White Rabbit, Red Rabbit

"I was born on Azar 19th, 1360 in Tehran. That's Tehran, December 10th, 1981 in Christian years..."

Imagine being 29 and unable to leave your country. Nassim Soleimanpour dissects the experience of a whole generation in a wild, utterly original play from Iran. Forbidden to travel, he turns his isolation to his own advantage with a play that requires no director, no set and a different actor for every performance.


What on earth could possess someone who's not an actor to perform a script on stage in front of a paying audience without seeing the script until they actually get on stage? Without even knowing anything about the content of the script? Well not completely nothing - I have heard that there might be an animal impersonation involved at some point.

I'd love to tell you a bit more about White Rabbit, Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour but I can't. The less I know about the project the better as far as performing at Live Theatre on 24th February is concerned. I'm intrigued to know exactly what I've let myself in for. I know that I wouldn't have been asked to do it if it wasn't something that I was more than capable of so... I guess I'll just have to be patient and see what happens on the night.

I have to admit that I am a little nervous but I think it's gonna be a blast. I'll let you know how I get on.

You can find out more by visiting Live's website or the White Rabbit, Red Rabbit blog.

Sorry...

I haven't been on for a while but I'm mad busy at the minute (what with Amuse Bouche, Verb New Voices, the girls starting back at school, uni starting up again, working at Live.... the list could go on). This is going to be brief. If you're wanting to hear what I've been up to so far then listen in to the next couple of links.

BBC Radio 3 - The Verb - this is only available for a week so be bloody quick.

SPL Podcast - A fabulous chat with the delightful Ryan Van Winkle.

I don't sound like a complete tit on either of these recordings, so that's a bonus. Hope you enjoy them and if you do please feel free to share the link.

Too busy for Father's Day

I'm feeling very guilty about that so we'll be having Father's Day MK II next Sunday so that Daniel can be spoilt in the manner he deserves. This weekend I'll be down at Live Theatre spending my time in the company of some rather fine dramaturgs and a group of six primary school pupils for the First Draft residency weekend.

This is my third stint as a dramaturg on First Draft, a project that involves helping a young writer to craft a short play that will receive a full on production in the main house... I know there are loads of writers three times their age (or more) who'd kill for the opportunity to have a play performed at Live. Every single word on the page and every word uttered by the actors will be the work of the young playwrights. We're not allowed to change a thing, we just have to help them to type up their plays and make sure we ask the right questions so that they can get from the 'fifth word' right to 'The End' . Because of this First Draft genuinely has the potential to be life changing for the writers involved and I'm thrilled to be part of it it again. It's going to be fun but really hard work but this time on Sunday night it will be complete and I can't wait to hear the read-through of all the plays. The productions will be part of the autumn season so there's a while to wait till I get to see the finished product but I can be patient...

You can watch excerpts from previous First Drafts here and read a review of last year's productions here.

Once I've finished at Live I shall be hightailing it up from the Quayside to meet up with a cellist to talk about collaborating on Songs from Whenever...I'm very excited/nervous about not wittering on too much. More details on that later though... my netbook is about to peg out.