This event took place for Andrew J Robinson (Andy), and Siddig El Fadil (Sid) to perform their new play, which they wrote with each other - where they played their familiar roles as Garak and Dr. Bashir in Star Trek's third, and darkest spin-off "Deep Space Nine".

The play was written in the same manner as one of the TV episodes - i.e. this play could be filmed as it is the standard episode length script - due to run for approximately 45mins. When watched, you did indeed feel as if you were a part of Star Trek - and seeing this unique display of two Trek actors bouncing their lines off each other was brilliant fun!

The play was written as a sequel to Andy's superb book "A Stitch In Time," which, personally, as a reader of over 150+ Star Trek novels I can not only highly recommend - I can also praise it as one of the best Trek novels, and indeed of any novel that I have read. The writing style of the book alone is of particular note. Rather than the typical fiction book - written from a general, 3^rd person point of view - this book was written from Garak's point of view. The book is a series of letters describing Garak's past life - to his best friend Dr. Bashir.

Some background history here - Garak is a Cardassian. However, he used to be a spy - a member of the Cardassian special forces - until he was stripped of his power - and sent to be a lowly tailor on a Cardassian starbase - to eek out his existence in such humiliating exile. However, the Cardassian starbase was taken over by the Federation (i.e. Humans and Vulcans), - who renamed the station Deep Space Nine. But since Garak was exiled he couldn't return home to Cardassia. It was there that he became good friends with Federation, and Human officer Dr. Julian Bashir.

With the recent Cardassian vs Federation war - the Cardassian government was abolished - allowing Garak to return home - only to find his home planet destroyed by orbital bombardment, disease and famine. It is then that he starts to write to his friend, Dr. Bashir.

The book "A Stitch In Time" deals with Garak's childhood. It goes on to describe his education in the Cardassian secret service - to show his raw emotions on subjects like love, hatred and joy.

The novel itself manages to weave loose threads from the TV show, by linking episodes like "The Wire" and "The Die Is Cast" together.

The play that I saw is a sequel to this book - which fulfils the purpose in a manner which you wouldn't quite expect…..

I'm not going to ruin the play - or hopefully any future sequels to "A Stitch In Time" - and will keep the review of the play as spoiler free as possible.

Here's the program that Siddig himself typed out, which was on all the seats in the theatre:

Basically the play takes place in Garak's tortured mind - and the characters such as Bashir who make an appearance are figments of Garaks' overactive imagination. (Or is it?).

As the play was acted by Andy & Siddig - the main characters involved were Andy and Siddig - although they did play roles of other Trek personalities.

Seeing Andy sans the Cardassian makeup was rather peculiar - because the voice and the mannerisms made you feel and believe that he was a Cardassian - that he was indeed Garak. It was an amazing experience to see such a talented actor at point blank range portraying one of my favourite Star Trek characters.

Siddig was also in top form - both as an actor - and as himself when he talked to the audience.

Siddig was particularly put off by the fact that the organisers had arranged cardboard cut-outs all round the stage of the Bashir character, which he thought was very surreal. Due to the flexibility in the play the two men even managed to incorporate the cardboard standees into the play!

However, as this great play over-ran, there wasn't enough time for the Q&A session, which was very disappointing.

However - the entry fee did allow you to get two autographs, and Andy & Siddig sat at the tables in the back of the room as the queue formed.

Having met Siddig twice before - at his fan club event in Pages Bar, and at the London Expo, I was very pleased that he recognised me again! Which probably meant he thought I was stalking him - but what the hell, it was good to see him again.

I brought along a general DS9 poster - which both actors signed. I also had a general Siddig poster, which came along with the DS9 poster I had already bought - so he signed that one as well for "free".

Then Robinson signed his great book "A Stitch In Time" - which I complimented him on - as I thought it was one of the best Star Trek novels I had ever read.

I begged him to consider writing either a new novel - or a sequel to "A Stitch In Time" - and to phone Pocket Book editors John Ordover & Margaret Clark to get himself into a position to write another book. He said "I certainly have the material for it….., indicating his play's script, and "that I'm being told all the time to write another sequel.…"

So I just hope that Andy takes the hint!

In short, this was a fantastic evening - very enjoyable indeed, and well worth the 5 hour Trek down from Middlesborough to Norwich, and having to get a half day off work. The only unfortunate thing about this event was the lack of the (promised on the flyers!) Q&A session.

Still - Andy - if you're reading this - WRITE ANOTHER SEQUEL PLEASE!

Thanks for reading……..

© Copyright 4-07-2002 An Iain Baillie Production of an Original News Report. Contact iainbaillie@hotmail.com for publishing rights.