#75 Soft furnishings
Issue #75 Soft furnishings
16th August 2023
Morning all!
So how's the decluttering going?
Let me answer that question with a photo.
Still technically tidying the loft. Yesterday was fabric, duvets and soft furnishings. Today, I'm going to tackle cables and electronics.
Soon August will be over and I can get back to theatre.
Until then I'll keep these updates mercifully short.
PS - If you enjoyed the article last week on Disney World and the rise of experiential theatre/ theme park hybrids, then this follow-up article in The New Yorker is equally fascinating (thanks to triple-threat Dom Czapski for the heads-up).
Rule of three
[TV] Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
I'm not a Star Trek guy. That might come as a surprise but Trek, in all its incarnations, mostly felt stilted, humour-challenged and ponderous to my personal tastes. Strange New Worlds is different. It's bright, fun and experimental. Season 2 has time travel, cartoon crossovers and a musical. This is my kind of sci-fi show.
[Newsletter] Sprezzatura
Vinny François is wonderful in every way a person, artist and instructor can be. I'm so excited he has started an improv newsletter too. If you enjoy this missive then you're going to LOVE Sprezzatura, which means "the art of performing a difficult task so gracefully that it looks effortless". In his first issue, he even recommends The Bear - which I highlighted in its first season and want to KEEP MENTIONING FOREVER because its second season is JUST THAT GOOD. Vinny's newsletter has even allowed me to do that. What a guy!
[Game] Stray Gods
Stray Gods is a RPG musical. Depending on the choices you make as you play, you get variations in score, vocal arrangement and lyrics. When my friend Kate told me about this game I immediately went out and bought it. It's like a cross between Once More with Feeling and American Gods. Bonus points that the music is by the band Tripod, whom I saw in Edinburgh many years ago. Their song Bard still speaks to me at a fundamental level about being a geeky misfit growing up.
Spotlight
BREAKING NEWS! I've got a new course available for late September and I couldn't be more excited about it. I'm co-teaching it with Emily Murphy and it's about improvising psychologically complex characters and situations.
Emily is one of the most naturally gifted improvisers I've ever played with. We ran an improv theatre company together for many years, so it's really special to be offering this class together.
Have a read of the blurb to find out what we'll be covering. We're looking for improvisers who aren't necessarily super-experienced but are excited about the possibilities of theatricality, presence and emotional connection.
We're capping the class at 12 people and there's also an early bird price until September.
Longform thoughts
Explain clearly that these are new words for easily understood concepts. Walk them through it with kindness and consideration. Don’t act like your particular flavour of improv is some sort of cheat code to the universe. You are not L Ron Hubbard.
This week I present my To-Don't list for improv teachers. Have a read and tell me what I missed!
Radio contact
Radio really helped with sorting the duvets.