Posted by Andy on May 25, 2009 in
Blog The Mass Suicide Club is a new play written by actor and writer Andy Pandini.
Six people meet each week with one aim: to kill themselves. Then Gabriel arrives, and the group tell their stories. As he listens to the club pour their hearts out he sees the people behind the stories, and he can’t keep his mouth closed any longer.
This heartwarming comedy by Andy Pandini addresses suicide and the many reasons we find ourselves on the road to nowhere. It is a story about forgiveness, friendship, love and hope. And ultimately it is play about death.
As part of the London Bridge Festival, the Rose Theatre presents a rehearsed reading of the play before it goes into further development with director Norman Murray.
After the reading, the writer, director and actors will welcome audience comments about the script and performances.
Performances are at the Rose Theatre, Bankside in London on 16th and 17th July at 7:30pm as part of the London Bridge Festival
Not suitable for children under 14.
———————————-
TICKETS:
Phone the Box Office: 0207 261 9565 and leave a message
Or email the Box Office: rosebankside@btinternet.com
———————————-
The Rose Theatre, Bankside. 56 Park Street SE1 9AS
(Look out for the Blue Plaque next to Southwark Bridge)
Nearest Mainline / Tube Stations:
London Bridge, Mansion House or Waterloo
Google map
Tags: mass suicide club, reading, Theatre
Posted by Andy on Apr 24, 2009 in
Blog I’ve had two castings this week. Both wanted original material from me. In the first one, I did 4 minutes of standup about walking. Now there’s an achievement.
The second was for forthcoming 3 Mobile idents which are going to be showing before and after Channel 4 comedy programmes this summer. They wanted pithy one-liners about the Internet. I wrote a few, and since I didn’t get the job, I thought I’d post them here:
- I love Youtube. Even my 4 year old nephew is on it. He’s got his own channel where he performs songs like “Firestarter” and “Smack My Bitch Up”. I think he might be a child prodigy.
- I like to chat online, but some people just turn everything round to sex. I was trying to get help in a technical chatroom about fixing up my laptop for mobile internet when some guy offered to put his dongle in my AOL.
- It’s so easy to stumble across dodgy stuff by mistake. I was innocently searching for holiday ideas the other day when I found myself confronted with some fat, naked men. That serves me right for looking at the German Tourist Board website, I suppose.
- I can’t believe that there’s as much online piracy as people claim. Last week I sent an email to an
oil tanker in the South Pacific telling them that I was hijacking them, and they haven’t even replied yet.
- I read about this guy who met his girlfriend on Twitter. They got engaged on Twitter, and then married on Twitter. Now they’re looking forward to hearing twitter twatter of tiny tweets.
- Those spammers who try to get you to buy Viagra online are so clever. I love the way they mix up the letters of the word Viagra to try to get through your spam filters. One email I got mixed the word up so much, I ended up ordering some by mistake. I thought I was buying gravy.
- I need a mouse that a right-handed person can work with their left hand. I tend to find that I need to use my right hand for other things when I’m online.
- I do all my shopping online. The other day, I found a lovely sweater online. Ordered it, and the next day, a man turned up at my door. He was sweating.
- My last girlfriend and I started out as penfriends, but she dumped me online. I suppose they do say that the email of the species is more deadly than the mail.
Posted by Andy on Mar 24, 2009 in
Blog One thing I’ve learned before going to see a new musical is to listen to the soundtrack. So I already knew that I liked the music in Spring Awakening. Considering that the music has a contemporary American flavour, that’s good, because I’m 40, and I listen mostly to country.
The cast, it turns out, are nearly all making their professional debut. That must be unheard of in the West End, and it’s good to see. I couldn’t help but notice that whereas all the pretty young things might easily find parts in Joseph, Grease et al, Spring Awakening seems to be the place where the quirky will get cast. Don’t get me wrong. I’m quirky. Well, fat. And us quirky people deserve our stage time as much as anyone else.
So, onto the show. There is no curtain. The set is a sort of 19th century gymnasium-cum-Manhattan-loft apartment. Stage left and right are school chairs. Half of these are filled by audience members.
Yes, that’s right, audience members. They let about 10 of them sit on the stage. The rest of the chairs are used by the cast, who rarely make traditional entrances and exits, instead returning to their seats in between their scenes. I have to say, I don’t like this. Don’t put the audience on the stage, Mrs Worthington. Put them in the audience.
The singing was mostly very good. Some of the harmonies were a little out of tune, but forgivably. What I didn’t like, again, was the use of hand-held microphones in some of the songs. Since they weren’t used all the time, I can only imagine their role was to give both a close-up edgy vocal sound to some tracks, and to add a little rock’n'roll to the proceedings. For me, it didn’t work.
Audience on stage. Hand held mikes. Spring Awakening: you don’t need these gimmicks. Your show is really good, with great songs, performances, beautiful live music (the band were on stage too, but I’m going to let that one go) good use of the fixed set and quite wonderful lighting. I’ve seen better acting - particularly in the more emotional scenes - but it didn’t matter. The cast were convincing, interesting and real.
I’m clearly becoming an old prude, because I would question the need for naked flesh in the Hayloft scene. The catering staff at the Novello might also want to think about BEING QUIET as they prepare for the interval - the clanking of bottles was disrupting in what is one of the most powerful (and quiet) scenes of the show. And, unfortunately, in the performance I saw, we were subjected to the most annoying and loud mechanical noise from somewhere near the upper circle as the final scene of Act 1 reached its climax (excuse the pun) which rather took the moment away. The fact that the cast on stage carried on without blinking is a tribute to them.
Highlight of the show is without a doubt the song “Totally Fucked” which had an energy way above anything else in the show, and came close to getting a standing ovation on its own. In fact, it had so much energy, it stood out a little too much and I think, as an audience, we wish we might have seen more of that energy throughout the rest of the performance. Then we would have been truly blown away.
Don’t get me wrong, though. This show is good. In summary, what I saw at Spring Awakening is the quirky talent of tomorrow making their professional debuts in a show that deserves to be seen by all, but that should drop the gimmicks and have faith in the essentials - the words, the music and the performance.
Tags: review, spring awakening, Theatre
Posted by Andy on Mar 7, 2009 in
Blog What a weird old week this has been. It started with disappointment and ended with happiness, and a lesson to let Fate do whatever she decides to do and to be grateful that she gives me a look in at all!
The disappointment was in not hearing from the Lost Theatre that my play would magically rise from the reserve list to the performance list. So it won’t be at their One Act Festival. But their comments were encouraging, and I will stage Mass Suicide Club this year.
The second disappointment was not hearing from the BBC that I’d got into their masterclass for their new topical sketch series “7 on 7″.
Then the good stuff started to come. I had mentioned to Simon and Dec, producers of the Sitcom Trials, that I’d like to direct one of the forthcoming entries. They sent me a choice of scripts and I chose the wonderful “Kwarfee” by the equally wonderful Charlie Boucher.
I met Charlie last Tuesday after having a meeting with a potential new agent. It was so nice that we seemed to be on the same wavelength about her script, especially since it was her wavelength, if you see what I mean.
So began the job of casting. Auditions will be on Monday; rehearsals after that. Performance Wednesday 18th.
My lovely friends from pantomime Charlie and Derry came to visit from Wednesday to Friday, and thus much merrymaking and drunkenness did happen. We also managed to catch three shows: The Sitcom Trials, Defending the Caveman, and Casenova the Musical at the King’s Head.
On Friday they went home to Maidenhead and Themiddleofnowhere respectively, and I opened up my inbox to find an email from the BBC telling me
… your submission in particular did show promise and we’d love you to submit any ideas you have when “7 on 7″ starts going into production properly in a month or so.
And then I got a phone call from that agent I’d seen on Tuesday telling me that he would take me onto his books. Superstition prevents me saying who it is until I sign contracts in a couple of weeks, but I am very, very pleased, and owe a debt of thanks to Cliff Masterson who originally introduced us last year.
So, what will next week bring? Auditions and rehearsals. Surprises and disappointments. But always a thankfulness that I am doing something I absolutely love, and that it continues to challenge and delight me every single day.
I love it!
Tags: agents, bbc, sitcom trials, Theatre
Posted by Andy on Mar 2, 2009 in
Blog I am delighted that I’ll be directing a lovely sitcom called “Kwarfee” by Charlie Boucher for the Sitcom Trials on 18th March.
It’s a really nice, warm script with instantly likeable characters. In many ways, it has similarities to “Powers Flowers”, which I wrote with Fiona Keen.
I can’t wait. Please come along to the Sitcom Trials on 18th March to support us!
Tags: comedy, directing, sitcom trials