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A lazy Sunday. That was what I needed. In fact, I'd set my alarm for early enough to be able to jump out of bed, head across town and attempt to catch Shakespeare For Breakfast. Sadly, this did not happen. I woke up, felt like my stomach was still misbehaving and decided to sleep it off.
Off indeed, did I sleep it.
Waking up later on, I headed off into Leith in my car - still working - and spent the day with a friend. We had brunch, watched Pirates of the Caribbean, had Starbucks and then saw a couple more movies - Phone Booth and The Banger Sisters, and had pizza. What a fantastic day! I've not seen as much screen action in the entirety of last month!
Since it was a school night for my genial host, I left around half past ten and headed back to the flat. I wandered into town to see if I could meet up with another friend. After an all-too-quick drink, we parted company and I zoomed over to C Venue to watch the Establishment. I had company for this, in the form of some members of the cast of Kept - there's a breakaway republic within their group and they allowed me to hang out with them. I also met a chap who may be useful for converting the pipe-dream of our musical into a reality. So, a good journey.
We sat watching the Establishment until it ended and then, after a few false attempts to leave, I wandered home and did not buy myself a chip supper to eat as I walked through the rain soaked streets. How I wish that last bit were more true.
Show: The Establishment
Performed by: Various
When: 01:30
Where: C Main
Cost: £0
The first act was dire. Really dire. He was missing that vital element. Jokes. I gave him a heckle in the end. I say gave, since it was a nice inversion of what he'd said and it got a laugh, giving him the chance to work off it. He'd said "if you hear screams from the sound box, it's me beating up the techie" - not funny - "Or him beating you up" from me - got a laugh. Sadly this heckling, along with that of the lady one seat along, lost us the company of the other people on our row who defected to another part of the auditorium so as to avoid being near the evil heckler types that we'd become. I'm not ashamed of what I did.
Julia Myers turned up as a funny vegan - she's vegan, but wears leather shoes... and owns a slaughterhouse. Nice gag. Good presence and control. I liked her a lot.
Finally we had a sketch duo who were very funny. They did one routine about a police interview where all the plot devices were tongue twisters - many well known. Well executed. Their second sketch involved a man with a rotating arm. "Try rotating the other one... go on, give it a whirl" said the other.
Spent £0, saw 1 show, had a near day off. Then at home spent about 2 hours catching up on diaries. At the day's end:
Total shows seen: 45
Total shows performed: 7
Total spent: £290.00
18 August 2003
Ashley Frieze