Desperately Seeking Samuel

We are recently back from a three month reprieve from what turned out to be a rather harsh winter at home. While away, I worked on my new play, learning lines but also doing fairly substantial revisions. I think the result is as I wished.

“Desperately Seeking Samuel” will be a difficult play to produce on stage, and also an equally difficult one to produce on film. This is not only because the production will be one with no budget, and one that is filmed with the most basic of equipment, and edited on the most basic of computer programmes, but also because it is a play that takes place in a confined space. Although memory shots would help to make the play more visually appealing, there is no money available for this purpose. So it will be a “make do” undertaking.

However, for me, it is the story that is the most important aspect of any production. If the story is engaging, one should not need flashy production tools.

Now, someone who has seen a draught of the film version has commented that it is very slow. It runs just under 80 minutes. He did not say it was too slow, but that may have been his intent. However, I make no apology for this. I am not one who is about high action, fast moving scenarios, despite the fact that today everything moves at a rapid pace with instant, succinct messaging, information at one’s fingertip, fast food, - flashy everything.

This story is about memory. It is like putting a puzzle together, trial and error, studying shapes and colours. It happens with forethought, at a relaxed pace. And I want the audience to slow down and take it in – to use its imagination, to listen and digest.

While I was away, I received notice that my last film, "One's Company", won an Exceptional Merit award at an independent film festival in the United States. It had just recently also been awarded Best Film in a category for films with a theme about covid-19 at another independent film festival in India. Not the Oscars, but for a humble effort, not too bad either.

Regardless, I may not enter the current film in any of these festivals. Time will tell. I will, nonetheless, post it to YouTube and let it filter as it will through cyberspace. Furthermore, I do plan to mount it as a stage play sometime this coming year, with a test run this summer.

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Samuel Benefit a Success

The sold out performance of Desperately Seeking Samuel was a success. The production raised $800 for the Champlain Elementary School breakfast and lunch programme. The cheque will be presented to the school at the end of month at the school assembly by request of the principal, Jan Ross. Paul Rapsey performed both the role of Samuel in the main play and of Marianna in the Epilogue. The powerful Epilogue was not in the film version. Audience members who had already seen the film, repeatedly said how different the play was from the film version. It had more energy and less darkness. Paul says that is because an actor feeds off an audience. An actor cannot do that in a film. In his brief introduction, Paul said the play was not a linear one. He described it as like a slow paced road trip of discovery. It starts off in the early morning darkness. Sometimes the road is smooth and straight. Sometimes one is dodging potholes. There are curves and bends. Sometimes the scenery is stunning...

One's Company Now a Film

I am not a filmmaker. But Covid has forced me to become one, to a degree. I decided to turn this stage play into a one-hour film in the "talking head" genre. I have not decided what if anything I will do with this film other than make it available to my few fans on YouTube. I am not sure exactly how to categorize this film. At 61 minutes, it seems too long to classify as a "short", and too short to classify as a "feature". As was Fiddelity , the film is made with no budget and very basic equipment. I am, essentially a story teller in the old sense. It is the words and the way I use and express them that are intended to ignite the imagination of the audience, rather than reliance on pyro-technics and the like. I was particularly touched by this comment by one viewer: " I watched One’s Company last night and loved it. A graceful insight into alone-ness. Am I not being understood….or is it I who misunderstands? Small worries looming large. The growth...

Playwright Turned Author

BOOK LAUNCH There is murder in the air in a sleepy, unsuspecting village on the banks of a tidal river in Nova Scotia. “ Murder on the Pony Express Way ” by Paul Rapsey, a resident of Granville Ferry, will be released in paperback format at a book launch at Bainton’s Mad Hatter Bookstore in Annapolis Royal on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Stay on for Happy Hour at the Mad Hatter Wine Bar. The book is a whimsical murder mystery that takes place in the early 2020s. The historic village is located on the roadway travelled briefly by the mid-19 th century Pony Express riders carrying mail between Halifax and Victoria Beach in Nova Scotia. The characters may be flawed, but they are loveable. Although Paul has published other works, this is his first fictional novel. Josh Anderson at Amazon Books, which will be releasing the book for online purchases and e-readers in the late spring or early summer, wrote that the book is “ …a delightful read… W...

One Actor - Another Show

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