Edinburgh: Week Tree
Being star struck is a weird thing. I've met a few famous types through work over the years, and they've mostly been very nice people. I've only found myself star struck once, and even I thought it was an odd person to be star struck by. Mark Thomas was performing at the Citizen's Theatre as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival and I operated the lights for the show. I went on stage after the show and as he was leaving we shook hands and he reached up to put a friendly hand on my shoulder, which I read as him leaning in to give me a hug, and I realised I was wrong just after I too started to lean in. I feel like I managed to cover it with an awkward move to step around a cloth that was on the floor next to us. Totally not weird. Honest.
Anyway, I went and saw Mark's show at the Traverse the other day and it was predictably excellent. I mean there's no point in pretending he's not preaching to the converted when it comes to me but he does it with such passion, humour and wit that it's hard not to be entertained. I went to two other shows this past week. My Left Right Foot, a co-production between Birds of Paradise and NTS. It's a comedy musical about a rural Scottish am-dram group putting on a play of the story of Christy Brown, a writer and artist who famously had cerebral palsy. Written and directed by Robert Softley Gale, who also has CP, as well as a sense of humour as offensive and hilarious as South Park. (Highlights for me included the song Dazzling Cripple, and the movement director getting everyone to demonstrate their best palsy acting) The last show was The Chore of Enchantment in the Underbelly. It's a magic show but that's not really the point of it. There's some great tricks very well performed in there but there's also the story of a magician, suffering from depression and 'magician's block', and it's full of narrative loops and meta weirdness. In other words it was right up my street and I loved it. So go see it. Also it's my friend's boyfriend's show, so support it for that reason. (if not that then just go because he named himself after My Cousin Vinny)
I'm almost done in Edinburgh for this year but I've still got some fun to have playing in Adventurer's Wanted: Rebellion. One of my new friends from this year's fest went to the trouble of bringing my character to life on paper. I felt it would be churlish not to give him some colour. This is Harvey. He is a bird/man.
And finally, because I feel like I should try and make the pun title mean something: (it's never bothered me before, not sure why I'm starting to care now).