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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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