Sunday 17 June 2018

Of Premiers, Ghosts and Outsiders

The first of a series of women in startling red dresses sidled up to me. "I expect loads of people have already told you this, but several of us took a collective double-take when you walked in."

She was the first so no, loads of people had actually shown complete indifference to my entry into the hotel lobby to gatecrash a film premier of "Your Dad's Gay", a film adaptation of the first episode of Nicholas McInerny's radio drama, "How To Have The Perfect Marriage".

Illogical as it might appear, P., in France, listens to far more BBC Radio 4 than I do. He not only listens, but re-listens, records and transcribes segments or whole programmes for use with his students at school. Then he devises elaborate comprehension tasks and constructs even more elaborate marking grids, so that he can assess each pupil's understanding fairly. I have told him often, because it is true, his students are lucky to have a dedicated teacher like him; pity more of the students don't realise what an amazing prof he is. They'll find out, I guess when he reaches retirement in a few more years. Actually, that may not be true either. Once one has left a place of work one has almost inevitably gone completely. Out of sight, out of mind - exit means exit - and rarely (if ever) is one welcomed back.

P. and I first heard "How To Have The Perfect Marriage" when it was broadcast in a fifteen-minute drama slot following "Woman's Hour" - five episodes over the course of a week making up that first series. It proved popular enough listening for two further series to be commissioned. Someone told Nicholas it would make a good televisual drama too. He thought about it and opted for the sort of drama he could pitch to Netflix and realised he needed to raise sufficient funds to make that first episode. Someone showed him how to use a crowdfunding service. P gave generously. I gave less generously, but the £11k target was exceeded and a first episode was re-written, re-cast, rehearsed and recorded. We filed into the Courthouse Hotel's small cinema to watch the film and meet some of the cast.

P's contribution to the crowdfunding campaign entitled him to attend the premier of the impending project. Living and working in France made that awkward. In his outgoing manner he had already struck up something of an e-mail friendship with Mr McInerny and had revealed to him something of our own story. The series struck home with me because I related to much of the story - man ignores feelings of attraction to other men, gets married, fathers children, goes cruising ... not nice, not honourable, but the experience is unhappily common. Since P. couldn't go to the premier, I was invited - which is how I came to walk through the entrance to the function room at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho on Friday 15th June.

It is weird, but I seem to have a face that reminds people of others they know. I have been told many times that someone saw me somewhere ... and I was never there! The weirdest time was in Shrewsbury when I went for a walk with my friends, J and W, in a break between films at the Rainbow Film Festival a few years ago. Someone claimed to have seen me, but apparently in another part of the town completely. This time I reminded Nicholas and a small gathering of close friends of another of their close-knit gang who had passed away a couple of years ago. That is what caused the collective double-take.

Nicholas McInerny and Marshlander

If you can manage to get hold of a podcast of the radio drama, well done and I hope you enjoy it. I have enjoyed repeated listenings. I have no idea how the video project is progressing, but I do wish Nicholas and his team all the best. I look forward to seeing it when this flower finally blooms. It is a story that needs to be told.

Many women and many red dresses, all of them startling. One of those once in a lifetime experiences no doubt.

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