The Man Who Couldn't

Yes, that is the working title, and it's a shit one, I know, I've sort of resigned myself to the indeterminate hope that a better one will emerge as I write, incidentally, the original working title was 'How Not to Have Therapy' which is catastrophically lame! Or maybe I just get hung up on titles more than is strictly necessary!

I don't know why I seem to be putting off explaining the actual story here, maybe I'm worried if I type it out it'll put me off the idea altogether before the thing has even been written! That's commom I think, particularly when you're starting out, ideas crumble when they're still in your head, even good ones!

 Leaving digressions aside, finally, the earliest thought I remember having about this play was wanting to write a bitter man, a failure, somebody who blamed the rest of the world for their own flaws and mistakes. It's a common coping mechanism, I know several versions of this character personally, and there's a fair few more in fiction. The thing is, it's far, far too easy to write someone ranting and raging, because it's fun, for the audience, for the actor, for the writer; I started to think about what would have made Nigel (it had to be!) that man. I don't mean the actual circumstances of unfulfillment in his life, but rather what it was about his character that created those circumstances and prevented him from acting to change them! Why do some people fail and some suceed? Of course there are those who get lucky, but Nigel, and most other people, don't, and so whether we fly or fall says a lot about who we are. Literally thousands of self help books are churned out by publishers every year, and they all tell the same old story about confidence and motivation but I don't believe for a second that they actually turn anybody's life around, for one thing, the advice they give is bloody obvious! Most of us know how we'd 'improve' things for ourselves, but for some that doesn't make the blindest bit of difference, they have a block, it comes from somewhere, internal or external, a relationship, a personal trait or a memory. That's the heart of this play, that people aren't capable of change within themselves to any meaningful extent, I think that's utterly true, and desperately sad!

Writing all this out feels good, like maybe it could go somewhere, more soon...

PS: Just read that back, not EVERY post will be so concerned with 'themes,' it's completely the wrong way to write, 'themes' emerge from characters and anyone who tries to it the other way around will fall flat on their arse!