Lesley Cookman's Blog, page 4
June 28, 2019
A thought or two on crime as entertainment
Amid the welter of bad news and going-to-hell-in-a-handcart news this week, which I believe to be the source of the vague sense of depression that continually hovers around me, two items caught my attention. The first was about a new Jack The Ripper Experience, to which an action group were objecting, saying it glamourised abuse of women. The second was a comment by a very respected crime writer and ex-police officer (female, as it happens) complaining about the portrayal of a police procedural TV series.
Now, these two things don't, on the surface, look at all similar. But both reflect on Crime as Entertainment. Let's take dear old Jack the Ripper first. Ever since the crimes, and yes, they were ghastly, were committed there has been speculation about the perpetrator. Had they been committed in the present century there would still have been horror and fear, but let's face it, he would undoubtedly have been caught, if only because of the amount of DNA available. But it wasn't available then, and he became almost mythical. And as such - entertainment. It wasn't long before the ballads were written, the murders were re-enacted in the penny gaffs and what would now be called "think pieces" appeared in the press.
Subsequently, he has been incorporated into hundreds of stories. Various versions of the Whitechapel murders have been told in novel, film, television and even computer games. And up and down the country, and probably overseas, for all I know, Jack the Ripper Experiences exist as entertainment, recreating the murky fog-ridden atmosphere of Victorian London. But all of these are concentrating on the still unsolved mystery of "Jack" himself. They are not concentrating on the victims, except as victims, objects of horror. So surely to suddenly up and complain about one new "experience" is a little naive? I would argue that, should it need it, it only helps to draw attention to the plight of the abused, of both sexes. We cannot wipe out the fact of this murderer's existence, only perhaps deplore the fact that he wasn't caught but was glamourised at the time.
The second item to catch my attention was simply a Tweet which came up in my feed. I happened to have got caught in a discussion about a new daytime TV series centring on a London MIT - Murder Investigation Team. It is one of those 5 day things, which I have on series record on Sky to watch in the evenings. It has an excellent cast headed by Sharon Small and Hugo Speer, and is a lot simpler and easier to follow than many of its fellows.
BUT - some of the comments have been quite vitriolic. Aforesaid crime writer complained about the mistakes made in the portrayal of a police investigation. I did not answer her (she sells a lot more than I do and is a bit of A Personality) but I should have pointed out something that many a crime writer before has known, the minutiae of a police investigation would bore the pants off your average reader/viewer.
This is a short series of short, snappy episodes. They can't get bogged down in due process, however much a female former police inspector may deplore the fact. I don't write procedurals because I don't know enough about a police investigation or the force, and I therefore apologise to police forces everywhere in the acknowledgements in my books. After all, Libby Sarjeant wouldn't have a series if I worried about real policing. And I've been writing long enough (longer than she has, actually) to know a lot of other crime writers, many of us good old mid-list types who don't hit the New York Times bestseller list but simply write for the entertainment of others. And that's what it comes down to. However much we shake our heads and raise our eyebrows about the state of the human psyche which allows us to treat disaster as entertainment, the fact is that it DOES. Whether it's Jack The Ripper and the Whitechapel murders, or a fictional London police investigation in the present day, it's presented as entertainment.
I'm sure there will be people who take issue with my views, and there is, of course a wider argument to be had which I will not attempt to broach. But at least it's a different argument to all the going-to-hell-in-a-handcart arguments that currently dominate the media.
Now, these two things don't, on the surface, look at all similar. But both reflect on Crime as Entertainment. Let's take dear old Jack the Ripper first. Ever since the crimes, and yes, they were ghastly, were committed there has been speculation about the perpetrator. Had they been committed in the present century there would still have been horror and fear, but let's face it, he would undoubtedly have been caught, if only because of the amount of DNA available. But it wasn't available then, and he became almost mythical. And as such - entertainment. It wasn't long before the ballads were written, the murders were re-enacted in the penny gaffs and what would now be called "think pieces" appeared in the press.
Subsequently, he has been incorporated into hundreds of stories. Various versions of the Whitechapel murders have been told in novel, film, television and even computer games. And up and down the country, and probably overseas, for all I know, Jack the Ripper Experiences exist as entertainment, recreating the murky fog-ridden atmosphere of Victorian London. But all of these are concentrating on the still unsolved mystery of "Jack" himself. They are not concentrating on the victims, except as victims, objects of horror. So surely to suddenly up and complain about one new "experience" is a little naive? I would argue that, should it need it, it only helps to draw attention to the plight of the abused, of both sexes. We cannot wipe out the fact of this murderer's existence, only perhaps deplore the fact that he wasn't caught but was glamourised at the time.
The second item to catch my attention was simply a Tweet which came up in my feed. I happened to have got caught in a discussion about a new daytime TV series centring on a London MIT - Murder Investigation Team. It is one of those 5 day things, which I have on series record on Sky to watch in the evenings. It has an excellent cast headed by Sharon Small and Hugo Speer, and is a lot simpler and easier to follow than many of its fellows.
BUT - some of the comments have been quite vitriolic. Aforesaid crime writer complained about the mistakes made in the portrayal of a police investigation. I did not answer her (she sells a lot more than I do and is a bit of A Personality) but I should have pointed out something that many a crime writer before has known, the minutiae of a police investigation would bore the pants off your average reader/viewer.
This is a short series of short, snappy episodes. They can't get bogged down in due process, however much a female former police inspector may deplore the fact. I don't write procedurals because I don't know enough about a police investigation or the force, and I therefore apologise to police forces everywhere in the acknowledgements in my books. After all, Libby Sarjeant wouldn't have a series if I worried about real policing. And I've been writing long enough (longer than she has, actually) to know a lot of other crime writers, many of us good old mid-list types who don't hit the New York Times bestseller list but simply write for the entertainment of others. And that's what it comes down to. However much we shake our heads and raise our eyebrows about the state of the human psyche which allows us to treat disaster as entertainment, the fact is that it DOES. Whether it's Jack The Ripper and the Whitechapel murders, or a fictional London police investigation in the present day, it's presented as entertainment.
I'm sure there will be people who take issue with my views, and there is, of course a wider argument to be had which I will not attempt to broach. But at least it's a different argument to all the going-to-hell-in-a-handcart arguments that currently dominate the media.
April 27, 2019
A post of Appreciation
This post was originally on my Facebook page and when it popped up in my "Memories" I felt moved to share it again. However, since I wrote it two years ago, I have tightened my FB privacy settings and I can't share it to either my reader group or my "work" page. So, as I had something else to say as well, I decided it could go in here. And here it is - with revisions.
I have been reflecting on the most important person in my life - after the children and the cats, of course. She paid for the conservatory and the gazebo, pays the bills and keeps me in alcohol. Although the glory days have passed, when we all made quite a bit more money than we were used to due to the uprush of ebooks, she's still keeping us afloat. And I STILL haven't the faintest idea how she does it. For a woman who came into existence on a drive through the Kent countryside to pick up (or possibly having delivered) a daughter to friends, it's quite an achievement. I suppose it was my lucky day. And apart from her, bless her little cotton socks, there are all those people (some of you, I know) who are the real heroes. Who buy, or borrow from the library, her adventures. I'm sorry if this sounds impossibly twee, but it honestly did just pop into my mind and I realised just what a huge part of my life she's become - far more than a lot of- er - real people. Go on, someone's going to say "What? She isn't real?" But of course, coming up to date, there are four other people who are the mainstays of my life - my children. I am embarrassingly proud of them all, and naturally consider them more beautiful (even the boys) and talented than anyone else. I am not, as they will all tell anyone who asks, a naturally maternal sort of person, nevertheless they support me in all my endeavours. And Miles - eldest son and number 2 child - is a constant source of ideas. Indeed, without him I doubt that Libby Sarjeant would have had quite so many adventures. He has two jobs - one as a musician/entertainer and the other as a jobbing builder/landscaper. He started the latter when musician friends who had started doing the same took pity on him and started asking him to do odd jobs for them. A more unlikely labourer you had never seen at the time, but now he's hugely experienced and can turn his hand to most things.This job takes him to all sorts of places; rural villages, isolated houses, town centre renovations. And there are stories... And I'll suddenly get a text, or an FB message with a photograph, or a brief description and then he'll tell me the situation. And they always work! I'm currently writing Libby 20 based on a Miles Idea, and have several more stacked up.So this is an appreciation post. Thank you Libby for keeping us afloat, and thank you Miles for all the ideas. And thank you Louise, Phillipa and Leo for being there. And finally, as I said in the original post, thank you to my readers.
(How I originally saw Libby)
I have been reflecting on the most important person in my life - after the children and the cats, of course. She paid for the conservatory and the gazebo, pays the bills and keeps me in alcohol. Although the glory days have passed, when we all made quite a bit more money than we were used to due to the uprush of ebooks, she's still keeping us afloat. And I STILL haven't the faintest idea how she does it. For a woman who came into existence on a drive through the Kent countryside to pick up (or possibly having delivered) a daughter to friends, it's quite an achievement. I suppose it was my lucky day. And apart from her, bless her little cotton socks, there are all those people (some of you, I know) who are the real heroes. Who buy, or borrow from the library, her adventures. I'm sorry if this sounds impossibly twee, but it honestly did just pop into my mind and I realised just what a huge part of my life she's become - far more than a lot of- er - real people. Go on, someone's going to say "What? She isn't real?" But of course, coming up to date, there are four other people who are the mainstays of my life - my children. I am embarrassingly proud of them all, and naturally consider them more beautiful (even the boys) and talented than anyone else. I am not, as they will all tell anyone who asks, a naturally maternal sort of person, nevertheless they support me in all my endeavours. And Miles - eldest son and number 2 child - is a constant source of ideas. Indeed, without him I doubt that Libby Sarjeant would have had quite so many adventures. He has two jobs - one as a musician/entertainer and the other as a jobbing builder/landscaper. He started the latter when musician friends who had started doing the same took pity on him and started asking him to do odd jobs for them. A more unlikely labourer you had never seen at the time, but now he's hugely experienced and can turn his hand to most things.This job takes him to all sorts of places; rural villages, isolated houses, town centre renovations. And there are stories... And I'll suddenly get a text, or an FB message with a photograph, or a brief description and then he'll tell me the situation. And they always work! I'm currently writing Libby 20 based on a Miles Idea, and have several more stacked up.So this is an appreciation post. Thank you Libby for keeping us afloat, and thank you Miles for all the ideas. And thank you Louise, Phillipa and Leo for being there. And finally, as I said in the original post, thank you to my readers.
(How I originally saw Libby)
April 24, 2019
A little reflection on life, the universe and everything
This post will, of course, go out as a newsletter (because that's how the internet gnomes manage it), but it is nothing to do with my job, books or writing - or only tangentially, anyway.
I have been aware over the last few weeks of a feeling of general depression. I do not suffer with depression, clinical or otherwise, but as with many families, we have sufferers in our midst, some more severe than others. I am, therefore, quite conversant with what can be a devastating illness. So this feeling took me rather by surprise, as I was sure I didn't ever feel like this. Eventually, I realised what was causing it. And it might sound trite, even facile, but yes, it is the General State of Everything.
I realised that, no matter where I turned, the outlook was bleak. I now console myself regularly with the mantra "I have everything I want; a good job, enough food, enough money to buy me a few luxuries and four lovely children, not to mention two equally lovely grandchildren and two wobbly cats." And following hard on the heels of this comforting thought comes another: "And how long will this last? How long will the food last? How long will the economy remain stable? How long will we live in a war-free zone? How long before civil unrest breaks out in a big way?" And, of course "How long will it be before we completely destroy our world?"
This dystopian view of the future is no longer the province of the fantasy writers. It was something I could dismiss until recently, but now I find I can't. My son The Philosopher is getting married in less than two months to his American fiancee, and despite this happy circumstance, he descends further into gloom as the days go by. The world does not conform to his ideals, and the obstructions to his marriage from both US and UK governments have proven almost disastrous - and very expensive.
If we look back over history - our own and that of the rest of the world - we will see how close we have come in the past to total civil breakdown. We never learn. Just look at the Climate Change Protests of last weekend.. People really are beginning to take things into their own hands. And just supposing both the Remainers and the Brexiteers decide nobody is listening to them and they, too, need to show the government exactly how they feel? (I do NOT include Nigel Farage in this. He, I am certain, is a Spitting Image creation and Not Real at all.)
Well, there we are. I am delighted that these days there are platforms on which we can state our cases, and maybe, vent our spleens. But I am exceedingly sad that our cases - and our spleens - need this outlet. However, I have bought my outfit for The Wedding Of The Year and I have two very pleasant Literary Festival Events coming up, so as long as I keep the screens up round my recalcitrant thoughts, I'll be all right.
And of course, I have the luxury of being able to retreat into my own world of Steeple Martin, where I don't have to worry about anything - except Murder...
I have been aware over the last few weeks of a feeling of general depression. I do not suffer with depression, clinical or otherwise, but as with many families, we have sufferers in our midst, some more severe than others. I am, therefore, quite conversant with what can be a devastating illness. So this feeling took me rather by surprise, as I was sure I didn't ever feel like this. Eventually, I realised what was causing it. And it might sound trite, even facile, but yes, it is the General State of Everything.
I realised that, no matter where I turned, the outlook was bleak. I now console myself regularly with the mantra "I have everything I want; a good job, enough food, enough money to buy me a few luxuries and four lovely children, not to mention two equally lovely grandchildren and two wobbly cats." And following hard on the heels of this comforting thought comes another: "And how long will this last? How long will the food last? How long will the economy remain stable? How long will we live in a war-free zone? How long before civil unrest breaks out in a big way?" And, of course "How long will it be before we completely destroy our world?"
This dystopian view of the future is no longer the province of the fantasy writers. It was something I could dismiss until recently, but now I find I can't. My son The Philosopher is getting married in less than two months to his American fiancee, and despite this happy circumstance, he descends further into gloom as the days go by. The world does not conform to his ideals, and the obstructions to his marriage from both US and UK governments have proven almost disastrous - and very expensive.
If we look back over history - our own and that of the rest of the world - we will see how close we have come in the past to total civil breakdown. We never learn. Just look at the Climate Change Protests of last weekend.. People really are beginning to take things into their own hands. And just supposing both the Remainers and the Brexiteers decide nobody is listening to them and they, too, need to show the government exactly how they feel? (I do NOT include Nigel Farage in this. He, I am certain, is a Spitting Image creation and Not Real at all.)
Well, there we are. I am delighted that these days there are platforms on which we can state our cases, and maybe, vent our spleens. But I am exceedingly sad that our cases - and our spleens - need this outlet. However, I have bought my outfit for The Wedding Of The Year and I have two very pleasant Literary Festival Events coming up, so as long as I keep the screens up round my recalcitrant thoughts, I'll be all right.
And of course, I have the luxury of being able to retreat into my own world of Steeple Martin, where I don't have to worry about anything - except Murder...
April 3, 2019
One down - one to go
After a heroic struggle, Death Treads the Boards is finished. Possibly the most difficult book I've ever had to write, and all my own fault, as I volunteered to write it "in between" Libby Sarjeant books. As I was also doing panto this season (something I'm NEVER doing again), I should have known better. So I've asked Accent Press to re-label the Alexandrians as a Trilogy, and I shan't go back to Nethergate in the early 20th century, either...
I fully expect my editor, Greg, to come back with pages and pages of revisions, but meanwhile, as I was reminded, Libby 20 has to be written and delivered by the end of June. As there is a bit of a fuss going to be made about this because it's the 20th and because it will be one of the first Accent titles released under a deal with one of the Big Five publishers, Hachette, it really does have to be in on time. Difficult, as there's only three months and in June my son Leo is getting married to his lovely American fiancee Carrie, which means a hiatus in normal life and an influx of new American relations.
Meanwhile, Accent are re-releasing my entire backlist of Libbies in print with new covers - as they currently appear on Amazon. If you aren't in the business, you won't know how rare this is and how honoured I feel - it really should put paid to my continuing "imposter syndrome".
In other news, younger daughter is home between cruises and tours, although she's been dashing around seeing people and getting things done, including a holiday in South Africa with her Uncle Roger (best man at my wedding). Elder daughter is still being a mother and singer going all over the UK and doing an Open University degree. Elder son is still living round the corner and doing what he's always done - leading his own band and helping friends with building projects to top up the finances. Younger son is, as I've said, getting married and his first book will be published later this year. No - he isn't following in my footsteps - it's on popular philosophy. I'll show you the cover when he allows me to. Meanwhile here are the floral tributes I received on Mothers Day.
I shall get back to normal as soon as I recovered from terminal tiredness...
I fully expect my editor, Greg, to come back with pages and pages of revisions, but meanwhile, as I was reminded, Libby 20 has to be written and delivered by the end of June. As there is a bit of a fuss going to be made about this because it's the 20th and because it will be one of the first Accent titles released under a deal with one of the Big Five publishers, Hachette, it really does have to be in on time. Difficult, as there's only three months and in June my son Leo is getting married to his lovely American fiancee Carrie, which means a hiatus in normal life and an influx of new American relations.
Meanwhile, Accent are re-releasing my entire backlist of Libbies in print with new covers - as they currently appear on Amazon. If you aren't in the business, you won't know how rare this is and how honoured I feel - it really should put paid to my continuing "imposter syndrome".
In other news, younger daughter is home between cruises and tours, although she's been dashing around seeing people and getting things done, including a holiday in South Africa with her Uncle Roger (best man at my wedding). Elder daughter is still being a mother and singer going all over the UK and doing an Open University degree. Elder son is still living round the corner and doing what he's always done - leading his own band and helping friends with building projects to top up the finances. Younger son is, as I've said, getting married and his first book will be published later this year. No - he isn't following in my footsteps - it's on popular philosophy. I'll show you the cover when he allows me to. Meanwhile here are the floral tributes I received on Mothers Day.
I shall get back to normal as soon as I recovered from terminal tiredness...
February 25, 2019
Daughters, hedgehogs and deadlines
Brief catch up, as I haven't written a post for a month.
I have been struggling with the third Edwardian book, for which I did a cover reveal last week on our reader group: Lesley Cookman's Libby's Loonies. Here it is again.
To my excitement, a new series began on Channel 5 on Saturday, called Edwardian Life in Colour. I rarely look at Channel 5, and I'd forgotten how brief the shows appear, but it was interesting, especially towards the end when the films showed holiday makers in Blackpool. There was nothing new, though, and I'm still struggling. As I only have three weeks left, I'd better get on with it.
At the beginning of last week (Tuesday) my second daughter came home after four months cruising round Australia and New Zealand entertaining rich people who can afford to go cruising. When she arrived, she'd actually been awake nearly 48 hours, with a horrible journey home. She arrived, and we asked elder brother round for a family takeaway and confab, as younger son and his American fiancee had finalised their international wedding last week, and there's only three and a half months to organise it.
Following day, off she went on a four day tour with her new band, and American fiancee went back to America. It's all go here, you know. Anyway, she arrived back yesterday - for a week.
Also yesterday evening, younger son discovered a hedgehog in the bag of logs. This delighted me, as despite making sure there is ingress and egress for hedgehogs in the garden, and undergrowth for them to hide in, we've never seen one. I was quite prepared to give up my logs for the good of hogkind, but this morning he'd gone. However, it's a Very Good Sign.
So, on with the third Alexandrian. Can't wait to get going on the next Libby, though...
I have been struggling with the third Edwardian book, for which I did a cover reveal last week on our reader group: Lesley Cookman's Libby's Loonies. Here it is again.
To my excitement, a new series began on Channel 5 on Saturday, called Edwardian Life in Colour. I rarely look at Channel 5, and I'd forgotten how brief the shows appear, but it was interesting, especially towards the end when the films showed holiday makers in Blackpool. There was nothing new, though, and I'm still struggling. As I only have three weeks left, I'd better get on with it.
At the beginning of last week (Tuesday) my second daughter came home after four months cruising round Australia and New Zealand entertaining rich people who can afford to go cruising. When she arrived, she'd actually been awake nearly 48 hours, with a horrible journey home. She arrived, and we asked elder brother round for a family takeaway and confab, as younger son and his American fiancee had finalised their international wedding last week, and there's only three and a half months to organise it.
Following day, off she went on a four day tour with her new band, and American fiancee went back to America. It's all go here, you know. Anyway, she arrived back yesterday - for a week.
Also yesterday evening, younger son discovered a hedgehog in the bag of logs. This delighted me, as despite making sure there is ingress and egress for hedgehogs in the garden, and undergrowth for them to hide in, we've never seen one. I was quite prepared to give up my logs for the good of hogkind, but this morning he'd gone. However, it's a Very Good Sign.
So, on with the third Alexandrian. Can't wait to get going on the next Libby, though...
January 28, 2019
Return to normal life...
Well, that's done. In many ways, it was the worst three months of my life, and certainly almost ruined the children's Christmas. Younger son and elder daughter (the one with two children) refused to come and see it because it had made my life such a misery. However, elder son and girlfriend did come and see it, and loved it. The cast - dragged in, some of them - delivered a very enjoyable final product. Not sure I had anything to do with it...
Now I've got to get on with the new Alexandrian story, which has rather taken a back seat, particularly over the last month when I've been out every evening and a lot of afternoons, too. Panto don't 'arf take up a lot of time... So now I can sleep well and not worry about having to make myself presentable every day, I've got to get back into routine. Over the last few weeks I discovered an illustrator called John S Goodall, who wrote (?) some delightful little pictorial books, the Edwardian series. There's Entertainments, Summer, Season and Holiday.
There's also Christmas, but I haven't bought that one yet. They've been sitting beside the Big Mac in the office waiting for me and now I've got time to take inspiration from them.
So now it's nose to the grindstone time. Fingers crossed.
December 16, 2018
Happy Christmas!
Well, I say Happy Christmas, but it's far too early for me, actually. Every year it is made more apparent to me that I am a Grinch. Except that the Grinch is American, and I therefore don't approve of that.
November 28, 2018
Busy, busy, busy...
Traditionally, The Playhouse Box Office opens for the sale of pantomime tickets on December 1st, although I think this will change as so many tickets are bought online these days. Panto is the only one with restricted sales.
We are deep in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty, which has not been without its problems.
In addition to this, I have foolishly taken on the challenge of writing the third novella (45,000 words) in The Alexandrians series, set in Edwardian Nethergate, the seaside town which features in the Libby Sarjeant series. This means two books with delivery three months apart - I shall be writing them virtually at the same time. Both have been started, although not got beyond the first chapter of each, and I've had to do an awful lot of research reading for the third Alexandrian, as I'd forgotten a lot!
We've also just run a competition on social media to win a beautiful limited edition mug, created for me by Michael Gill, of the London Mug Studio. https://www.londonmugstudio.co.uk/product/murderandthepantomimecat
And the first of the new batch of Audio books has come out with a lovely interview, thanks to Isis Publishing:https://www.facebook.com/Isis.Soundings/photos/a.483472278408096/2083857925036182/?type=3&theater
So it's all been a bit busy, as you can imagine.
If I don't manage another post before Christmas, I wish you all the happiest of times.
We are deep in rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty, which has not been without its problems.
In addition to this, I have foolishly taken on the challenge of writing the third novella (45,000 words) in The Alexandrians series, set in Edwardian Nethergate, the seaside town which features in the Libby Sarjeant series. This means two books with delivery three months apart - I shall be writing them virtually at the same time. Both have been started, although not got beyond the first chapter of each, and I've had to do an awful lot of research reading for the third Alexandrian, as I'd forgotten a lot!
We've also just run a competition on social media to win a beautiful limited edition mug, created for me by Michael Gill, of the London Mug Studio. https://www.londonmugstudio.co.uk/product/murderandthepantomimecat
And the first of the new batch of Audio books has come out with a lovely interview, thanks to Isis Publishing:https://www.facebook.com/Isis.Soundings/photos/a.483472278408096/2083857925036182/?type=3&theater
So it's all been a bit busy, as you can imagine.
If I don't manage another post before Christmas, I wish you all the happiest of times.
November 8, 2018
A quick November update
As you all know by now, my main focus at present is pantomime, which is finally getting down to rehearsal. However, publisher has decided to give me a whole new range of covers, as neither of us really liked the most recent update. I don't know if you'll all be able to see this, but Accent have done an Autumnal Libby Sarjeant Video.
Also for your eyes only, the next full length Libby book, out next September 5th, will be Murder Repeated. And Murder And The Pantomime Cat will be out on the 22nd November!
Also for your eyes only, the next full length Libby book, out next September 5th, will be Murder Repeated. And Murder And The Pantomime Cat will be out on the 22nd November!
October 12, 2018
October and the serious business of pantomime
I managed to deliver the manuscript of Murder and the Pantomime Cat by September 30th, as requested by my publishers, and its release date will be November 22nd. Since then, I have been rather taken up by the next project, which, of course, is pantomime.
I shan't completely ignore Libby, Fran and the others, as I have to start thinking about the next full length book, but that isn't out until next August (I would prefer it to be earlier!) and due for delivery in the spring, so although I might have to go hell for leather from the middle of January, after months of wondering why on earth I'd taken this on, having officially retired from directorial responsibilities in 2007, I'm beginning to enjoy it, despite the many problems that have already cropped up.
In the same way that the public don't understand the life of a writer, neither do they understand theatre. Pantomime is something they go to see either in December or January and it doesn't occur to them that preparation for it probably starts at the end of the last one. To stage a pantomime - or any theatre production, really - the building itself must be fully staffed. Bar, sweets and ice creams, front of house and stewards, cleaners, box office - the list goes on. Then for the production, lighting designer, riggers and operators, sound designers and operators, set designers and builders, stage manager, assistant stage manager, stage crew. And music. Mine is being recorded specially, and luckily my MD (musical director) is a close friend, so he's going beyond the bounds of his contract to help.
Then there's the cast, which I haven't finalised yet, the chorus, the singing coach - if the MD isn't doing it - and choreographer. And guess what? Out of all that lot, if any of it goes wrong it's down to the director/producer. Me. And I also happen to be the writer, so I'll get the blame for the script, too.
If it's good, everyone else gets praised and the director wipes the sweat off his/her brow and creeps away to collapse in a heap. In the bigger theatres there will be a few more staff to prop up the director, but we can't afford it. We own our theatre, which is a little Victorian gem with state of the art facilities, all of which have to be maintained, and that's a full time job in itself.
Which is why, in 2007, I "retired". By that time, the Libby books were taking off and I was - ahem - getting older, and couldn't cope with two full time jobs at once, as I had in previous years. So tell me why I've done so this year?
Simple answer. I LOVE it.
I shan't completely ignore Libby, Fran and the others, as I have to start thinking about the next full length book, but that isn't out until next August (I would prefer it to be earlier!) and due for delivery in the spring, so although I might have to go hell for leather from the middle of January, after months of wondering why on earth I'd taken this on, having officially retired from directorial responsibilities in 2007, I'm beginning to enjoy it, despite the many problems that have already cropped up.
In the same way that the public don't understand the life of a writer, neither do they understand theatre. Pantomime is something they go to see either in December or January and it doesn't occur to them that preparation for it probably starts at the end of the last one. To stage a pantomime - or any theatre production, really - the building itself must be fully staffed. Bar, sweets and ice creams, front of house and stewards, cleaners, box office - the list goes on. Then for the production, lighting designer, riggers and operators, sound designers and operators, set designers and builders, stage manager, assistant stage manager, stage crew. And music. Mine is being recorded specially, and luckily my MD (musical director) is a close friend, so he's going beyond the bounds of his contract to help.
Then there's the cast, which I haven't finalised yet, the chorus, the singing coach - if the MD isn't doing it - and choreographer. And guess what? Out of all that lot, if any of it goes wrong it's down to the director/producer. Me. And I also happen to be the writer, so I'll get the blame for the script, too.
If it's good, everyone else gets praised and the director wipes the sweat off his/her brow and creeps away to collapse in a heap. In the bigger theatres there will be a few more staff to prop up the director, but we can't afford it. We own our theatre, which is a little Victorian gem with state of the art facilities, all of which have to be maintained, and that's a full time job in itself.
Which is why, in 2007, I "retired". By that time, the Libby books were taking off and I was - ahem - getting older, and couldn't cope with two full time jobs at once, as I had in previous years. So tell me why I've done so this year?Simple answer. I LOVE it.
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