i) It's the first time I've directed anything in about 12 years and working with a fully professional cast was an absolute joy. Just because they've done it for a living for quite a while they bring lots to the table and also make you up your game. It was odd feeling my way back into directing and I need to be less worried about knowing what I want and asking for it. But that's a confidence thing and I won't be quite so nervous the next time. I also like the sitting down and going through the script process then getting it moving. It was like a muscle memory thing.
ii) The play works and is genuinely funny. One of the problems it may have, however, is that there are too many gags. Some of these got missed because we didn't have the time to rehearse everything adequately, but some of them also got missed because the script is too dense with gags and clever stuff and references and homages. So I need to lose some of the weaker gags and make sure the rest of the funnies don't bury the narrative or character development. And this becomes much more important when there are lots of visual and stage business gags that weren't included in the reading.
iii) I'm finding my voice as a writer. I've been back writing for about nine years now and I feel like I'm finally starting to know what I'm doing, particularly with comedy. I know how gags work and I can reverse engineer a good funny with the best of them. I'm also learning the value of writing and rewriting and trying to be economical with words. Watching comedians I admire and seeing how they hone their craft has greatly helped with this.
The most important thing I got from this, though, is that I know I can do it and I'm more or less ready to give a real go and make this work. And apart from working with a wonderful cast, and seeing lots of friends turn up to support me and the play, and realising that I might just have something that's really good here, that's the biggest thing to come out of this reading for me.
So it's game on...
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