Water Under The Bridge
Quite a long gap since the last entry; and since i managed to combine some work in Coventry with Talking Birds and a boat trip, a whole lot of water under the bridge too. I'm still not quite back home to Smethwick yet, moored up at Cuckoo Wharf in sunny Aston after a three day cruise from Cov Basin. Once again the work/life mix has come through just right, and the downtime after an intensive job is just the tonic!
Over the last month I've packed in the Intimate History gig in Lichfield (quite a success i reckon and a real blast to do again), a quick holiday back to the island, Chris and Catherine's fantastic camping wedding, the boat trip and 2 devised shows with the T Birds...
The Whale was a very loosely based Jonah story set in a beautiful portable aluminium whale. One audience member at a time was swallowed up and given a 3 minute story and song from a lovesick submariner. Great fun to perform, even managed to get a note out of a squeezebox.
One Last Look was a 30 minute journey around various wards in the Cov and Warwick hospital. It has to be said i was a pretty awful deviser in the first week but despite my best efforts to be crap i ended up with a lot to do in the show. With Nick Walkers text and direction from Steve Johnstone my role was an absolute blast to perform. Derek's musical finale for the show really hit the right spot and provided an emotional farewell to an emotionally loaded building. 2 weeks inside a decommisioned hospital is more than enough for me though.
Check out http://www.talkingbirds.co.uk . They work brilliantly well together.
Just enough time to get home, cut loose at Summer Sundae festival in Leicester and head off to Groningen, Holland with Stan for a couple of weeks rice action. All good!