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Othello at the Viaduct
Posted Friday, May 08, 2009
Othello at the Viaduct -on the outskirts of Gotham City...
Soundtrack: BATMAN soundtrack album by Prince
So. The Viaduct Theate, which is the home of Northern Broadsides is a small basement theatre that holds about three hundred or so people. It used to be the car park so I'm told and is a bit like acting in the Batcave. It's quite exciting because it's nothing like any of the venues we've been at so far. AS you wait to go on ,if you stand in the wrong place , water drips on your head , or you could trip over a cobble stone or something. It's a health and safety night mare darling -but ...once you get on , the atmosphere is palpable. The audience really become enthralled very quickly and are incredibly focussed , despite the Riddler coming in and having a pitched battle behind the seats with Alfred the butler.
It was fun last night- usually when I've been working in the round , (he said, like this is something that happens all the time) I make a list of entrances and exits -they're called Vom's -tunnels that vomit you on or off stage, I guess. So I usually makea vom list -and you have to be careful in some theatres, because if you go down the vom and turn the wrong way you could end up in the car park!
Dean Clough Mills is an amazing place , with a cookery school, hotel , fitness first , restaurant , caf? , all sorts - you can't do a matinee midweek because it's a working mill too - you're in the middle of a soliloquy you can hear heels click clacking above your head and people conversting loudly...it's off putting for the actors I guess...
So this week , we've got a matinee on Saturday and an extra show on Sunday (Our last show of the tour ) at four. Then we get the summer off and we're in London at the Trafalgar Studios , on Whitehall in London from September 11 2009 onwards. we rehearse for two weeks from the 1st and then bingo bango -we're off.
There's loads to do in the meantime- we've got to do the second series of Rudy's Rare Records for the radio, there's also
a TV pilot to do of that show. We're also recording a follow up series for Bad Faith which was written by Peter Jukes and directed by Stephen Canny ; plus another series of 'What's so great about'for radio 4. I've got to finish my MA work ,which involves completing a screenplay -so the summer is going to be very busy.
Massive props to David Simon , Clarke Peters, Andre Royo, Idris Elba ; I met the these luminaries from my favourite TV series The Wire at Bafta the other week,when the wife and her grumpy partner were getting the Fellowship award (v. proud). So not only was I bursting with pride because the wife , Dawnfrenchoffthetelly was getting this big honour which means we're gonna get free videos up the wazoo for the rest of our lives, but I also got to meet Lester Freeman, Bubs and Stringer Bell. Result!
Anyhoo...take care ya'all - Gotta do an interview about Ira Aldridge , the 19th century black actor and playwright , who stormed Europe back in the day after being initially reviled by critics -indeed the Times when so far as to say that he could not pronounce English properly due to the shape of his lips...damn!
The general public loved him though and although he didn't play London for much of his career , he played every where else and was lauded by royalty and the great and the good wherever he went. Looking forward to that.
We've also got our 'End of Tour' party this week -so expect a 'Blog with a sore head' shortly after.
Neil Gaiman's in town for the 'Coraliine'Hullaballoo - if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour -sedate your kids and check it out. He told me he was going on Blue Peter yesterday , I bet that was a blast...apparently Warren Ellis sent him a text that said 'Hello children, here's a dead child with buttons for eyes that I made earlier...'
These comics writers , they're a bit macabre you know.... Go and see Coraline in Three D - apparently it's the bomb!
peace
Lenxxxxx
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