Slight Panic - My Debut with Live Flash Drama

 So it's the run up to a big event... I'm writing Lockdown Unleashed for the new Hotwells Festival. All very exciting but slightly nerve wracking. 

I know I can do it. Write it, direct it, but I'm also aware no writer ever knows how an audience will respond to their work until, well, it happens. And it almost certainly depends on the audience. I just  have to push aside all the things that could go wrong.

The three linked monologues - same character, each one slightly later in time and slightly different in circumstance, ie further on through lockdown - each have a story and each develop the overall story. A bit like a TV series but these are mini, each monologue about seven minutes long. Something akin to a flash fiction book where very short pieces of stand alone fiction are put together to form a book, which also tells a story overall. I always thought this was mind blowingly clever and I've somehow managed to do it myself with flash drama. Ooo now there's a new term, or is it? No doubt someone will delight in telling me if not. It happened organically. The first radio play was very well received and the character was strong, and I found she had more to say. Hence number two, then number three. 

However, they were written for radio and now they are being performed on stage in front of a live audience. No pressure then. The great thing about radio (one of the many) is you can't see or hear the audience's reaction. You hear about it afterwards of course. But you don't have to face them there and then. 

So the monologues have had to be adapted for stage. Work in progress still for the event on 16th October. All slightly scary as there is no production team and no budget. Just myself and an actor friend who performs the monologues exceedingly well, and is a joy to work with. So we are going to have to rely on some of the devices of radio - playing with people's heads and imagination - to conjure up part of the picture of the drama. Completely new territory for me so no wonder I am slightly scared.

In between, to give the actress friend a breather, change, loo break and all the other necessities of life, I am reading poems I wrote during lockdown. This adds variety and also to atmosphere, both reminding us of the emotions of the time but some of the upside too, plus a dollop of humour on top.

Overall the event is lighthearted, a humorous take on lockdown life with a little pathos mixed in. That's the idea anyway. 

Fingers crossed. 

Lockdown Unleashed will be performed by Jenny Bradley and Vicki Vowles at The Eldon, Bristol, 4 -5 pm Saturday 16th October. Directed by Jenny Bradley. Bucket Collection.