The great thing about writing a play is you can cover a lot of ground in a short space of time. I'm up to 85 pages on the New Historical Play, and in the process of doing an edit. I've no idea whether it's finished yet - probably not, if past experience is anything to go by - but writing it and reading through what I've written (which I do aloud to get a feel for the dialogue) is very entertaining if nothing else. I'm enjoying the process hugely.
The great thing is imagining the scenes, without being hampered by having to agonise over long passages of description. As I edit I put in odd touches in the stage directions, tiny character descriptions to add some colour. It's the time to check details as well. Being a historical subject, and based on real people, I have to be careful of getting the background facts right.
Now I have to decide which medium would be best. I started it thinking Screenplay, but it's not easy to get historical movies made even after the success of Braveheart and Robin Hood. Then there's radio - might be worth a throw as there's supposedly a huge demand for original material at the BBC and radio is the traditional way in. I'd like to think it could be a stage play too, in fact I think this might be the perfect outlet, but how easy is it to get a stage play produced?
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