Fringe theatre might not seem an exciting move up the ladder to fame and fortune but the very fact that someone thinks your writing is funny enough to perform on stage is a humbling experience. Not only that but there is the big fear that all comedy writers must have when having their work performed in public for the first time; namely will the audience laugh?
I wrote ‘Another Dead Parrot Sketch’ for the ‘Channel 4’ web site competition called ‘4Laughs’. It was an opportunity to offer one’s work for scrutiny to fellow comedy writers. That was back in 2007 and I didn’t expect to get anything from it. Still, it was worth a crack and I enjoyed the challenge.
Then, from out of the blue I received an email from the Manager of The Purple Theatre Company. ‘Can we perform your sketch?’ he asked. ‘Free?’ he added. Well I could ask my agent, I thought, if I had one but when someone asks if you would like to stick your neck out of the shadows of obscurity and offer the public at large a small taste of your tremendous wit and talent you have to say yes.
And so it came to pass that in AD2009, 6th June, West Drayton, the Community Centre, a little bit past tea time as it goes, ‘Another Dead Parrot Sketch’ was performed to literally tens of people.
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