'...And My Name Is Elbow'

I bloody love Shakespeare. After three rehearsals of his 'Measure For Measure' I'm starting to think that he's the Tarentino of his day. what with the sex and violence! no yellow kill bill jump suits though...yet.

I'm only a small roll in this but it's enough as I've never been that clever at getting my mouth around Shakers language, (sticking a 'th' at the end of every other word isn't a good idea)

My Character, Elbow is a policeman, and lets face it, he's not the brightest button in the box! he's slow, shallow and stupid (alliteration not intended) but during my time on stage, i do get to beat up a pimp called Pompey. I'm loving the violence, comic as it it. But the recieving end - the ever lovely Mr Mcbride - isn't enjoying it as much. The poor guy's not used to being beaten up by a girl verging on dwarfism!

I'm really looking forward to this production. it's should be jolly good fun...eth!

come see it

1st And 2nd November

Light, Camera, Scare

Well, last night was the first of our two performances for 'Girl In The Corner' and i believe it went rather well.

Before curtain time, Charlotte and I had trouble with our hats but all was well by the time the crying and moaning could be heard on stage, (voiced by some very brave bench ladies)

and i think the play served it's purpose. we scared the living crap out of the audience. (Mr McBride, I'm told, jumped out of his seat at one point!)

There's a big 'Woman In Black' feel to this piece and everytime i perform it, i feel the cast pull out more and more stops to make it so. Last night in particular Sian almost made me cry with her monologue. She's a good little actress our Sian, she doesn't believe me but I (and many others) believe so.

so that's it almost, only one time left to creep people out. i love this piece so much, even if it does mean that the only comment i get out of Steffi (my mother) is 'Well, you're a bit of an evil bitch aren't you?'

I think that's a compliment

Liam Fest

Liam sure knows how to have a birthday party!

I left work at half three and made my poor taxi driver chug through Pompey football traffic to get to Liamfest. but once i got there, with a university kit under my arm, i realised the day had just begun.

Food, beer and good friends all gather round a small stage that was to be the set of the evenings performances. i have to say, i was quite exited.

after copious amounts of beer and quite a bit of grub, we settled down for a small reunion of 'Dude, where's my script?' featuring the birthday boy himself as well as other 'Benchians'

they became, bollywood dancers, toasters and donkeys as they adlibbed their was throughy half an our of impro. I. Laughed. A. Lot!

Then came James, a member of Liams band 'Amy's Drinking Petrol' Armed with a mandoling, he played his little heart out with a little help from Alice and her amazing vocal chords.

After that came Mr McBride and his guitar (which i must say has a gay pride rainbow strap, something i should be concerned about?) but after two songs he started singing words that i recognised, yey, my song!

and for the big finally can the whole of 'Amy's Drinking Petrol' they belted though about 7 songs with two guitars, a flute and that voice. they were quite amazing actually. i thouroughly enjoyed it. talanted people they are.

After a little break, Stu came on with his guitar and Liam reappeared with an Accordian and the night finished with a very load 'Flogging Molly' song. by now, i was quite merry and danced a bit like an old lady. but i don't care, i was having fun.

unfortunately though, shortly after, i was told i had to leave as Emma was falling asleep and Neil was falling over. i was so rushed that i even left my camera there.

Great night.

Spooky Goin's On

In Havant on Wednesday, The Bench Theatre are putting on a selection of short plays. four each night to be exact. I'm performing in a piece called 'Girl In The Corner.' and i have to admit, it's a great little play.

We've been rehearsing for a few weeks now, mainly in a little room about 8 by 10. and even though i know how the story goes, it still manages to create a chill up my spine.

Basically, the story follows a girl called Rebecca who has been wrongly sent to an asylum in the 1800's. Her father has had her put there to cover his tracks and the doctors play along with his demands in fear of losing their jobs.

Rebecca is trapped with no one until she meets Kitty (onstage comes me) and the two soon becomes friends. but life in the institution is harsh and following an attack from a staff member, Rebecca starts to think the worse.

But the worst is yet to come when she realises that her only friend kitty is infact a ghost. as Rebecca tells the doctors of her spirit friend, they decide to labotomise her to erase all memory of Kitty, and erase any memory at all.

Rebecca gets desperate as she begins to see a girl sitting in the corner in her dreams. the girl frightenes Rebecca and makes it harder and harder for her to stay sane. So Kitty's spirit helps Rebecca to get out of the asylum the only way she can, to end her life.

only it doesn't turn out right. there's no happy place for Rebecca to go to, she ends up back in the same room and finds the same girl in the corner. the girl explains to rebecca that she was also fooled, all the women who died withing the walls of the asylum were fooled into ending their lifves by the girl who said she would help.

"she takes them you see, so they can be with her here forever"

Charley's a nasty Ghosty!

Confusion At Zero Hour

Why is that that you can’t get a good combination when it comes to a date. Take this evening for example, I’m off to a posh restaurant was my boyfriend. I’ve got a stunning pink and white dress to wear, but unfortunately it’s low cut at the back and a little bit see through so I’ve got skin colour knickers and a white multi way bra on. I can just see the look on my mans face. “Er… how do you work that thing” So Good combination: Strawberries and cream. Good combination: great dress, half off, no queue BAD combination: Great dress, great date, non matching ‘hold it all in so I don’t look fat’ underwear. Right, change of plan. White ‘hold it all in so I don’t look fat’ pants to go with the weird and wonderful multi way bra. Or should I stick with the flesh coloured pair? Not that the flesh coloured ones are flesh coloured, since when was I a shade of beige?