Mindscape of a roguespirit

Making Pericles - Day 1 - Acting & Alienation in Poland

2010-07-27T23:33:00.005+01:00

Above, you see the publicity picture for the production of Pericles that I am doing with the Parrabola Theatre Co. at the 14th gdansk Shakespeare festival. This is my 4th Outing with Parrabola and my 2nd year in Poland.

Keeping in mind I got married (again) on Saturday, you can imagine I'm pretty damn tired today especially as we had to get up at 6am to get to the airport. The flight was ok but the pilot got a little dramatic toeards the end and I'm not really sure why.

Anyway, we got a cab down to Dolne Miasto, which is the most degraded of Gdansks suburbs with quite a lot of issues to it's name. Not only is this where the production is happening, it's where we are staying. Below is a picture of the tennement building we are staying in.

Let's just say Basic is a fairly good word for the accomoation and I don't think my wife was quite ready for it considerin that the day before we'd woken up in one of the plushest hotel suites we'd ever been in.

We went for a walk and oh the nostalgic feeling of being stared at wherever I went came rushing back to me . I was expecting this but had forgotten that it does take a couple of days to acclimatise to it. My wife however was stunned by the amount of blatant looks and was tempted to get her boobs out to give them something else to look at. I calmed her down by saying that back in the 70's and even into the early 80's, this was standard in London.

however there was a difference this time and maybe it's to do with where we are staying. This time I felt a little...threatened - I think that's probably the worng word but it's the closest I can get to at the moment. Aparently someone came into the place we are staying last friday and got into a fight with one of the guys. This has served as a definte reminder that we are outsiders here (as if I needed reminding)

Funnily enough, it does service the needs of the play, Dolne Miasto is a bit of an excluded suburb and the main characters in Pericles find themselves in foreign places, places they don't belong and I don't doubt this is also part of my casting as well. Right now I feel like it's not going to take much to emody the feeling of alenation.

This was compounded by my first rehearsal. Keep in mind this is a community play which involve lots of local people contributing - and so in the first rehearsal I find myself in a room with 2 other English people, 8 polish people and 2 Romanians. It was fascinating being the minority as wellas the miority speaker and potentially incredibly alienating. I didn't get the jokes or follow the flow of the conversation. My jokes made no sense to the majority of peole in the room (which isn' that rare a thing actually). The 2nd rehearsal was me and 3 Polish girls, 2 of whom were incredibly fluent in English but 1 amazingly brave girl who speaks no English but is attempting to tackle Shakespeare in English. My respect and fear for those people, such as refugees who find themselves in a country in which they can't communicate with those about them has tripled over night. Why does it always take someting like this to find a bit of empathy in life.

Oh well, fo now I'll just have to console myself and be content with being surrounded by beautiful women speaking to me in East European accents.

Getting wet in Poland & What I'm reading

2010-07-06T01:35:00.007+01:00

Sunday night saw a read through for my latest actig project. I'll be playing Pericles in the play Pericles by Wiliiam Shakespeare. This will be happening in the Gdansk Shakespeare Festival, whom some of you may remember I played Ariel in the Tempest last year.

Let me give you a few vague details that came out of the read through.

I have to learn some Polish

There are 10 venues in the one play

I have to sail up a river

There could be a cast of 100 people

Someone mentioned a fire engine

Pericles talks a lot

That's all I can say right now, but if you wanna see how things turn out, then keep an eye on the blog.

In other news

What I've just read: The Hugo nominated graphic novel Girl Genius Vol 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm. Volume 8 of this series was nominated last year and this was a big surprise to me. I'd never heard of it and neither had anyone else I know. Not that that is a good reason to not be nominated. That being said I still didn't understand it's place in the Hugo's or care for it that much. This year I've found that it's really grown on me and I'm not as harsh on it as I was but I still don't understand why it's here. The art is interesting, the story is very intersting and in terms of length I think this collected web series will be good value for money; but considering it's length and the fact that there is a lot of activity the story is only inched forward, I found this to be true of vol 8 as well. also there are far too many characters for a newcomer to keep track of. it may not seem like it but I enjoyed this although I think it is very flawed.

What I'm reading now: The Hugo nominated " The City and The City " by China Mievile.

The body of a murdered woman - just another case for Inspector Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad; until his investigations puts him and those he cares for in danger. Borlu must travel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own, across a border like no other.

Enjoying it so far, a truly unique work.

The 4- Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

On a journey to be more efficient and create more time by working cleverly as oppossed to working more and have more time to do the things you want. I'm not finished yet and already have noticed a difference in my working habits.

Anyway must go - lines to learn

My Santander ad

2010-07-01T11:50:00.001+01:00

I say mine, but sneeze and you'll miss me

Easy Switching
Watch the ad...

Voice Reel 1 - Sin City

2009-08-19T22:36:00.003+01:00

Got back from Edinburgh to find my completed voice reel had arrived. 10 tracks I'm hoping to use to get me some radio and audio play work.

Thought I'd let you hear my favourite.

So for your pleasure David reads - That Yellow Bastard

One Man Lord of the Rings

2009-08-17T15:38:00.003+01:00

I caught up with this show in Edinburgh, which is by Charlie Ross, the guy who did One Man Star Wars to much critical acclaim.

I also got the priviledge to get an interview with him. Check out my review and interview here - One Man LoTR review and interview

Diary of the Strange 1: Pirate at the Bus Stop

2009-08-15T19:07:00.002+01:00

So I was waiting to get the bus to work last night and this pirate was looking at apartments in the estate agents. He turned round and I noticed that he'd been shopping at Budgens, which surprised me for some reason. I don't know why.

He got a different bus to me.

First Professional Review of belle Canto

2009-08-14T15:07:00.002+01:00

Belle Canto's Opera Hour: Tales of Love and Lies
Belle Canto
The premise of this romp through the world of opera was sweet and original. Our main characters, Belle and Scherzo, created a storyline around the tropes of the opera world with beautiful singing; the between-song exposition was a little stilted, however, as the dialogue let down what could have been a really well-rounded and interesting piece. The costumes were beautiful and the set well-designed, but again this was failed by poor lighting, which will hopefully be sorted out as the show's run progresses; no-one wants to be singing in the dark. The live music was lovely, though, and, despite the smallness of the space, it happily held Bizet, Mozart, Verdi and more. You'll be humming 'Libiamo' all the way to the mile.
Sweet ECA, 6 - 31 Aug (not 17, 24), 4.20pm (5.10pm), £8.00 (£7.00), fpp166.
tw rating: 3/5

This is from the publication Three Weeks

Again, I'm happy, apart from the ongoing fiasco with the lights. The people before us kep screwing them up for us and the rig is a bit crappy anyway. The lights haven't been right once yet. Its really annoying/

Reviews of my show

2009-08-13T22:06:00.002+01:00

Ir's a real weird feeling to watch a show, really enjoy it, and think "I did that". Although technically, it should be "we did that", because I left it in the hands of the most capable Joanne Bonniface while I went of to Poland.

Anyway I have watched Belle Canto's opera hour quite a few times now and I love it every time. What's really scary is waiting for the reviews to come in.

Apparently there has been one professional reveiw so far which I haven't seen, but some of the reviews from people who have been to see it have started to trickle in.

Here's the latest 3.

So good we saw it twice

13 Aug 2009

reviewer: Nick and Sarah Page, UK
A highly enjoyable show with a wide range of music woven into an examination of love and passion. Seasoned opera lovers will enjoy the beautifully sung arias - including lesser known ones. An ideal introduction for those who have never seen opera before, with enough familiar tunes to draw you in and a storyline to put into context what you are listening to. The cast brought out the full emotion and eroticism of opera in an intimate setting. Two of us went yesterday and we came back with six more people today!

Excellent
11 Aug 2009
reviewer: Kay Dee,,
A lovely introduction to opera. Beautiful singing and playing. Almost a 5 (too many half costume changes, which aren't really necessary)

bravo
11 Aug 2009
reviewer: keith, scotland
The perfect introduction to the seductive power of great opera. It's basically the same idea as Scottish Opera's "Essential" tours - a linked programme of short and well-chosen arias, beautifully performed at close range and with minimal props by a versatile and hugely talented troupe of singers. The links let it down slightly, being palpable nonsense, but the charm and excellence of the performances make this a real oasis of afternoon delight.

I never knew
10 Aug 2009
reviewer: David Gilhaedril, Britain
I'm not an opera fan, but this show was so joyous, so sad in places and so much fun in others that its awakened my desire to find out more. The cast are obviously enjoying what they do and are doing it well. This is a damn good way to spend an hour.

Ok so thats 4 but what the hell. I'm pretty damn pleased so far.

Geek Theatre Review - Bane

2009-08-10T01:57:00.002+01:00

As a host of Geek Syndicate, I’m always on the lookout for geek stuff and there is a plethora of it on TV, in comics, books and the movies. As an actor I have recently been thinking about the perceived lack of it on stage. Earlier this year, a Geek Syndicate listener wrote a sketch for me, that was set aboard the International Space Station and this was later performed. So it was with a great deal of curiosity that I thought that I could use my limited time at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival to investigate what existed of Geek Culture on stage.

Perusing the fringe guide the first thing that my eyes fell on was Bane. Here’s the blurb –

“Bruce Bane is a hired hand that gets the job done. Join Bane as he works his way through the city in this dark comedic tale of revenge. One-man film noir parody with live music.”

My first thought was that the name was disturbingly familiar to Bruce Banner, alter ego of the Incredible Hulk. My second thought was I like film noir. My third was this could be really bad.

So armed with my Geek Syndicate press pass, a pen and a paper I went to check it out.
It starts with a guitarist playing a bluesy Latino theme tune, which turns into a suspenseful strum, as we are party to an offstage panicked phone call. Eventually we see the character making the call. He is scared and packing, obviously intending to get out of town. Another, invisible character enters, killing him. The actor wheels round makes a machine gun sound and shouts “Bane”. The movie has begun.

Bane is a nasty piece of work, who shoots first and isn’t even bothered about the questions. For the next hour, the writer performer Joe Bone single handedly and without props takes you through a week in the life of Bruce Bane. He also plays all the other characters, Alonso the Italian Chef, Mavis the receptionist, Victor Necropolis, the mad scientist and more; each character clearly defined and represented.

This is a brilliant story; it has everything you want from a noir production, thrills, spills, twists in the plot and a brilliant villain with a unique method of killing his victims. To my surprise, the narrative held together very well, with plot elements weaving in and of the story appropriately.
Wonderfully Bone manages to incorporate a lot of action into this show. Not only are the fight scenes graphic, fun and well executed but he even pulls of a pretty good car chase.

The writer/performer obviously has his geek credentials well established as I saw references to Leon, Blues Brothers, Batman, Back to the Future and Kill Bill amongst others.

This was a well spent hour, funny and dramatic by turns. If you should get the chance to see Bane by Whiteface Productions, then do. Somehow, one man, a bare stage and a guitarist made the most wonderful cinematic theatre I’ve seen and the best thing is that in good cinema tradition, they’ve left it open for a sequel.

Goodbye Poland - Hello Scotland

2009-08-10T01:46:00.003+01:00

So I'm back in a wi-fi world now. I'll come back to talking about Poland soon. On Wednesday morning I arrived back in London. In the evening, I rehearsed the opera Orfeo and Eurydice which I'm directing for the first week of September; and then on Thursday morning I flew of to Edinburgh to help tech the show Belle Canto's Opera hour - tales of Love and Lies.

The tech was an umitigated disaster because of some problems with the venues and our show that day was cancelled. I had an emergency which meant I had to fly back to london and trained back to Edinburgh the following day.

The show however is going very well and I'm going onthe search for some sci-fi/fantasy theatre

Making The tempest - Gdansk Day 5

2009-07-31T01:20:00.010+01:00

Went to Sopot tonight, which is a seaside town and way more impressive than your average English seaside town. More going on, lively and fun. We went to this open air Martini bar which was just class. Going to this bar is also the reason tonights blog is so short, if you take my meaning.

There are a lot of kebab places in Poland and this is by far the best. We saw it on the way home and tell me, is there a better name for a kebab joint?

And finally a pic of me from today's rehearsal

Making The tempest - Gdansk Day 4

2009-07-29T21:54:00.009+01:00

Today I felt truly awake for the first time since I got here, which is a problem since I only got the chance to start learning my lines on Sunday. However apart from a killing muscular pain in my back I'm doing good. Another 10 hours of rehearsal, dinner at the mexican under the hotel, with the hot staff and an hours script work before bed.

Language Watch

So today I learned how to say "It's a pleasure to meet you". Which has already come in very handy and made certain girls blush. I will endeavour to say it with slightly less suggestiveness in my voice.

Stagecraft part 2

I thought I'd show you how we are constructing one of the scenes that makes use of video cameras today. We worked really hard at getting it down and I think it's gonna look impressive. In this scene Prospero's daughter Miranda is getting all hot on Ferdinand the prince of Naples. However in this production, Prospero never leaves his cell. We ae trying to communicate his power comes from knowledge, technology and surveillance. So the challenge is to make the dialogue happen using the whole stage, without Prospero leaving the area that represents his cell and using technology.

So in the first picture you can see me filming Prospero.The next picture is actually the same thing from a different angle so that you cant see me.
The monitor that Prospero is looking at is linked to another camera focussing on the performance space and it his link to the action. The two vaguely people shaped blurs you can see on the monitor are Miranda and Ferdinand. he next few are examples of what the scene looks like as Miranda and Ferdinand interact with Prospero's image.

What do you think? Does it work?

Quiet on the Set

We also did some outdoor filming today of one of the scenes that will have to pre-recorded. We had one rehearsal and only had time for One Take, but there were three cameras. What thats gona look like after editing is anyones guess. But the audience will see us walking out the door and then the pre-recorded footage outside giving us time to get into place for the next scene.

Busking Shakespeare

I have to sing 4 songs in this and so far I've just been making up the tunes. So I sat down with Philip Parr the co-director and he scored a couple of the tunes for me. He adapted one from what I had been doing already. What he didn't know was that I had based the tune on the Lay of Gilgalad from the radio production of Lord of the Rings. Ah yea - get your geek on Ninja!.

If you fancy a little preview heres a few seconds of a early rehearsal version - Five fathoms

Subtext

I was gona tell ou about that today but I can actually hear my bed calling my name. It's disturbing the other guests so I'll do it tomorrow!!

Making The tempest - Gdansk Day 3

2009-07-28T23:32:00.010+01:00

into
Ok first lesson people. if you ever come to Poland bear this in mind. These people eat big. They don't believe in small portions. For example, I had a huge grilled Salmon salad for lunch but couldn't resist the pancake..it had yogurt, bannana, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries and who knows what else...here take a look for yourselfThe point is I gotta stop ordering more than one course because there is no such thing as a small portion over here. Oh and a different lady laughed at me today.

I must learn my lines, I must learn my lines, I must......

I am so so tired right now. The busyness of the past few weeks is finally catching up with me and its making it hard to learn lines. This worries me because i'm not brilliant at learning lines anyway and evryone else is far ahead of me. However I have no choice. I've given myself up till the end of Thursday to be of book, which is scary as our first show is Saturday.

Stagecraft

But things are starting to take shape. This is my area. The place where Ariel stands for the whole play. You can see the video camera that will be pointed at me, two microphones (as well as the radio mic in my hair), a light facing me and the sail behind me, the other side of which faces the audience. this makes for an interesting dynamic for the actor - me. The audience can see me a little, they can see whatever the camera picks up and they can see my shadow through the sail. It means I have to deliver a performance which is mndful of all 3 things. I have to perform to the camera whilst moving my body to make the image on the sail evocative and interesting and maintain character for the times that I can be directly seen by the audience. Quite a challenge to master in a few days, but thanks to Aysha our movement coach I think we can do this. This picture on the right should give you a feel for the stage as a whole. On the right, the big black thing is a screen where inages will be shown, to the left you can just about see the rostra covered by the sail which forms the front of the area I'll be behind. And to the right of that you can just make out a wide screen tv which will also have film on it.

A big part of this is trying to work out how the staging will work especially as everybody is doubling up. This is the cast trying out a scene while Scott films it during and as part of the performance. And the desired product, a symbolic meeting of hands is broad cast. This forms part of the scene being performed simultaneously.

As I think you can see the execution of this show is very complicated.

Language Watch

Today I learned 2 phrases - "What is your name? "and "My name is ". Magda and Suzanne were very impressed except for the fact that we already knew each other's name.

Black in Gdansk

I have manged to recruit techie David into playing the spot the person spotting the black guy game. My aim is to get a smile out of people but David has decided he somehow wants to take pictures of the people reacting to my presence.

Did you know?

You can get done for Jaywalking over here. You actually have to wait for the green man!!!

Coming soon

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the subtext and someone emailed me asking what exactly I meant by that. Exploring the sub text is a vital part of the actors toolkit. I'll explain about it tomorrow because right now I'm too tired to do aquareobics, so I'm gone to bed. Later.

Making The tempest - Gdansk Day 2

2009-07-28T00:09:00.008+01:00

Guns & Reggae

This is proving to be a truly collaborative effort. We got into the theater space today. It's a place called Club Zac which apparently doubles as a nightclub and has a health reggae scene....who'd have thought. I was a bit put out by the security cards from the accurately named SOLID security company and even more out out by the guns at their belts, but I was consoled by the thought that i had grown up watching kung-fu movies and all that absorbed knowledge would proabaly make me really adept at catching bullets, so it was ok.

Radio mics and other stuff

So the tech guys got busy making the place while the actors practised lines, or location work , or whatever. By whatever I mean stuff like this -This is David the sound guy trying to work out where best to hide the radio mic in my locs. There is also the erecting of a sail cloth. Behind which, apparently I will spend the entire performance as Ariel and Prospero will be in front of it facing the audience. There will be a camera trained on me the whole time and the image sent to a huge screen on stage with whichI will interact with the other actors. When I'm not on video, they will send my voice to different parts of the theatre. I think it will be impressive. Still a litttle concerned about how we do the scenes when Ariel talks to my other character Sebastian.

But this is a fascinating process, we have coaboratively edited the script, decided on location, use of film, staging etc., and the the whole crew is brilliant. Good people, who listen and take your opinion on board. This is a good project.

How many dave's is too many

This computer/ audio visual deck is actually part of the set and elucidates the surveillance/power theme running throughtout the show and although I've still got a long way to go on the lines, I really managed to hammer out some of the subtext with the other cast members. Actually this pic is literally every other cast member. Bryony, dave, Scott and Brett (from Left to right). oh yea I should mention there are 3 Dave's working on this show.

Language Watch

Ah yes, language. I have increased my vocab to include the words - Yes, No, Sorry, I don't understand and OK. I think I'm doing pretty good so I can't understand why the lady serving me food today laughed at me...actually at me...in my face....no attempt to disguise it...I have no idea why?

Black in Gdansk

Another interesting thing I meant to mention yesterday was that I am the only black person I have seen. I thought there would be a lot of staring....there was. However in the middle of town it was pretty subtle and non intrusive (apart from the lady who stopped, stared, exclaimed and called her friends to have a look, but she was quite clearly the town crackhead). However as you get more into the suburbs, the looks tend to be a bit more blatant. Well fair enough I suppose, we all stare at that which is different, I haven't been treated badly in any way so alls good.

....and finally

Oh yea, remember the thing about disguising the radio mic in my hair - which do you prefer, in the center or of to the side.

Making The tempest - Gdansk Day 1

2009-07-27T23:52:00.005+01:00

So after 3 hours sleep and a comfortable 2 hour flight. I have arrived in Gdansk, whereupon we were greeted by two lovely Polish girls called Suzanne and Magda, who were looking after us. Now thats what I'm talking about, thats how you greet vistors to your country. Send the babes out to meet them.

Anyway we got ourselves ensconsed in a seriously lovely hotel, and really why do people have to cuss just cos i got the double bed. Life is unfair people - we just gotta deal with it.

So settled in and then we went into Gdansk proper to have a look around. incredible - a beautiful city with an obviously rich history, judging by the architecture.

We had dinner in this restaurant where the girls wore very shrt skirts - not that I noticed that! Because we were sat opposite the weirdest tableau of stuffed wild boars. I kid you not. Check out the pic on the left if you don't believe me...and this doesn't even show the carnage that was on the wll above it.

We had a bit of an adventure on the way back with the trams as we got a little confused and were eventually helped out by a family with which we shared not one bit of the same language with. Actually thats a lie - i have decided to learn 2 new words a day and use them each day. Todays words are Hello and Goodbye and people seem to understand me. I've also been assured I know the words for shit and whore, but I think a conversation that includes the words "Hello shit whore, goodbye," is probably not the way to go.

Finished the day with a Mexican??!! and 3 hours script work with the cast. Tomorrow the works starts in earnest. We got 5 days to sort everything out and the outcome is far from assurred.

making the tempest -pt 1

2009-07-27T23:18:00.002+01:00

For those of you that don't know I am in a mutli-media production of Shakespeares The Tempest for the Gdansk Shakespeare festival in Poland. its a higly exmperimental production and indeed has 5 actors (playing 12 parts) and 10 technical crew.

I got the script a week ago, we've had 2 reherasals and we know this isn't the final cut of the script and we have a wek to go. How's it gonna work out. I don't know. Watch this space!

Exordium of a Soul Transcendant

2009-05-29T00:49:00.002+01:00

So the story is done and edited. You can read it here - Exordium of a Soul Transcendant

Let me know what you think

Arctic Vestibule

2009-05-20T08:39:00.002+01:00

It's been a long time since I've written any fiction nad thats a shame because I dearly love writing fiction. So in an attempt to combat this I twittered that I wanted to write a short story and that I would like a couple of random words to inspire me. The words I got back were both from my lovely friend Elly in Austrailia. Arctic and Vestibule. To a normal man with a normal brain that would have been a problem but not to me. No siree. I have just finished this story on one of the 12 hour night shifts I find myself doing at the moment and shall post it once I've edited it. Keep your eyes peeled.

How was the opera?

2009-02-05T02:49:00.003Z

For those that remember my post just below the post just below. the opera was a resounding success. I measured this in 2 ways. I wanted those who ad no experience of opera not only to enjoy the show but to follow the story, a challenge as it was in Italian. The feedback from this demographic was overwhelmingly positive.

And secondly I wanted the experienced opera goers to have a whale of a time. After the 2nd show a classical music journalist approached me and said how much he enjoyed it, that it was a fantastic first show and my future was bright.

These two pics are before and after shots of the same scene by the way.

So more direction? more opera for me? Only time will tell.

Suddenly remembered I had a blog....

2009-02-05T02:46:00.001Z

......so thought I'd say just how ready I am to give up with computers. That's all for now. more to come.

It's time for....opera

2008-09-18T22:51:00.002+01:00

Some of you may know that I am directing an opera. The first question that comes to your mind is.."David, what do you know about opera". Well as it happens...nothing. So why then am I directing. The producers wanted to bring a level of performance to an opera that will make it more palatable to a theatre audience. And again you're wondewring so why have they got you involved. the answer is simply, because I am brilliant.

However despite assurance of my brilliance I was full of nerves on my way to the first rehearsal. This is the first time I'm directing opera, more than that it's in Italian..a language I don't speak. I've never directed singers before, most of whom have never 'acted' so to speak.

Will I succeed in my task. The best way to find out is to come see Orfeo ed Eurydice at Jackson's Lane Theatre, Highgate, on October the 14th or 15th

Chilling

2008-09-10T12:27:00.003+01:00

of all the pics that I've seen from Edinburgh this is the most chilling. Its the innocent yet manic smile and the loving grip on my dagger that does it. I love you Sarah yet you scare me...a little

Is the White Stuff a Black issue?

2008-09-04T09:21:00.000+01:00

My first post on The Black Intellectual website is up

To Be (Black) Or Not To Be

2008-09-02T14:02:00.003+01:00

For the past month I have been living in a cocoon that is called the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and much news of the world has passed me by. For those who don’t know this is an annual festival of live performance in Scotland’s capital.

I was performing in two plays, the second of which was one of Shakespeare’s earliest and bloodiest, Titus Andronicus. This play reads like the script of a Scream movie and as such was a hell of a lot of fun. I play Aaron the Moor, which is one of Shakespeare very few specifically black roles and a very bad man. I enjoyed myself immensely not just theatrically but also socially, however there were conundrums niggling away at the back of my mind.

It all comes back to the historical basis of our understanding of what being black represents and its root therein. Shakespeare has three Blacks in his cannon, Othello, a good man of standing who is manipulated into villainy, Aaron, who has nothing about him but villainy and The Prince of Morocco, a dignified ruler.

I believe that Shakespeare was no stranger to people of colour considering that in his day (1601) there were an estimated 15,000 – 20,000 black people in London, not all of whom were slaves or domiciles and yet there seems no reason for Aaron to be black. The Prince of Morocco being African would be, Othello is an example of the consequences of racial isolation and xenophobic jealousy so, again that is borne out by its very themes but Aaron has no seeming reason to be a ‘moor’.

Not too long ago I wrote an article on the portrayal of black characters in comics and one of the conclusions which I came to is that when that exists for which we have no real empathy we resort to caricature rather than an attempt to find real artistic truth and to a certain extent this is what has happened here.

One of my fellow cast members a white, pale skinned, ginger headed chap admitted that at drama school he had played Aaron and qualified with a distinction. I was aghast when he demonstrated for me the pseudo Jamaican accent he had been allowed to get away with. Let’s forget for the moment that at the time this was written Jamaica as an English colony did not even exist, the bigger crime for me was the establishment pandering and applauding this heinous portrayal of what being black is thought to be.

The biggest enemy of this rectification of the stereotype is the distortion of history in the general social subconscious. My last theatre job had a bunch of us sitting watching a reality TV show which saw children competing to be cast as Oliver in the new musical Oliver Twist. I was expositing on the theory that as it was down to a public vote the public would never allow the black candidate to be chosen. There was a general hubbub of disagreement which I graciously accepted, when a member of the crew walked in and exclaimed
“The black one shouldn’t be in this; it’s just not historically accurate”
A statement which was inaccurate in itself considering that 200 years after Shakespeare’s time the Black population and indeed the now indigenous black population would have increased despite the immigration restrictions of the day.
However this is the common belief that has embedded itself in the national consciousness and informs our day to day lives.

As an actor, especially with locks, this has dire consequences. Producers tend to think in terms of stereotypes and cast black people for black roles rather than just ‘roles’. A quick look at my last 5 television castings will spell this out in no uncertain terms.

1 Rum advert which exploited the Jamaican party lifestyle stereotype so badly that I walked out of the casting.
3 Rastafarian musicians
1 Rastafarian hospital receptionist that only answered people in Bob Marley lyrics
And tomorrow I’m going for a casting as a murder suspect.

However despite this I was pleased to hear that the recent production of King Lear at the globe had several Black and one Asian actor playing non ethnic specific roles. I was also pleased by a chance encounter in a club with a director who had produced Titus Andronicus in the past and had refused to cast his one black actor as Aaron because he felt his talents supported another role, the director had effectually cast outside of the stereotype.

The question remains though – how long can I maintain my integrity in light of the need to you know….eat.

My best rejection ever

2008-09-01T18:07:00.003+01:00

So I was up for a part in a docudrama and I got a call from the director today ....apparentlly they loved me but I was too good looking for the part they wanted me to play.

What can you say to that?

Edinburgh Round Up

2008-09-01T17:38:00.005+01:00

So its all done and seeing as how my earliest night for the last month was 4am, I'm in a serious recovery period.

I gotta say I have loved the hell out of the last month,socially as well as artistically; but I am so glad to have my own bed and bathroom back although it all feels a little too quiet right now.

Shows I Saw

A Love In Dream

This was a Korean show ( and there was a heavy Korean prescence at the fringe for some reason)about a woman who lost the love of her life and crosses the border between sanity and madness. It was a very physical and musical performance and not hampered by the fact that it was in Korean. I loved this and was genuienly moved by it. If you ever get to see Modl Theatre in action, they are highly recommended.

I met Marianne and Esther on the mile and they tried various means of flattery to get me to come and see their show - P45;s in the post. I was a bit dubious but the flattery worked and I gotta say I really enjoyed this. It was a comedy about 2 girls friendships and life journey together and was a lot more intersting and funny than it sounds. I especially liked the way they blended it with film sequences and projection. I thought this would make a great sitcom and I'm looking out for these girls. I expect to see them on the screen one day.

At this point I wanna give a shout out to my little friend Megan, who I decided was probably the cutest thing on the mile.

Much kudos go to the Ratpack. These guys were in our theatre immeadiately before us so I never got to see their show. However on the penultimate night there was a party in a local club at which they were playing. Now I love that nig band jazz sound but these guys were amazing especially considering their youthfulness. They knocked it out the park. And the girls - I fell in love with them all a little bit after that performance.

Random Image 1 - Michelle doing publicity...bless her.

Random Image 2 - Sarah and Jess......drunk

So I'm back now and trying to work out little things like....my sleeping patterns and how I'm gonna eat without money...that sort of thing.

I can't take it any more.....

2008-08-22T01:52:00.000+01:00

please please please make the rain stop....please

i'm so so so so tired of being damp

I can't handle being moist anymore

Departure Lounge

2008-08-19T18:55:00.003+01:00

Last night I saw a musical called Departure Lounge by Dougal Irvine. In a word.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I know thats not technically a word but its what it made me do a lot. Its basically a coming of age story wrapped around a Brits abroad theme. 4 lads stuck in a departure lounge (thanks to Ryan Air) end up exploring the ties that bind them together as friends. This show was hilarious, poignant and touching by turns.

Oh and there's a fit blonde in it!!!!

American Dad

2008-08-19T18:39:00.002+01:00

So the mile is a mile long road on which many street performers do their thing. During the festival it is also overrun with performers promoting and flyering for their shows, so it becomes increasingly difficult to find new ways to persuade people to take your flyers.

I have settled on singing amongst other things, such as complimenting women. Now bear in mind that this is a street with a multitude of performers on it one must expect the unexpected.

However....a family is walking past and i start to sing to a girl while reaching for a flyer. i'm singing - "By the look in your eye, I can tell your gonna cry is it over me..." I convert the next line into somethig that results in the need for the targetted person to take a flyer; But before I can get there American Dad barges me in the chest and drawls "Get Lost Pal".

Seriously, there are ways and ways to deal with stuff, here's a suggestion.
1) Smile and think 'those crazy performers'
2) Take a flyer
3) Say "I'm sorry, We are not interested"
4) Ignore me
5) Here's a good one - Teach your daughter how to stand up for herself

I swear these people are gonna give me anger issues

Loving it ......

2008-08-17T16:44:00.006+01:00

Man I'm loving this festival. Had a grreeeaaatttt show then went out with some of the cast. Around 4am everyone starts heading home...but guess what...I'm not ready for that. Louisa one of the casts friend isn't either, so turning our backs on the crowd we head for The Gilded Balloon, to grab some drinks at the Library Bar. Apparently though, it turns out you can't get in without a performers pass after 4 and mine was left at home. So after some serious blagging we get in and hook up with the aforementioned cast of Funk It Up About Nothing and a grand old time was had by all; although I had to inform a girl, who shall remain nameless, that its not the done thing to talk about me when she's in bed with her man!!!

So it hits 5 and I decide to walk Louisa home and on the way we discover a really talented singer playing a medley of hits on his guitar....Its freaking 5:30 in the moening and there's a crowd around this guy singing and dancing.....where else in the world man!!! Of course the police shut him down eventually...
but you know what I'm loving this city.

This is me and Louisa as dawn is gracing the sky. And this is the view of the castle on my way home through the Meadows at 6:30am.

Silent Disco

2008-08-16T19:30:00.003+01:00

The picture is myself and the wonderful Julia, she's hardcore! Everyone else in the cast had gone home after the show and we were the only two that wanted to go out. So Julia suggested we go to the Silent Disco. The more perceptive of you may have noticed that in the picture both Julia and I are wearing headphones. Its that very thing that made this one of the most bizarre clubbing experiences of my life.

The concept is that when you go in you pay a £5 deposit for a pair of wireless headphones with 2 channels on it. The venue has 2 dj's that are transmitting to their repsective channels so if you don't like what one dj is playing you can switch to the other one.

It was all good until I noticed that Julia and I were dancing seriously out of time to each other, and we realised we were listening to different channels. Its a weird experience when you take the headphones of and your in a club that is relatively quiet apart from the odd few people singing out of time, out of tune and with little knowledge of the words to a song that you cant hear. At least it makes it a lot easier to chat people up.

The funniest part of the night for me was when a fire alarm went of but no one could hear it because they were wearing the headphones. We spent 15m outsides having a laugh with the other clubbers and then back in. Julia went slightly mad and our half an hour of clubbing turned into a night that ended at 4am discussing theatre with a bloke called Will whilst eating crepes (I had bannana and nutella - oh yea baby!)

A good night which could only have been improved by a consistently better music choice (I really didn't like the techno song that kept going on about penis) and a snog with Monica Belluci.

Samurai Spirit

2008-08-12T01:51:00.004+01:00

It's probably because I've just finished reading the 28 volume manga series Lone Wolf and Cub ( a Samurai drama set in Japan during the Edo period) that what happened today at the festival excited me so much.

I went to see the acting group of sword fighting specialist Kamui doing a show called Samurai Spirit. The exciting thing about this ****WARNING GEEK MOMENT APPROACHING***** is that it was directed and starred Tetsuro Shimaguchi who not only was the lead member of the Crazy 88

Let me tell you people this show started good and finished excellent and my major aformentioned excitement came from the fact that I actually recognised some of the moves from Lone Wolf and Cub and was anticipating some of their responces. My one regret was that when they got someone out of the audience to do some moves as that it wasn't me...I could've kicked it man!

More Shakespeare - and its funky

2008-08-08T21:35:00.002+01:00

Just got out of seeing Funk It Up About Nothing, which is a rap version of Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing. Now this could have been seriously rubbish, but OMG this was a phenomenal show. The actors were sharp, the rhymes audible and funny...I thoroughly enjoyed myself and they got a standing ovation. Well worth seeing wether you know the story or not. You can check them out here, be warned though the video clip just doesn't do them justice.

Shakespeare, Dr Who and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

2008-08-08T01:54:00.004+01:00

So I'm on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, which is a road on which you can find various street performers and people promoting the various plays and shows they are doing. Its an interesting place that has involved me scaring the hell out of random people with my joker like visage and my Harley Quin companion(the lovely and slightly scary Helen ); Conversly it's a also a place where I've made a lot of new friends and collected an inordinate amount of hugs.

Anywhere I'm talking to a family trying to get them to come and see one of the Shakespeare productions I'm in (the vaguely kiddy friendly one) and the little boy in the family asks the question
"Who's Shakespeare?"
I look at him and ask him the most obvious question I could think of , "Do you like Dr Who?"
"Yes," he says
"Well," say I "Do you remember the man the Dr met in the episode with the Carrionites who used to write lots of stories."
"Yes, but I didn't watch it all because the witches scared me so had to turn it off"
"Fair enough," I said in agreement " they were pretty ugly...but the man who wrote the stories was a real a man whose stories were really good and we still read today".

So, a triumph for science fiction as thanks to Dr Who I was able to educate a young lad to the best selling writer in history.

This is one of the reasons I get riled when people say "its just a kids show" - Kids shows shape the minds of our young, conciously or subconciously and should not be underestimated. For some it is the kind of shaping that can help decide future careers and in this case was the genesis of an education in the classics.

Ah well....

2008-07-23T00:23:00.002+01:00

so the choral singing thing didn't work out but at least I've identified a weakness which is always good.

2008-07-20T09:01:00.002+01:00

I'm loving this show, I'm doing things I never thought I could do like...

Singing choral harmonies
flipping a girl onto my shoulder and rolling her off down my body like I'm some sort of fit ballet dancer
Gutting a fetish nurse like a pig with a knife while squealing for joy
and I get to design a fight scene

Yea life is good......just gotta learn those lines

T minus....

2008-07-19T03:28:00.002+01:00

So I'm a little drunk but I've just been out with some members of the cast of Titus Andronicus, the Shakespeare that I'm doing in Edinburgh, next month. Its suddenly occurred to me..OMG... that its on next week.

However I have been wondering...do actors drink too much?

You finish a rehearsal, you are knackered, yur head is strained and you feel like you really need a drink.

You grab one with the guys.

You start having a laugh

The rest as they say is history.

I think the bonding experience of drinking and recovering together is very important and yet considering how many mature actors I've met that are secret alcoholics......

Not really sure what to think, but I tell you what I ain't drinking sparkly water for a month.

Diary of the Strange #1 - Computer Love

2008-04-14T12:26:00.004+01:00

Well its not as much strange as it is bloody annoying and its not so much Computer Love as it is Hate inspired by menatl bewidlerment.

So here's how it goes.

I'm doing some computery stuff and just as I'm thinking I really ought to back up my emails, my hard drive starts making a clanking sound and dies a horrible death. Now there is a slim chance that I can save my un backed up data so I call in a IT professional to check it out. "Nope", he says "your gonna need a new drive and the data is unsalvageable". Fair enough...annoying but fair enough.

I decide to buy a SATA drive, why because they are meant to be quicker, quieter and above all...Cheaper.

It turns out that in order to install a SATA drive you need to first install a driver from a...wait for it.....a floppy drive. Once I remembered what one of those was I set to work making the floppy. But for some reason I couldn't get it to work so after days of reading forums online and genuine frustration I call in an IT professional.

Said IT pro goes to work and points out that the instructions I was given to connect the drive was wrong, then that my floppy drive was unconnectted. He connects it.....and then FIRE ..actual real fire comes out of my computer.

Eventually we sort everything and its all good....

.....until I get a majopr league virus

Thanks to a very kind IT security professional in Australia that helps me out online I sort that program.

Everything goes fine for a day and then...blammy..Windows decides it cant start because its missing a vital dll

I'm gonna have to call in that IT professional again at which point I could have actually bought a brand new laptop with the money I've spent.

I think I want to cry...at the very least posting the pic below will make me feel a bit better

......in the beginning

2008-03-26T23:52:00.003Z

....was this blog. Well, thats not quite true, there were a lot of things before ths blog, like light, the wheel..lttle things like that. But I wanna write, I got a novel going nowhere and a non fiction book about my learnings and discoveries also going nowhere. So in terms of actually getting of my ass and writing something, this is where it begins - for me, it's an exercise that will hopefully develop into something more. For you I hope its a good waste of time.

If not you can have your money back.

Yea i know....clever ain't I