Off Cut Festival 2012

My friend and colleague Rachel Illingworth, is currently directing the first production of Boards for this year's Off Cut Festival at Riverside Studios.

Further details are available on the festival web-site, a link to which is here: 

The Off Cut Festival 2012

I've worked with Rachel a number of times, she directed me in David Mamet's Mr. Happiness at The New End Theatre for example, and I'm delighted that her work is being acknowledged and her career developing in such a positive way. In addition to Off Cut, Rachel is also busy working as Assistant Director on a new production of Women Laughing at The Old Red Lion.

Again, details are available on the ORL web-site: Women Laughing

It's not so bad if they're just ill - that's natural, but when there's the mental thing as well, it's sort of unpleasant, isn't it?

Michael Wall's black comedy takes us from the garden of a house in suburban London to the grounds of a mental asylum, where two couples fight for their lives amidst the inner-city frustrations and aspirations of the 1980s.

I'm really looking forward to seeing both productions and wish all those involved the best of theatrical luck.

Coming soon...

September then; the year is speeding by and the last several weeks have been both busy and varied, which is always a treat and I'm looking forward to being able to post details of what I've been working on once the release dates are revealed. Until then, I'm sworn to secrecy...

So what's your take on the idea of 'deferred gratification'? Under certain circumstances, there is an odd kind of pleasure to be had in knowing that something good lies in the near future and keen anticipation can then be savoured - for example, I'm still looking forward to receiving my copy of  Black And White from last month! Alternatively, if the gratification keeps on getting deferred, the pleasure of it all can quickly fade, only to be replaced with annoyance and frustration.

September, in some ways, might be thought of as a deferment too far, especially if you're a Stargate fan and, like me, have been eagerly looking forward to the release of Stargate SG-1 Series 3 Part Two. Already put back once, it's scheduled release this month has now been delayed until November. However, having been involved in recording the series over several months, I can well imagine how much work there has been in post-production and sometimes these things do take a huge amount of time to ensure they are as good as they possibly can be before becoming commercially available. So we'll all just have to be patient.

From a personal and highly trivial point of view, the postponement has broken my potential run of consecutive Big Finish and Warhammer audio releases from May 2012 to April 2013  - boo!
A further consequence of the Stargate delay is that November has now become a truly massive month for Big Finish audio releases which includes the four CD box-set of Dr Who: Dark Eyes, a three CD box-set of  Stargate SG-1 Series 3 Part Two and a regular 'main range' two CD issue of Dr Who: The Shadow Heart.

So, lots to look forward to in the coming months, including the October release of  Dr Who: The Acheron Pulse and November's The Shadow Heart. I'll post further details and artwork when they become available; in the meantime, this month's posting will have to be a whetting of the appetite for future releases - deferred gratification indeed!

Hopefully, there'll be more as the month progresses - do keep checking in for updates!