To Sleep, Perchance To Dream.

Finally finished the script of Hamlet, and what's more it's under sixty pages. Which means its more or less the correct time as well.
That is the worst part of this project out of the way, everything else will be a doddle compared to slaving over a keyboard. Original material is fine, copying is hard work. Especially as my shift button is sticking.

Act 2 scene 2, ridiculously long even with the cuts. I put The Thin Red Line on while I wrote. A truly brilliant movie and one that I don't need to watch. Just listened to the dialog and the music. Runs at three hours. Took me the entire film to get that scene copied down, by the end I was just throwing out huge chunks of dialog.

But anyway, now at least the script is in a state that can be understood, in large print and with plenty of space for rehearsal notes.

I'm not worried about the rehearsals, they are all good competent actors and we have three months. Which is why I'm being positively lazy about this. The actors keep coming to me asking when we are getting started, it's good to keep them waiting a short while. I trust my own experience now, this is my third production, second directing credit. I know exactly what I'm doing now, that may sound arrogant, but I do. Charlotte's worrying me, haven't heard from her in ages, must get in touch with her, costumes very important.

Kez told me that she is using A Play in her essay on Holy Theatre (Peter Brook) am rather stunned. My first writing and directing credit, only two months down and someone is critically analysing it, that has revived my confidence. After watching the other pieces from our year I was seriously surprised at how incredibly good they were, compared with previous years rather half arsed efforts really. I knew that we were talented, didn't realise just how talented, and I watched my fantastic piece slowly get pushed down the list of other even more incredibly fantastic pieces, so to find that it is being looked at in the way I wanted it to be looked at is great. Soon as the minor early bits and pieces of Hamlet are sorted I'm gonna finish my second piece. I'm pretty certain I can get it to full length. It's a tad Shavian or Satrean but I don't care.

It's not for here, Once I have some decent pieces I'm going to bombard places with them. I know I'm good. I honestly can't decide whether to concentrate on writing, acting or directing. Hopefully I can tread between them all. But I tend to ignore my writing whenever other things crop up.

Tolstoy's diary entry:
It is a note worth remembering that Thackeray prepared for thirty years for his first novel, while Dumas turns out two a week.

Took it from The Assassin's cloak, great diary anthology. I love Tolstoy's entries, brief and to the point, such as:

I have fallen in love, or at least imagine I have, lost my head at a party. Bought a horse for which I have no use at all.

Or:

quarreled with Turganev. Wench in my room.

I am currently working my way through February.