Thursday 10th March 2016

Am really feeling a buzz about this soap opera of ours. To the extent I woke up early and made a start on episode 19, before realising I was supposed to be freelancing.

Did that for 3 hours, before popping out to see Mum (moods up and down, in quite dramatic fashion, despite me only being there for a couple hours) and then over to a massive theatre (267 capacity) to have a big meeting about a huge musical that I've not even started writing yet. Good meeting, enjoyed it, ending with an offer for a 3 night run in October...but so many risks, that I'm not going to get involved with. If the others want to do it, then fine - they can, but I need to be 'just' the writer for that one. Being a producer for a show of that size is a full-time job in itself, and I reckon I have about 8 part-time jobs as it is.

And then over to Wolfson College to return to the role of 'Clive' (a character I played last year) in another one of Tom's funny but quite crude scripts. Enjoyed it a lot (and I had my doubts beforehand), Chloe was a joy to perform alongside, filming was intense - did the whole lot in 4 hours, but it was really nice. It was written completely for me (Tom's had it for a while but I've not been available), lovely, stumbling awkward man stuff - I get confused around a girl, fall over, say some things I shouldn't do, look perplexed and do the whole 'massive eyes' thing...standard Richards stuff, but the praise was heaped upon me tonight because I do awkward so well. And I know I do...I'm a limited actor, so incredibly limited, but give me a role like that and...yeah, easy.

So, I think the last few months I've started to realise who I am, what I can do:

I am a: drummer, awkward actor, playwright (of short sitcom-things)
I can get away with: Latin/African percussion, stand-up comedy, basic film making
I am not really a: producer, songwriter
I still have no idea if I am a: novelist (will find out in July when the book comes out)

Good to know what to build on, isn't it?

Got back, nailed episode 19 like a legend. Started writing episode 20, but drank beer instead.