Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Tom Derrington updates us on his month as he prepares to bring Bounce to London
5 May
This month got off to a positive start. Received an email this morning from the RSC 37 plays project to say that my submission (an early draft of Bounce) had been longlisted. It’s such a big boost to know people in the industry have actually read and quite liked what I have written. Obviously would have loved to have gone further in the contest but I’m dead chuffed with that.
8 May
The excitement bubble quickly burst. Why is there always some sort of drama when it comes to making drama? Late last night, an email dropped in from our lighting designer to say he can no longer be involved due to time commitments. Cue a terrible sleep. Panic sweats. Desperate Twitter scrolling/googling in the early hours. We have no idea how lighting works. What the fuck are we going to do without a lighting designer???
10 May
New lighting designer sorted. Thankfully Ed (our original LD) has kindly put forward a friend of his. Spoke to him, he is super keen and really cool. I think I can sleep again.
13 May
My old school headteacher once suspended me in Year 11 for reasons I won’t go into – but it weren’t my fault sir! Anyway today, over twenty years on, he has just messaged me on Facebook, out of the blue to wish me luck and let me know how excited he is to be coming along to support and watch Bounce. This really moved me.
Not only that but a load of my old school mates, many of whom I haven’t seen for years, are also all coming along! They’re not theatre fans. They had no idea I had even starting writing plays. I think they find the whole thing a bit confusing to be honest. But they are all booking tickets. They even set up a dedicated WhatsApp group to coordinate arrangements. I am honestly touched by the support I am getting…
I mean, yeah OK – for some reason, the group chat icon is a picture of a pantomime dame and I’m being subjected to daily messages of things like ‘Come on Shakespeare. Give us a fucking Sonnet’. But I’m happy to take that. I’m confident they’ll soon be converted from football hooligans to theatre cats.
20 May
Attempted to tune into a zoom call of a rehearsal this evening. I haven’t been able to attend any rehearsals yet, due to location and I’m so desperate to see how it is all coming along. Of course, the internet cut out on the first line… (or so they said! They might well have just all pretended to freeze and then closed the laptop to avoid any major last-minute notes I may have had). So, I think our opening night will be the first time I actually see this play. At least I’ll be sat alongside several of the reviewers I have invited along. Oh god! Those panic sweats are definitely back.
25 May
Email today from the BBC writers room to say a TV pilot script I had submitted last year had reached the final 10% from over 4000 entries. I’ve decided, if this play bombs. I’m going to give TV writing a go. More money, less stress – isn’t there?
30 May
Podcast interview released today with the brilliant and generous Rob from Everything Theatre. Less than a week before move in. I’m really looking forward to seeing Rob, my former headteacher, my uncultured school mates and everyone else who is coming along. Please do come find me in the Lion & Unicorn pub afterwards. I’ll either be the guy at the bar with a huge grin on his face – or the weird looking bloke, hiding under a table. Let’s see how it goes.
You can catch Tom’s play Bounce when it plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 6 – 10 June. Further information and tickets can be found here.
