#84 Ever so hopeful
Issue #84 Ever so hopeful
18th October 2023
Hi, everyone.
Thank you so much for the incredible response to last week's newsletter. I was so grateful to all the people who got in touch, many of whom shared their own stories of burnout and struggling with mental health.
Please know how much it meant to Laura. And to me too. It's certainly a slow old process towards recovery but I'm ever so hopeful.
Improv-wise, I'm teaching two new courses in Farnham - beginning to introduce Longform to my home town. It's wonderful to watch that scene start to blossom. I'm also working on a complete rebrand of all my improv-offerings (including this newsletter) so that's chugging away in the background too.
Anyway, here are some things to make you smile or go Hmmm, interesting!
Rule of three
[Movie] Elemental
Completely missed Pixar's latest at the cinema but got round to seeing it last night on Disney+. If, like me, you thought it would just be a cute riff on PEOPLE MADE OF FIRE and PEOPLE MADE OF CLOUD then prepare to be knocked off your feet. It is a thousand times more complex and beautiful than that. Very overtly a film about the immigrant experience, it's an affecting love story and a truly astonishing technical achievement too. My favourite little detail was the fire people wearing ceremonial clothes made out of stained glass that refract their light in multi-coloured sparks all around them.
[Tech] The Volume
The Volume is a relatively new bit of technology replacing green screens in Hollywood. It's basically a giant box made up of LED screens that allows the actors to see what the audience are going to see, as opposed to having to use their imagination and a pole with a tennis ball on the end. It's really transformed the way many TV series are filmed - The Mandalorian, House of the Dragon, Our Flag Means Death, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. So imagine my surprise when I found out that my cousin, Richard, just won an Emmy for creating the technology that made all this possible. Well done, Richard Mead.
[Vodka] Shakespears Sister
Remember Shakespears Sister's classic song, Stay? Have you watched the music video of it lately? Do yourself a favour - watch it now with the additional piece of information that Siobhan (who plays the angel of death coming down the stairs) got so bored during filming that by the time she got in front of the camera she was ABSOLUTELY SMASHED on vodka. I haven't laughed so much in ages. Please proceed in this order:
Watch the video here.
Chuckle at how delightful it all is.
Read the oral history of the shoot from the band themselves.
Spotlight
I'm directing a new show with Hoopla and YOU can be part of the cast. The working title is Small Time Crooks (but I'm thinking of changing it to Scumbags!) it'll be about a bunch of ordinary people whose plans to get rich spiral inexorably out of control. It's inspired by the works of The Coen Brothers and David Mamet; the Fargo TV series; Way of the Gun; Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the role-playing game, Fiasco. You can read all about it and apply for the audition here.
Longform thoughts
"I could indeed wear the royal poncho but don’t always like the way it sits over my armour. Perhaps a better idea would be for me to take an alternative route? Instead of turning south-east over the goblin bridge, I could instead forge south-west into the moors around the manticore’s lair, circumnavigating the…"
END OF 25 MINUTE SHOW SLOT
I continue to count down the styles of improv I love.
Radio contact
Radio was going to be in Wes Anderson's new film but got fired because he wasn't quite symmetrical.