#56 Boat-based arty misfit
Issue #56 Boat-based arty misfit
5th April 2023
Hello, treacle!
When I was a teenager, I used to go to theatre camp and we would put on a musical in a week. We'd arrive on Friday, audition immediately and we'd be performing the show by the following weekend.
It was at those events that I found my people. The theatre kids who got excited at the same things I did. Whose values matched mine.
I clearly remember waving goodbye to my cast mates after my very first Theatre Week and immediately going on a family canal boating holiday. We literally went straight from the theatre to the narrow boat.
That night I cried and I cried. I couldn't stop crying. I felt so alone without all my new friends.
I am 42 years old and I feel the same way today.
The Southend 48-hour Improvathon was an almost overwhelming experience. And there was joy and struggle and heartache and triumph. We lived in that world together for two whole days without sleep. And it's the same truth I felt all those years ago on the canal boat bunk bed - that there is magic in this world, that I have seen it with my own eyes, and now I have to work out how to keep it from slipping from my fingers.
I want to thank Ali James, John Oakes and all their wonderful collaborators for creating such a vibrant community of improvisers in my home town of Southend-on-Sea.
And as I think back to that 14 year old boat-based arty misfit that I was, I know he would have LOVED a community like that to come home to. I'm so glad Southend has a place for the artists and dreamers now.
I might have another cry.
Rule of three
[Podcast] Huberman Lab
The Huberman Lab podcasts champions scientifically-backed techniques that improve your life in various interesting ways. The episode Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain is fascinating and will make anyone who is an improviser feel very smug indeed.
[Design] Reinventing the volume control
The brilliant Vinny François shared this thread of UI designers deliberately making the worst volume control interfaces they could imagine. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so much.
[Article] To other artists who hate TikTok
I don't know Elf Lyons' work well but I appreciated this article about how most art can't be cut up into tidy pieces and presented out of context for mass consumption. I love the call to create art for its own sake.
Spotlight
I'm doing some wonderful shows in London next weekend. Firstly, I'm presenting the latest version of Duologues with new improv friend Emily Jane Kerr of Notflix fame and then I'm guesting with Suki Webster and Sally Hodgkiss in One Night Only. They're both at the Hoopla comedy club and you can get tickets below.
Duologues (Free)
One Night Only
Longform thoughts
Simple choices lead to elegant improv.
Simple lyrics create impact (and allow others to sing the chorus with confidence).
A simple plot invites you to concentrate on the emotional stakes of the adventure.
Even a simple initiation can be accepted and built upon with less effort.
Find out What I learned from improvising for 48 hours without sleeping.
Radio days
Look. He's a cute dog. What do you want me to say?