I Only Hope The Applauding Audience Doesn't Start Shouting 'Author! Author!' (Ahem)

In a change to previously-advertised arrangements, I will now not be attending the performance of my Urban Myth at the Urbis centre in Manchester tonight.

'Tis a pity - I was looking forward to seeing what the performers do with it, but … well, to be frank, the organisers kind of dropped the ball in terms of letting we finalists know who won; there were ten of us, and the winner would have their hotel room paid for, which is a pleasing notion, but one that would certainly have affected my plans to travel there. I can't afford to take this afternoon off work and tomorrow morning as well (I get paid on a daily rate), so if I was going to be given a hotel room, then I could arrange to stay there overnight and travel back to London in time for work on Friday. If not, however, I needed to arrange to get to Manchester for the 6pm performance, then home again before the trains stop running, or before it gets so late it's actually early.

To that end, I called the organisers the other week, and asked if they knew when the result would be announced, as it would make a difference to my plans to attend; the lady I spoke to was very friendly, but didn't know, though she gave me an e-mail address to send the query to. I did so, and after a day or so of waiting for a reply I resent the e-mail, this time to a general address on their website. After another day or two had passed, I got a reply stating that the winner had been chosen - it's 'Pencil Suicide' by Daniel Gent (click here to read it, along with the other finalists). My congratulations to Daniel on winning, and for a sharp bit of writing. I like it.

However, the cost of getting the train to Manchester and back in one day (so as to only lose a half-day of paid work) would have been something in the region of £60, and I really can't afford that, so I won't be attending tonight. The Urban Myths performance is a multimedia event, though, so there's a possibility of related material being uploaded on the Web Pages of the Interactive Arts course whose students who are performing. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Of course, if you’re going to the event, please let me know how it went, and yes, if you could tell me what the 'Light' myth was like, I'd be very grateful. I'm very chuffed indeed to have been one of the finalists, and really not worried about not winning, but I do feel slightly thwarted in my attempts to attend, if that makes any sense. Still, even if I don't get to see my work performed, I can only hope the audience like it, and that the performers have some fun with it.