News

Our resident playwright cum ticket-wallah Simon H-W returns to his keyboard after a rather pro-longed summer break…

The last blog I wrote was typed whilst sat on a beach in Cornwall, my chubby fingers trying to hit the impossibly small on-screen keypad buttons on my ipod touch. Ah it was lovely… listening to the waves hit the shore, occasionally shielding the ipod screen from the glare of the sun and also trying to avoid dripping Mr Whippy on to it… Yep, that’s how long ago my last blog was! Cut to now and I’m sat here at my pc with the radiator on full, a pile of blankets around me and the world’s biggest mug of coffee to keep me warm…

The main reason for the gap is I’ve been sidetracked writing for and organising a show which Darkstuff Productions are putting on early next year. I won’t shamelessly plug it quite yet, but the show will be 3 nights of ghost stories in a real-life crypt. It’s scheduled for the end of January and I’m just hoping we get all the snow and freezing weather out of the way right now otherwise we might have to issue health warnings on all the publicity material or at the very least supply each audience member with a hot water bottle as they enter.

I definitely find it more of a struggle to organise anything at this time of year; everything seems to take double the effort and the idea of just hibernating under the duvet with a supply of jaffa cakes and endless cups of tea seems much more appealing than trying to book rehearsal rooms, working out production costs or sorting out public liability insurance. But hey, it’s got to be done.

Meanwhile on the box office front it’s been pretty manic. We’re selling for four very busy shows: Mrs Gerrish’s Rear Window, Peter Clifford – I Can’t Believe My Eyes, The Elves & the Shoemakers, and of course The Adventures of Pinocchio - plus the new season brochure has just gone out, which once again has some really interesting shows coming up.

Personally I’m particularly excited by The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church which is a one man show written and performed by Daniel Kitson. Everything I’ve seen him do has had me leaving his shows thinking, ‘That was great’ and also, ’I wish I could write that well’. On one of the hottest days of the summer some friends and I spent four hours on a Sunday afternoon watching Daniel Kitson and musician Gavin Osborn perform three stories as a warm-up for their appearance at the Latitude Festival. It was very hot and also I have a fairly low attention span but I was completely captivated throughout and I left with a warm fuzzy glow and again thought, ’I wish I could write that well’. I would really recommend seeing his show in May if you can make it and also tonight and tomorrow (Friday 3 & Saturday 4 December) Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn are returning to the Brewery to perform a warm-up for the support slot for Belle & Sebastian. It’s on at 10.15pm on both nights (tickets a bargain at £2.50), but there weren’t many tickets still available when I left the box office last night so if you do read this in time check the booking page for availability. I don’t care how cold it is - I’m definitely going to be there!