Tuesday 17th August - One off fringe show

The very fact that I put this show on again and that we got about 60 people is an indication of how well it went down in the Leith Festy . A very strange experience putting it on in stu mels . An entirely different set . I preferred the Leith Fest because it felt more at home and more intimate , but nonetheless it was still top . A rather reserved audience for a show with so much banter in it , but that's the nature of the beast I guess . Over the moon to have acomplished such a project and was delighted to work with such an enthusiastic cast of actors . Thank you to all involved and bring on the next project

Saturday 19th June - Leith festy show number two

Being the final show and the call time being 5pm , my job as the director was very quickly rid everyone of their excitment and buzz about the ineviatbly bigger audience and final chance to get the point accross . I feel aspects of tonight were better than last night , and the audience were certainly more responsive . This wasn't just because there was a better turn out , but because the poeple there felt and enjoyed the resonance behind the plot and managed to see it more for what it meant and not that it was just full of sexual profanities . Awesome experience . Met and worked with some absolute stars and although I'm gutted it's over , I'm also glad to be moving on too pastures new.

Friday 18th June  - Leith festy show number one

I feel as though the first day of a show is always exilirating because of all the different aspects involved . Setting up the venue , coming to terms with adapting to a completely new performance space , trying to channel the nerves and the finally , the performance itself , ten hours after arriving that morning . The place was set up with 70 seats . There were not a lot of empty seats , which really pleased me . I love the fact that I hardly new a lot of people in the audience . This comes with being in a festival I guess . The show itself was outstanding . People came to the theatre expecting to witness something amatuerish and underperformed , but instead , they witnessed a believable , well acted , in coherence type performance , which inevitable made me delighted . The response from everyone afterwords was overwhelming and everyone deserves the credit they got for all the hard work put it over the months.

Thursday 10th June - Show for the community

It's excellent to see people from the local community come and be honestly astounded by something they thought was just a school play . After the show people were left mesmorised by what was a great performance all round . The response was awesome , people were awestruck . It's easy to be arrogant about this , but it's fact . There was a diverse group of people , who had very different things to say after the show . There was also a mistake in the play that was brilliantly improvised by those involved in the scene . This is the beauty of theatre . The audience had no idea due to the experience of those involved . There is not much more I will write about this particular performance apart from something at the end that not only upset me , but made me vicioulsy angry . A young girl approached me and told me of her passion for drama and can her give her some advice . Sfter giving her a few pointers , I was left with a somewhat malevolent feeling towards a particular person when she said these exact words " I really want to get into drama , but my teacher at school said I'm rubbish and I'm wasting my time because I'm not good enough " . This attitude is something that will crush someone . She may never make it , but if she doesn't try she'll never know . This kind of attitude from a teacher is something that makes me sad . Give someone constructive advice , but don't crush them . Never crush them . Allow them to explore their own way of life without being dictated to by some failed teacher , who is maybe envious of her desire

Monday 7th June

Cast being filmed by thoughtoutmedia tonight . Great experience and also good banter . We also polished off the day with a game of cards . How's that for rehearsals . Playing cards . What's unprofessional about that ? . Roll on Thursday and the first live show....good....eeya

Thursday 3rd June

I learnt a lot about myself today . That's all

Monday 31st May - First run for any sort of audience

What an excellent experience for both acators and cast and no doubt my mum , tonia and ashley . In a way it was more difficult for the cast performing infront of such an intimate set of people , being able to see them at every move and being aware of their every action . This can be a lot harder than performing in front of 100 people . The show started off a little nervy and I could tell people tok a few minutes to get into there stride . This is natural and also very expected . definately something I will work on on Thursday . Being prepared from the word go . The response from the audience was exactly what I expected . The piece is a mixture of comedy and heartfelt moments . There is a hugte amount of layers in bongo especially and Mark does a great job exemplifying that . Some bits were better than they ever have been . Other parts were weaker , but this is something that will happen in every run . A great run a Great reaction and a great feeling . Hopefully the same from all involved throughout the month of June

Thursday 27th May

todays approach was rather strange , but nonetheless appropraite . Instead of running the show , we talked through the show , focussing solely on cues and lines . Character was irrelivent in this particular excercise . Everyone completed the run to a good standard . There were a few issues , but none that would change the flow of the play and none that cannot be resurected by simply having a good look ay scripts . Time is ticking away and we're all just desperate for an audience now

Thursday 20th May

I feel we have landed at a very good place . The next few weeks will be vital . Grabbing hold of this focus and keeping hold of it will be key . I refuse to run the show into the ground . Tonights run was very competent and the physical/emotional side was the best it has been . I feel the end of the play suffered due to overdoing and therefore have decided to cancel Mondays rehearsal . We have a progressive schedule between now and our first live run , so I look forward to this . If I could show people the difference between now and back in february , I'm positive they would all be proud . As I am too . Time is ticking and it's upon us...

Thursday 13th May

After a rigorous full run on monday , today was just a chilled out , let's get to know each other type vibe . There was the odd scene work and even a change of blocking , but with a mixture of improvisation , plenty tea drinking and many an excercise learnt at college , there is not a huge amount to report from today . Apart from Lorne cheesing cos he got into HNC . He deserves it though , he's a good lad

Monday 10th May - Full Run Of Show

Running time - 1:26:30

Ecstatic about the progress of the actors and the show as a whole . Was relatively sceptical about the prospect of a possible mistake riden run , however , the gang proved me wrong . Although there was the odd problem , which there always is with me , because I'm so pernickity , on a whole the performance was very satisfactory . Great to get over that first hurdle and hopefully this can kick start the beggining of a great journey of APATHY.

 Thursday 6th May

Striking the month of may was always going to be dauniting , however , being the assuasive guy that I am , challenges bring the best out of me . Apart from the page and a half of dialogue missed by teabag boy , the run was excellent . There was a real focus , the characters were perfectly drawn and the end of the act was incredible . One of the first times I would happily have put the first act on stage . A few blocking issues , but nothing a little more script work won't mend . GOOD GOOD

 thursday 29th April

There were somewhat mixed emotions in terms of todays run of act two . Parts were good , parts were bad , some parts were even awful . But these are the joys of rehearsal and the poor parts will be better than the great parts on the night . A collaboration of being in the smaller room , which at times feels like being in a concentration camp due to excessive body heat from 6 people and no apparent window in sight and also the risks taking throughout the warm-up which could have had an effect on ones mindset . Act two is causing problems at times , but this due to it being blocked cronolgically and therefore act one has had more air time and is the build up ,not the conclusion . The humour , not the invigourating intensity that comes with the finale . Taking all these elements into acount , today was rather a success ( to contradict myself a little )

thursday 22nd April

An interesting feel to today and also a great milestone to reach . Finished blocking the show . It clocked at 52 for act one and 37 for act two . A comprehensive difference in time between acts , but nonetheless still as much going on...if not more . A small change to one of Saras parts , which felt better and also a cheeky run through of the second act . All went smootly , apart from Sara nearly breaking one of her fingers . A good days rehearsal and now that it's blocked we can begin to tone and nitpick .Good . Just what I like to do

Thursday 15th april

This journal is beggining to become a mundane excercise . That's not how I fell about rehearsals though . Todays activities were rather exciting . We done some improvisations , some extensive vocal work , a wee bit of blocking and also a wee bit of nakedness . Good to be putting the hours in and reaping the rewards . Also good having a chance to footer about in the actual performance space . Things will get pretty intense from now on . Show will be finally blocked by next week and then I hope to get 4/5 runs in before the world get to see the sickness behind some of bongos banter

monday 12th April

At this stage , the only thing I yearned for was progress . Today I feel everyone really turned up . Personally the warmup makes a huge difference . There was more energy , more believability and mostly more risks . Some good , others not so good , but nonetheless everyone played there part . A great run and good to just go over it again whilst battering through act two . EEYA

thursday 8th april

 Hard working , Hard working , Hard working is the consensus for thursday these days . Show time approaching , things getting tense , but exciting . Working on the end of the show is always very difficult . Having a testing ending is only something I would stage , if I genuinely think it could be pulled off . On this occasion , I think Mark and Sara have the potential in abundance to portray to the audience the realness of the scenario acted out . Trying to get across that yes , this kind of thing does actually happen is difficult , but I have faith and in turn the viewer will have faith

Thursday 1st april

This is the first time we've really put a shift in on a thursday . We have a couple of cancelled mondays over the next two months , so putting that extra little bit of work in on thursdays is vital . A good rehearsal today . Blocked the first ten minutes or so of act two . Managed to convert the small room into something special today , thanks to Saras creative mind . More to come on a thursday me thinks . Shoot

Monday 29th march

Full run of act one :

Very impressed with todays run . Definately ready to go on stage . Everyone upped there game tonight . Still one or two energy problems , but on a whole ,happy with how it went . Can now go into blocking act two with an open mind and a clearer picture in my head of everyones boundaries . Good

wednesday 24th march

Going to see battery farm today at the trav , so a need to get up really early to finsih editing was on the cards . This first piece of 2010 has been a long testing journey . I found it difficult to write a one manner , as I feel like there's less characters to play with . Well , obvioulsy there is , but I'm sure you get the picture . Why am I writing this as though I'm conversating with someone . Anyway ,  a great experience . Only a few more things to do . Put edit changes on laptop . Do final read through . Get Sara to do another read through . Send it to a few theatres hoping for my lucky break . And finally , present it to Mark in the hope that he will like it  , because I'm looking to produce it later in the year

monday 22nd march

It's amazing really , how fast the rehearsal process goes . One minute you think time is on your side and then it flashes by . We actually have two less weeks than we thought , because the week before the leith festy , we're doing two shows in a community centre and the week before that we're doing the dress rehearsal , so that cuts back luxury time a little . Today we began blocking act two . Things had already been tentatively worked on , so found them much easier to put on it's feet . Rehearsals about to change from april onwards . Hardwork takes control of wasted time and focus takes control of lacksidazicalness ( is that even a word ? ) . Anyway , all is well . Looking forward to the full run of act one on monday . Slightly nervous , but in the same breath intrigued .

thursday 18th march

It's interesting one need to be internally focussed . I decided to do a very simpe excercise today and guess what , it worked . Thursdays are very laid back and we normally just delve into the odd scene , informally chatting and creating new bits of magic . At a point today I through a few off book runs at skippy and bongo and they could'nt do it . There fore , I proceeded by making them lie on the floor for five minutes and talk them through a journey of vigorous focus  , where they had to work through the process of a one man show . This worked in abundance and the performances thye gave were possibly the best I have seen in the whole rehearsal process . A massive cycological step forward

monday 15th march

Blocking the end of act one was a very inspiring feeling . We have all worked tremendously hard as a cast and mondays are the piesta resistonce ( shite spelling ) of the whole process . The running time for act one is 50-55 mins , which is exactly what the doctor ordered . well on schedule

thursday 11th march

Have decided on two solid cuts today . May have looked good on paper , but not on stage and certainly not in the context of the play . Goodbye lovely pieces of theatre . Maybe next time eh...

Wednesday 10th march

My new piece is coming along fine . I find that I have an hour of unbreakable focus , concentration and character connection . Usually after this , it goes and once it's gone , it cannot be retrieved . I have so much to do today that a 6am rise on my day off from work was in order . Really looking forward to this play at the trav this avo . The character in my play is very ostensible and this is something I am finding difficult to potray

monday 8th march

There were certain parts tonight that tingle my insatiable habbits for perfection , but on a whole , the run went very well . There was an unfortunate lack of energy throughout , but this has taught me a few lessons and maybe I will benefit from this . Blocking and text work is becoming easier by the week . Once the entire play is blocked , we should have ample time to distinguish between what is working well and what needs a bit of tweeking . There is one particullar bit that is troubling me , but finally I think the answer has fallen from the sky . The moment of magic comes at the most inapropriate of times . Just like my writing

thursday 4th march

A very chilled out let's get to know each other type vibe today . Not a huge amount of rehearsing going on . A lot of team bonding i.e talking about characters , drinking lots of cups of tea and the occasional putting an idea on it's feet . Great to be in the big room today . Really makes a difference to the quality of the progress made . Good

monday 1st march

spent most of today making mistakes at my work because I could'nt stop thinking about my new play , then I had to get into rehearsal mode . The target for the end of the first month was to be about quarter of the way through . Just ahead of target , which is great . Full run of blocked so far stuff was 31 mins . Never once did I get bored . Feel everyone picked up the energy a notch today . My word of the day is oxymoron . Mainly because I can't understand why a word with moron in it can be used in teaching highern english . That is definately not PC . Delightfully miserable . sorry ? ....ye , that was an oxymoron 

thursday 25th february

I almost can't believe the emotional power of what I witnessed today . After blocking the end of the play , it certainly confirms my feelings for theatre having an effect on people . The way in which mark and sara potray the happenings throughout the final scene is something remarkable . Even something simple can be effective when done properly . Because I am sporadically blocking certain parts , it was obviously not as effective due to them not having lived through the characters emotional journey , however , this didn't seem to have a bearing on how the onlooking me and lorne were affected . We even had to have a unscheduled break afterwords due to how much it had taken out both of them . We even had a very informal inaugural today . Cheesy but also very business like

monday 22nd february

Really good rehearsal tonight . Seem to achieve a huge amount in such a short space of time on a monday night . Energy and naturalistic ability is really coming through and people seem to be delving further into the real characteristics of their particular character . Things always come to life when one is off book . Who said that ? dolly parton . And they said she was just a big pair of tits...

thursday 18th february

well....an interesting rehearsal today . Me and Mark had a very rare lovers tiff . On a professional level though . We kind of got stuck today and the four hours were spent mostly doing other things . Improvising , conferring , talking , team building . I've learnt a lot from this rehearsal . mostly a lot about myself and my passion for theatre . Also , if I ever got a play commisioned , I'd have to be very careful if I ever turned up at rehearsals and didn't agree with what the director was doing with my baby .

monday 15th february

Blocked and fully ran the first 15 minutes . Mostly off book . Very impressed with everyone tonight . Energy was higher , physicality was more naturalistic and as I've previously stated , the company seem to be converging together faster and more efficiently than I first suspected . Another good day . Got a lot out of the three hours . good

thursday 11th february

Thursday is definately the day where things are done more sporadically than normal . I don't feel i achieve as much as a monday night , but on the other hand , it's very good to work on the nitty gritty bits and get stuck into the fine detail of each character and the text . Today was very relaxed . the room is too small for some things but also the intimacy helps me as a director to work closer of peoples individual journeys . Highlight of the day : Finding the photograph that looked like me , sara and mark at the auditions

Wednesday 10th january

Finished the first draft of my new piece . A one maner about a guy with mental health problems . A very difficult write , but nonetheless worth the journey . Editing is where the hard work really starts . The writing bit is easy , but the editing is boring and mind bogling . Stripping favourite lines is always a difficult and stressful process

Monday 8th february

Blocked the first 7 minutes of the script . Looking very good . The monday evening space is definately more useful in terms of being productive . Enjoyed the relationship the characters had on stage . Lots of work to do on text and character but overall a very enjoyable day and a huge amount achieved . Feel more of a bond among the company , which inevitably leads to a closer relationship on set. Too many cups of tea consumed.

Thursday 4th february

Done lots of text work today and really enjoyed putting the odd part on its feet . A good day of rehearsals . Very early and still huge amounts of character work to do , but everyone seems to be getting to grips with there own individual journeys . Highlight of the day : definately gary spilling tea on marks jacket

Monday 1st february  -  Read through

Was great to meet all the cast and the read through went really well . I like the feel of the company as a whole and can't wait to get started blocking . Everyone seemed enthusiastic about the project and I truly believe if we all pull together as one and don't come down with tetley teabag disease , everyone in the cast can do the script the justice it deserves .

Thursday 14th january - Auditions for skippy

Todays auditions went really well . We had a huge variety of people  , with a vast difference in styles . The three of us were all impressed with Lorne the second time round and were more than delighted to offer him the part . He seems a great guy and very easy to work with . It will be a long and tough journey , but one that will be full of the usual excitement and anxiety , mixed in with a little bit of humour , a hundred cups of tea and potentially one or two hissy fits....bring it on