Bristol Sitcom Trials meeting - Sunday 26th Feb.
On
a pleasantly warm and sunny Sunday afternoon (the kind of day the Small
Faces might have written about) the Bristol Sitcom Trials team convened
in a Totterdown pub to read scripts and discuss the pain threshold of
people who regularly go paintballing. In t-shirts, sunglasses and sheer
disbelief that no food is served in the pub, we read four shortlisted
entries for the fifteen minute slot at "The Secret Comedians" show in
Clifton, Bristol, on Thurs March 1st.
In
attendance were Angie, Becky (a newcomer, hello!), Elf, Hannah (another
newcomer, hello!), John, Linda, Luke, Nigel (our third newcomer),
Robin, Sarit, Vince, and Vivian.
The scripts we read were:
"You
Banker!" by Richard Dowling, read by Hannah, Luke, Sarit and Viv. Lots
of great ideas, good characters (espec. the stroppy secretary who won't
let the theft of her sandwiches go unremarked) and a pleasingly surreal
vibe to the piece (the Kafka brothers reference was particularly
inspired). This was a strong opener and prompted lots of discussion
about the merits of grounding situation comedy in reality or taking off
into flights of the absurd. Running time: 16:39.
"Neighbourhood
Watch" by Angie Belcher (one of the Bristol team), read by Angie, Elf,
John and Robin. This had a high gag rate, an easy-to-follow narrative,
and characters that ranged from the monstrous to the endearing.
Discussion mainly centred on pacing and sex toys, and the male/female
power balance. This definitely has series potential, and was enjoyed by
all. Running time: 11:41.
"Outgoings"
by Dan Sweryt, read by Becky, Linda, Lorna, Nigel and Viv. Dark, witty
and with a very high gag-per-page rate, this had a plot point which
caused a few eyebrows to be raised (for a sitcom about assassins, this
kind of thing is unavoidable). Everyone loved the mother-in-law
character, jokes about teachers, the hit list and the Ronnie Corbett on
the horizon gag. One very clever dialogue exchange prompted a long
discussion about highbrow writing. Running time: 15:23.
"Twelve
Knight Street Motors" by Bart Hulley, read by Angie, Elf, John and
Robin. A storming closing script, this very rude and very funny
reworking of Shakespeare had everybody laughing at its sheer audacity
and monstrous characters. A brilliant opening gag about a make of car had us all won over and fueling the
argument that children shouldn't be allowed in pubs, a curious six year
old girl who had been left unattended by her parents wandered by, and
seemed to take an awful lot of interest in one particularly risque scene
involving pubic hair and lesbian seduction. We ploughed on with a mix
of embarrassment and amusement and thankfully the young girl had left by
the time we got to the bit where an annoyed customer takes a crap on a
doorstep. Running time: 11:45.
We
then voted on which one we liked the best, and I'm pleased to announce
that "Twelve Knight Street Motors" had the most hands raised in its
favour (even the little girl came back to vote for it) and will be
performed at "The Secret Comedians" gig on Thursday.
Thank
you to the team for making this an especially fun meeting, and to all
the writers who were kind and brave enough to submit material. Sorry if
your script didn't make the shortlist, or if it was read at the meeting
and pipped at the post. We'll hopefully be doing more of this sort of
thing, so keep an eye out for further call outs for scripts.
Meanwhile, here are details of "The Secret Comedians"
- It's at the Richmond pub, Clifton, Bristol, in spitting distance of the Students Union.
- Doors open at 8:00pm, entry is £3.
- Luke Honnoraty will be doing a little warm-up set (cheers Luke).
- "Twelve Knight Street Motors" will be performed by Angie, Hannah, John and Robin, script-in-hand radio style.
- Finally, rising star Tania Edwards will headline with a preview of her forthcoming Edinburgh show.
- The event is run by Elf Lyons, and we'd very much like to see you there, so please do spread the word and come along.
The
next Bristol Sitcom Trials meeting is on Sunday March 11, 2-4pm, Oxford
pub, Totterdown. We'll be reading the five scripts which will have
been voted by peer review to be the finalists in our show at the
Wardrobe Theatre on Fri March 30th (tickets available now).
Exciting times!
Kind regards,
Vince.
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