#65 Kind of speechless
Issue #65 Kind of speechless
7th June 2023
Warm greetings from the Surrey Hills.
I hope this newsletter finds you well.
I've had a rather emotional week, packed with ups and downs, but as I sit here writing this now - I'm very hopeful for the days ahead.
I particularly enjoyed running an Improv Fables intensive in London last weekend for a select group of super-talented improvisers. I was so proud of what we were able to achieve together.
And I'm looking forward to a few days in Northern Italy, working with students on storytelling and narrative whilst exploring the beautiful coast, as part of the Pandora Festival.
I've literally just looked at their website and found this amazing picture of me gene spliced with Radio.
I'm kind of speechless.
Rule of three
[Improv] Ben Schwartz
Such a pleasure to have improv discussed with depth and nuance in a publication like Variety. I really appreciate Ben Schwartz as an ambassador for the art form.
So here's the thing: Schwartz is bringing his longform improv show to London in July. He's booked the 3000 seat Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Thursday 27th July, 7pm. Imagine that - an improv show on that scale. I got slightly over-excited and immediately booked 19 tickets in two blocks. It's my birthday in July and I wanted to sit with a whole bunch of improvisers.
The tickets were £66.80 each - a quick bit of maths reveals that I spent £1269.20 in the optimistic hope that I have 18 other people who will want to come celebrate my birthday by watching an immense arena-style improv show with me.
So if you'd like to do that, please reply to this email and I'll reserve you a ticket or two. Maybe I can get the money back in our savings account before Radio or Laura notices.
[Tech] Robot Mouse Maze
Apparently, we've been building robot mice to whizz through physical mazes since the 50s. This YouTube documentary on the history of the Micromouse tournament is fascinating and highlights the best of humanity - the side of our species that wants to explore and play rather than exploit and own.
[TV] Series Finales
This month, four of the best TV shows of the past decade all came to a close at the same time. If you haven't already, check out the complete works of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, Succession and Barry. They are all SUPERB.
Honourable mention to Ted Lasso who has provided many moments of TV gold (especially in the first season) but, in my humble opinion, didn't quite stick the landing in the finale.
Spotlight
I'll be performing in Mixed Omens at the Drayton Arms next week. It's a show based on the works of Neil Gaiman and it has a very talented cast who are experimenting with some really interesting, under-utilised disciplines such as object manipulation, mask, make-up and intimacy on stage. For that last skill, we trained under the watchful eye of the brilliant intimacy director, Lucy Fennell who I can't recommend highly enough. Tickets are on sale here.
Longform thoughts
Just because you can wield an axe with dexterity and skill, doesn’t mean you made that axe. And even if you did make that axe, you probably didn’t come up with the concept of axes.
This week I talk about improv as an Open source art form.
Radio contact
Red and gold.