You disgusting wine bibber!!

This is a quote from a Vincent Price film called "Theatre of Blood" which involves a rejected actor killing theatre critics using some rather Shakespearean modus operandi.

It is also something that my friend, Philip, used to quote a lot. It was his version of Withnail. However, I will never hear Philip call me a disgusting wine bibber any more.

He died of bowel cancer last week. 

I hadn't heard from him or the friends we used to hang out with for a couple of years. Then, our mutual friend, Vince, got in touch with the bad news. Philip had cancer and the chemotherapy hadn't worked. I was fortunate to see Philip in his hospice shortly before he died. It was as if all his personality, as well as his body had been sucked away. He lay exhausted in his bed and it was clear that he had accepted that the end wasn't far off. I don't know if he managed to start reading any of the Dr Who books I'd taken along.

However, I'm glad that I had the chance to say goodbye to him.  Top  Philip quotes/memories. You may not understand all of these. Apologies. We were members of a profit share company called Moonlight Drive, so most of these are theatrical.

1, Seeing him Malvolio in Twelvth Night.
2, So we decided we'll do.... The Monkey's Paw!
3, Out! Out! Out! (Quoting some politician)
4, He was the only person to turn up to one of my birthday celebrations. (That seems to be the annual average!)
5, Ah Cannon and Ball, the yardstick of British comedy.
6, Ah, sherry!
7, Ah, time for a nice cup of TEA!
8, Watching Laurel and Hardy with him one New Years Eve.
9, For him, Tom Baker was the only Doctor.
And of course... the quote in my blog title.

RIP Philip. Miss you.

A sorrowful, but unrepentant wine bibbing, Bunyip.

Romeo and Juliet - Take 2!

Hello,

Finally, something good happening on the acting front. I didn't get cast in the play that Network decided to do when they couldn't get the rights to "Breaking the Code". However...

I've starting attending an Acting Gym every Saturday. It is a series of hard core acting workshops run by a professional director, Gavin MacAlinden culminating in a production of Romeo and Juliet. After weeks of full on movement, scene interpretation and iambic pentametre, I have been cast as Friar Laurence, (or as I'm calling her, Reverend Laurence)!!!

Biggest role I have ever had. A key character who drives the plot in Acts 3,4 and 5 and three, possibly four, monologues. Wow! Oh and its set in a night club! Still trying to decide what a priest is doing in a night club. I think I'm going to be a bit of an earth mother. (Her first monologue is all about herbs and plants.)

The only problem is that the performances may coincide with the birth of my niece/nephew in June. Am seeing my sister on Sunday for a Mother's Day lunch. She says that she is now as big as a house!

In the meantime, it is my favourite season. As I posted this time last year, Spring is finally springing:) Am loving the blossom on the trees down my road.

Have started using Pinterest, (mood board website. More visual then Twitter. If Twitter is words, then Pinterest is pictures.) Been repinning pix of Glastonbury and Silence of the Lambs so far. I think that it will be an interesting way of exploring my personality.

Till next time.

A happy Bunyip

Can a machine think?

I'm going to an audition for a play called "Breaking the Code" on Tuesday. Its about Alan Turing who invented digital computing and was persecuted and arrested for being gay. (Its set in the 1950's when being gay was still illegal.) Alan's big question was "Can a machine think for itself?"

I met a computer last year called Elizabeth who was programmed to have conversations with people and react to whatever they wanted to chat about. She came up with some strange answers!

Anyway, I'm going to see if I can get cast in the role of Alan Turing's mum! She's typical old school, embarrassing mum at first, then she's really supportive. Fingers crossed because I've had three auditions since my last blog post and didn't succeed in any of them. Hmph.

Christmas was mainly good. Had a nice time in a posh hotel in Hampshire with my Mum, stepdad and friend, TJ. Then went on to my sister's, then my Dad's. Got some cool pressies eg a Canadian yeti, a signed John Barrowman photo, some cocktail mixers and a handdrawn picture of an orangutang:)

Did some improvised filming down in Brighton for a comedy series on YouTube called Happy Feet. I played an underqualified Podiatrist and a sister with a dark secret. Twas fun especially the unicorns:)

As for the unrequited love, still hurting. Wish I could stop hurting and get over them. Easier said then done. Wish Valentines Day didn't exist.

Take care,

An Angry with Cupid Bunyip.

Wombling Merry Christmas

So, highlights of 2011, in no particular order....

1, Sitting on the a bench on the South Bank at 7am with 3 friends post Romeo and Juliet after show party. I was filming Charlie and Sacha's attempts to dance the Gay Gordon's while Gareth was trying to stay conscious after imbibing too many alcoholic beverages. And then we went to look for coffee....

2, Seeing a seal swimming in St Ives, Cornwall.

3, Arranging for K9 and the Tardis to be exhibited at TechWorld.

4, Visiting the Dr Who Experience, standing near the Peter Davison console room and being photographed in the Pandorica.

5, Being told that I'm going to be an Auntie.

6, Visiting the Statue of Liberty and walking over Brooklyn Bridge with TJ.

7, Bumping into Simon Pegg at Film Four Fright Fest in August.

8, Taking part in improvisation shows with the Short and Girlies down in Brighton.

9, Watching Sian Williams do coverage for the Royal Wedding outside Westminster Abbey on my way to work.

10, Boogying on down to loads of great indie tunes at Being Gloomy.

That is it for 2011. Its been an interesting and educational year on many levels. There have been some very enjoyable moments and moments of deep fustration and anger.

Here's to 2012. Olympics, the filming of Knock Knock, more decent acting roles and the arrival of my niece/nephew, here I come!

In the meantime, I wish whoever is reading this a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

A festive Bunyip

Mega busy

I know, I know... Its been another long gap. Apologies. Here is what I've been up to over the past 4 months....

1, Major news. My sister is pregnant. I'm going to be an Auntie!!! Am very happy and excited for her. She reckons that her due date is May. Wouldn't it be cool if the baby arrived on my birthday:)

2, Played Masha in a Westminster players production of The Seagull. Twas great fun playing an alcoholic depressive. (Oh the irony!) The cast bonded really well together and we had a lovely, patient director, Katrina. Had to pretend to smoke. Bleargh. We had reasonable sized audiences with good feedback. I had strangers coming up to me in the green room congratulating me on my performance. Very nice:)

3, I've had to put Knock Knock on hold for the moment. The only time I had available to film in my chosen location for free was directly after the Seagull performances and on the day of the technical rehearsal for a Network theatre production. Er no. I want to do this properly eg find a producer to do all the logistic stuff. I'll resume this project in the new year.

4, I've got an audition for another London am dram group in a couple of weeks time. I went and saw my friends in 5/11 which is a play about the Gunpowder Plot. Was very impressed, so decided to join up. I've got to perform 2 contrasting monologues. I've picked a sneaky maid from The Rivals by Sheridan as the comedy and a really unpleasant therapist who tells it as she sees it for the modern piece. Just have to learn and rehearse them now.

5, Am in the throes of unrequited love (again.) I will protect the innocent and not name names. Have been here many times before and am waiting to get over it. Needless to say, it hurts for various reasons.:( Ho hum.

Take care,

A slightly unhappy Bunyip

Its been a while...

I know, I haven't written anything since June. Apologies. July was a very busy month.

To summarise....

1, Romeo and Juliet went really well. Great audiences and Mum said it was the best play she had seen at Network Theatre.

2, The Shakespeare play is on hold for a moment, while I write a short horror film instead. I'm currently on draft three. Its about a haunted theatre and its called Knock Knock. I'm hoping to get it screened at next year's Fright Fest. I do admit, I've gone the wrong way about getting support for my little project by approaching random people, requesting help and feedback and then not hearing back from them. Ho hum. However, I managed to corner one of them and he has made a couple of very useful suggestions which I am carrying forward.

3, I had a nice few days down in Cornwall with some fellow Dr Who fans. I really liked the arty vibe of St Ives. The Eden Project was enjoyable despite the rain. We also met up last weekend in Northampton and had a bit of a DVD fest. We watched Battlefield, the first episode of Revenge of the Cybermen and about half of Talons of Weng Chiang amongst others. The great thing about Northampton is that most of Talons was filmed there! We spent about an hour trying to identify Litefoot's house!

4, I helped my friend, James, celebrate his 30th birthday. Twas epic with seabreezes, dancing to apres-ski songs and (unwillingly) watching the England v Wales rugby praying for some fellow thespians to turn up!

5, And now for the bad news.... My depression is back:( Am seeing the doctor about it on Monday. Have been feeling on and off awful for about a week. Tired, tearful and not much of an appetite. Bugger.

Anyway, am off to another friend's birthday celebrations this evening. Hopefully, they will cheer me up a bit.

Take care,

An optimistic Bunyip

Deadly Reunion

About nine years ago, I went on a Dr Who acting holiday in the French Alps with five other Dr Who fans who wanted to learn more about acting. Since then, we've created a production company called Megropolis One, recorded numerous sci and fantasy audio plays and done a few films. Our film locations have included my flat, Tintagle, Berkhamstead Castle, the Albert Embankment and a certain police box outside Earls Court.

We hadn't seen each other in about five years so we had a reunion over this past weekend. Five out of six of us made it and we had a great time on Friday evening reminiscing about the past. On Saturday, four of us went to a Big Finish Day in Barking. (Big Finish are a production company who do Dr Who related audio plays with past Doctors and companions.) Fun was had. I've finally managed to get Sarah Sutton's autograph. She plays Nyssa, one of my favourite companions because she's intelligent and caring. Then I accidently bamboozled her with a question during a panel session about an audio play she recorded five years ago. No-one (myself included) could remember the character I was talking about. Ho hum.

I also met with two of my past directors. John Gillet directed me in a duologue showcase way back in 1997 and Miles Richardson directed our first Megropolis One film. I met Caroline Munroe. We talked about Dracula 1972 AD. I also met Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor himself and we talked about Twitter. It was very easy to spend lots of money on filling gaps in my Big Finish collection. Finally, I said hello to Sophie Aldred, (Ace). She was one of the tutors on the French Alps acting holiday. Nick Briggs was a witty MC for the panel sessions and I got his autograph as well. I had a really good time, despite the rain. Happy days.

A smiling Bunyip.