Reading Katie Kitamura’s novel AUDITION. She writes superbly well about theatre amongst other things and there’s a head-spinning switcheroo halfway through, I am in thrall.

Not recommended for bedtime reading, recommended for any other time of day. ‘A Stephen King thriller hijacked by Proust’ it says on the back. Maybe a French noir rewritten by Jon Fosse. Anyway it’s stunning. #LaurentMauvignier

A copy of the play The May Queen by Stephen Sharkey showing a stone statue of the Virgin Mary in a wrecked graveyard with some fresh roses, lies on a table next to a latte.

Did something today I used to do regularly in grad school - grabbed a coffee and immersed myself in a play. Bought this when I first moved to Liverpool but meeting the playwright this week prompted a re-read. Very powerful story set during the Blitz when the city was hit hard. Strong Hamlet vibes.

Hey that’s great that you’re reading it. It was such a thrill working on it at the Everyman in 2007 with a great cast and team. Hamlet and Electra!

They make a wasteland and call it peace.

Proud to announce this is on in Stratford next spring. The brilliant Mark Gatiss in the title role, and the brilliant Sean Linnen directing. Brecht’s savage satire about how democracy can be eaten alive is unfortunately very timely.

Image shows a board outside Dorothy studios in Liverpool. The poster is a collage from the Haunted Paper exhibition, an altered Observer’s book

The Haunted Paper exhibition is now open at Dorothy, Jamaica Street in the Baltic Triangle Liverpool. Thanks to everyone who came last night to the opening. Lots of you! And some great conversations. The exhibition is on until September 19th, weekdays. I would love you to see it.

Wishing the cast and crew of RED OR DEAD at @royalcourtliv.bsky.social a lovely last night. And congrats to adaptor-director Philip Breen. It’s a wonderful show, full of passion and poetry. Love the community chorus too. And this is from a Blue!

The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.

Just starting to look at Iphigenia At Aulis, realised my copy is the same I used when making a translation of Trojan Women in *1992* for the Courtyard drama school in London

Met @thewhitepube.bsky.social !Aka Gabrielle and Zarina. Their book is excellent. Buy it. Also, their friend made them cupcakes which we sampled and were also excellent.

A Trump shill on Newsnight claims there are more people in prison in UK jails for freedom of speech violations than in Putin’s Russia.

These people are radicalised, insane, plain stupid or some combination of all three.

I binged #theNightAgent while recovering from a gastric infection. Loved it. Is season 2 more of the same? Engaging batshit schlock? Do I need to be semi-comatose to enjoy?

The Room Next Door Almodovar's first feature film in English is an amusing and enlightening meditation on cancer and suicide, and a lot less melodramatic than his Spanish movies

Almodovar's first feature film in English is an amusing and enlightening meditation on cancer and suicide, and a lot less melodramatic than his Spanish movies

Golden Lion winner is on all major VoD platforms:

dmovies.org/2024/09/02/t...

Well isn’t that nice. Happy birthday Lara!

@deadinkbooks.bsky.social thanks for getting it in!

👏👏 @larapawson.bsky.social

This is seriously seductive writing. Mesmerising. Shocking and unflinching, humane and wry. All the good adjectives. www.theguardian.com/books/2024/j...

2025
1. be more Jackson Lamb
#inspo #lifegoals #slowhorses

Train journey from Liverpool to Oxford today, changing at Birmingham New Street - my journey from home to university in the 80s, breathing in the diesel fumes and tobacco smoke.

Started this just before the election. Powerful, unnerving.

Good day to you all.