Today is not my birthday

My one page screenplay, Birthday, was shortlisted in the London Screenwriters Festival fantastic Four Nights in August competition! Woo hoo!

Of course, it didn’t win. But it was one of only 12, out of the 214 submitted, that was shortlisted, and they said some really nice things about it (bless ‘em). So I kind of feel like I’m getting somewhere. I mean, it’s been a good year – my feature script, My Dead Wife, was longlisted for the spring Bafta Rocliffe, and my first attempt as a writer/director, Festival of Bruce, was picked as a TiVo top ten choice in the VMShorts competition.

I suspect that’s kind of like being named Miss Congeniality in a beauty contest – everyone thinks you’re so nice but there was no way were you ever going to win. Still, it means someone watched the film and liked it.

Anyway, my fellow scribblers in the LSF contest have been posting their scripts online so I decided to do the same. I really like Birthday. I don’t usually write children but little Katie seemed to pop into my head as a real living breathing person almost from the first. So here it is (click on title below to read) and if anyone wants to give feedback, I’d love to hear it!

Birthday- A one page screenplay

Clare Kerrison as Hera

I recently uploaded my second short film competition entry (which happens to be my 5th short film ever). Festival of ‘Bruce’ is now live on the Virgin Media Shorts site and available for your viewing pleasure by clicking on the title. It’s only 2 minutes 20 seconds long. Go ahead. Try it!

The whole thing was inspired by Clowns cafe in Cambridge.  The proprietress looks just like the Goddess Hera – or what I think the Goddess Hera should look like – and every time I go there I end up staring at her and making up a story in my head about how she is Hera and she’s running a cafe here in Britain because nobody worships the Greek Gods anymore and even an immortal’s gotta eat. And she’s not alone, either – it’s a family run business and the whole crew look like they just stepped straight off Mt Olympus – really my imagination just goes crazy.

Robert Jezek as Zeus with nymphs!

There are about a million ways I’d like to play with this idea, because I’ve always had a thing for the Greek myths. Plus it hasn’t escaped my attention that my friend and colleague Robert Jezek looks totally Zeus-like in a beard. And just imagine how much fun could be had at the casting session for Apollo!

Enter the VMShorts competition. This is the big one for film shorts in the UK. The 12 finalists have their shorts shown in UK cinemas for a year and the winner gets £30,000 toward their next project, either of which would be AMAZING.  Not that I think a beginner like me will win. But when putting in the effort it takes to make a film, it’s nice to have a big golden glittery prize available at the end of the rainbow even if you know REALLY that you’re probably not, well almost certainly not, well you never know but it’s very unlikely that you’re ever going to get it.

So it was all very last minute but I came up with a story about a modern day Zeus and Hera in their provincial British garden preparing to celebrate Zeus’s feast day (actually September 13th) but, as has been the case for them for the past 1000 years at least, no worshippers have turned up. Apart from their annoying neighbour Richard.

Having pruned said story to the requisite 2.5 pages, I managed to pull together an amazing team and – with huge hand-holding help from DOP and co-producer Kate Madison and AD Emily Blickem – to make the film. And I’m really proud of it. It’s subtly funny and I think I found the perfect actors in Clare Kerrison for Hera and Robert Jezek for Zeus and it has disappearing nymphs so how could it fail to be cool and finally it channels Bewitched which is completely appropriate in every way. It makes me smile every time I watch it. Hope you like it too…

You can review the film on IMDb, or like it on Facebook, if you’re so inclined. Honest feedback always appreciated.

PS: You can see three of the other short films I’ve had a hand in by going to the Short Films page of this blog and clicking on the youtube links…the fifth one is still in post.

Poster design by Matt Corall www.coroflot.com/mattc

Last night was première time  with two benefit performances of Is it too late to save Oscar Pike? at the CB2 Cafe Theatre. I had my usual feeling which I think can best be described as being like a bungee jumper who’s just been harnessed up and is waiting for the signal to go. As a director, my work is done. The show is now entirely in the hands of the cast and crew. I trust them implicitly, but kismet will  now roll her dice… To raise my simile/metaphor count even more, it’s like over the past 3 weeks, we’ve spent our time carefully building a top. But it’s only now that we find out whether that top will spin.

Last night, it did. When it comes to comedy, laughs are the only criterion that matters, and, reader, they laughed. Plus both shows were sellouts and  the technical side went perfectly thanks to Alan and Matt. There were lots of smiling faces at the end and  lots of people wanting to shake Paul’s hand (including me – well, I hugged him).

I must say I’m really proud of this little show we’ve pulled together with a mix of professional and amateur actors, and lots of people donating their time and talents to the production. I have to make a mention here of Kay Morland, who made our “secret” set piece (no spoilers here, sorry!). She’s recently finished her qualification in set design but I have to say her professionalism and the cunningness and humour of her design say to me that she is going to go far.

But the chief kudos, of course, have to go to Paul, who had guts of steel on two levels:  to hand his play over to me in the first place and say “do with it what you will”; and to take on the challenge of playing the leading role without any formal training in acting or virtually any experience. If I was a potential bungee jumper, Paul must have been a commando about to launch himself out of stealth helicopter, but he carried it off with style and aplomb. Hoo yeah!

So, next shows aren’t until the end of the month at the ADC Theatre (31 May and 1 June with special guests Fred’s House). These shows present a whole new, entirely different set of challenges – what works in an intimate space like CB2 won’t necessarily work in a large, open space like the ADC Bar.

So go ahead, bungee guys. Strap me in.

Is it too late to save Oscar Pike?

The newest production by Moulin-Exes is now in rehearsal! Is it too late to save Oscar Pike? is a 1-hour comedy written by, and starring, a writer that I like to call “the Woody Allen of Cambridge” – Paul Richards. Ever since I read the first script he submitted to WRiTEON, I’ve

1) loved Paul’s writing and

2) been convinced that only he can do justice to the lead characters he creates. Like Woody, Paul always seems to be writing about somebody very like himself – and that’s a good thing, because he’s such a unique, witty, awkward and likeable character. So I’m thrilled that he’s agreed to play the lead in this new comedy.

So, what’s it about? Well, Oscar Pike’s got Facebook envy. Plus he’s spending too much time there when he knows he should be writing his new – well, his first – novel. He decides the time has come to be serious about life and make something happen. But the only thing Oscar can actually make happen is an omelette. And he keeps burning that.

It’s a comedy about turning thirty and hoping that’s a beginning not an end. And love. And omelettes.

I’m also really excited about the team we’ve put together. In addition to Paul in the lead role, we’ve got the stunning Kate Madison, who received worldwide attention last year for making, and starring in, her amazing Lord of the Rings fan film Born of Hope, as Oscar’s long suffering girlfriend; Kevin Wright, who’s one of the founding members of the Cambridge Improv Factory, as all the supporting males; and the lovely Izzy Nicolson as all the supporting females. I’m producing and directing, with sound by Alan Morgan, lights by Matt Maude and Kay Morland as our Art Department.

So mark your calendars now – there are only four performances in Cambridge before the show tours a few festivals, ending up in the Edinburgh Free Fringe.

DATES TIMES AND PLACES

12 May, 7.30 & 9.30 pm at CB2 Cafe, Norfolk St, Cambridge. Performances in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Book by writing to michelle@writeon.org.uk

31 May and 1 June, 7.45 pm, ADC Theatre, Park St, Cambridge.
Book free online at www.adctheatre.com or ring 01223 300085.

Day two saw us give a technically spot on performance to another large audience (including one gentleman who was returning for a second helping – we’re intrigued but didn’t get a chance to talk to him). No reviewers yet, but they’ve booked for this week so our fingers are crossed. Tonight will be interesting as we test our marketing strategy of staggered flyering through the afternoon and evening, some costumed, some not, and find out whether our first two audiences are spreading the good word…

Meanwhile, you can check out some fantastic photos of us in the venue at this site: http://adamlevy.zenfolio.com.

And on the hot shows front, four of us want to recommend Camille O’Sullivan at the Assembly Hall if you can possibly get tickets – sell your mother’s soul to do so.

Robert Jezek as George Hayton

and friend, Robert Jezek, without whom this project simply would not have happened.

If you’ve read this blog from the beginning you’ll know that Robert appeared in the adaption of Casting the Runes which inspired Hayton on Homicide. He and I then sat down together to plot the new script scene by scene, and it was his enthusiasm for the result which encouraged me to take the risk of going ahead with an Edinburgh Fringe Festival run.  But I didn’t know then that his support and encouragement and commitment to this project had only just begun.  He has contributed to virtually every decision made in the eight month long production process for Hayton. He has been available at all hours to offer advice – and the best sort, based as it is on his 30 odd years in the business. He has attended marketing meetings and design conferences, and willingly schlepped set, crew members and exhausted writer/directors to all corners of Cambridge and beyond. He has remained passionately commited to the project and to making it the best we possibly can do, and he has contributed his creative imagination and wonderful instincts to the shaping of every scene. At the risk of sounding maudlin, I want to say to him, thank you, Robert. I appreciate it, so very much, and the production is the richer for it. In fact, so significant has his contribution been, he deserves a co-producer credit, which I hereby am formally offering him.

It hasn’t always been a peaceful process, of course. My nickname for Rob is Bear, because he’s a big, huggy guy, and when he roars everyone hears it. And when he passionately believes in something, and gets his dander up about it, his normally soft and genial hazel eyes can flash a very disconcerting shade of Gollum green. Moreover, Rob and his family have sacrificed a lot for this production – as a working actor there are many more lucrative jobs he has had to pass by. But he has never complained, at least in my hearing, and never expressed anything but total committment, even in the face of some extremely stressful weeks!

Which brings me to the previews. It was Rob who initially suggested we pursue additional previews, beside the two I had arranged at the ADC theatre this week.  We were thrilled to get two nights in Covent Garden at the Tristan Bates theatre, and even more delighted when our first night was a total sellout. Nevertheless, the experience wasn’t easy – the studio theatre couldn’t provide the full range of lighting called for by the brilliant design of Rob Mills, and though he worked miracles with what was there we felt the lack. The theatre also presented logistical difficulties, in terms of getting set and cast to the middle of Covent Garden at a reasonable cost and without losing too many more years off our lives. The venue also presented us with the genuine Edinburgh experience, in that our get-ins and outs were very short and very hairy!!

Still, our two performances went off without a hitch, and the audience response was very positive. I felt we were at 80 percent of what the show could be after our first two nights.

And then came last night at the ADC. When I left home I knew we were doing well on ticket sales – we’d sold 195 of the 220 seats by 5.30. But when my friend Ros Connelly saw me in the bar and told me she’d just bought the last seat in the house, making that night a total sellout as well, my heart did flip flops. It was so exciting for me and the cast, and they rose to the occassion brilliantly. Sarah Kenyon gets better with every performance, and the audience instantly warmed to her delightful – and exasperating – Florence Hayton. Elizabeth Muncey appeared twice her actual (petite) size as the scary Madame Valerian and continues to find new riches in the character of Alice Kentwell. Mark Compton looks fab in his dark moustache and his calmness and consistency is reassuring to us all. And of course Robert shone in his best performance yet as George Hayton – intelligent, austere and rational – but with a very warm heart. Thank you to everyone who came – hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! And to those who haven’t seen it yet – at this writing there are still tickets available for tonight, but every time I check more have gone…so act fast!

So my mind is whirring – but that’s not what I want to talk about, mostly because I don’t want to give away any of my plots and plans before the play is seen. What I am going to tell you about is a few things that our wonderful cast members have been up to. First up, Robert Jezek’s newest film, Last Chance Harvey, is currently in theatres here in Britain. When Robert told me about this film, he said his was a non-speaking part until the final credits.  So I didn’t expect him to make the impact he does in the film. He plays the Polish neighbour whom Emma Thompson’s mother suspects is a mass murderer, and his qualities of warmth, roguish charm and intense physical presence come through very strongly.

Emma Thompson and Robert Jezek at the Last Chance Harvey Wrap Party

Apart from the two leads, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, he is one of the most memorable characters in what is a very nice and under-rated film – and no, I’m not biased! Here’s a photo of him with the lovely Ms Thompson…

Meanwhile, he’s been filming another new film in Roumania with Robin Hood star Jonas Armstrong (see pic below), and in-between acting as co-producer for Hayton, which he was instrumental in developing.  He’s also performing this weekend in the new writing Hotbed Festival at the Junction theatre here in Cambridge. Busy guy.

Jonas Armstrong, Robert Jezek and Richard Albrecht

And he’s not the only busy member of the cast. Our youngest actor, Lizzie Muncey, graduates this year from the MA programme at the Birmingham School of Acting. Check out the 18 June issue of The Stage newspaper to see a glowing review of her student showcase performance.  Two experts – playwright David Wood and Bruce Wall of LSW – made Lizzie their expert’s choice from her school – only one other student from any of the 10 schools featured was chosen by two of the experts. In her review of the showcase, Susan Elkin picked Lizzie out as her first highlight.  “Elizabeth Muncey…had casting directors and agents rustling their programmes and scribbling notes as soon as she appeared…” she wrote. Well, we always knew she was great.

Lizzie Muncey as Madame Valerian

Here’s a picture of her as Madame Valerian in Hayton…

…and because the rest of the pictures recently taken by dear friend and amazing photographer Chris Boland  of Sky Blue Photography are so nice, here are a couple more, featuring Mark Philip Compton and Sarah Kenyon…

Mark Philip Compton and Robert Jezek

Robert Jezek and Sarah Kenyon

Mark Philip Compton

He’s dark and he’s dashing  and we think he’s going to be unforgettable in this role. He’s also a most accomplished actor – recently appearing as Carlos in the very well reviewed UK premiere of The Woodsman at the Old Red Lion. With the indefatigable Sarah Allan also confirmed as our PR and Marketing Assistant and Tech, our team is now complete. This leaves me with only a few details to sort before we begin rehearsals in June – a strange feeling as I’ve been so driven to get the major pieces all in place – venue, cast, accomodation, main marketing images and text, preview dates, rehearsal space – and now I can relax. Well, sort of. Because now of course I have to change from producer’s to director’s mode – from thinking about contracts, ticket sales and logistics to thinking about interpetation, performance and atmosphere. In short, the fun part – but also the part that’s most difficult to get right. On May 23rd, the whole cast comes together for the first time to read the script together and make any final adjustments. Whenever I think about this my stomach goes into freefall. It’s so exciting seeing a play come to life…but also terrifying. Once June starts it will be non-stop for all of us until the 30th of August, when we pack our bags and return to Cambridge, hopefully with a month of fabulous memories and a new bunch of lifelong friends.

Like so. This was great fun, and I was also rather fond of the font used here (appropriately called Blackadder) but it lacked the colour and punch it will need to stand out in Edinburgh. Robert’s partner (and the wonderful designer of our wonderful webpage www.haytononhomicide.co.uk), Jane Horwood (www.catfishwebdesign.com), put us in touch with her friend Tami, and from the first image she sent us I knew this was going to be great.  So, without further ado, here is the poster design we’ll be using in Cambridge, London and Edinburgh, with the hope that it will intrigue you and entice you and even cheer you as it does me….

This of course, made it difficult for myself and actors Sarah and Robert to choose just one. What made our final choice, Lizzie Muncey, stand out? Well, apart from being beautiful and talented, she was also amazingly well prepared. She’d thought through exactly how she wanted to approach the part, and she hit all the marks she’d set herself. Just because I could (well, they do say that power corrupts), I then asked her to do one bit completely differently, and she was brilliant at that too. I can’t describe how exciting it is to see someone do this  so well, but it might help if you pictured Lizzie going out the front door while in the back the three of us danced around the room singing “We’re in love with a wonderful girl…”.  Actually, it was just me singing, but I thought it sounded slightly more dignified the other way.

So now it’s on to cast member number four – the young man who will play the dashing Adrian Kentwell. Must say I’m looking forward to this particularly…