Working Girl

I'm beginning to believe I live a very surreal life.  Scrub that.  I do live a very surreal life.  Take the previous day as an example.  

In the last 24 hours I have interviewed Kris Marshall, Robert Webb, Ella Smith, Neil LaBute, Joanna Page (I also competed with her for oxygen stakes due to similar high levels of hyperactivity), chatted to Alison Steadman, Gok Wan, Ruth Jones & Mackenzie Crook to name but a few, nodded a 'smiley nod' or two to the very kind paps who let me stick my microphone into their pics, arrived home in one piece, managed around 4 solid hours' sleep, then proceeded to wipe/pick weetabix/scrambled egg/bread/milk off my clothes/out of my hair at various intervals, moments of which were also interspersed with changing nappies and cleaning up fur balls.  Confused?  Hell, I hardly know where I'm at these days, let alone you.

Let me explain.  It's all down to my new 'job' - at least the interviews and chats are, not necessarily the food/nappy/fur ball stuff which are all down to The Kid and Cat respectively - at least I think it was in that order.  I digress.  Anyway, I am now presenting & interviewing for Theatre 24/7, an online theatre channel who cover previews/premieres of West End musicals and plays.  

So, after 'Marguerite' last week, last night was the turn of 'Fat Pig', written and directed by Neil LaBute and the second in his trilogy of plays.  There was certainly a clutch of hardcore crits there last night so I'm sure the reviews will be going to press soon (if not already).  Personally I really enjoyed the show - funny but uncomfortable, self-conscious but brazen - however, I'm not the critic here, just the talky girl. All I'll say is go see it for some terrific writing and classic performances.

And on that note, I'm now going to put in a classic performance of a person sleeping heavily. Not like a baby, I'll add - whoever coined that phrase should be shot.  Or given a baby to look after for a night or so.

Until next time.

Who Lives in a Lift Like This?

Being an avid stair user, I always take the stairs instead of a lift or escalator.  So, whilst on my way to film some interviews earlier in the week, imagine my sheer horror when I decided to take the Covent Garden Tube station elevator only to discover Loyd Grossman stuck on top of me? Well, his voice that is, not him in person.  At least I don't think it's actually him - unless TFL have wedged him in the escape hatch.  I know he is connected to museums & heritage, but I was so shocked to hear his dulcet tones I couldn't tell you what he was recommending I go and take a look at.  Whatever it was, it was surely a missed opportunity...

Talking of missed opportunities, don't miss this one: if anybody needs more information about BBCs "Sharps", then wing your way over to this page and have your Qs A'd.

And whilst we're on the subject of Qs being A'd: the Writers Room has now published their full transcript of Matthew Graham & Ashley Pharoah's Q&A session, which makes an interesting read.

See what I did there?  Just like my interviewing skills, that was darn slick.  

Lol. ;0)

Waxing Lyrical

As you may or may not be aware, I have a real penchant for song lyrics. A story in it's own right, a good lyric will pull you into it's arena and weave the most fantastic spell around you until you're snared. You will also probably hear it a million times a day on the radio, and then by the next new TV season, you'll hear it in various incarnations as a theme tune or incidental music.

So after my post quoting Nickelback's "Rockstar" as my most 'wished I'd written' of last year, here's my new one - "Without You" by The Feeling.  

This song is from their February 2008 released album, "Join With Us", and is quoted on their website as "a moving tale of far-from-home yearning written when the band found themselves in Virginia on the day of the Virginia Tech shootings". In my opinion it certainly paints that far-from-home feeling (no pun intended), however, it definitely has an air of The Carpenters about it - perhaps it's a "Rainy Days and Mondays" ilk or something. Not sure, but it's there.

Enjoy the story - you'll hear it playing out on a radio near you soon...

"WIthout You" by The Feeling

Winters come and summers go 

Last time round for all we know 

Wonder what the time is in London 

As they tear this world apart

Step by step it breaks my heart 

Wonder what the time is in London 

I know I'm not the only lonely child 

Thirty dead and one teenage gun man 

I wonder what the time is in London, without you 

I get up early every morning, without you 

I open the blind and let the dawn in, without you 

And then I think about growing older, without you 

And my blood runs a little colder, without you 

It's raining hard in North Virginia 

Just like London Town 

Tales of screams from giant screens 

Full of fear and full of beans 

Wonder what the news is in London 

Tell me what I've always known, 

Live is love and love's at home 

Wonder if they miss me in London 

These are the things that make us glad we're still alive 

Even though your heart's in the dungeon 

I wonder what the time is in London, without you 

I get up early every morning, without you 

I open the blind and let the dawn in, without you 

And then I think about growing older, without you 

And my blood runs a little colder, without you 

It's raining hard in North Virginia 

Just like London Town (rpt x3)

Greater London?

Had a great day out in Boris' London yesterday.  

The tubes ran on time, sun shone on the South Bank, people smiled & laughed, the crowds veered slowly en masse in Covent Garden, strolled casually in Leicester Square and swaggered in Regent Street, and all the time The Kid clapped, waved furiously and beamed his infectious two-tooth grin at every passer by.

After buying Hamleys and then circumnavigating the rest of London for a tube station with pushchair access (there really aren't that many centrally) we decided Bond Street would do - even a grand amount of stairs didn't dampen the spirits - and headed home.  All tube connection timings were just perfect.  No delays. Even the possible moments of mortal embarrassment as The Kid repeatedly lurched towards the man on the seat behind and tried to remove his toupé, became quite the funniest thing everyone on the tube had seen. 

Ahhhh.  There really is no place like London in the sun, especially when it all runs like clockwork.

Boris please take note.

Oops, nearly forgot.  May the 4th Be With You.  ;)

New @ BBC: SHARPS

As promised in my previous post:

OK, guys and gals. So you know you can write for TV, don't you? You could give all those overpaid, underworked scribes (ahem!) a run for their money, right?  You know you're the one Jane Tranter is looking for, but Ben Stephenson won't even listen to your pitch let alone pass on your darned script...oh, and then there's that age old Catch-22: you need your spec work to be read in order to get work, to enable you to prove you can actually do the work.

Well, I'm glad to say as long as you're over 18 years of age, live in the UK or Eire and have not had a previous writing credit for a network television programme over 15 minutes in length,  YOU CAN APPLY!

HERE is all the info you need...

It's a Bank Holiday - what else do you have planned?  Go on, I dare you.