AT LAST! I CAN ANNOUNCE THIS!

I am super-excited thqat I can finally confirm my new creative project. I've had a great time doing The Rats in the Walls and Doctor Coppelius, but it has been commented that I don;t half pick some depressing subject material, and do you know what, you're right. It's about time I did a happy and joyous story, and after a lot of negotiations, I am now in a position to tell you what I have in store: a stage adaptation of John O'Farell's super book This Is Your Life.

This Is Your Life is the story of Jimmy Conway, who is in a dead-end job and a dead-end life. In despair after his escape fails, his is mistaken for a close friend of a famous comedian - and then, through a series of misunderstandings, bluffs, and lazy journalism, gets lauded as a brilliant stand-up comedian himself. So much, that he ends up performing a gig to the London Palladium ... even though he has never done stand-up comedy in his life.

The concept I've had in the head all this time is that you the audience are watching Jimmy Conway's comeback gig, with his story delivered in the format of stand-up comedy, but very much story first, gags second. The fact this is in the back-room of a pub and not another 2,000-seater venue should be a clue of how things went, but there's more to it than you might think - however, I'll say no more because there's a good twist at the end.

(On a personal note this story appealed to me for the themes of both celebrity culture and getting stuck in a dead-end life. I've seen both of those and the depiction in the book is spot on.)

So, the dates and times ... the very first work in progress performance will be at Buxton Fringe at The Cheshire Cheese on 15th July at 3.00 p.m., and then the second performance will be at Durham Free Fringe at The Market Tavern on 30th July also at 3.00 p.m. Both of these are free, because you are doing me a favour as being test audiences. In the long term, I plan to upscale this to its intended full-length three-hander format, but I haven't even started thinking about how to get there. I'm going to get this done (along with the rest of Durham Free Fringe), and make plans after that.

Huge thanks to John O'Farell for allowing me to take a chance on this book, and thanks also to his agent Yasmin McDonald for working out the agreement to get started. And finally - the teaser image is for this play. A man struggling to carry the weight of a massive star - I wonder if this could be a metaphor for something?