My first article is up on The Gay UK, which is an interview I did with Reverend Dave Tomlinson, author, Church of England vicar, equality advocate and all-round great guy. I’ve seen Dave take the wedding service of two dear friends and speak beautifully and movingly about love. His books, How to Be a Bad Christian and The Bad Christian’s Manifesto are thought-provoking and considered.
Credit: Lissy Tomlinson
Credit: Dan Tsantilis
It was great to speak to David Troughton this week. Lovely man and very easy to interview. I’m glad we agreed on what a remarkable series A Very Peculiar Practice is, and I couldn’t resist asking him about his co-star, the late, great Graham Crowden. Check out the full interview.
We’re back! And it’s about time. Or should that be wine?
Our Season Two opener is a Christmas Special that compares and contrasts the Doctor Who and James Bond franchises. We’re joined by our first very special guest; the actor, writer and academic Jack Klaff (@Jackshebang on Twitter), who gives us his warm reminiscences of working with Roger Moore on For Your Eyes Only. He also spills the beans about Star Wars, and what he makes of the fans!
I’ve written another blog post for the splendid folk at Jane Nightwork Productions called The Golden Age of Theatre? If you’re interested in Twentieth Century theatre (when did we stop capitalising centuries, or was it only me who ever did that?) then you might well find it interesting.
I recently delved into the archives at the V&A to uncover their folders on the Old Vic Theatre Company productions of the mid-1950s, when the leading players were Richard Burton and Claire Bloom, to help the writing of another actor who was in the company at the time. I also found a load of material on Joan Littlewood’s legendary Theatre Workshop productions from the same era. It’s all in aid of a rather special book that may well be on the horizon. Watch this space…
It is this time last year. I have just ordered gifts for my youngest nephew’s birthday. I text my sister to tell her the delivery date. We’ve never been close, but more recently, since my long-term partner and I have picked up gifts for her children every birthday, every Christmas and every time we’ve travelled to somewhere new, it’s been less tense. I’m in a good mood as I press send.
Just ordered gifts for the boy from Amazon – may be delivered tomorrow. It takes 4 AA batteries and I’ve ordered those too. X
I’ll be guest-blogging for the Jane Nightwork gang (www.janenightwork.com) for the foreseeable future. This opportunity has come about via my colleague, Robert Gillespie, who heads Jane Nightwork Productions. You can see various interviews I’ve conducted with Robert about his extraordinary career under the Entertainment Focus section.
My first blog piece is about The Stage’s Critic Search 2015. As a theatre critic myself, I’ve distilled my thoughts about the most egregious errors in criticism.
The golden rule is: keep your ego out of it….
It was slightly surreal but extremely pleasing to be contacted by the BBC over the weekend requesting my services as a Michael Buerk “expert”. As you may be aware, I once co-wrote a musical about him and played him on stage, and Ol’ Buerky is now in the jungle, taking part in the reality television show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, winning over a whole host of new fans. After all, the stalwart BBC legend has traded his comfort zone of high brow broadcasting (and narrating Pinapple Dance Studios…) for his usual rivals: populist ITV programming.
Greg, Tom and Sam are “The Complete Menagerie (Almost)”.
You may think I’ve been quiet of late, BUT NO!
Exciting things have been “afoot”. I have been recording a brand new podcast with my tall chums Tom Bailey and Samuel Payne (we have a combined height of in excess of eighteen feet). You may accurately describe us as “The Complete Menagerie (Almost)”.
I was, putting it mildly, thrilled to see my name connected in any way, shape or form with Oedipus Retold, a show that runs at the Tristan Bates Theatre until mid-February.
Written by Jeremy Kingston, directed by Robert Gillespie, and starring Jack Klaff, Clare Cameron and David Shaw-Parker amongst others, it’s a terrific production with considerable talent in every department.
My very small contribution was to interview actor Jack Klaff as well as director Robert Gillespie for Entertainment Focus.
At the show, press were given a copy of the play text, published by Playdead Press. Flicking through it the following morning as I started my review, I spotted this:
I’ve been reading a lot of Ian Fleming lately – one of the few authors I read during my childhood, when I was a voracious if unadventurously narrow consumer of books. Returning to the Bond stories, even the titles I didn’t get around to twenty-five years ago, is a nostalgic treat.