Bomb Scares and Shootings (Highlights of the Week)

The week sparks off  in rehearsals for Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy which I’ve adapted for stage  at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, and it feels good. Over the next 3 days I watch  actors do what they do best. It is a privilege to be here but I want to disappear. I’m afraid of getting in the way of the process  -  I want to be invisible.  Welcome to my world.  On Wednesday I record a one hour  interview on BBC Leeds. It’s called One on One.   Very enjoyable. Thursday I’m in Preston to launch Preston Panorama Project for which I have written a poem "Who Were You On The Day I Shot You?".  It's on a wall of the Lancashire Museum with the panoramic photographs. The panorama’s are taken by  Jan Chlebik and project managed  by Dovetail.  I step into the gallery and we immediately start filming for BBC North West Tonight. Come the evening and the museum is packed with the  people of Preston.  I stay in  Manchester that night.  I wake 8am on Friday Morning. I am stood at Piccadilly gardens waiting for a tram and there’s a bomb scare.  I watch through the window as  police evacuate citizens and the tram groans away. It was the last tram to leave.  I get to Media City on time (to the minute) and record an interview with Sam Walker on BBC radio but the  Bomb Scare story unfolds  and cuts the interview sh-ort.   I get  back to the fair city - everything has been cleaned up - where I meet two very good friends -   film maker (Paul Sapin) and actor (Yusra Warsama) and then home.  But most inspiring is a man who contacted me.(Photos:   1. Refugee Boy poster  2. Director Gail McIntyre 3. BBC Leeds Martin Kelner 4. Lancashire Museum Preston launch 4.  Who Were You On The Day I Shot You?  5. BBC Manchester Sam Walker.