Number 1 in an occasional series about friends and loved ones who are no longer with us.

My schoolfriend Fred Hood died on Christmas Eve last year, at the age of 28. Swept away by an avalanche while skiing in Austria, he was mercifully killed instantly. Being an international sort of chap, he had memorial services in Washington DC, Bologna, and ( Read more... )

Lots of people have been asking me if I'm doing anything at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The answer is, unfortunately, no. However, Two Shades of Blue¹ are doing not one, but two shows: a reprise of Comedy and Cake, and a new show called Back to the Future: The Pantomime. They're performing in Edinburgh from the 17th to the 25th of August, at C ( Read more... )

I got the job application in, finally: here's the revised (or rather, totally re-written) research proposal, and here's the summary for laymen. You will notice the point where I thought "Speculative? Ha! I'll show you speculative!" I'd really appreciate feedback, especially on the one-page summary: the two or three formulae in there should be ( Read more... )

Happy Birthday wormwood_pearl!

Twenty-one today. Blimey, I feel old. But not as old as the mighty Brian Blessed, actor and mountaineer, who is seventy today1. Happy birthday, Brian! His birthday is being celebrated in inimitable style over on b3ta, if anyone feels like joining the party...

1Assuming that the rumours of his recent death by trampling at the ( Read more... )

evath has put some clips from The Matrix: The Pantomime up on Google video. Enjoy!

*watches for a few seconds*

Damn, I really need to work on my stage slaps...

Current status on some of my long-term projects:

Thesis: Up to ( 36 pages )

Another sketch idea.

CIVILIAN is attempting to do something perfectly normal and unobjectionable: drink a cup of tea, or put a stamp on a letter, or tie his shoelaces. Enter JOBSWORTH.JW: Oi! You can't do that here ( Read more... )

Thought for a sketch, to be performed near the end of a show ( Read more... )

Doing a Fringe show with Two Shades of Blue is a wonderful luxury, in that we can assume as a baseline things which many other companies struggle to get right. We have an experienced and competent production staff who know the Edinburgh ropes; we have a large company to hand out flyers (at which we're far better than the average company); our ( Read more... )

I saw 17 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, which is slightly above average for me.

( So that's where my bank balance went... )