Festive prospects

As yet another Bank Holiday, for us freelancers the problem of how to fill another day of leisure presents itself.

Two interviews last week. Nothing has come of them so far. A third more informal interview has resulted in me agreeing to direct a play for the Edinburgh festival this year. It's all happened rather quickly and I'm quite excited by it.

My last visit to the festival was in 1990 when we took "Lady Bracknell's Confinement" the superb one man play by Paul Doust to the Pleasance for a week. I'd previously played Lady Bracknell in London and to take it to the festival for the last week was great fun.

I have memories of very cheap digs- a hall of residence as I remember. Nice houses, a great review in The Scotsman to give me cred, late night drinking sessions with the Comedy Store players after their gigs at the Assembly Rooms, and coming back home having had a great time with a very big hole in my bank account.

It was a unique occurrence and now twenty one years later, I am sure it is bigger, more commercial and different. I'll only be there for three days to get the play on and see its first two performances but already I'm looking forward to it.

I'm also working on a project with another old friend to do a fringe play for a week in November. The autumn has become my best time of year for corporate gigs. This year, as two years ago, I shall probably be involved in two large scale conferences for McDonalds, with whom I work regularly, and besides the fact that they are huge fun to put together, these are also lucrative jobs for me. This does mean that other work has to be fitted in around these commitments, but it does look like it will be possible to do this if we can get our act together.

Creating work for a purpose is always great fun. It's never financially rewarding, but it is the sort of thing that can remind you why you came into this business in the first place.

To create something that people enjoy, and that people enjoy creating is the best feeling of all. Whether it's a show, a corporate event or even a small afternoon workshop, if I enjoy doing it and people enjoy taking part or watching it then that is the best feeling of all.

If it has a theatrical bent, so much the better for all concerned. So hopefully there will be enough theatrical bent in my life for the next seven months or so to keep my soul ticking over.