http://www.huntspost.co.uk/content/hunt ... 3A28%3A317
Hunts Post, UK
13 June 2007
(extract)
A 26-YEAR-OLD playwright from St Ives has written five plays this year and will see six of his works staged in three different British cities.
Paul Richards, a writer and musician who is also the co-author of Almost Famous, The Hunts Post rock column, has received acclaim in Edinburgh, Brighton and London.
His comedy, Frank's Aim is True, will be performed by the theatre group Get a Real Job Promotions at the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as in Peterborough, Cambridge and at the Lodestar Festival in Lode, East Cambridgeshire. Last year, his play, Growing Up with Martin, received three stars (out of five) at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The latest play, described as a comedy about musical obsession, centres on bewildered chip shop assistant Frank who believes he is Elvis Costello. Despite the television interviews and the concerts he conducts in his head, the rest of the world struggles to understand him, notably his uncle Stan, who himself is obsessed on a completely different level - with winning the prestigious Chip Shop of the Year contest.
http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.ph ... ws&id=4591
August 21 -27 '07
Frank's Aim Is True
Chip-shop assistant Frank has issues; he often believes he's Elvis Costello. But with the regional takeaway finals looming that soon becomes the least of his problems ... A lively, original comedy about musical obsession, love and fried fish.
venue: understairs @Apostolic
group: Get A Real Job Promotions
category: Theatre
related link: http://www.getarealjob.co.uk
'..chip shop assistant..who believes he is Elvis Costello'
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verbal gymnastics
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DeathWearsABigHat
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should've called the play There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis
"trust the wizards, here we go" http://www.trustthewizards.com
Early Costello albums inspired a BBC Radio play, as this ECIS Feb.'86 cutting tells -
Checking this out recently , I looked up a site dedicated to Anton Lesser , one of the actors in it. According to this -
http://www.geocities.com/antonlesser/recordings.html
- the play was first broadcast on November the 8th 1984. I e-mailed some members of a Lesser Yahoogroup but none of them have a recording of the show. Other sites indicate that the BBC , in a continuation of it's notorious habit of junking older material , doesn't have the play archived. Of course , if Tim Webb is somewhere out there , maybe he may have it on an old cassette . If so, please get in touch!
Checking this out recently , I looked up a site dedicated to Anton Lesser , one of the actors in it. According to this -
http://www.geocities.com/antonlesser/recordings.html
- the play was first broadcast on November the 8th 1984. I e-mailed some members of a Lesser Yahoogroup but none of them have a recording of the show. Other sites indicate that the BBC , in a continuation of it's notorious habit of junking older material , doesn't have the play archived. Of course , if Tim Webb is somewhere out there , maybe he may have it on an old cassette . If so, please get in touch!
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StrictTime
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I missed this in my quick lunchtime read of the first link -
The Glass Onion , Peterborough on July 26
http://www.muddypromotions.org.uk/
CB2 Restaurant, Norfolk Street, Cambridge, on July 28 and 29
http://www.cb2bistro.com/
Lodestar Festival on September 1
http://www.lodestarfestival.com/
Frank's Aim is True is at The Glass Onion in Peterborough on July 26; CB2 Restaurant, Norfolk Street, Cambridge, on July 28 and 29; at Understairs, The Apostolic, Edinburgh, from August 21 to 28 and at the Lodestar Festival on September 1.
The Glass Onion , Peterborough on July 26
http://www.muddypromotions.org.uk/
CB2 Restaurant, Norfolk Street, Cambridge, on July 28 and 29
http://www.cb2bistro.com/
Lodestar Festival on September 1
http://www.lodestarfestival.com/
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Otis Westinghouse
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charliestumpy
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Kirsty
I, as a lot of others, miss Kirsty/wonder if they caught etc her killer.
A chip shop, amongst other things, is where fat cats sell companies, or people cash in casino tokens.
I believe in USA/everywhere including on the moon fatty food made from farmed animals/fish became MacDonald's, which is a chip-shop if ever there was one.
Although unappreciated by the mostly tasteless/stupid British public, EC should probably not become for those of us who do like most of his music 'an obsession'.
A chip shop, amongst other things, is where fat cats sell companies, or people cash in casino tokens.
I believe in USA/everywhere including on the moon fatty food made from farmed animals/fish became MacDonald's, which is a chip-shop if ever there was one.
Although unappreciated by the mostly tasteless/stupid British public, EC should probably not become for those of us who do like most of his music 'an obsession'.
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paulrichards
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Frank's Aim Is True
Hi there,
Paul Richards here – writer of ‘Frank’s Aim Is True’ – been passed on the link to this excellent site so thought I’d register and introduce myself.
Thanks for your comments and interest so far.
It’s probably best if I give you a little background as to why I wrote the play in the first place (if I ramble – my apologies, it happens all the time, so ignore me). I’ve been writing scripts for a good few years now but only recently (last couple of years) have I started to find any kind of success. I’ve always had the idea of writing a piece about a character who’s obsessed with the music of EC (I’ll go in to why in a sec), indeed, DeathWearsABigHat, it was going to be called There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis Costello – but the title was deemed too long by my production team so that’s just in the subtext on the flyer now. However, such is the nature of the industry, such ideas never came to fruition previously – and as a young lad desperately trying to get my foot in the door I’ve had to put it aside and settle for writing plays about more obvious subjects. This year however I’m lucky enough to have finally found the right people to work with – my cast, my director – they ‘get’ it completely, if they didn’t I would have written something with more commercial value and gone for financial rewards rather than personal pride. What I’m basically trying to say here is that this is a play I’ve been holding on to for a long time and it’s with enormous pleasure that I can finally present it to the public…
The concept of the piece is incredibly simple – it’s about a guy who works in a tiny fast-food takeaway somewhere in Cambridgeshire. He has absolutely no self-belief, a dreamer from an early age, and only in employment because it’s a family business. On hearing ‘Shipbuilding’ on the radio for the first time he latches onto the music of EC – and holds onto the music for dear life; it’s opened a whole new spectrum for him, almost a new lease of life. It soon gets to the stage where he wants to be this man, and then believes that he can be – he can be the most intelligent social commentator England ever has produced, he can be somebody who has the capability of writing an album as delicate and beautiful as Imperial Bedroom. But he also knows deep down this can’t happen – and will never happen. Tie this realisation in with an Uncle who has other matters on his mind and their two worlds collide. I agree – music shouldn’t be obsessed about; but it happens – it’s happened to me (when I was at school many, many years ago a friend lent me This Years Model – and that was it, I was hooked, I was a different person, I was distracted from other important values in my life…), and from a writer’s point of view it’s a fascinating subject to explore, I only hope we’ve pulled it off convincingly in the production.
On the surface though, despite the darker undertones, I’ve always intended Frank’s Aim Is True to be reasonably light hearted and I think we’ve achieved that – it’s a short piece at 50 minutes long, it’s played with an enormous amount of energy by the best two actors I’ve had the privilege of working with. It’s written with great respect to EC and there’s simply no other artist I could written this about.
I fully appreciate this won’t be to everybody’s taste, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t dismiss the idea as being ‘probably crap, anyway’ until you have at least seen 10 minutes of what we’re capable of. I’m guessing from reading this a lot of you are not going to be able to make the live performances, but if you’re still interested the script has been published and the show itself will be filmed so we’re hoping to have that on youtube by the end of September. More info is at http://www.myspace.com/franksaimistrue
Any questions about the play send them over, I’d be delighted to chat and get people’s opinions, on a personal level I’m still very much learning my craft as a writer so really value your thoughts/ideas.
And yep…I’ve rambled, sorry, well done if you’ve read this far
Cheers
Paul
Paul Richards here – writer of ‘Frank’s Aim Is True’ – been passed on the link to this excellent site so thought I’d register and introduce myself.
Thanks for your comments and interest so far.
It’s probably best if I give you a little background as to why I wrote the play in the first place (if I ramble – my apologies, it happens all the time, so ignore me). I’ve been writing scripts for a good few years now but only recently (last couple of years) have I started to find any kind of success. I’ve always had the idea of writing a piece about a character who’s obsessed with the music of EC (I’ll go in to why in a sec), indeed, DeathWearsABigHat, it was going to be called There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis Costello – but the title was deemed too long by my production team so that’s just in the subtext on the flyer now. However, such is the nature of the industry, such ideas never came to fruition previously – and as a young lad desperately trying to get my foot in the door I’ve had to put it aside and settle for writing plays about more obvious subjects. This year however I’m lucky enough to have finally found the right people to work with – my cast, my director – they ‘get’ it completely, if they didn’t I would have written something with more commercial value and gone for financial rewards rather than personal pride. What I’m basically trying to say here is that this is a play I’ve been holding on to for a long time and it’s with enormous pleasure that I can finally present it to the public…
The concept of the piece is incredibly simple – it’s about a guy who works in a tiny fast-food takeaway somewhere in Cambridgeshire. He has absolutely no self-belief, a dreamer from an early age, and only in employment because it’s a family business. On hearing ‘Shipbuilding’ on the radio for the first time he latches onto the music of EC – and holds onto the music for dear life; it’s opened a whole new spectrum for him, almost a new lease of life. It soon gets to the stage where he wants to be this man, and then believes that he can be – he can be the most intelligent social commentator England ever has produced, he can be somebody who has the capability of writing an album as delicate and beautiful as Imperial Bedroom. But he also knows deep down this can’t happen – and will never happen. Tie this realisation in with an Uncle who has other matters on his mind and their two worlds collide. I agree – music shouldn’t be obsessed about; but it happens – it’s happened to me (when I was at school many, many years ago a friend lent me This Years Model – and that was it, I was hooked, I was a different person, I was distracted from other important values in my life…), and from a writer’s point of view it’s a fascinating subject to explore, I only hope we’ve pulled it off convincingly in the production.
On the surface though, despite the darker undertones, I’ve always intended Frank’s Aim Is True to be reasonably light hearted and I think we’ve achieved that – it’s a short piece at 50 minutes long, it’s played with an enormous amount of energy by the best two actors I’ve had the privilege of working with. It’s written with great respect to EC and there’s simply no other artist I could written this about.
I fully appreciate this won’t be to everybody’s taste, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t dismiss the idea as being ‘probably crap, anyway’ until you have at least seen 10 minutes of what we’re capable of. I’m guessing from reading this a lot of you are not going to be able to make the live performances, but if you’re still interested the script has been published and the show itself will be filmed so we’re hoping to have that on youtube by the end of September. More info is at http://www.myspace.com/franksaimistrue
Any questions about the play send them over, I’d be delighted to chat and get people’s opinions, on a personal level I’m still very much learning my craft as a writer so really value your thoughts/ideas.
And yep…I’ve rambled, sorry, well done if you’ve read this far
Cheers
Paul
That was me ( surprise, surprise...). The article mentioned Paul's day job and employer. I found a e-mail address for same and sent a note mentioning our interest. How cool of him to contribute here. The play sounds more and more interesting ; I'll have to see if my already hectic summer travel plans ( Spain next week , England in July) will let me ( never mind afford!) get over to see it.been passed on the link to this excellent site so thought I’d register and introduce myself.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Frank's Aim Is True
And that was me! Sorry Paul. I never dreamt you'd pop up here. I'm now blushing profusely, see:paulrichards wrote:I fully appreciate this won’t be to everybody’s taste, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t dismiss the idea as being ‘probably crap, anyway’ until you have at least seen 10 minutes of what we’re capable of.
It was just a silly joke, and not a very funny one, I admit. Your description makes it sound interesting - perhaps I will get to Lodestar after all. I would, needless to say, be straight down CB2 if I was here that week. Maybe it will be on again another time.
Nice to see another Cambridge local here!
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
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thepopeofpop
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Would it be too obvious to suggest that the theme music should be "Fish'n'Chip Paper"?
For some reason "Ghost Train" also seems appropriate.
It's darkly amusing that Frank's (would-be) girlfriend is called Alison. Frank manages to come across as rather creepy as well as sadly comical.
I used to do a bit of theatre back in the day, and I've known a few budding playwrights, so I have empathy for this stuff. I would suggest that anyone who has the chance should get on their bike and see this play!
You never know ... I might even be able to organise an antipodean production.
P.
For some reason "Ghost Train" also seems appropriate.
It's darkly amusing that Frank's (would-be) girlfriend is called Alison. Frank manages to come across as rather creepy as well as sadly comical.
I used to do a bit of theatre back in the day, and I've known a few budding playwrights, so I have empathy for this stuff. I would suggest that anyone who has the chance should get on their bike and see this play!
You never know ... I might even be able to organise an antipodean production.
P.
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paulrichards
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Quick question...
Hey everyone
Thanks again for your interest and comments regarding the show, and apologies I haven’t been a little more active on here, just been so busy sorting things in time for the performances. All seems nicely in shape for now though which is a relief…
Anyway – I have a quick question and I guess you guys are the best people to ask. Obviously the music of EC is featured in the play a lot (I’ve filled in my PRS form so it’s all legal!), and during one particularly delicate lovelorn moment ‘Just A Memory’ is played – it’s the changing of direction in the play and a key moment, and wouldn’t work I don’t think with any other song in the world. But the version I have here doesn’t seem to be of a high recorded quality – it’s a studio version, that’s one of the bonus tracks on the Get Happy re-release (not the most recent reissue, but the one from 1994). It’s clear enough, but still has that ‘demo’ sound to it…anybody know if there’s another version knocking around recorded by EC? Any help appreciated…
Cheers,
Paul
Thanks again for your interest and comments regarding the show, and apologies I haven’t been a little more active on here, just been so busy sorting things in time for the performances. All seems nicely in shape for now though which is a relief…
Anyway – I have a quick question and I guess you guys are the best people to ask. Obviously the music of EC is featured in the play a lot (I’ve filled in my PRS form so it’s all legal!), and during one particularly delicate lovelorn moment ‘Just A Memory’ is played – it’s the changing of direction in the play and a key moment, and wouldn’t work I don’t think with any other song in the world. But the version I have here doesn’t seem to be of a high recorded quality – it’s a studio version, that’s one of the bonus tracks on the Get Happy re-release (not the most recent reissue, but the one from 1994). It’s clear enough, but still has that ‘demo’ sound to it…anybody know if there’s another version knocking around recorded by EC? Any help appreciated…
Cheers,
Paul