under another sun

Last full day in Edinburgh. I went with Amy to see the show she was also tech for, a comedian called Cally in a show called Super Cally Fragile Lipstick. The room wasn't great, and the lighting failed a couple of minutes before the show. So the performance had to be done in just the room lights. This killed the atmosphere, and I didn't love her material, either. Amy and I made our way back home, and I sat in the café and had carrot cake and coffee, and went to meet Lorraine from the bus, who had just had her nails done. Off to the wee Sainsburys where a man was being thrown out for attempted shoplifting, he been in there before trying to steal steaks apparently. The origin of calling Edinburgh Auld Reekie, due to the smell from various local breweries, was explained to us by a man at the till. Rather friendly and knowledgeable for a bloke on a till. So last performance of A Glass of Nothing tonight at the Surgeons’ Hall. A bit of a disappointing audience, but Jane Postle...

First night Lorraine and I drove the props and costumes to the Marlborough, while the others taxied over. Once in I left Beth, Mark and Callum to cover boxes in foil, organise the lights and get themselves ready. Lorraine and I off to collect Mum and Mas from the train station, and taken home, before I left again for the theatre. The afternoon spent on rehearsals. A dire dress rehearsal ramped up the tension even more, with me rather tetchy. Not my finest hour. Ate some surprisingly great chicken burgers and then it was time to roll. Our sound and lighting person Becky arrived with an hour or so to spare. I sat nervously downstairs with Mum and Mase, Paul arrived with a lady friend Channa and then between about 7:15 and 7:45 not one person arrived. Then, thank goodness, several groups of people turned up at the last moment and suddenly there was an audience. I lurched upstairs with Tarik, and introduced Pack of Three show and off they went. First was Wrong , which had been perf...

Deadline Working from the early morning to 11pm on the Guernsey story. This did include a rather idle afternoon. It is coming together well but this is going to go to the wire. I should have it ready in the next few days, to have it ready in time to be printed for the Guernsey Literary Festival which is beginning to loom. Curiously I seem to work better to a deadline. In the afternoon popped over to the Marlborough Theatre and have provisionally booked more nights in June for Wrong and Betty the Spacegirl . Nice chat with David and Tarik along with a new person called Jess. David doing a show a few yards away in the Nightingale Theatre next month, so it will be rude not to watch it. Felt happy to get the drama things rolling again. Otherwise a quiet day. Spoke to Mum, and Lorraine. Kept out of trouble.

Another fantastic show Cat on a hot tin roofing it today waiting for the show to arrive. In the morning a spot of work, gym, then Sainsburys and was busy contemplating the two hour cleanup I needed to do before my Mum arrived, when she arrived. Afternoon mooching with Mum down by the sea, spotting dozens of starfish being pulled from the sea by gulls as it was a very low tide. Then a warming coffee before a plate of morale stiffening fish and chips on a seafront cafe. Arrived at the Marlborough Theatre at six to find Betty and Mark there drinking a nervous pint, along with Paul who'd come down from London to see it, despite having his ears talked off my Lorraine in Ye Old Cheshire Cheese. I left Mum and Paul to it, and scarpered upstairs to help set the stage and wring my hands. Betty and Mark both extra nervous tonight, which I thought was a good sign. Then downstairs to drink steadying beers and chatter nervously to friends. Much relieved by Lorraine's arrival as she makes me...

Wrong goes very right The big play day today. Rushed about doing a few jobs before going to meet Beth, Mark and Callum at Lorraine's house. Beth and I taxied to The Marlborough with props and we met Amy there. Much of the day spent setting things up, running the play, making phone calls, while Amy fiddled with sound systems and the lights. Nice to see the actors with costumes, make up, fake blood and wounds etc. plus slices of turkey and cranberry to eat off the corpse. I was also liaising with Tarik, who runs the Theatre with David. Everyone behaving professionally and well all day. Much relieved to see Beth and Mark run through Wrong unscathed in rehearsal -- it was great to see all three just go for it in a very uninhibited way. Broke for a late pizza in a local restaurant at 3:30 as everyone was suddenly starving. Lorraine and Glenda, Mark's Mum, arrived early bringing calm and organisation. I repaired down to the bar for a steadying few drinks. Learned about people droppin...

Busyness Sauntering about in the way a man saunters knowing his play is on tomorrow. Lots of small jobs, including paying a cheque from my bank, who have overcharged me for the last few years on my house insurance and sent me a handsome £200 cheque in recompense. Also designed and picked up a simple one-page programme for the show, went to the gym (more rowing today), sent an invoice, took a few business calls and so on. However passed The Basketmakers with the programmes having just been to the printer and spied Matt having a pre-conducting cheeky. I joined him in there before going off to the supermarket, talking to John who is off to Turkey in the next few days, and had spent lots of time in Libya last year. Lots of calls. Talking to Betty about tomorrow, spoke to Mum, Sarah Freems, First Matie, texting Richard and Lorraine. Dealing with French client etc. Below the programme...

Wrongful intent Off to Lorraine's house this afternoon to see the Beth, Mark and Callum put the show on for my my 'writer's review'. I am delighted with what they have done with the material. The first half which combines my zombie piece A bite to eat , with another fragment of mine Mistake , a piece by Mark Amdram Timmy , and Job Application by Tim Gallagher flow together surprisingly well. Lots of interesting gear changes but all part of an organic whole. I can take almost no credit for this, but they have made it work. Wrong itself is beginning to flow too, although they still need to run their lines more for last ten minutes of it. Beth particularly funny in it. Made me feel very happy as at last this piece might get the decent airing it deserves, and also see Beth with the opportunity to show what she can do with some comedy. Callum McIntyre is clearly an excellent actor, and Mark his usual ebullient self, breathing real oomph into everything he touches, and C...

Rebalancing The dipping scales gradually returning to balance today. Another disturbed night but definitely feeling perkier and less coldy than for some time. Got up and finished the branding work I was doing for the new agency, and then spent quite a while on admin, billing, chasing purchase order numbers and so on. True to form the agency I worked at for seven years are showing few signs of paying without weeks of wrangling: I am not going to work with them again. Then off to the gym, where I bore up surprisingly well. Felt great to be out of the house. Later I went out again in the overcast night for a walk along the seafront with the lights of Brighton cheerily behind, looking out at a dark sea and listening to the waves crunching into the pebbly shore. Also picked up The Mind in the Cave again. A fascinating look at paleolithic man. Interesting to think that Neanderthals and homo sapiens rubbed along next to each other in Europe for thousands of years. David Lewis-Williams sugges...

Out of the box Up before the sparrows at Lorraine's house and trekked sullenly home to start work at 7:40 as there was ground to be made up from yesterday. Bad night's sleep as I was overtired. Lorraine telling me about the dream she had about boxes that contained sleep, and how I didn't have them all. Grey morning and I worked on atrial fibrillation almost all day and half the evening. Of all the gargoyles in my chamber of hypochondriac horrors, palpitations and heart events are what puts the willies up me most. Good then that I have to spend all the hours God sends for the next few days writing about them in loving detail. Exciting news from Guernsey. Jane was asked to do a day's photo shoot as a Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, lookalike, necessitating an exciting trip to London last weekend with Richard. That Jane is a woman of many talents. Chatted to Betty today, thanks to her efforts people are busily reserving tickets for Wrong . I am veering toward optimism again...

Office coffee Strokes and atrial fibrillation from 7:45 this morning. Made some good progress. Once I could work no more, I still had time to shoot down to the printers as they'd only given me half the flyers (I hadn't stopped to count to 1000 in the shop). Then off to the Marlborough theatre to leave some posters and flyers there. Pleased to be told there have already been some bookings. Feeling cautiously optimistic. Badly craving some Peter Kenny days to work on my own stuff. On the way back bumped into Matt by chance, and we went for a quick cup of coffee in a pub called The Office. (Phone call: You're in a pub again, aren't you? No dear. Honestly I'm still at the office .) Matt looking a good deal healthier than of late. Wayne returned in one piece from India. Matt writing a string bit for the Found song we wrote, which will be recorded by the Rainbow Chorus this year. Lorraine suggested I might need more carbs in my diet. Had a baked potato this lunchtime and...

Righting the wrongs Up early gripped by the idea that I had to act immediately. Ended up speculatively submitting a something to the Guardian. At least I try. After a slow tea-sipping start with Lorraine Sam came by and we went for a long walk down by the cold and sunny sea. Sam going through a Marxist phase, and so sporting Che Guevara beret, a tee-shirt with a star on it, camouflage jacket, shades, beard etc. He carries it off. Chatting about philosophy which he is going to study. By the time we'd reached Hove I felt curiously weak and shaky and suddenly couldn't string a sentence together, was swiftly revived by a hot chocolate. Wonderful. At teatime Lorraine and Sam left and I had a Wrong meeting with Beth and Mark. Met Callum who is playing the corpse for the first time, and later Beth and I had a meeting with her pal Amy who has offered crucial help with production lighting, props and so on. Mark has written a bridging piece which fits very well with rest of the material...

Scatology It says something about the execrable nature of my day that light relief was supplied by today's drain man, who arrived with a snakey poo camera and monitor. Apparently, he explained, some of the newer set-ups allow people to record the camera's drain adventures on DVDs. I imagined watching it like a poo movie from the gold sofa later, 'while listening to chamber music' as the drain man said. I almost fell into the drain after we'd removed the manhole cover at which the drain man chortled heartily. Shortly after he almost fell in too. Oh how we laughed, until it was time for him to attend to another poo errand, and me to attend to my poo work. My work today (about various types of arthritis) was so vile I felt after five or six hours like sobbing with frustration. I am doing a job I should never have agreed to, but my sense of responsibility prevents me from simply pulling the ripcord. Eventually I could do no more, and went instead to the gym which after ...

Heartland Sudden glut of copywriting work. Spent the morning billing, negotiating workflows, etc. Sadly Skelton has to take a backseat as it is sensible for me to baleen whale it, sucking down the cash krill while the waters bloom. The next few weeks will be tough, but luckily I can work from home. And I can go to the gym. The gym is good. To the Marlborough Theatre with Betty and Mark this afternoon. Met David Sheppeard again, and we're now officially booked for Tuesday 1st March, and Thursday 3rd March. It seats 60 and I love the feel of it, a scuffed black stage, blood red walls and a residual dark above the seats. Good for Beth and Mark to jump momentarily on the stage, and see its possibilities too. We sloped off to the Little Red Roaster cafe afterwards, all cheerful and gulping coffees. Doing things in theatres again feels wonderful. It confirms this feeling I am getting every now and then that I am glimpsing my own heartland after a long journey. A little later Beth and Mar...

Economy sized Worked on a corpse dialogue which I have had for some time but never finished, as a companion sketch to Wrong . Then to the gym to waddle on the Hulk legs machine for another half an hour, envisioning a Peter Kenny that wasn't economy sized. Then home to rewrite a line for the doppelganger piece with Matt, then think through some marketing for This concert will fall in love with you , and have a discussion with a former colleague about a pitch. Sam bought me a CD called Merriweather Post Pavilion by a new-fangled combo Animal Collective from Baltimore, which I find I rather like in a busy and layered way. Reading about them on Wikipedia reminded me of Baltimore, a town I couldn't leave fast enough during my American adventures. Nice crabs though. Off to Lorraine's house this evening where, watching an improving BBC programme about the brain, we ate a variety of vegetables and some fish, and drank sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon. For if you booze you l...

Jabba Wide awake half the night. Finally fell asleep shortly before it was time to get up. Then Calliope infuriatingly bit my hand hard to wake me up, then hid under the bed so I couldn't kill her. Tetchy morning working on the useless brief, which I had to complete before midday. Luckily the client liked the results. Off like Jabba the Hut to the gym. Cross trainer for half an hour. Home and was phoned up for the 30th time by an Indian call centre. Today they were the 'cheque clearance' department. Lost my rag and swore at them. The man called back shortly for round two. Coming off worse in this, he called me for round three, which I did not answer. The number is always of course withheld. Beth and Mark came around to discuss Wrong and I took photos of them, which I will treat and redesign into the poster for the play. Also got some dates in the diary for reviews etc. Felt good to have the first project of the year underway. After they left, and I cooked myself some Quorn...

Shakespeare by stealth Very happy to hear Mum's recent tests are all clear again. Chatted to her and Mason. Pleased to say that I am getting over my man cold, and got on with stuff, including phoning David at the Marlborough Theatre to discuss Wrong. In the evening, by coincidence, off to the bard downstairs at the Marlborough to see Richard Gibson and his pal Dipak play four of the Shakespeare's sonnets he has put to music. Richard has a policy of not mentioning that his lyricist is the Bard for reasons best known to himself. But they were well played and rather good. However in the pub environment they were essentially just background music, which was a shame. As soon as he was done Richard wanted to leave, so we abandoned Dipak and popped into the Evening Star after walking across town for a chat about it all. Interesting. Below Richard (left) and Dipak at their stealthy business.

Wrong headed Some miscellaneous writing this morning, once Lorraine had roused her sleepy self and mueslied. After a while I pushed off to the gym finished Stalin ate my homework while doing a knee protecting workout on the Hulk legs machine. In the afternoon met up with Beth and Mark to discuss putting on Wrong . We are earmarking it for late February - and pairing it either with a devised piece or something else of mine. We met in the basketmakers for a late lunch, and Betty and I both had toad in the hole with mustard mash, which was a winter warmer as today it was despicably cold. A fun and businesslike meeting. I intend to be fairly hands off in the process, and just give them some notes once they've start to rehearse. I have no doubt Mark and Beth will make an excellent job of this two-hander and a corpse piece. Meanwhile I got a text from Matt saying the libretto I sent him was "v suggestive. I've had a strong vision for the climactic part..." Exciting to get ...

Reframing An excellent frame of mind today, in high contrast to yesterday morning. Realised I had been forcing the pace too much on the Doppelganger. Once I decided to put it aside, and decided to relax I found myself tweaking the play Wrong (my two hander plus a corpse piece) which I am going to show to Betty and Mark to see if they think it is worth staging. Took myself to the gym again, despite having a slightly sore throat, which made me hard as nails, and banished my throat in hours. Listening to Stalin ate my homework as I trundled on the hulk legs machine. It is read by Alexei Sayle and he is a lovely writer. It describes a childhood in Liverpool in the 50s and 60s as the only son of a communist couple. Sayle's trades unionist father worked on the railways enabling them to get cheap travel by rail across Europe. They spent lots of time in the Eastern Bloc. A really good read. Part of my reframing was also taking stock of my financial situation: I discovered today that my ...

Found Matt sent through the midi file for Found today, the piece we wrote for The Rainbow Chorus, the choir Matt is MD of. Sounded like a sure fire hit to me, very singable and catchy, with a just enough complexity to give it depth and longevity. Looking forward to hearing the choir sing it. Meanwhile today I have been working on the words for the In Praise of Music piece we are doing for a competition. This is the first time we've worked where the music is pre-existing and I have to supply words. Bit of a bizarre experience: I sat listening to the midi on repeat until my brain started splurging out words, which to my surprise were based loosely on the Creation, and were full of Biblical imagery. Talked to Matt this evening and explained that my drivel detector was on the blink, so he should treat the results with caution. Otherwise a bitty day. Went to the gym, chased payments, went through the latest Amazon hoop to try to sort the page out for our book, added a sentence to one ...

Wrong again? Gym again, that's three days in a row which must be a good thing, surely. A fortuitous meeting. Late in the afternoon, I took myself to a new cafe to work on a poem, but instead talked at length to the guys that run it. They are unusually receptive to new ideas, and the owner is a former event manager. I suggested that they put my half-hour play Wrong on at lunchtime as I am tweaking this for Beth and Mark to perform at the moment. Wrong is a play I wrote over 10 years ago, and did with Mindy as a one off, later some other folks performed it in Glasgow. It's a small farce: two people are bored, so decide to become actors and 'put the show on right here'. They discover an actor playing a corpse under their table. After a furious row, however, they accidentally kill this actor. 'Oh fuck, I've killed the corpse.' Then there is some corpse dragging and a resolution involving the corpse returning to life. The cafe guys were sold on it, and once I ca...