Bad directions

The Arts Theatre has put me in touch with a guy called Matthew - who is going to be helping ‘directing’ the show. I have no problem with that, a bit of help would be very useful - but I’m just not sure about him. He kept shaking his head when I was telling him my ideas for the story. I don’t think he liked the idea for the ending - in a Jacuzzi in a penthouse suite with the 3 naked girls who have been my girlfriends over the years. To be honest Carol didn’t seem very keen on that idea either. I tried to say it was supposed to be both an uplifting, happy ending aswell as being a surreal comment on how your memory is constantly kept alive with moments from the past - in this case the old loves of your life…

Matthew kept going on about keeping it truthful, which to be honest is a bit annoying because frankly who’s interested in watching the truth? The truthful story is I tried to sell my songs for years and it all turned to shit. People aren’t going to pay 18 quid a ticket for a night watching that. They want glamour. So that’s why I thought I could be singing a song with my guitar on the edge of the jaccuzzi, with the 3 girls in there, begging me to get in… I thank them for the wonderful times we had, and we slip into the water together and all slowly submerge - then we suddenly leap up, out of the water laughing. The Jacuzzi doesn’t have to go up into the roof. I can see how that night me a bit ridiculous [and expensive]. But it would be surprising, funny and hopefully moving. At the end Lenny could say, “This one’s for all you dreamers out there…” That could be a very powerful the last line.

I’m not sure Matthew has the right sense of humour for The Fall & Rise Of Lenny Smallman. I’ll try it on him again tomorrow.