Greetings, dear readers. When I decided on the release day for this weekly newsletter, I didn’t check the date—but, hey, it’s my birthday today!

As I mentioned this week, the last couple of newsletters will be a kind of wrap-up of the year. Since the commemoration of my arrival in this world is so close to the end of the year, I always conflate the review of the calendar year with the review of my personal year.

Overall, I must say, I’ve had better years. The first quarter of 2025 wasn’t very kind, professionally speaking. The freelancer tide was very low, giving me too much free time to think, casting a shroud of existentialism and sadness over my mental health. I felt quite stuck. Luckily, the year progressed to bringing me great moments, gigs, joy and understanding.

Here’s a list of the highlights of the year.

January & February

Despite the slow start to the year, I had some good moments thanks to Playback Theatre, such as co-facilitating a couple of tasters with London Playback—one for NHS mental health workers and another for a general audience, which happened to include several mental health professionals as well.

I also had the chance to facilitate in Valencia for the English-speaking community, during a heartwarming visit that allowed me to see my dear friends from the Quart de Poblet improv league.

March

The year started to smile at me a bit more. A few gigs, a core training with True Heart Theatre, and the first visit to the USA of 2025. Going to my dear friend Michael Astrauska’s wedding in San Francisco was recharging, especially for getting to hang out with dear friends from camp.

We got to visit Seattle and Washington state as well. I had a cathartic moment at Snoqualmie Falls, where I put my AirPods on, pressed play on the Twin Peaks theme, and stood observing the falls from the opening of the series. It's a moment I will treasure for a long time, especially because we topped it off by having lunch at the RR Diner ( (Twede’s Cafe) in North Bend, enjoying delicious cherry pie and damn fine coffee.

April

It was during another visit to Valencia that I found the inspiration to start this newsletter, and it is definitely one of the highlights of the year. I’ve been able to deliver it consistently for 37 weeks, which is no easy task. I didn’t want this newsletter to be just an advertising tool, but a way to offer my humble takes on different aspects of Playback Theatre and improv as I was putting my ideas in order. Hearing kind words about it from many of you has meant a lot to me. Thank you so much!

I also have to say that April wouldn’t have been the same without the annual Playback Theatre performance in St Andrews. Performing there with True Heart Theatre was magical.

May & June

I’ve got a lot of Playback Theatre during this period, both as a trainer and as a performer. With London Playback, we delivered a wonderful core training intensive. Improv-wise, I started to be more engaged with Shuffle; it wasn’t as much as I’d liked, but it was nice to play another style of improv.

Oh! And I went to see Pulp live!

July

And then came my second visit to the USA, my first time in the state of Colorado as I flew to Denver to attend Camp Improv Utopia Evolve, in Jamestown. Met new people, hung out with friends, did improv, learned things, avoided bears, and I even did some hiking!

Oh! And I went to see Billie Eilish live!

August

This was an exciting month. I had the chance to teach at the International Playback Theatre Camp held in the country of Georgia, and it was a wonderful experience. I gained so much from it, not just new friends, but honest and difficult conversations as well. I wrote extensively about it at the time.

After that came my last visit of the year to the USA. Improv Utopia East was waiting at Camp Kennybrook, near Monticello. I got there by bus from New York with my dear friend Neil Curran, talking and gossiping about all things improv. Once there, it was more about the community than the improv itself. My highlight was facilitating a very moving Playback Theatre taster that was highly appreciated by the attendees

September & October

Practically straight off the plane from New York, I went to Nottingham for the Robin Hood International Improv Festival, where I participated in a couple of ensembles and enjoyed a few workshops. September was a good month for me, professionally speaking, as I had a lot of storytelling gigs.

October brought the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Playback Theatre at the European Playback Theatre Conference held in Salamanca. It was a very fruitful event for me, as I got to facilitate a homegroup, perform with members of the Iberian community, and conduct the 'Two Islands' (UK and Ireland) performance. Plus, I got to reconnect with fellow IPTN board members and my lovely friends from Shanghai’s Theatre La Strada.

Oh! And I attended the Sitges film festival!

November & December

I love Ireland, so I went back to the improv festivals held in Belfast and Dublin in November. I performed in both as part of an ensemble led by my friend Nick Armstrong, and had a great time. Every time I go there, I find it inspiring, and it makes me think about what my goals are as an improviser.

I’m ending the year with a month that is uneventful yet busy at the same time, just a considerable number of rehearsals and a few improv shows.

The constants

I want to express my gratitude to those who continue to support and count on me: Acaprov, London Playback Theatre, True Heart Theatre, Freshwater Theatre, the IPTN, the AITP, Mai (my partner), my cats... and you, just for reading this. You help me keep going.

I also want to express gratitude to myself. This year has been a long mental health journey that culminated in my autism diagnosis, offering clarity and setting a path for me to follow.

Let’s hope for a better year in 2026. I wish you the loveliest of holidays. See you next week for the special geeky dessert of 2025. That’s right, to put the cherry on the top, I’ll tell you about the geeky things that brought me joy this year.

Meanwhile, I’ll carry on with my birthday. And, by the way, the best way to wishing me a happy one is subscribing to the newsletter (if you are reading from the archive) and/or recommending it to others. There’s also my Ko-fi page… and my Steam Wishlist. 😛

📆 What is coming up

• 9th of January - Acaprov (London, UK). The first improvised a cappella of 2026! New begginings, new things to do… Come and take a look.

• 31st of January (2026) - Playback Theatre taster workshops (London, UK). We will be running a couple of Playback Theatre taster workshops throughout the last Saturday of January, running two different groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Book morning workshop. Book afternoon workshop.