Buzy August List

My last blog was 6^th August and so I am offering two catch-ups. The first is a celebration list of all that I have done and seen since then. August is full of critical commentary and noise for anyone involved in Edinburgh or Tète â Tète or any of the amazing festivals, and some years I up my game to a daily blog, but this year my muse has been silent and over stimulated. Here’s why – and feel free to ask for any commentary about any event:

Aug 7^th: Phundee campaign planning, Violet at Bernie Grant Centre by Mountview grads.   8^th: 5 operas at the Tète â Tète T festival including Storm’s Eye, a showcase of a new piece which Kath was staging. 9^th: More Storm and then off on a mini road trip. 10^th: Our first visit to Whitby with the dark presence of Dracula and the joy of the sea. On the road we listened to a 6hr recording of the Bram Stoker novel which we both knew, but it was great on the road with Brian Cox and Heathcote Williams reading. 11^th: arriving Edinburgh and a wonderful beach birthday party for composer and traditional musician Mairi Campbell, with a bit of a jam thanks to Dave Francis and friends.   Then off into Edinburgh Fringe for 5 days.

Edinburgh: Smooth Faced Gentlemen Othello all-female cast; The Lost Art of Lost Art featuring some students we know from CSSD; Puppet State’s The Man who Planted Trees which rates as the top piece of theatre I have seen this year and probably in my top 20 all time;Wings circus for light relief; The Letter J’s Grandad and Me with Authentic Artist Judith Williams (now Total Theatre Award nominee); The Girl who Fell in Love with the Moon by Human Zoo, who are Authentic Artist Collective members and have also been CGO Surgery clients since they started; Rachel Amey, the performance poet (part of a collective of 7 poets at Summerhall); Cinderella with Kinny Gardner and the ever inventive designs of Chris deWilde; Ecce Homo with Nick Phillips, to whom I offered some fairy dust to his crowdfunding campaign; across town quickly for Youth Music Theatre’s Not the End of the World with a score by Sonum Batra and lyrics by Dave Francis; Liberation’s naked dancers getting under the skin of relationships and honesty plus a lot of paint; back across town for Down and Out in Paris and London blending Orwell with Polly Toynbee in a cracking play, and then we ran out of steam for the night and had a meal, missing our 10.30pm planned play…we are light-weights. To complete the fringe fare, The Glorification of Eddie Small, an original blue grass musical with a wealth of Mountview grads; and topping off the show diary with Simon McBurney’s extraordinary aural Encounter at EIF, coming to the Barbican Feb 16.

Intertwined with these shows was a CGO Surgery programme including a Q&A for companies playing at Space venues; surgeries with a NY voice coach, grownup standup, comedic solo show performer, BSL sign comedy double act, dutch master of improv, Catalan writer, Hungarian solo performer, Canadian storyteller, and North East England festival creator and producer, and a Taiwanese UK cultural collaborator; plus a Q&A with Caroline Routh for producers as part of the Fringe Central massive programme of talks and panel discussions which are free to all Fringe company participants.

17^th: Drive from Edinburgh to Suffolk ready to get back to work on 18^th with 6 coaching clients and a load of catching up and prep for Mountview.

21^st: Drive London for a showing by voice and movement specialist Ita O’Brien with a new piece tackling abuse, and then over to the Park for a dose of Trollope with The Lady All At Sea. Plus a catch up with CGO Associate from New York, Kate Reed, who is heading back home to open up her new film studios in a new school campus in the heart of Manhattan.

22^nd: Grand Hotel at Southwark Playhouse with James Gant and Jonathan Stewart who Kath first worked with 12 years ago when they were wee things in Youth Music Theatre. And then off in the car to the Forest of Dean for 2 nights camping and participating in a filming of a series of workshops at the glorious Earth Centre. It rained and rained and rained and rained – but our tent held out, and in a break from workshops and weather we had the joy of seeing 9 wild boar including a massive male charging across our path (at a safe distance but a fantastic view).   And then back to Suffolk two days later.

25^th: 8am talk about Showbusiness to a business breakfast in Ipswich followed by a trusts and accounts meeting as future executors for an estate, before hot footing back to London for Gypsy at the Savoy.

26^th: Two coaching clients, an Ambassador meeting at Phundee to launch a campaign for Playpen Productions Hello Again, then hot foot to Espacia Gallery for a new exhibition opening 1pm. Although the gallery was closed and no signs up as to why it was not open. All the posters said we were in the right place at the right time. I won’t add Espacia to my must see list of galleries. Two wasted hours awaiting my next meeting and then off to Life Drawing and Life Modelling – a new experience for me.

27^th: We are up to date and this special day will be the subject of my first new season blog. Two coaching clients, a meet up with Broadway West End and Australian Producer Patrick Gracey to talk new ideas, and a session with Prof Lydiate and Liz Lydiate discussing MA modules for Mountview, before heading to meet up with my family for the 40^th anniversary celebrations of The Frog Company, and my first role as a producer. 40 years ago – wow.

28^th – my birthday and sitting on a train between London and Suffolk writing this.  Now I understand why I didn’t attempt to write blogs whilst doing this whirlwind month.

Joyful (if rather unpredictable) life!

Next catchup in a day or so will be a celebration of 27th August 2015 and 1975