Category: Blog Post
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Stability and growing old
I was sat with Louise (my other half, is it me or does “partner” offer the possibility that, I, Sam, may be a woman, anyway…), we were sat in the lovely LEAF bar down Bold Street in Liverpool when a trendy couple sat down next to us. I could instantly tell they were trendy, they…
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Calculating the cost of Christmas
I have somewhat of a confession this evening. It’s not something I’m proud of, indeed i’ve hidden it away for some time, however I can no longer control it, it’s dirty, it’s geeky, it’s an addiction. I’ve become a fan of Excel. I never realised until now how geeky I have become, but yesterday I…
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Floating rehearsal – Day Two
So we’re on day two of rehearsals and the script’s been tightened up considerably. I think as a writer you never get a complete idea of how a piece will work until someone external picks the script apart a little and asks the awkward questions. I have to admit this can be the hardest part…
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Floating rehearsal – Day One
As part of my job as a theatre marketing person I invariably find myself berating companies for not keeping an adequate record of the process they’ve gone though in creating a new piece of work. Alas I suspect I shall fall foul of my own demands, but in order to appease myself I’m going to…
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Songs about stalking
I was sat in on Thursday with my guitar (I bought a new guitar, a lovely Farida acoustic… fills me with joy) strumming away when I realised that there are some subjects which have never been immortalised in song. Like trying to find clean socks, or the trials of curry farts or stalkers. So I…
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The First Read Through…
For a long time now I’ve had the feeling that something wasn’t right. It’s weird how life pushes and pulls things into different perspectives, often I’ve found when my personal life is least settled my professional life is an oasis of calm and visa versa. At the moment I find myself in a good place…
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Comedy – Work In Progress
It’s been a while since my last blog post, the extremely geeky games review, and in that time a couple of things have happened – firstly I have written a serious play which will be showing on May 30 & 31 at Unity Theatre, more details to follow – and secondly the comedy set I’ve…
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Game Review: Battlefield 3
I have always been a sports game sort of guy. Sensible Soccer, through every version of Fifa via a brief excursion to Pro Evo, a momentary glance at Brian Lara with a hint of Top Spin and an ill fated visit to the Winter Olympics on the original Playstation. I’d never even played a first-person…
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Podcast – Episode Two!
The second Dark Laughs podcast looking at local news from around the UK. Featuring Sam Freeman and Tim Franklin! With Tim leading the series 1 – 0 how will the tension be managed in this all new episode. Listen to Sam and Tim talk about uncanny coincidences in Kendal, toilet weed, library closures and Sam’s method of…
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Review: On The Edge
For frequent readers of this blog (which mostly seems to be Unity Theatre staff and my sister… There will be a post about pizza at some point…) you’ll know I had a show on at The Lantern Theatre a few weeks ago! It was nice to see my work onstage with a fresh perspective! I…
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Podcast – Episode One!
The first Dark Laughs podcast looking at local news from around the UK. Featuring Sam Freeman and Tim Franklin! Listen to Sam and Tim talk about lightning that may have struck, thieves stealing the most unlikely things, terrible donkey based stories, and a complete lack of artistic integrity or comic flair! Episode one so let…
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Hitting the target – Brochures
I hadn’t written any particularly niche marketing-centric posts for a while so I thought it was high time to inflict a glazed expression on all your faces, make you wonder where it all went wrong and how life had led you to read this, look around the office and consider whether you can end it…
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Game Review: Fifa 12
I hate to say it, but I’m here now, and, well, I have a problem, an addiction. I don’t like confessing it, maybe it’s churlish, pathetic, maybe it isn’t, I don’t know. All I know if it’s here to stay and there’s no escape. I’m addicted to losing. It started in the late 90s with…
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Donkey Still Recovering
I was sat, as is my will, on my laptop drinking mocha in a cafe on Friday afternoon. A rare afternoon off and an opportunity to catch up with some writing – continuing with an increasingly epic monologue about the NHS and Clinical Care Psychosis – it’s a laugh a minute. Unfortunately I wasn’t catching…
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On The Edge
It’s a weird experience I’m going through this week. I’ve had an odd ‘career’ as a writer so far to date. Produced work includes a show in a restaurant about cous cous, and a studio show with a panda suit, necrophilia jokes and, quite naturally lots of eerie silences. In common with everything I’ve done…
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Small Scale Segmentation
Part of the role of any arts manager is to examine and develop the way resources are used in the most efficient way possible so as to address and interact with the widest possible audience. Theatre’s have a historical attachment to the printed programme of events. The what’s on guide / brochure is a staple…
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The Failed Writer – Chapter One
Chapter One – To Edinburgh There is, I suspect, nothing more pleasurable in the entire world than travelling by train. More specifically travelling in a massively overcrowded train where, against the odds, you’ve managed to find yourself in first class (paying only for a standard fare ticket) with a cold beer, tray of Bakewell tarts…
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Comedy Review: Edinburgh 2011
Glenn Wool – Brilliant stand up from Canadian stand-up Glenn Wool. A little known comedian in the UK his subject matter is all that stands between him and the nicely polished pleasantness of “Live at the Apollo” or “Comedy Roadshow”. And thank god. If ever there was a comedian born to talk about anal examination in…