Monday, February 05, 2024

Poor blog!

I've done a Fringe show since I last posted. I've written one new script. I've entered loads more competitions. Of course I've got nowhere with any of them. I've written five scenes of another new script. A whole new year has come. 

And I saw this and another couple of fine things in Manipulate. Lots on for the remaining week or so, so do check it out. 

Saturday, August 05, 2023

Poor blog. 

I was guiltily thinking about you this evening.

It's the Fringe.

I saw Finnish visual theatre and a 15 minute show served up as a phone call yesterday, amidst a dog-like hangover courtesy of The List party. Then a wild old thing called Food

Today, The Grand Old Opera House Hotel at the Trav which was great fun. Havana Street Party, Bristo Square, also great fun. And then a French theatrical take on Dogville, Dusk, updated, relevance-d and given a happier ending. Though it's all relative.

Tech tomorrow for crackers and as I'm such a lacklustre advocate, more info here. First Fringe show in five years - imagine!

I love Edinburgh in August. 

Monday, March 13, 2023

frisson has been and gone. 

The online version ran two weeks ago. The real life version ran last week, impeded by a bout of sickness amongst the cast which led to a spike in my heart rate and the cancellation of the first real life night to avoid potential infection of either cast or audience in its wake.

I feared we'd surrendered our right to any reviewers with the cancellation so was touched and extremely gratified that those booked in for Tuesday were able to reschedule. It's been a busy few weeks in Edinburgh theatre land so this was not something to take for granted.

The real life audiences were compact in number but enthusiastic in their reception which was obviously lovely.

But the moment I must keep in my heart for all time came to pass like this. 

An email from the wonderful Hannah who's been managing the show's PR. "Stop press. Joyce McMillan wants a ticket for Thursday night's show."

Someone called Joyce M had watched the online show but we had no sense of whether it was The Joyce or some other Joyce.

Thursday's show and there she was and I was darting around on the door taking tickets etc. It was hard not to fawn. 

I felt that she chortled her way through the show but this could have been wishful thinking. 

Post-show, I thrust a list of the people involved into her hand. She said (I think. My memory is hazy as this was all just much too much): "so what is your role in this?"

I said I was the writer.

She said, "ah, so you're cmfwood."

"Claire", I said swiftly,  confronted starkly by my pretension. "I always wanted to be AJPTaylor, hence the cmf. Silly really."

And she said:

"More like e e cummings, no? With all the lower case."

Like an idiot, like she was comparing me to the wild beauty of his words, I dipped my head. "I'll take that", graciously.

"I enjoyed it very much," she said. "Thank you."

THANKING ME!

And then she was away and the ground could have swallowed me up then and there and I would've been happy.

Saturday, February 04, 2023

Last post. 5 Dec. Happy new year, readers! If there are any of you left. 

This time, I've been busy doing this

And I saw an extremely clever but for me, emotionally unengaging show tonight as part of Manipulate. Hark at me damning someone else's Saturday nights toiling away on ticketing systems and updating websites. 

Monday, December 05, 2022

Last post. August 28. That's a very poor show. 

In my defence, I've written two plays and applied for more things that I didn't win/get in the meantime. And seen a few bits and pieces. So I've not been idle but that's hardly the point. 

I'll try harder.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

I think I have seen 56 things over the past three weeks, between a few things in the Book Festival, the EIF, a rogue event in the Film Festival and of course, the Fringe.

I feel culturally gorged. But not sated. What a delicious feast.

Sunday, August 21, 2022

A Little Life last night. 

I've continued to get not enough sleep over the past week, in part because I've been racing to finish the book. 

I'll post my official review in due course but the guy sat next to me thought that it was "self-obsessed nonsense" at the end of the first act. 

He'd relented by the end of the second act and said that half was "a little better". 

Each to their own.