The dashing Eric MacClure (David Barr) courts Angelina Broderick (Lisa Morelli). One of these people has a house to sell.

The posters are ready for the Charleston run of South and we even have a nice quote to add ("Timeless and flawlessly delivered dramatic message… entertaining and thought-provoking…") thanks to William R. Scaife, author of The Atlanta Campaign. My work on the play has been slowed only by a painful ailment that has bothered me for five weeks now. I finally plucked up the courage to visit the doctor last week - my first such visit since I moved to the US last summer.

The aches that are slowing me down are in an embarrassing place, somewhere that I won't mention in a wholesome blog like this one. Let's just say that it's somewhere a guy does not want any pain whatsoever. To make the visit more difficult for me, I'd neglected to go to the restroom all morning (in case a urine sample was required) and my bladder was full when the doc examined me. I ended up with a vague diagnosis and a $170 bill, a shock to a Brit who's used to getting free healthcare. To think that the folks back home grumble when they have to pay a flat $10 fee for all their drugs!

I'm also trying to buy a house at the moment. I put an offer down for a white, colonial-style detached property, then found that the seller was one of the stars of South. Small world!

At a recent production meeting, we started the ball rolling for our shows at the Sottile Theatre. We'll be working on a rousing curtain call and a fancier sound design, with a little Chopin thrown in for class. At least three plays open at the same time as ours, so here's hoping w'll be the pick of the bunch.

This is what a knackered old actor/writer/producer looks like...

I don't like to admit it but I'm tired. There you go, I've said it. I need sleep, shut-eye, a glorious snooze... but I'm not going to get it.

Staging a 7-figure-budget play in some of the largest theatres in Savannah and Charleston keeps me awake. There are 100 things to think about: potential problems, surly technical crews, glitch-ridden equipment, props prone to go missing, seats that need to be filled. Somehow the stars of the show sleep soundly while my co-director and I survive on a few hours of sleep a night.

I'm just back from the Lucas Theatre in Savannah, GA, where South played for 3 nights to respectable houses. South is a complex Civil War drama that explores the conflicting relationships between men and women, with themes of war and peace, north and south, black and white, and God's will versus man's will all thrown into the mix.

The Lucas was rennovated recently and it looks gorgeous. One box is owned by Kevin Spacey and another by Clint Eastwood (they both filmed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in the city). In a couple of weeks we go to the Sottile, Charleston, SC, and I'll be losing more precious sleep.

South is an epic drama set on the eve of the Civil War.

My first novel...

with my very patient cat on the cover.