old crisp packet.

Credit for the poster (which you can see in greater glory here) goes to Ron on camera, and the snake-hipped genius, Joel Simpson. This is him.

This is his band, Retro Soup.

These are his designs.

And here's how it happened, with apologies to Dove:

We put a lot of effort into the poster.  More into the show.

Tickets here.

Read-through Two

The actors came round yesterday to read through the new draft of the script.

It went well and I really enjoyed it.  The script’s become much tighter and more itself.  It used to start like a tornado and carry on shouting - now it progresses from calmer beginnings to the explosions of the later scenes.  I've trimmed things out, making it sparer, easier to understand and there’s less flurry, which I hope allows both the humour and the more moving moments to stand out more.  I can still do more to improve it, though – it can be leaner, and I can give the actors more to do between lines rather than using words to make the turns.  And it's always tempting to write more jokes.

Performance-wise, Martin and Jerome did a fine job.  Sight-reading is hard, sight-reading with accents harder still.  Occasional notes of Irish and Archers crept it, but they’ve both got a good ear and rehearsal plus our time in Somerset, soaking up and listening, will firm them up.

It's been great to have the cast being part of the rewriting process.  Listening to their voices on tape helps hugely.  I've also had great help from Sarah and Isy, asking the difficult questions and the simple ones (why do you need two of those? How are we supposed to know that's the uncle?  Yes, you've got enough jokes).

Here the lads are trying on possible costume.  I don’t think it’s possible to have enough photos of men looking uncomfortable in jumpers.

With a week to go until rehearsals start, there’s work to do, but I’m happy.

Tickets: www.pleasance.co.uk / 0131 556 6550

Scale

Prior to writing any dialogue, I sweated over Dad’s Money on a scale I never have before.  Then I wrote the words.  I am now rewriting more than I ever have.

I sent the first draft to my great friend and enabler, Sarah Dickenson, the brilliant literary manager of Theatre 503.  She asked me all the hard questions you should ask a writer (except the ones about finance and washing-up).  Because of Sarah, the script will be much better.  Because of Sarah, I have a lot of work to do.

This is a photo of my work in the small hours of Friday morning:  

I have included a pencil to demonstrate scale.  The pencil is HB, which is a designation on a scale of hardness.

Pencils have their own scale, but there are many methods of measuring hardness.  My favourite is the Brinell test.

The Brinell hardness test consists of indenting the test material with a hardened steel ball subjected to a load of 3000 kg.  A rigorous scientific procedure that is all very well, Mr. Brinell – but you’ve never met Sarah Dickenson.

A technique for having ideas

I’m still reading Alexander MacKendrick's ‘On Film-Making’ and was excited to come to a chapter called, ‘A technique for having ideas.’ 

It begins, ‘There is no technique for having ideas.’

I'm a big fan of this man. Not just for his films, not just for his prose, but also for his pose in this photo, which I think was taken in Africa. I am assuming he is the man on the roof, not the shadow on the door.

Later in the book (in today's post, I am telling you cool stuff dead people said) he says that in a story, what is happening now is not as interesting as what may or may not happen next.  He thinks a story should spend as much (if not more) time on the preparation and aftermath as the event itself.

I’m reading through my script again, looking at the chain of events – am I digging as deep into the meat there as I can?  Are we seeing all the motivations and fears and worries and hopes that go into the big events of the play - and the human consequences of the brothers' battles?

It’s not quite a technique for having ideas, but it helps refine those I've already had.  At this stage of the writing process, that's probably more important.

Day Job

My day job is editing TV programmes.

I may be kidding myself here.  At what point in your twenties does your day job become your job?

I have no time for such considerations - I'm working for the BBC. I am always conscious of what a privilege that is, and always conscious that a freelancer can be sacked at any moment.

This week, I’m doing two days for the Culture Show. There's a new film about Dylan Thomas, The Edge of Love, coming out.  As well as the interviews and reviews, we're making a short piece where the residents of Laugharne read a couple of Dylan Thomas's poems, Perfect Day-style.

This is the last job I did for them.

Karl is sharper than he makes out.  He works with Ricky Gervais.  (That's for you, google).

The brothers say hello

This is the film we made for the Fringe press launch, which took place this morning. I don't know whether they used it or not - if they did, it probably looked less grainy than what you'll see below. Next time I upload to youtube, I'll make sure not to compose a shot full of leaves - they take up a lot of memory so the faces become a bit Dietrich. 

This is my homage to all the classic femmes fatales, in their vaseline-blurred beauty. Not that Jerome and Martin need that sort of help. But no matter what it looks like, their comic timing shines through.  I can't wait to rehearse with these two.