mostly david ephgrave

Yesterday, I started my second week in ‘Marry Me, or Be Evicted’ , the comedy melodrama I’m performing at The Market Theatre all month. It’s going well, despite the fact I'm still suffering from labyrinthitis. I hoped this might have passed by now, but it hasn't. It certainly adds an extra dimension to proceedings, spending the entire show feeling like I’m on a fairground rotor. It’s not just my head that’s suffering. The audience turnout has been a little low. The theatre only has a capacity of sixty-five. Last night, we had just eight people in: enough to fill the front row, which is exactly what they did. They were pretty responsive for an audience of their size, but it was still hard work. I imagine it must also have been a bit intimidating. A lot of the show is delivered out front – and, while we never pick on anyone, they must have felt like they were constantly under scrutiny. The numbers will hopefully pick up over the next few weeks. The good weather probab...

Today, I started rehearsing a play that I first performed ten years ago. It’s official: I’m old. ‘Marry Me or Be Evicted’ holds a lot of happy memories, despite the clunky title. It’s a mash-up between a Victorian melodrama, a farce and a Comedy of Errors. Everything that could go wrong in it does go wrong, with hilarious results. Those aren’t my words; I’m paraphrasing the promotional blurb. (Which I had a hand in writing, so they're actually my words after all.) The show started life in 2004 at The Market Theatre in Hitchin, where it ran all Summer. We revisited it the following Spring for a four-week run at the Hen & Chickens (a pub theatre in Highbury & Islington), before finishing off with a weekend at the Wycombe Swan. Saying that the show ran for four weeks in London is a bit of a white lie. It was supposed to run for a month, but we ended up cancelling most performances. It was the theatre company’s first – and last – venture onto the Lo...