Lenny Henry dot com - About me : The Story so far...

BLOG:MY INSANE LIFE

MY INSANE LIFE

Posted Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Ok ,well.
Thank you for being so patient with me here my friends , things have been a bit hectic recently and I haven't had time to contribute to my blog for a while but that will change. I intend to be much more involved in the blogging community as the process keeps me thinking ,sharp and focused.
I need to tell you what's been going on.

1. I've been trying out material at various places in Berkshire and I've discovered something that I think I already knew; performing new material at lunchtime might be convenient for me -but as a way of working on new jokes for an adult paying audience , it blows. �The problem is -at lunchtime , although the audience is gorgeous and ready to laugh ,the are not the same audience you get in a comedy club at night. Comedy club crowds are consumers of jokes ,they want to be intrigued by your thought processes ,they want to laugh ,but they ain't no fools and won't laugh at any old thing. Lunchtime audiences tend to be people (and I don't want this to offend any of my lunchtime audiences) who have come in in for a warm. They are people of a certain age ? you get some young people skiving off from work -but mainly ,in my experience , the lunchtime crowd are quite elderly , some of them with breathing equipment-and none of them know who Tinchy Stryder is...So ,I've made an executive decision (even though the thursday show at Bracknell arts centre rocked hard) NO MORE LUNCHTIME SHOWS!. The evening shows at �Norden arts centre and Comedy Gold at the Queens head in Islington were revelations after the lunchtime shows ? a real shock.�

The audience were pleased to see me ,but they wanted properly formed ,properly rehearsed , focussed comedy -true inspirational well formed jokes. There's some good material within this new stuff -but it needs to be tweaked, worked and polished ...in front of a grown up,smart, reasonably mobile audience. What fun.

2. I'm planning a new Shakespearean venture with Barrie Rutter. It's for 2012 but for me the work starts now -If I can do a play for a short run next year -perhaps a contemporary venture , then I will try to do that ,but right now , 2012 is on for more Shakespearean shenanigans with Northern Broadsides theatre company. That makes me very happy indeed. So ; more voice coaching with Ruth Epstein ,Bardy Thomas and Jo Thompson,more Alexander technique and loads of research ...I can't wait.

3. I don't think I'm done with regard to Crucial films. I think I'm going to be a producer again. It's all very tentative at the moment but watch this space...there's things going on.

4. My education moves on apace - I graduate with my MA in screenwriting

for film and television in July; which will be wonderful. Two years of hard work really paid off ? but I feel there's more to be done here too. I'd like to do a PHD and have been talking to various people about what type of �courses are available. I'm not sure how I'm going to fit it all in ,but I think it might sit well with everything else I'm doing -I think it will help me to focus my energies creatively-give all my other stuff more structure and more importantly ,keep me thinking positively and more directed as it were. Whatever I do will be about Feature film production , some aspect of representation ,screenwriting yadda yadda.

5.Speaking of which , I've been commissioned to write a movie about Basketball! A subject I nothing about -apart from in Space Jam , Michael Jordan appeared to play against some aliens with a team where Bugs Bunny , Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck figured large in his cohort. I enjoyed the hell out of that movie,but I'm not sure if Jordan's 360 jump shot works like that �or if his arm can stretch out 12 feet like Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.Surely that would be cheating? �Basketball is a sport I have often admired but never really felt connected to it in anyway; surel this game is for superfit jocks with telescopic legs? This is a game that ,when I was a kid ,was not an option- there were no courts on Buffery Park in Dudley; it wasn't featured on the School's P.E. Syllabus ..this was a game , once again , only played by fantasy figures on American TV ; the Harlem Globetrotters had their own cartoon show and as a live performing entity were famed worldwide for their ingenious trickery on the court.�I remember seeing several pick up games of streetball when I was in New York a lot in the eighties and nineties -the game was fast ,furious and fun; the players were mostly black, big and bold with a penchant for the N-word , the f-word , the M.F. Word and the over use of the word ?Sucka'. These guys played Basketball as if their lives depended upon it; to me they looked like professionals but compared to the NBA drafted dudes who dazzle on ESPN and in Colleges and Arenas all over America come Basketball season -those street ballers might as well have had concrete blocks attached to their legs. NBA ballers are like Greek Gods of mythology compared to those street players. Swift of foot , strategically nimble , fair of face and damn tall with a pay check that would make the Sultan of Brunei choke. I'm writing a movie about these guys and British ballers ? so ....better mug up on Basketball then.

Wish me luck and remember -if you want something doing -Ask a busy guy..

Peace
Lenny Henry.