Saturday, October 22, 2005

"Fiasco" no fiasco

Thanks to some of my generous colleagues (and friend Peter!) we had a reading of my new play Fiasco last night. It seemed to go all right; that is to say, people laughed (it is meant to be a comedy). I was able to see errors and typos, as well as judge where it might need to be expanded or cut. It does make such a difference to actually hear the words out loud. It was a bit embarrassing that I was laughing more than anybody, but you do have to write to please yourself. At least I wasn't the only one laughing, so that was all right. Some folks were reading it cold, so the laughs came unexpectedly. I had actually forgotten parts that I had written -- is that odd? Not for me. Once I've written something, I tend to forget it. It is almost as if someone else wrote it; I kid about channeling Peter Cook as I wrote this play, ha ha. But it is wonderful how creativity just pours out of your head surreally (when it does), and depressing when it doesn't. The sad truth is that sometimes the flow just dries up. Usually it means that it is time to feed your head. Go out for a walk, read a good book, see some engaging art, or even watch a film. Dive into conversation with interesting people -- it fills the well once more.

4 comments:

Pat Wente said...

I just read the play, thanks to Ms. Golemon sending me the link. It's a HOOT! Great wordplay, very topical, Python-silly, and also sweet.

C. Margery Kempe said...

Thanks, Pat! I really appreciate the comments. Wait 'til I finish the last section...

C. Margery Kempe said...

Ha ha -- I would say I'm a medieval woman, but that would probably not sound right. A Renaissance woman, in contrast to the busy artist husband she married, was supposed to marry well, be faithful and pump out a lot of heirs. Well, two out of three...(though at that time "marrying well" meant marrying for money and prestige). At least I got prestige!

N.B. The union was voted in by the employees of Harvard University in part because they ran a campaign entitled "You can't eat prestige."

Thanks -- lemme know what you think.

C. Margery Kempe said...

Sigh. I am insufferably pedantic, eh?