Last night I read at the opening night of Short Fuse Hastings, which was held at the Rooms. It was my first trip to St. Leonards in a long time but I didn’t get much chance to explore. I was reminded, however, exactly how dull the road from Brighton to Hastings is.
The Rooms was quite a small space, which the audience easily filled. The night featured a mix of Brighton and Hastings writers – Short Fuse is good at picking an interesting mix of writers, and all the stories were interesting and engaging. My favourite performances were AK Benedict‘s fairy tale Zoetrope and an excellent story by a recent Sussex Graduate about unemployed slackers watching TV.
I read a story called ‘Puddlejumping’. I’d rehearsed it quite a few times so, once the first few paragraphs were done, I felt fairy relaxed. When I’m reading and it seems to be going well I sometimes feel weirdly disassociated. I’m reading the words, but at the same time part of me is looking at the audience and wondering what they’re thinking of the story. Which is fine, except I sometimes panic because I won’t remember actually reading the previous paragraph aloud: what if I’ve been standing onstage, reading it in my head? But I’m sure somebody would have told me if I had a habit of doing that.
Thanks to Tara for inviting me to read. I’m looking forward to watching the next Short Fuse, on June 7th at the Komedia, which features Ros Barber and David Bramwell reading true stories about Brighton. I’m also hoping to visit Hastings for the next event there, and will maybe explore some old haunts beforehand.
Today has been tiring, so I’m off to bed to read comic books. Hopefully tomorrow will be less trying.