Festival Feast

It's been such a hit over the head, August and Camden Fringe, that in many ways I'm still recovering. Hence the August post coming so late.

Camden Fringe has been an extraordinary feat, one that we will repeat for sure, but some interesting things have happened. I've seen the greatest number of shows I missed in Barons Court and for the first time I have seen less shows than we have actually hosted. Only 7 shows out of the 24 we hosted for Camden Fringe.

Starting with Shedwood on 3 August, from Kailin Xu's company, whose 404 Reading Club I missed despite having more promise than Shedwood.

Sunk Into The Earth, by Charlotte Ritter and her very nice all female company, though this was very much where I had started to lose it. 4 August.

Nothing for that week until Sunday, but I'm really glad I managed to see Alexandra Jorgensen's Confessions of a Jane Austen Spinster in its last performance in the UK for a while, Alexandra being now back in the US.

Anthropocene by Ben Wendel on 14 August, an inspiring piece and one through which I discovered the amazing Naomi Paxton.

Oh, that's what it is! I was wondering why I haven't seen more, but of course, I had to rehearse for Lobster Pot. Because, on top of Camden Fringe, Copacabana and Arches Lane, I had to also direct a play, didn't I?

All in all, I was reasonably happy with how Lobster Pot came out, which is fairly unusual when I direct something. So I am worried that maybe I didn't care enough about it? I saw the opening night, buggered off to Edinburgh, came back on Friday for Copacabana and took over West End Musical Brunch, returning to Sway after a one year stint at Proud City. Guess how that turned out?

Oh, and by the way, I'm counting Lobster Pot as a show even though I've seen/done it once before in January, because it's a new space, a reworked script and altogether quite a different show. I am also counting WEMB as one, even though it is now a weekly occurence. I watched Maybe You Should Know on closing day of Camden Fringe, and next week I though I'm reentering some sort of normality/baseline. I have seen A Fan of War, but also been to two shows we've been invited to: The Last Black Messiah at Etcetera Theatre and A Microscopic Odyssey at 503.

But then Grimfest - which is more or less on track now, and then Voila, which is another blow to my mental health. Eh, we'll live.

Oh, and because I choose the picture from my favourite show of the month, a few words about A Microscopic Odyssey: seen at 503 on a random Thursday at 1 pm as part of LAMDA directors' showcase. I didn't not have high expectations. But boy did it blow me away! Phenomenal show, one of those that gripped me from the beginning and kept me engaged, one of those rare shows that restore my faith in theatre. I probably do come across one of them once a month, but that means top 10 percent of shows. Anyways, we're meeting the producers tomorrow.

The counter is looking steady, 10 shows in London plus 8 in Edinburgh to add to the 70 by the end of July, means that we're at 88 now.

Take me to the Fringe

Like a proper addict, I had to take my yearly dose of Edinburgh this year too, despite directing a show this week, running a festival in Barons Court, doing an LX op gig for 2 days a week and, apparently, revamping a venue little by little.

It was only two days, so much less than in other years, but a good, productive even, two days, with reality matching expectation almost 1:1.

Arriving in Edinburgh Wednesday morning off the night train, I knew I had to dose my efforts if I was to make something of the shows I'd be seeing. I did however jump straight into Ancient Coins from Forgotten Kingdoms, a children show I had eyed ever since Brighton Fringe, and I'm glad I saw it, if only to find out that no, it would not be a good fit for Arches Lane. Mark Saltveit is American, and the show is much more of a lecture than a story which, despite the great interactive bit where the audience can actually touch real ancient coins, would be a deterrent for the hedonistic crowds of Battersea.

Ah, I should mention the bit where I flyered for Stephen. Meeting Stephen was one of the goals of my trip, and smoothed the way for East of Adelaide this autumn at Arches Lane (this is an exclusive btw). Also, flyering on the Mile was fun. Of course it's fun without the pressure of actually trying to sell tickets, and I also shoved a few meetings in those two hours that in London would have taken 2-3 weeks to organize.

For my second show I had a choice between Windrush Secret and a dark comedy about cannibalism from a company of young graduates. I think I made the right choice, as wingman Olivia set up a good premise for a chat with Rodreguez, which led to a meeting, which might lead to a run. Olivia is always great company, even more so when it's unexpected. I enjoyed having an Edinburgh buddy for a bit, though I was annoyed that I had to leave her at 'What If They Ate the Baby?', one of the three sold out shows of Xhloe and Natasha, which I am very curious to meet. Olivia might come through once again.

The last show of the day was Rodney Black: Who Cares? It's Working, the most thought provoking show I've seen in a while and my personal pick of this year's fringe. Ben Willows always does great work, but I also suspect more ambition than I care to deal with. We'll see.

Weird to close the day with just three shows, but it was the right thing to do after 20k steps and a night of train sleeping. I'm not a young man anymore.

Also right thing to do: listening to Everleigh's showon Hoxton Radio and doing some work rather than chasing crazy early show. Rest was needed and was well received. Which meant I started my second day of shows with Eggs Aren't That Easy to Make by Maria Telnikoff. It's great to see Maria finally taking the big step forward into working collaboratively rather than being a one-woman band, however good she is at that. 

Being a bit aimless, I wandered into Zoe Coombs Marr's show, The Splash Zone. Better than her show I saw at Soho some years ago, but still nowhere near Wild Bore, once of the most amazing theatrical experiences I've had. She co-created that, so I'll always hold her to that standard.

The Unstoppable Rise of Ben Manager was a complete punt, only because the time fitted. And of course, it's one the highlights, a trippy moralist fable about the corporate world incorporating electronic music, puppets, mask, and a big nod to Kafka's Metamorphosis. Got in touch with the company and it would be a serious win if we manage to bring them to Arches Lane.

I had to see Ioana's show, Goodness Me, and I'm happy to see her maturing into her art. It's slow, painful and expensive, but there is a reward at the end of it.

And I closed the day with a recommendation from Ioana, Role Play (or the hottest day in Belgian history). An intense, very physical show about sexual awakening, love and relationships. Refreshing banality of the subject matter in the age of all-encompassing political discourse, but this show is sold on the performance. Cameron Murphy is an amazing performer, he was fascinating to watch and this was the fastest hour I spent in Edinburgh this year.

I closed the day at this, just 8 shows in two days, which is actually good going. It was short, but I had my dose of Edinburgh to last me for another year when again, I will probably not have the courage to take the dive and bring a show in. But soon...

Also, I have now become one of those motherfuckers who are stuck to their laptop on the train, which is where I'm writing this from. We just passed Durham.

July Morning

Beginning of July seems like a lifetime ago, and indeed it has been an intensely busy month. Too much time wasted with Copacabana in my opinion, and that show and that place could be so much better. Which is saying something, seeing that it's good enough as it is.

But anyway, I will count Copacabana as the first show I saw in July, on the 3rd, opening night. I have seen it 21 times since, but only counting shows, not performances, no?

Tough competition in July, but hosting Matilde Vigna
 was my favourite experience

We've had a solid month across our theatres, I loved having Matilde Vigna with A Dark Line Upstairs in Barons Court and I'm glad critics appreciated the show, it's fully deserved.

Reality Bites at Arches Lane felt like the first REAL show, and having Suzy (Eddie) Izzard and Rachel Zegler seeing it was beautiful.

Kill Drill did an excellent job on all fronts, with solid audiences in a time when nothing had solid audiences.

I saw Harry Conway's How to Kill Your Landlord at Drayton Arms and my main takeaway was how hot Frankie Weatherby is. But Harry has done well, and I'm glad his Edinburgh run seems to be so successful.

Caught the matinee of Pretty Witty Nell in the last day. Coming back two years later and with a different actress, I found Ryan a bit mellowed and the show marginally better, though it's the over-inflated ego that's still dragging him back. But hey-ho, Offie Award, who am I to comment? And plus, these three shows took us out of the 3-star slump we seemed to be stuck in this year.

Claire's Broadway Broads at Toulouse Lautrec was a nice surprise, and I'm glad to discover Claire's talents slowly slowly. She has been a reliable presence for us for the past two months, and I have grown to appreciate her. Also, Toulouse Lautrec does absinthe the traditional way, with melted sugar over a spoon, and it's been interesting to sample. £16 pounds a shot, Toulouse Lautrec must've been raking it in. Still, I prefer the raw, unfiltered ferocity of 80 degrees absinthe, very few things to get smashed quicker.

Camden Fringe has started like a bit of a tornado, and was about to blow my house up for a second there. It also marks the month with the most shows I'll miss at Barons Court. A bit unavoidable, what with shoving rehearsals for Lobster Pot in every second of the day I have off. I started the festival with two shows, Journey to the West at Rosemary Branch and Fly Trap at Barons Court. I watched Rabbie Burns' Bottom Drawer on Tuesday, which made me happy about the overall standard we manage to present at Barons Court this August, but unhappy about the discipline, experience and attitude of most of the companies.

I will make a separate passage about The Stupid Hug (El Abrazo Stupido), coming from Argentina for just two performances. It is a long time since I have seen a company, this friendly, this cooperative, this accommodating and this professional. The show was mediocre, probably very good for Argentine but I felt like the main big ideas of the show get diluted in the cultural differences. Regardless, I will keep a cherished memory to my new good friends from La Plata and I will pray the theatre gods will be good to them. It has been such an eye opener in regards to how privileged we are to be doing what to do and a stark reminder to fucking enjoy life more rather than dwell on the negatives.

Oh, and yeah, that was 30 July, that was the last show of the month, as Thursday, Friday, Saturday was Copacabana all over again. Still, 11 shows in July for a grand total of 70 shows in the first 7 months of the year. Averaging 10/month with more than half of the year gone, on track for 120. And I'm only next week going to Edinburgh.

Doing too many, seeing too little

It must've been a while since I've had a month as busy as this June, especially the latter half. Still, for better or for worse, I manage to add 10 shows to my total, counted as 8 full shows and 4 'half shows'.

Hard to define what a half-show is, but the London Pub Theatre Gala on 1 June is a good example: something happened and someone watched it, hence theatre, right? Well, there were bits of theatre for sure, extracts of previously successful plays, but I'd struggle to classify the event as a 'show'.

I did do the subtitles for Liana's Queen Mary show on 4 June, saw Street on 5 June and half of the Lexicon Lounge at The Water Rats on 8 June. I felt really sorry leaving at the interval of the Lexicon Lounge, but I was really tired and could not for the life of me get on board with a long evening of spoken word.

The rest is mostly stuff we hosted: Peter Pan on 10 June, Ruthless on the 11th, and the London Cabaret Club stopped me from seeing much more for the rest of the week.

I saw Precarious Theatre's 100 Percent with only one option of the cast, the a kids show by Stagecoach at Arches Lane on 22 June, and the latest iteration of The Room of Piss at Hen & Chickens in the evening of 22.

I saw Sharon's Provenance on the opening night, then nothing until Sunday, when we hosted two developing pieces: Bois at Arches Lane and Limerence at Barons Court.

Then a massive week spent in LCC without seeing too much else apart from Copacabana.

Still, add 10 shows for a 59 total by the end of June. Though I'm beginning to think that producing more than you can see is a weird thing.

Pay more attention to Brighton

Quick round-up of May as June is almost halfway through already. Life is pretty full when running a theatre, and it's so much fuller when running two theatres that I'm really worried I'm bad at it.

Anyway, let's rewind for a month and a bit. Started theatrical life on Friday 2nd May with the reading of It's Difficult by Wendy Fisher at Canada Water Theatre. Then straight to Southwark Playhouse to see Cockfosters, and hopefully we'll see Cockfosters again at Arches Lane Theatre.

On Wednesday 7 I went to a reading of three Eastern European plays at UAL Wimbledon, invited by Jozefina Komporaly. Global Plays in Translation. I really encourage the initiative and I hope there will be further iterations of this. 

Went to Brighton on 8 May. Got invited to about 8 plays at Brighton Fringe this year and actually managed to answer a few invitations. I was supposed to see at least two shows, but I was late for Gawa's Open Source Intelligence, so I got in to see Landlord's Wet Dream by Verity Sharpe. Missed United's thrashing of Bilbao at Old Trafford because pubs in Brighton seem to all be aimed at the LGBT+ community, and sports is not really on their agenda. But I wondered leisurely around city centre until 9 pm, when I got to see Dangerous to Know at Lantern Theatre. I was really happy to see the Lantern, lovely little basement theatre very reminiscent of Barons Court albeit bigger.

Sunday Fix on 11 June, which I count as half a show. Sunday Fix will go on in July and over the summer, but I feel a reform of the format is imminent.

Invited by Tim McArthur to see Eurovision Your Decision at RVT on 14 June, and really glad I did. Show of the month for me, and really good to have seen Tim's work.

Shelter at Barons Court was a nice surprise, a very solid show about trans love and about being othered.

Between women's FA Cup, the Europa League final and a very stressy producer, Shelter was the only show of the week, and the highlight of it, because both football and Roger have been shit.

I teched my last Speakeasy show for a while on 24 May, and there's some chagrin at leaving House of Burlesque after almost 4 years, and leaving the longest running show I worked on. But it's not a sad one, the relationship will continue and hopefully develop.

Due to difficult techs I missed shows in 3 Mondays in a row. Coronet, Riverside and Old Red Lion, but I did manage to see The Space's Season launch, and was impressed by some of the plays to come. Hopefully people will like Lobster Pot too. 

And Arches Lane is off and running, with Jen Tucker's Bog Body on 29 & 30, and The Electric Bill on 31 May. In between I've also rewatched Chop Chop on 30 May, bringing my total to 8 shows + 4 kind of shows (two readings, a scratch night and a season launch). I will count 10 for the month, 49 for the year, not including Mermaids Have no Tears which I saw 4 times, three more performances of Speakeasy and one more of Roxie does Chicago. Which I've seen twice more since.

Ramp up

April has been a really full month, so full that I feel I haven't had either the time or the energy to see some of the shows I've been invited to. And yet, there are 11+3 lines in the calendar, so we'll count them at around 12-13 shows, let's see how it goes. And no doubling, though I have seen two shows on two Saturdays, daytime while going to the HoB Speakeasy in the evening. But we've established we're not counting Speakeasy as shows seen, as that would add 16 performances to my total. I'm rambling.

First show seen was on 2 April, KDC's Do You Feel Anger?, an excellent new writing American dark comedy with a strong feminist note. Then on the 3rd, for my birthday, we went to see Magic Mike, which was an absolute revelation. Best show of the year by some distance.

That's me in the corner

4 April was the Arches Lane Theatre launch party. Now, there's a lot of talk about the grind and the thrill, about the massive amount of work you need to put into a career in theatre, or any artistic profession for that matter, and how it's all made to worth by moments of incredible high, in the same way in which climbing a mountain is rewarded by a superb view from the top. 4 April was such an exhilarating high, one that took me some two days to recover. I haven't taken two days to recover from something since the massive drink binges in uni. 200 people coming to see us, and coming to show support. Never ever had I thought I'd get to anything near this. Ay, but was it a show? Hard to say. Some of the people who were there seemed to believe so, and they're certainly saying so. It wasn't necessarily my intention. Rather, I had thought about putting some sort of a lineup together, of anything, and calling it entertainment, or maybe 'something to happen'. It seemed to go down well, and it seems there is nothing more to a 'show'. I've had a few people from upcoming shows at Barons Court reading bits of their show, Elena singing some Amy Winehouse, Maria reading in exclusivity an extract from her new show, and Gracie Disgrace gracing the stage with some burlesque. And me MC-ing. Not too different from a show, I suppose, the structure of the likes of Magic Mike or Paradise Under the Stars, albeit of vastly different quality. Meh. I had fun.

Sunday Fix on 6 April. Definitely half a show, and I narrowly avoided directing a piece. I have also missed Sisyphean Quick Fix at Riverside because of it but hey ho, shit happens. 

Suzette's scratch night on a Monday evening, the exact same scratch night I've seen last autumn. Much less entertaining second time around.

The Argument, show 2/4 for April at Barons Court, was a moment of wonderful madness, the like of which I'd like to transfer to Arches Line. Not gonna happen, one of the dudes lives in Liverpool.

My second visit ever to The Space happened on 11 April, to see Amalia's Incomplete. A very sweet love and loss story with Mark Keegan and Kathy Bates in an ensemble piece of 6. I like Amalia, I like Mark and Kathy, and this play is very sweet, but it should be shorter and way more daring, way grittier. Amalia is allergic to grit, though, and nothing can be done about that.

Sunday, 13 April I gave Paul Wasy a night of stand-up comedy, Neurohahaha. The concept is great, I hope they come back to do it again, and I hope they'll be more successful.

Poor week of theatre, the third one, but a trip to Manchester on Thursday and the biggest high so far at Old Trafford, with 4 goals against Lyon in the last 10 minutes of extra time. United's worst season in my lifetime, and we might end up with a European trophy. Not too shabby. Anyway, theatre.

Sabrina Simohamed's All the Worst Parts was the typical student masturbatory show with some genuine (acted) masturbation. But they did it over Easter Weekend, and they sold out two performances, who am I to complain?

Kelsey's It's Nothing Personal, It's Just Business was as personal a show as it can get. It was also the worst-reviewed show in our time at Barons Court, and hopefully, the lessons will be taken from this. There are positives to it, and I think technically Kelsey has done a great job.

Roxy Does Chicago at London Cabaret Club last Friday, a show I might see a lot more of. Twice a week at least, apparently.

Then Saturday, a trip to the deep south of Sidcup to see Mara Borsa's Departures as part of the Rose Bruford Graduation Showcase. The show made me late for the Speakeasy, but I'm really glad I discovered the young Romanian movement girl.

Tall Tales and Cocktails, second out of three, and hopefully the saddest, with three comedians on stage and 9 people in the audience. One more on 25 May.

And finally, Mermaids Have No Tears, a show with a lot more potential than it's showing at the minute, but there's a pregnant feeling it will get better. Almost saw it for the third time today, luckily United played and won at Bilbao away, a win as good as trophy. May might be a good month.

Let's count 14 for this month. 39 for the year at the end of April. And Brighton Fringe is coming up.

Come to Barons Court

March was the richest month yet in terms of shows, I have 10 lines and 3 half lines in my calendar, although those half lines have strong stories to tell too.

1 March was the third out of 5 House of Burlesque Speakeasy at The Hippodrome, and although it was a dream come true working in a place that has seen perform the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Liza Minelli, The Rat Pack or Harry Houdini, amongst others, I must say I struggled with the technical side of our 5 performances there and I'm not entirely happy with my work. We've also had the show in Neon 194 Piccadilly and Jack Solomon's this month, and I am excited about 194 Piccadilly becoming a long term home for the show, it's a great place. However, I'm not counting any of them 5 shows towards shows seen this month.

Apart from Speakeasy, my first was Down the Road at Playhouse East, Flick's treat. It fills my heart with joy to see Flick doing so well in her tech career, and she fully deserves the work coming her way. I also feel jealous and concerned about how hard it is to find people so good. Oh well, let's see what teh future holds.

Sunday 9 March Taichi finally had his Nightcap Quartet gig. More of a concert than a teatrical show, it was in a theatre, so I'll count it.

If I were to pick a favourite...

Second week of March was a bit insane with Hatch & Scratch at Riverside, The Silent Escape at Shaw, Paradise under the Stars at The Lost Estate and the Persever Scratch Night at Barons Court on Sunday. Add the dress rehearsal of Ragged Claws, and that's 5 shows in 7 days, plus a Speakeasy. We oversold Ragged Claws every night, so I didn't quite managed to see an actual performance of it, thought something tells me it will be back. Namely, the sold out 6 performances run.

Week 3 started with The Offie Awards at the Central Methodist Hall. Again, more award ceremony and less of a show, but hey, I've been in the same room with Robert Powell! So I'll count it. I then teched the three performances of I'm a Philosopher, Get me Out of Here at Riverside, and managed to see the Limitless showcase at Brixton Playhouse in-between. 

And last week, and last week of March, I saw Fool's Gold twice, The Bald Soprano at the RCI and Tall Tales & Cocktails. I then closed the month with Everleigh's reading of Null at the Norwegian Embassy, with Gine Cornelia Pedersen in the audience and involved in the Q&A.

I highlighted 14 and I'll go with 14, so let's say 25 for the year. Which is a quarter of 100 in a quarter of a year. Bang on when I say at least 100 shows, at least 200 performances.