June, 2013

Flick, flick, flick through the Filofax (yes, I still use cut-down trees to organise my life). What have I been doing for the past few months? Aside from reviewing on radio and television, video games, audio books, advert voice-overs, radio plays, video games, Apps, standing in for Jeremy Piven when he can't make it to a Mr Selfridge reading, documentary narration, radio features and did I mention video games?

I recorded an episode of Radio 4's A Good Read which goes out on 18 June and 21 June. What could be more Radio 4 than chatting about favourite books? The other guest was film critic Antonia Quirke. Our discussion may have been a bit more free-ranging than most. Topics covered included child abuse, repressed sexuality in a born-again Christian community, the pitfalls of short poetry and fart humour amongst the Iraqi marsh Arabs. Not sure if the last one will make the cut, so to speak. Tune in here. It's on-line for the next year!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x7t3y

I have been doing a huge amount of Improvisation, mainly in the form of classes and workshops with a few actual performances here and there. I love the process and will be looking to become part of a fully-functioning Impro group at some point. But it's harder (much) than it looks. It's not unlike learning a musical instrument. I can play in tune but need to work on my tone. The best place to study Impro in London is here:

http://www.hooplaimpro.com/

I'm signed up to co-star in a short film, shooting this summer. It's called Incognito and is written by award-winner Jeremiah Quinn, who will also direct. The story concerns two middle-aged men meeting for coffee and cake at a cafe in Buenos Aires in 1960. One is downtrodden and paranoid (me), the other is wealthy and seemingly carefree. They are both Nazi war criminals. Oh, there's also a severe but sexy waitress played by a wonderful Argentinian actress. There will be much more on this soon, but for now here's a photo of my character. Not the sort of fellow you'd want to meet in a dark alley.

In the autumn, I will be writing a verbatim stage play with Matthew Lloyd, former Artistic Director of The Actor's Centre and Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre and The Royal Exchange. It's early days. We will start interviewing subjects this summer and begin writing in September. The project (with a cast of four) will open in November at JW3, the new Jewish Centre on Finchley Road. It's the first drama commission they've undertaken, so no pressure... The subject is Jewish families and the conflicts within them. As the actors will be wearing headphones and performing their dialogue exactly as they hear it, we're calling the piece Listen: We're Family. 

http://www.jw3.org.uk/

Till next time...