Entry for January 16, 2007

I wrote a play last year called "Sex Lies and an Eighties Tribute Band" and we've done it two years in a row at the Edinburgh Fringe. The lead character in the show is called Neil Stevenson, a name which bears a striking resemblance to that of my friend Neil Stevenson, whom I know from university days.
The play is about a guy turning forty, and yesterday I got an e-mail from Neil (the real one - not the one in the play - that would have been rather scary and would probably only happen in a Steven King novel before the character stabbed the author to death with a biro for creating him in a world full of dramatic problems.)
Anyway, Neil - who now works for the foreign office in London - e-mailed me yesterday to say that he'd been out celebrating his 40th birthday at a pub in London. One of his pals, a QC with contacts in the media, had been at the Edinburgh Fringe, and told Neil that he'd seen a play at Edinburgh involving a lead character called Neil Stevenson who was turning forty. He'd gone home, googled the play and had tracked me down.
It would normally be good to hear from old friends, but Neil is now threatening a libel action and he clearly has friends in high legal places. I am preparing a draft of the script to send to him, portraying the lead character a s a young god-like figure; quick of mind and athletic of body, charitable, honest and wise.