Two fine young playwrights who grew up in Twickenham have long been intrigued with the legends of local Eel Pie Island. Curiosity and the search for a fresh project inevitably led Tom Hanson and Sam Gillett to stumble upon my friend and former Eel Pie communard Weed's website. And among Weed's intriguing memorabilia of the psychedelic 1960s they found my hippie haibun/memoir of that magical period, Eel Pie Island Dharma.
So now Tom and Sam have my permission to write a screenplay based on Eel Pie Island Dharma. Today we began the first in a series of long distance interviews to help them with their in depth research.
From our initial conversation I can tell they intuitively understand the soul, spirit and intentions of my manuscript. In fact they noted some chapters in the book which they better understand are key to the narrative than I did as the author. They also have an understanding and appreciation of haiku/haibun, as Tom performed in a play based on Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North.
It will be incredibly fascinating to read Tom and Sam's screenplay interpretation of Eel Pie Island Dharma. They bring a fresh-eyed perspective to the spiritual heights and social turmoil of a period I've always considered a mini renaissance in human consciousness.
Will Eel Pie Island Dharma end up on big (or little) screens around the planet? Is the time now ripe for a revisiting of the sixties? The thought of the soundtrack is enough to give me kundalini - Hendrix is on my stereo, whispering The Wind Cries Mary, with its haunting lyric the tiny island sags downstream.
So now Tom and Sam have my permission to write a screenplay based on Eel Pie Island Dharma. Today we began the first in a series of long distance interviews to help them with their in depth research.
From our initial conversation I can tell they intuitively understand the soul, spirit and intentions of my manuscript. In fact they noted some chapters in the book which they better understand are key to the narrative than I did as the author. They also have an understanding and appreciation of haiku/haibun, as Tom performed in a play based on Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North.
It will be incredibly fascinating to read Tom and Sam's screenplay interpretation of Eel Pie Island Dharma. They bring a fresh-eyed perspective to the spiritual heights and social turmoil of a period I've always considered a mini renaissance in human consciousness.
Will Eel Pie Island Dharma end up on big (or little) screens around the planet? Is the time now ripe for a revisiting of the sixties? The thought of the soundtrack is enough to give me kundalini - Hendrix is on my stereo, whispering The Wind Cries Mary, with its haunting lyric the tiny island sags downstream.
