Moving on.

Right well, I've had a semi day off. So today I've been thinking a lot about the next six months. There is a lot happening. Some stuff in the pipe line. Some that are just ideas at present.

The biggy is our own adaptation of Christmas Carol. I'm not sure that our boss at the Broadway wants us to do it.

That's just a feeling I get.

I think the problem is 'Someone Who'll Watch Over Me' sent us down the road of 'good at gritty drama'.

Neville was a completely different challenge. Props, the set, playing a married man with kids (that was just me.)

Now the run was a struggle, and due to the lack of an audience our confidence probably did begin to dwindle. That can leave a taste in the mouth. For anyone working in the building. But because we're not buzzing and literally running down the stairs screaming "let me on the boards I'm going to rip this play up tonight, they will not know what hit them." Doesn't mean that we've lost interest. It doesn't mean we're not suitable for anything other than dark.

What it means is that we were learning. Playing a comedy like Neville's Island to an audience of six is a massive learning curve.

Do you rein it in and get the audience to believe in these characters 100% with a natural performance, thus making them laugh at the situation and the way the characters deal with it.

Or do you, send it up slightly. Thus making the audience laugh at the characters, and making them relish in the situations they get into.

The answer is, you can do either. Sending it up worked for us in Dubai. Cheap bastards I hear you cry.

Sod off! They loved it and they wanted more. We did our jobs. And I'm convinced that we found those performances through four weeks of hard graft and invention at The Catford Broadway.

(Well plus we had a director with vision, and a set fit for town. Not to mention our mate George.)

Anyway.

On the marketing front we are learning as we go. We have to, we started this as jobbing actors. So we can only get better at it. Our ideas a worth trying. Nothing is a wasted effort.

Catford audience didn't want to see Neville's Island, that was true. And to get people into that building it's going to take the right play. I agree.

Maybe the studio will not respond to seasonal programming either. (Having said that our boss did say he saw the worst version of Christmas Carol down there and it did a great box office.)

We just want to try.

We never wanted to label ourselves.

We've just come back from the Pulse Festival in Ipswich with our first devised piece. We wanted to take risks to see if they would work. Some did and some didn't. Now I think we've got a great platform to script and write a play. Based on what we found out.

Granted the Catford Studio isn't a place to take risks. Not when your out looking for reputation.

We just want to see if we can bring something new to a trusted classic, and get a closer handle on the audience. Hard work were expecting.

But we're up for it. I think the last six months have proven that.

MC