mostly david ephgrave

As I tentatively start to get my head around my creative plans for the year, there's a definite weariness attached to my long self-reliance and a longing for a time when someone else invests their energy and enthusiasm in what I'm doing, rather than having to generate that interest myself. It's ultimately boring to be the sole poster-campaign for yourself, not to mention dispiriting, while the energy and selective-deafness required is huge; being a self-employed performer requires endless patience and a fair amount of self-belief, particularly when pitted against the lack of financial security and the amount of work you put in for little tangible result. Being an actor and musician is one thing - and a marginally easier field to earn a living in - but when you throw self-producing Fringe comedian in to the mix, the amount of money you supposedly invest in what you do is insane compared with the money you get out. What I crave is a little outside belief; I know I'm c...

It wasn’t until I posted a Facebook st atus yesterday rounding off my last performance of Mostly David Ephgrave (not to be confused with my blog of the same name) that I realised how many places I’d performed it. This matches closely with my constant assumption that whatever I've done is not enough. For some reason, I easily forget things that offer credence to my work and push examples of what I haven’t achieved to the forefront. I’ve been lucky when it comes to acting and actor / muso work over the years and pretty active with my comedy stuff - both with Glyn and on my own - yet I regularly enter shows thinking I’m not the ‘real deal’ (whatever that is). I’ve written this many times here before, so I won’t over-egg it now, but I often feel like a blagger, and take what others might see (to some degree) as versatility as an example of not being good at just one thing. Whatever the case, seeing the list of places I performed my second solo stand-up show (a...