When asked what is my favourite moment in the journey from page to stage, I usually say the moment when the house lights go down on the very first performance and there is a silent buzz of e…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:38AMI started out as a tea boy at London’s Strand Theatre; Cameron Mackintosh began his career as an acting stage manager sweeping
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AMBut for me the play does that extra thing – it takes a very specific subject, and elevates it to have universal themes and journeys which will touch the minds and hearts of a very wide aud…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:12AMOne thing which came through my discussion with the academic Tom Schuller, and various surgeries I was conducting yesterday, was the need for us all to find the best way to be taken seriousl…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:25AMI have had three reminders this week of the need for everyone on their journey in this business to remember the oft quoted phrase “be careful on the way up…” Just in case a…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:38AMI was doing a session with some Musical Theatre writers last week and they asked me, after a couple of pints, to come up with the perfect showcase for their talents. I’ve spent 30 years tr…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:58AMTwo days ago Charli Whatley and Jason Bradbury launched their opportunity for friends, and film lovers to join them to help make the pilot episode of the web film neo-noir series DIRTY LAUND…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:57PMWhat do the Addams Family, Toyland murders, verbatim theatre on child pornography, fast turnaround arts journalism, and a three-hour course of creative producing have in common? The answer i…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:16AMThere can be few cultural places with more of a sense of anticipation than Hull, with 2017 just around the corner. The slogan “we know who we are” is on the station, the banners are flyi…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:31AMThe two highlights of my week both involved architectural gems. One 4,000 years since construction and the other building just 11 years old – a few miles apart, an hour from Glasgow by air…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:28AM“Who’s In It?” This is probably the most common question when any director, producer, or theatre comes up with a show they want to present. Hamlet – ok but who’s in it. South Pacif…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:11AMThose who have followed my blogs for the last 3 years, and those who know me, will realise that I occasionally take new directions which may seem unexpected for my outward form and…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 04:50AMThis week’s blog is exploring the challenges of running a large organisation with many bits to it. The ideal reader is someone who is part of a larger organisation and realises that they m…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:49AMI occasionally lay awake at night and wonder “what’s the point of a Grady?” and last night was one of those nights. It’s January. It’s a week after the high energy and amazing crea…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:05AMThis weekend was the annual gathering of theatremakers and creative practitioners called Devoted and Disgruntled. We are devoted to the arts, but maybe disgruntled about something – and he…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:52AMOn Monday, Tania Azevedo and I entered the ordinary world of Mountview classrooms to bring a call to action for 30+ 3rd year students to go on a mission for a day, and yesterday we did it ag…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 04:23AMI have the memory of a sieve and I don’t read back my blogs. They become a stream of my life, and I am sure I repeat myself often. But hey ho, maybe each repeat reaches a slightly differen…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:45PMThere’s no word for “no” in Japanese, which is probably why I am sitting by the bus stop at Tokyo airport about to head to Shinjuku to see Studio Life’s new production of Phantom the…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:21PMMy last blog explored loneliness, or when the glass becomes most definitely half empty. Much of my coaching work is about helping people to top up their glasses, and see the world with grati…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:38AMI don’t know anything more debilitating than self-doubt and loneliness, and if they stalk up on you at the same time they can offer a double whack to all creativity. I can suffer from both…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:26PMI was at a Phundee pitching night for potential crowdfunding projects last night. Each creative was telling us their project and seeking a free place on a development programme to lead them …
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:34AMAn update from my last blog as promised.... After a provocative discussion with writers, producers and directors yesterday at Mountview, joined by the eminent David Glass, I am more convince…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:49AMRather a busy theatre going week last week with The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist at Bussey Building in Peckham, as part of Townsend Productions two play residency + a post show insp…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:33AMYesterday I was part of a small group of friends and family sharing part of the last journey of a mother, niece, sister, partner, wise woman, and friend. We gathered in a circle in Wiltshire…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:04AMOn Saturday Kath and I had the joy of seeing Jess, TourettesHero, Chopin, and Leftwing Idiot at Soho Theatre on the last stage of their BAC supported run at the Barbican/Soho with Backs…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:51AMThis week I have been exploring the world of definitions in the arts, and the expectations we have when we choose one way of looking at an artform or particular aspect of the arts from anoth…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:42AM“Non creative behavior is learned”, so started a lecture last night on Creativity and the Curious Mind by director/teacher Matthew Smith to a packed audience of post-graduate stu…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:14AMThis week I met, and began work with, the first cohort of MA Creative Producers studying at Mountview. In the same week other emerging producers and theatremakers have chosen the MA route si…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:17PMI’m working with two crowdfunding campaigns as an Ambassador for Phundee, the new platform kids on the block, and advising others on the challenges they face setting out their appeal f…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:56AMI feel a gentle sense of ending a chapter this weekend as I prepare to move to turn a page with the start of the MA in Creative Producing at Mountview. [The pic above is from the walk t…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 03:00PMAll over the papers, shops and even the Archers it’s that time when many of us prepare to go back to school. For me it’s going back after a 3 year gap to lead a new MA in Creativ…
SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 08:21AM
