We must believe in it – otherwise we’ll lose it says Danny Boyle

The kind of theatres we’re passionately committed to are in very, very serious danger at the moment. So said David Thacker – AD of Bolton Octagon where Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Olympic opening ceremony) first got the creative bug. In twenty years time where will the next Danny Boyle come from…. a summary of the media coverage from a conference of the AD’s from 22 English Regional Theatres. Continue reading →

The EBacc debate

It wasn’t that long ago (the ITC summer conference to be exact – see my blog here) that Simon Mellor of ACE was suggesting Michael Gove might just be the great hope for the arts. Headlines earlier this month (3 Nov) would seem to put paid to that idea. Gove announced the EBacc as a … Continue reading →

Spot the ball in a Jane Austen drama – yep more Friday musings of an irreverent nature!

Jane Austen and I have never had the most comfortable of relationships! Persuasion was one of my A Level set texts – an exam I attempted to complete without ever getting past p25 of Austen’s novel. My penguin Classics copy to this day stares dolefully down from the bookshelves (complete with annotations up to p25 … Continue reading →

Shirts, tweets and a sense of place – another set of Friday musings

Headed to Helpston on Wednesday for the opening of our brand new play @ramsaytony ‘s The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare. If ever there was a name of a play not designed for twitter it’s this one (the hashtag is #johnclare if you’re interested) . Mind you that’s not stopped Stamford … Continue reading →

Collaborate or die…..discuss . More Friday musings

One of those weeks where for no other reason than it happened that way I’ve seen a lot of stuff! Over at the SJM the fantastic cast of Tony Ramsay’s clever new play The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare dropped by and the Eastern Angles team were fortunate to see an … Continue reading →

Death and the self (with added doughnuts and a dash of Neil Innes) – Friday musings for the end of August

Funny old week. Found myself the subject of a double page spread in the East Anglian Daily Times on Tuesday and then get outed as a doughnut lover at the 15 Queen Street creative gathering. Meanwhile at Eastern Angles towers we’ve been working across four shows (eek make that five)– I heart Peterborough returned from … Continue reading →

Reviewers, beer, back biting as John Clare & Tupac kick back

First week back at work after 15 days in the mad and chaotic world of Edinburgh (including my first ever experience of being papped – but that particular story probably needs to be kept under wraps for now). Much talk of reviews and reviewers at this years festival – including Guy Masterton’s arguing that there … Continue reading →