It’s A Needlessly Exhausting Life
I’m not entirely sure how I’ve just slept for twelve hours; it’s a good job I’d taken the day off work… I didn’t really take a break after getting back from The Maydays residential improv course and the following week was well busy like! In fairness, it would have been even busier had not a couple of things been rearranged. Even so… I got back at about midnight and headed off to work in the morning. I think that’s the point where I should have taken a day off really. I’ve spent the week fairly mindfucked as a result and have not succeeded in acquiring the necessary chunks of sleep to catch up. Not to worry…
Tuesday night heralded the return of Pub Poetry. It’s always a delight to compere and I forget just how pleasing it is when people who have never read before get up and perform something. We also had lots of the regulars back with their poetry and even better, I’ve just managed to recover at least part of the night from my H2 Xoom recorder (like an idiot I managed to unplug it before turning it off and got one of those 0kb files that so terrify me. Fortuitously I discovered a wonderful free data recovery app called TestDisk which has turned it back into a real file!) so I should be able to dig out some amusing bits, including Martin and I having a stab at improvised beat poetry. I’m not sure it was very good but we did enjoy it.
I took Wednesday afternoon off, in theory to be able to get some sleep, but in reality I had dire need to create a birthday card and to write the only thing I managed to scribble last week… we’ve had shows, birthday parties and god knows what else to do this last week.
♥ This week’s scribbles
Wednesday The Desert Crystals Part 22 “Dead Air” There’s something out there.
Friday Book Review: Feast and Famine by Adrian Tchaikovsky A fabulous book of short stories.
Updates on my thrilling life
Writing
A total disaster. I had to concede that I was just too tired and busy to write anything last week. I’m struggling with the sense of personal disappointment – I have let all of myself down. The post I did write, about John Cremer’s workshop and my personal experiences of meeting and interacting with many interesting and fun, but undoubted strangers, was a tough write. I’m glad I’ve managed to document that workshop, and the Meisner one with Steve Roe as well.
Realistically I’m going to have to face the fact that I cannot write as much as I want to at the moment. Work and improv both are just going to be too manic and involving to permit me to manufacture extra time. Maybe I should get up earlier – but that might just kill me as I’ll doubtless stay up just as late as usual…
Wednesday Slightly Broken: Soul Searching The harrowing, but enlivening experience of improvisation and group therapy slammed into one.
Nil. We have plans however to take a pilgrimage to a Lego shop in November! Also (I say ‘nil’ but I don’t mean it…) we got our Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar in the post this morning: we are ready for Christmas.
Improv Comedy
Adding to the knackering week has been much improv activity – jam on Thursday as usual but with a slight change as lovely Calum brought his guitar along which let us do some love ballads and scenes into song. We had lots of fun, I especially enjoyed a song about Enid Blyton‘s Faraway Tree that I had with Andrew. Charming and racist.
Showtime! It was also the last Friday of the month again and we were back at The Glee Club for another MissImp in Action. We continued last month’s experimental format which split the show into four equal segments – starting with a half hour of short form from some of our newest improvisers followed by two very fast action-packed montages. It was a great first half, with a very supportive and clap-happy audience who tugged fabulously weird, funny and sweet scenes out of our players. The second half started with an Assssscat (or Armando or whatever you want to call it) which I was the monologist for. Then we finished with Unspeakable Acts – mangling The Fellowship of the Ring in our inimitable style, killing off key characters and destroying plot points with abandon. It was very good fun.
On Saturday and Sunday we took to the street, performing with Little Wolf Parade as part of the Great Nottinghamshire Show. It can be very odd performing improv to a passing public but we did our usual stuff, mostly ignored the audience and had some fun. Thanks for including us!
Books
Along with everything else that I’m not getting done, I’m not reading enough either! I have now finally finished The Furies of Calderon, the first in Jim Butcher’s fantasy series. I enjoyed the ‘furies’ – the elemental spirits that people are somehow teamed up with, and the epic scale battles. I still wish it had the humour of the Dresden books though. I also got through volumes two and three of Atomic Robo – a comic I adore which fuses science fiction, science, silliness and action into a near-perfect book.
Events and Excitement
Friday 4th October 2013
Consenting Partners
We’ve taken some of our most entertaining improvisers, teamed them up with each other and are letting them loose to perform a series of unique, uncontrolled and unpredictable shows. First up we’re serving weird and wonderful two player improv followed by a dessert course of three-way fun. Make no mistake, this is an intense experience requiring teamwork, Vulcan mind-melds and a six-pack of Pandora’s Boxes of imagination.
The Corner
8 Stoney Street
(off Broad Street)
Nottingham
8.00pm – £3 on the door only
https://www.facebook.com/events/1385634221667320/
Thursday 10th October 2013
Gorilla Burger: improv comedy carnage
Jam show – a chance for anyone to get on stage, plus special show slots!
The City Gallery
14a Long Row
(off Market Square)
Nottingham
7.30pm – £4
https://www.facebook.com/events/1408367312713244/
Friday 25th October 2013
MissImp in Action – live improv comedy show
Thrilling all-action end of the month show sporting the best of MissImp inventing scenes and playing games.
The Glee Club
The Waterfront
Canal Street
Nottingham
8.30pm (doors open at 8pm) – £4.50 in advance/£6 on the door (£3 students/MissImp)
