Lots of news!

I know, I know - I’ve been a bit quiet these last few weeks. So, to sum up:

1) Unconference 28/2/26

It was a great success! We had a total of nine workshops on all sorts of subjects to do with creativity, writing and storytelliing: ‘Comedy writing’, ‘Creating good dialogue’ and ‘Mind mapping’, to name but three (I ran one on writing haiku and senryū, which seemed to go down pretty well). People brought loads of different dishes in for the pot luck lunch - my hummus variations garnered many compliments!

Many thanks to everyone who turned up and made it such an enjoyable, entertaining and yes, educational experience. Special thanks to the wonderful Dixon for impeccable hosting, and of course to Jazz and Jim for making the whole thing happen in the first place. This was the first Wordplay Unconference, and I’m certain it won’t be the last!

2) Wordplay Tomar Writers Club 8/3/26

I led the first part of this meeting with tips and tricks to help with reading your work out loud. It’s the second time I’ve done this workshop - we did fast and slow readings, high and low pitched, smiling and frowning - it was great fun! We also did a bunch of vocal workouts and tongue-twisters in both English and Portuguese.

In the second part of the meeting, those who had written pieces inspired by last month’s prompt, Haunted, had a chance to read them out loud and receive positive and encouraging feedback. It was great to see how energised we all were following my ‘Reading Out Loud’ workshop. There was passion and loud, clear voices. It was ace. You’ll find my contribution by clicking on this link. Let me know what you think.

3) My birthday - 27/3/26

For my 64th birthday (not ‘when’, it’s ‘now’), we stayed at the Magic Hotel for a night in Nazaré, my favourite place in Portugal. It was warm and windy and the waves weren’t big enough for the mad surfers, but it was beautiful, and we had a marvellous lunch at a wonderful restauarant called Ólareu. I thoroughly recommend it!

4) Big News!

…and I’m saving the biggest, bestest news until last. After a loooong period of thespian inactivity, I’m going to be an actor again!

In a feature film. In Sardinia.

Back in 2021, a Czech student had some conversational English lessons with me. Eliška, who was (and still is) a screenwriter and TV and film director, was seeking to improve her fluency and confidence in speaking English, and I was happy to help. We got on really well, and I got the chance to see her short children’s film, ‘The Terrifying Story of Eliz’ (which was nominated for best short film in the 2022 Czech Lions Film Awards). It was darkly comic, in a similar vein to Roald Dahl - and I loved it!

Anyway, time passed, students come and go. Eliška was working on some Czech TV and was really busy, then she reappeared after having been on holiday with her sister in Sardinia.

She told me she’d had an idea for a screenplay set in and around the Gorropu Canyon (the deepest canyon in Europe, and not an easy hike), about a young Sardinian called Luigi (which is the film’s title), who was a bit of a chancer, a wheeler-dealer, who saw an opportunity to make some easy money pretending to be an official guide in the canyon, and his misadventures with the motley bunch of pensioners, asthmatics and kids who become his tour group.

…And one of the members of that motley bunch - an English teacher called Bob - was based on me, Eliška told me. She hoped I didn’t mind (I didn’t), and didn’t I used to be an actor (I did), and would I like to play Bob? Well, of course I would!

So, every year since then, I’ve been getting updates about the funding for the film, about putative dates that came and went, because there was insufficient funding, or because Eliška gave birth (welcome to the world, Norbert!).

The screenplay is great fun, a comedy-drama chock full of eccentric characters unwillingly grouped together, who find themselves in some sometimes perilous situations. I’m so pleased that Eliška asked me to be part of this, and I’m so excited that its going to happen!

From the beginning of April to the middle of May, I’m going to be in Sardinia, being Bob. And I’m going to be writing a weekly diary here on my blog, to keep you updated about my adventures. And maybe there’ll be interviews, and maybe there’ll be photographs, and yes, it’s likely there’ll be the odd poem (most of my poems are).

Perhaps not the best time for me to contract bronchitis (what a wonderfully Old World illness to be coming down with). But I’m taking antibiotics, and I have this weird orange and white inhaler that I have to take a parp on twice daily, and it’s getting easier to breathe every day, so I’m sure I’ll be fine by Easter Monday…