Kings Head Theatre this week: my play what I rote Page 2

Absolutely Griff - spot on.

I'd written a tragi-comedy at uni that did OK locally - but last year I saw the Penny Dreadfuls do an hour long play in Edinburgh - I'd never seen anything so funny in my life.

The play I submitted for teh Scriptslam event was just comedy - and the panel at the end said they could 'see' it on radio(?) but maybe not as a full scale stage play - the audience really seemed to go with it though.

For me there's a big divide between what the Theatricals want on stage, and what a paying audience wants on stage. Nowt beats the effect of actually seeing real people acting before your eyes -combine that with a sitcom type feel and I genuinely believe there's a market there. Hence the company.

Good luck, Griff. Hope it goes well.

Dan

Echo the wishes Griff. Are you DVDing or taping it so we can hear it even if we can't get there?

Had a couple of ideas for short comedy playlets (20-30mins) myself. I think a full-length comic play has to have quite a lot of depth to really work. Pure comedy always will play like farce (which is fine is you want to write one).

The couple of ideas I have both involve just two-handers, limited stage directions and a single location. Having scribbled notes on them, I feel they have to attack a particular situation or idea pertaining to the characters and, in a sense, be written as a sort of extended sitcom scene.

The Comedy Playhouse pilot of Steptoe & Son was effectively a self-contained short play. That is the kind of thing that works well on stage.

Abigail's Party. A kind of farce in a way...

Quote: Dolly Dagger @ June 21 2009, 4:08 PM BST

Abigail's Party. A kind of farce in a way...

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Not by any means a traditional farce though. And certainly a very dark one.

Quote: Tim Walker @ June 21 2009, 4:10 PM BST

Not by any means a traditional farce though. And certainly a very dark one.

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I love it. And Nuts in May. But I am a little bit Candice-Marie.

Kiss Prudence.

Pwudence.

Me in Candice-Marie mode...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/comedysoup/A13067570

Quote: Griff @ June 21 2009, 4:16 PM BST

I would call Abigail's Party a "serious" comic play (and a great one) which has brilliant characterisation, a satirical purpose, and interesting things to say about society. I'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that the type of "nothing more than a comedy" play which Rick is talking about are pieces that have very little of the above, favouring gags over depth, which is why most theatres wouldn't be interested. This is not to say those kinds of shows can't be fun to watch, of course.

I also agree with Tim that certain sitcoms do have a very theatrical feel about them. Steptoe and Porridge you could easily imagine as plays (and indeed, both have recently been adapted into plays, I just remembered.) The Inbetweeners is not so easy to imagine as a play (but possibly a film?)

I've previously declared my undying love for Nuts In May. "Keith, do we have to follow the guidebook?"

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Nope - you're spot on Griff. A big difference between Abigail's Party and the sort of stuff I'm trying to generate.

I directed Elton's Silly Cow last week - really good stuff. A play you can read through, and then go back and analyse how it all adds up. All great - but all for a specific audience.

I have friends that don't go to theatre - overall, they see it as self-indulgent pretentious non-film. They would never slag it off, each to their own and all that, but I dragged them along to Silly Cow and, even though the cast (except me) were excellent, many of them couldn't see how it qualified as a comedy.

The same friends saw my massively theatrically-inferior play a couple of weeks previously and some enjoyed it more. There was a plot, I'm not that much of an idiot, but it was all about the comedy. The plot was in place to increase the laughter and they want to see more.

I love Abigail's Party by the way and clever theatrical dramatic crafting, but I think there is a tonne of room for laugh-your-bollocks-off-and-go-home-happy stuff too.

Quote: Griff @ June 21 2009, 4:57 PM BST

I can't help thinking that the dead hand of Harold Pinter is responsible in some way.

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Well fear not. I bought that bastard thing off Ebay and have made unspeakable plans for it.

We digress. Massive best wishes for your play. I won't be able to make it unfortunately, but please come on here and gloat all about it when done.

A tragedy ends with a death or two a comedy ends in a wedding, It's quite simple really.

Congratulations on getting a play on, Griff, and I hope it goes well for you. I would nip down to London and see it but last time I was in our great capital (Friday) I was felt up on a bus by an eastern European man! True story.

Best of luck for tomorrow - Are you going to see it on opening day?

Bugger me - that's going to eat away, aint it?!

Good man - it means they'll be experienced by the time you come to see it - so it'll be even better.