#149 Cute-as-a-button
Culture. Cards. Cinema. Company.
15 JANUARY 2025
Morning, gang!
(salutation written as if everyone reads this newsletter the moment it’s sent)
I’m back in the UK after a frankly magical week in Germany creating a new improv show with a cast of incredibly talented improvisers from around the world.
What a joy to go back to work and be reminded that I have the best job in the world.
So, I’m feeling inspired. Let’s go!
Rule of three
[TV] Vengeance Most Fowl
The new Wallace and Gromit animation, Vengeance Most Fowl, came out over the holidays and it is as predictably hilarious and charming as ever. But I was particularly interested to listen to the US podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour’s review of the show. Such an interesting experience to listen to a group of smart, articulate Americans try and decode something that is so intrinsically British.
[Game] Balatro
This, my friends, is quite the poison chalice of a recommendation. PRO: it’s an inexpensive mobile game with some of the most finely-tuned play mechanics I’ve encountered in a long time. CON: you will lose months of your life to it. Make your decision then click on this link.
[Movie] The Wild Robot
As the credits rolled on this film, Laura turned to me on the sofa to find me looking straight ahead and openly weeping at the beauty we can still find in a broken world. So if that’s your idea of a good time, watch The Wild Robot today.
Spotlight
This Saturday is the very first Hoopla x The Pretend Company show at The Miller in London Bridge. I would VERY MUCH like to sell it out. My concept is two-fold:
a) Put on a show with improvisers who are experienced, brave, hilarious and kind.
2) Lean into a style of improv that is slower, more relationship-based and theatrical.
I am overjoyed with the cast. They represent the very best of what the art form offers. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, please please PLEASE buy a ticket now and come down and support us.
Ephemera
This is my occasional feature about the enduring art that the fleeting world of improv produces.
This week, the evocative artwork of Aree Witoelar.
Aree was on my Ghost Quarters intensive last week and created these incredible sketches of each of the characters we presented on stage.
They’re all ghosts, haunting the same location but having died at different times in our history.
During the week, we visited thrift shops together to create the costumes but no one knew who their fellow performers would be portraying until moments before they stepped on stage.
Aree really captures the essence of each character. You can see them in more detail here.
Radio contact
Some of you were genuinely angry to not get a real picture of Radio last week, so here he is in all his wide-eyed, cute-as-a-button glory.