Frontierland

This video is massively inspiring a one-act play I'm writing. If you enjoy watching middle-aged Americans in fun-houses in British seaside towns in the mid-1990s, I recommend this as one of the best around.

Poems in Neon Magazine

I have a few poems in the latest issue of Neon Magazine, which you can by for a small fee or read online for free. Really cool little mag, giving three poems to each of the poets so you get a good feel for the poets.

Fourteen Magazine Issue 13

I have 2 poems from my sonnet series, 'Strategies', published in the new issue of Fourteen Magazine. It's the penultimate issue of a really cool magazine so you should buy it while you can. I went to the launch event at the Poetry Place in Covent Garden and there were some fantastic readings from other poems in the issue. Check it out.

Buy it here.

Diplomatic Immunity....

Seaside Towns

Pretty obsessed by these at the moment for some reason.

BFI Future Shorts

My friend Jon Gordon won the BFI Best Documentary Category with his film 'Lasting Rights' in their 5th annual Future Film Festival. It is an beautifully shot film with the delicately handled topic of assisted suicide. Congrats! Check the trailer here...


http://vimeo.com/36593318


and his other incredible videos here...


http://vimeo.com/jonnygordon

Theatre Top 3 last year

That reminds me, I wanted to do a top three end-of-the-year-style countdown of the best things I saw in 2011, but here it is two months late.

3. One Man, Two Guvnors

I feel quite privileged to have seen this for £5 at the National as I walk past queues of people in sleeping bags outside it now every morning on my way to work. By far the most I have ever laughed in a theatre. The slapstick is brilliantly choreographed and the way the show interacts with the audience is very clever, meaning everyone who sees it really feels they have been a part of something special.

2. The Pitmen Painters

Another National production, based on the true story of a group of Northumberland miners who took art lessons in their spare time. The paintings they produced, and the questions about art the play raises, are both incredibly thought-provoking. It is powerfully acted, engages with class, politics and art, and the script is funny and touching, while being playful with juxtaposing the geordie dialect of the miners against the RP tutor. It is still on at the Duchess theatre, somehow without queues out the door.

1. Jerusalem

Quite simply the best play I have ever seen. Incredibly acted, at times hilarious (the Professor/Ginger), at others brutal. Mark Rylance was amazing, and the supporting cast not far behind. No wonder it was as successful as it was. I was front row, thanks to an amazing Christmas present from my girlfriend, and that was two months ago. I still feel like I'm in Rooster's Wood now.