It's a Broadway World After All.

It's been a while, but here's a short interview I did last week about my show for Broadway World:
Tell us a bit about Niche.
'Niche' is about embracing my fascination for the small details in life, and realising it's better to be true to who I am than to homogenise myself to be what others expect me to be. 
The older I get, the more I accept aspects of my personality and interests I might have kept to myself in the past: yes, I'm a big fan of the band Wings. Yes, I've seen every episode of Diagnosis Murder and enjoyed them all, bar the one that claims vampires are real and the one in which Dick van Dyke plays every member of a whole family. Previously, I would have played these things down, because I was worried people would judge me, but I've since learnt that's ridiculous: I'm allowed to like what I like and sod what anyone thinks. So in this show I'm celebrating the fact others may see me as a niche prospect; so what if I don't go down well in front of a stag do? Who wants to amuse a gaggle of polo-shirt-wearing sunburnt Phil Mitchell lookalikes anyway?
Where else might we know you from?
You may remember me from the 2004 advert for the AA or seen me play the integral role of Richard in the West End musical Dreamboats and Petticoats. That, or I might have asked to borrow a fiver from you on the street.
As this is your fifth brand new show at the festival do you think you know what to expect from the fringe?
I should say so. The more you do it, the more you accept it for what it is and make peace with the fact you'll probably come out the other side poorer and more irritable. But however much of a glutton for punishment I am for returning each year like a moth to a flame, I still want to keep doing it; can you develop Stockholm Syndrome for a fringe festival?
Who would you recommend comes to see Niche?
People with a high resistance to the spores in the air at my underground venue that threaten to reinstate a medieval lung disease that's long been dormant. That, and anyone perplexed by the success of James Corden.
Are there any other shows you're hoping to catch in Edinburgh?
Phil Kay's always at the top of my list, though I'm also looking forward to seeing Bec Hill, Jenny Collier and Brodi Snook. 

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane
Read more