Orwell, Dickens, Jamie and Me.
FEATHER IN THE CAP TIME: The education department at the Queen's Theatre decided to deal with ANIMAL FARM for the English and drama department syllabuses. Because of the economic restraints it was quickly realised that we could not use any extant scripts, two in number, which involved a cast of at least eight. So, I said I would do an adaptation for three actors and a speaking technician (oov). We had to acquire permission from the George Orwell Trust. Eventually, after examining my CVs and history of work at the Queen's, they gave permission. Thus, I am one of the chosen few who have been given permission to adapt ANIMAL FARM. RESULT!
The script is available, for any one who is interested, from the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch.
More recently, Beth Flatley, the new head of education at the Queen's Theatre, expressed a desire to.....
....do something which dealt with healthy lifestyles for school children. This coincided with the 'Jamie Oliver' school dinners campaign and the policy for improving the school menu in Essex schools. I volunteered - and was encouraged - to write something.
The result was, "OLIVIA TWIST", the story of an orphaned girl who runs away from school and joins a travelling fair.
She lodges with the Burger Wagon owner, Bill. She learns about 'GOOD FOOD' from the ghost train owner, who happens to be the long lost sister of the school cook at Olivia's old school and, by a sychronicitous chain of events, she arrives back at school and initiates a change of menu. Everybody is reunited, the school exam results improve and everyone is extremely successful. We had Steven Walpole, chef at Westminster College, who came in to advise and teach us about cooking healthy snacks.
The exciting feature about the show was that three of the actors had to cook chicken, mackerel and vegetarian fajitas - live- in front of the audience, who tasted the goods. They seemed to like it, both the show and the food.
The script for the show is also available from the Queen's Theatre.
You can see Steve Walpole with me and the cast by clicking here and scrolling down.
I am also in the process of writing a children's novel with my mate Jack. It's a science fiction story involving the child's world in the fifties - sort of. It's great fun to do and a bit under wraps at the moment.
