The most frightening thing I can thing of

At work yesterday, my friend (and frequently saviour-of-sanity) gave me a copy of the Independent. Within, I found the most lucid expression of fears and anxieties I've been harbouring for some time.

Please, please, please read this article. You can find it at:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1129827.ece

And then, if you happen to be in the London area on Sunday afternoon, maybe join me in Parliament Square where I shall be having some tea, perhaps wearing a costume (fortunately, as an actor, I have several handy), and not protesting in any way.

I shall probably blog again a bit later on and lay out my own thoughts on the subject, but until then please read Henry Porter's account, which is expressed far better than I can probably manage.

So very tired

It occurs to me, as I think I've mentioned previously, that acting at the Lion & Unicorn pub/theatre is not doing wonders for my general state. Crime & Punishment is now finished with until we hit Edinburgh this August.

On the other hand, I've had a break from the alcohol thing over the past day or two. This is a good thing, but the post-hangover hangover meant I didn't sleep at all well last night, and I had to be up early anyway for workaday job.

And tomorrow, there's the first get-on-your-feet rehearsal for the Seagul (performances 11-16 July). So once again, I'm not going to get much sleep: Travel from West London to North London on up to four buses takes some time.

Given that, I never go home between rehearsal and workaday job, and by the time I get home at night there's no time to cook, which I enjoy. Just for the hell of it, below is my signature dish. Not too complex, but pretty nice.

Bright sides: Workaday job allows me plenty of time to learn lines. I went to the pub tonight and didn't drink (apart from lemonade). And in Edinburgh one of my friends will probably cook some of his curries which are the best I've ever had. So things aren't too bad.

Vegetable risotto (experiment with amounts to taste):
Chop up some peppers, spring onions, onion, mushrooms, garlic. Prepare about three quarters of a pint of vegetable stock (I always use Oxo, but I imagine others would do). Open a tin of chopped tomatoes.

Fry the onion and garlic in vegetable oil, and add a shallow plateful of white rice. Add the chopped tomatoes. Add the other vegetables. Add the stock. Simmer for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Add some frozen peas and sweetcorn, mixed herbs, black pepper. Simmer for a further five to ten minutes. Eat.

I think that's more or less it.

Celebrity guests

Paul O'Grady is currently chatting to Bruce Forsythe. Am I alone in finding him annoying? Bruce, that is, not Paul. I understand that when Bruce did a show recently in the States no-one there knew what to make of him at all. It occurs to me that if he wasn't already established on this side of the pond and appeared 'new' to us today, we wouldn't know what he was about either.

While I'm on the subject, too, Ann Widdecombe was on Countdown recently. For those who don't know, Countdown is a popular game show involving anagrams and such, and Ann Widdecombe is a firghteningly right wing former shadow Home Secretary.

I don't really have any objection to Ann as a person, and she's entitled to her beliefs, misguided though I say they are. But I don't want to be subjected to an illiberal polemic while watching tea-time telly. If that was something I wanted I'd buy the Daily Mail.

In other news, I'm really becoming aware of the dangers of continuing to do shows at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre, which is above the Lion & Unicorn pub. Not a day has gone by without a hangover. I think it's probably a good thing that it's only been a two week run. I'm getting too old for the life of 'functioning alcoholic'. At some point I've got to stop the alcoholism or stop functioning.

-Ah, beer. My one weakness.
and, because it was on last night,
-Who are you? Why am I here? I want answers now or I want them eventually!

Love..!

To re-assure anyone who read my drunken blog last night, the conversation didn't include specifics, so no-one who hasn't read my (now deleted) blog will be any the wiser. And it's better that way. I'm pretty sure. Anyone who didn't read it in the ten hours it was up, bad luck, my drunken self-indulgent ramblings are gone. Until next time...

A lesson in audience psychology?

I've never been a big fan of Big Brother. I watched the first series. When I think of the stuff I was doing then it seems a very long time ago. Anyway, I've been looking through other people's blogs here and merrily posting away, and I've randomly got Big Brother on in the background.

It's quarter to two in the morning, so BB is mainly shots of someone I don't know in bed. The strange thing is, you can hear things going on off-screen, but they never cut to the action. All we can see is someone in bed.

So my question is this? Is this a deliberate ploy by the producers to keep us watching: Do we think to ourselves, any minute now they'll cut to what we can hear and it'll be really exciting! And all the while the producers know that if ever they do cut to something else we'll realise that it is, in fact, the purest mundanity and switch to News 24 instead?

Answers on a postcard please.

Not really. Much easier to just leave a comment.

-Book 'em, Lou. One count of being a bear. And one count of accessory to being a bear.
Chief Wiggam

Tubing it up

Having had dinner with my parents, who came up to London in order to see my show, I was struck by a need to blog the following: First, the Malaysian restaurant, Bintang, on the Kentish Town Road was excellent and deserves a little free advertising. Second, it's been nearly a year since the London bombings and I wanted to make the following clear. I have continued to use the tube with no trepidation at all vis a vis terrorism, but there is always a degree of anxiousness when I consider my bank balance. I feel that if I had more money I would be in a much better position to demonstrate my disdain of terror tactics. My disdain of capitalism is pretty much self-evident.

Glorious days to sleep through

It's a beautiful day in sunny London, and I crawled out of bed only an hour ago. My show opened the day before yesterday, so I don't have to get up at frightening times in the morning for rehearsal.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, my theatre is located above a pub, so never an evening goes by without an amount of drinking going on. Hence my late start today. Hangovers. I suppose they remind you you're alive.

It has been a long few weeks with random happenings on my journeys home. For example, last night I was called upon to help a damsel in distress. True, she was not tied to train tracks so much as she'd run out of petrol, but I still felt pretty good about myself for lending a hand.

Sitting here, typing, I also have the TV on, and feel compelled to declare my undying love for Alex Lovell, presenter of Brainteaser on Channel Five. She's so unfailingly cheerful, and positive, and I would swear that she's sincere in her desire to have me call the programme. Occasionally there's a panic in her eyes that makes me want to protect her from the world.

Anyway, that's about it for today, except for a bit of shameless self-promotion. Anyone in the North London area in the next couple of weeks, please come to see Crime and Punishment (in a double-bill with Ghelderode's Women at the Tomb) at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre, Kentish Town. Tue-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 7pm; Sun, 6pm. No show on Mondays. For more details check the Act Provocateur link on the right.

-How do you feel about eternal life?
-We couldn't just start with a coffee?