Quote for the day: "The joy the family experienced when I surprised them in the back garden was short lived" - (Alison Hammond, 'This Morning') - surely not!

It is late and I am sitting in my room surrounded by stuff. I finally cleared out a whole load of my stuff which was left at Devonshire Road where I used to live (actually there is still more stuff there but got the most part). I also picked up a lot of things I had left with my parents when I went to India and then Edinburgh.

Like the family Alison surprised, my joy at finally sorting out everything and getting it to one place is short lived now my things are taking up space in my flat (much like Alison must have done in the garden: 'where shall we put her? what should we do with her?' the family probably wondered and I know exactly how they must have felt!)

Anyway it is a positive step. I hate the idea of leaving a trail of things behind me and not knowing where things are. I read a book about Feng Shui which said that clutter has a 'sticky' energy and it doesn't matter if it is all shoved in cupboards or attics, the energy is still there. Well I think that applies to clutter you have left in other locations - you still know it's there and it weigh's heavily (much like Alison - oh alright I'll stop with that).

over the next few weeks I will be sorting it out along with doing my accounts - finally - and deciding what to do with the rest of my life and how I might do it. I can't wait to have everything in order. It will be one of the first times ever for me!

The Kransky Sisters was one of my favourite shows at this year's festival ranking alongside Taylor Mac and 'I am nobody's lunch' (sadly all the good stuff seems to come from overseas).
I had read about them before going to the show and thought it would be the kind of thing I like: three weird sisters sing their own version of songs from the radio accompanying themselves on, amongst other things, a musical saw! often shows you think you will like end up being dissapointing (Jackson's Way) and you stumble across the gems by chance, but in this instance the show lived up to expectations.
When I realised someone was going to be dragged up on stage I really wanted it to be me and I kind of knew it would be. It was and it was really one of the funniest moments of the festival for me. They managed to perfectly embarrass me and make me feel awkward but in the sweetest way.
I met one of the Kranskys - Michelle who plays Arva the tuba player- outside the assembly rooms one day after Finder's Fee. I was flattered that she remembered me from my moment on stage a few days before. We were both waiting to get in to see The Civilians do their show: 'I am nobody's Lunch!' and ended up sitting together.
when my brother Simon and his Girlfriend Harriet came to see me I took them to the show. I said to Harriet that I really wanted Simon to get picked out and sure enough they came for him. Harriet thought that somehow I had organised it but I had not.
Simon and Harriet bumped into one of them after the show and then myself, Laura and ryan saw all three of them at the assembly rooms on the last night and had a chat. The next day they were at the airport and took the same plane as us to London - how about that for a coincidence? we chatted at the airport and gave advice on how to get to where they were going.
On thursday me and Laura bumped into Christine who plays Eve in the Curzon Coffee shop and yesterday I saw her again in Soho going for a meal in the Korean Barbeque which is next door to one of my flats.
I told Laura that if they ever make a TV show I want to be in it, I want to be the slow witted local shop boy who comes calling for Arva much to the dissaproval of the other two sisters. All these meetings certainly seem to carry auspicious messages.

At last we are getting some reviews and not just any old reviews, good reviews!!! It is just a pity they are coming in the last week of the festival but at least they coincide with an upsurge in all our spirits - a second wind. Here's the one from the Metro which actually refers to the night I felt I did a bit of a bad job (the night I wrote my blog about)

METRO
Rick Chester (4 stars)
David Pollock

'Rick Chester's guide to making it in the business of silent movies is cleverly constructed character comedy that's rarely anything less than crowd-pleasing.

With a pencil moustache and a glistening smile, Chester and his demure assistant Miss Peabody run through a five-step self-help path to stardom.

Move to Hollywood and get a contract first, we're told, then worry about learning to act with simple and over-the-top expressions. With audience participation and a cutely handled romantic subplot between the pair onstage, it's a fun hour. But just remember, sign the contract, don't read it after all, you're an actor, not a lawyer.

Until Aug 27, Smirnoff Underbelly (V61), 11.50pm. www.underbelly.co.uk'

Not bad huh? Still waiting for the Scotsman who came in the night before. Fingers crossed on that one. Here's another good one from The List

'Rick Chesters Five Steps to Stardom - Comedy
In a world where reality TV rules it is not unusual to find a pep talk for wannabe starlets on the Fringe programme but who would have expected it from a 30s Hollywood legend? Tightly written, well performed and peppered with a healthy dose of knowing chuckles, Five Steps to Stardom is a simply delightful show to watch and, if youre lucky enough to be singled out for the first step to stardom, a charm to take part in. (Richard Biggs)'

Underbelly, until 27 Aug (not 14), 11.50pm

It is great to get this kind of response, particularly as audiences have been low and you feel like no one is taking notice of what we are doing. Part of the problem is the late night slot. I know I usually don't want to go and see that requires any attention at 12 midnight so it is hard to get people in to that hot damp space to sit for an hour. Not all the reviews have been good though. The first review we got was written about our second preview which is bad form as it is. We had three in the audiences including the reviewer who sat stony faced throught the whole thing and to be honest it wasn't a great show. Here it is anyway:

Rick Chesters Five Steps to Stardom
Prime Time International

'Come and see Rick Chester, 1940s movie icon and general schmuck, show his lucky audience five simple steps to becoming a Hollywood star. Just what we all dream of, no? All the while trampling on his trusty steed and assistant Miss Peabody, Rick Chester is a perfect celebrity shit, so its ironic to be spending money listening to his advice. The costumes and props create a good look for the show but clichéd characters and script make this good looking thing quite dull. The acting and gestures are pretty mannered and wooden too, though this might be a deliberate touch. Eight out of ten for style, and three out of ten for content, so definitely a case of style over content here.'

Smirnoff Underbelly, 3 - 27 Aug (not 14), 11.50pm , prices vary, fpp 26

tw rating: 2/5

Re reading that one I can still feel the disappointment. Even though we joked about it and said we might quote 'Shit' - Three Weeks on our posters it was disheartening. Actually we tinkered with the quote a bit and came up with: 'Come and see Rick Chester...a perfect celebrity' - Three Weeks on instead. Luckily we had already had this email from an audience member who also reviewed the show on her blog so at least we knew some people liked it and got it.

published: Aug-2006
Dear Rick,

I saw your show yesterday (5 Aug) at the Under belly and loved it! I adore your acting and and looking at this (tiny) picture of Dan I can hardly believe that this is the body that impersonates Rick Chester.

The new poster design is beautiful - it's probably going to be difficult to catch the attention of the festival crowd with it, because it's too authentic. The aesthetics of the 1920s are just too 'silent' for 2006.

If you ever decide to film this show (you should! maybe you can instigate a Douglas Fairbanks night at Arte: www.arte-tv.com/) please post on this bblog where the DVD would be available. I would love to use it in my star theory classes.

11:29 AM

How about that eh?

We have one more week to go of the festival and my enthusiasm is flagging. I feel like I often only write these blogs when I have something to moan about and as a result it sounds like my life is full of misery but actually that really isn't the case.

We have 7 more shows to do and I am counting the days. Audiences are really low. I feel as though I should respond to this by doing more flyering to promote the show but it is the last thing I want to do to be honest.

On the plus side I have been having a really good time with Laura, going out most nights and sitting up till late talking and drinking. She really is a great person to be around so it's not all bad.

Simon and Harriet are coming up at the weekend so that is something to look forward to. Then back in London in just over a week.

 

I want to write about 'Finder's Fee' because I will forget it all otherwise and should do it while it is still in my head.

The company: three actors, a director and stage manager are all american. They were put on the project at the last minute when the director who had been on board by various reports either went mad or just had a disagreement with production and walked (I suspect the latter since it was the producer who told me the story about going mad).

All I do on the show is come on at the beginning as a waiter in a clown mask (it is supposed to be Halloween), serve dinner and then threaten one of the diners with a gun as he chokes to death on metal shards which have been put in his steak. I spend the rest of the show just doing scene changes and setting up back stage.

I have really enjoyed being involved in this production. The plot is a bit so so but the actors are great and I really enjoy watching them from the wings. Josh who plays a sinister private detective got a special mention in the Scotsman review - they are all really good - but for me Adam who plays the central character (although they are all pretty much equal in terms of stage time) is the favourite. There's scene where he throws the building plans down on the floor kind of screwing them up with the words 'in fact there's no fucking housing at all!' is just great.

What is particularly interesting is the differing audience responses to the show. Sometimes they really pick out the humour and there is a lot of laughter (the show is not a comedy but has dryly humourous dialogue.) Other times the audience sit in silence and the funny lines are completely lost on them. Some of this, of course, may have to do with the way certain lines are delivered but my feeling is it's more down to the audience. The time they had the most laughter there was one guy in particular who was really laughing and this seemed to influence the whole room. It is interesting in regard to my other show because sometimes the audience really go for it and laugh at everything and other times there is silence during bits that the night before produced a burst of laughter.

I'm going to re write this later as I am not really describing it very well.

 

Even so I have three characters: Sammie the waiter and gunman, Willie: a put upon male secretary and an unnamed spa attendant. I have no scripted lines but have managed to add one as the gym attendant: 'Your towel!' as I hand one of the actors a towel.

Went in to dressing room for 'Finder's Fee' yesterday and Adam was really complementary about my show. I had thought I saw him in the audience but wasn't certain it was him. He said he really loved it 'spot on' I think he said and when I told him I hadn't felt the audience were really going for it he was like: 'are you kidding?'

It was just great to have this wave of positivity coming from an actor who I really admire. Of course it crossed my mind that he may have been exaggerating, he is an actor and american after all, but you know what? I didn't care! Even if he was exaggerating, the intention behind it - to be supportive and make me feel good- are positive and if that was his intention it certainly worked. I just took the opportunity to enjoy someone being really positive and enthusiastic about the show. He picked out bits that he really liked like the 'milk' line and the 'we've had some fun' which Rick keeps saying. He also said 'usually when I go to see a show I imagine how I would do it but there is nothing you did that I thought I could do'. He is an excellent actor so I suppose he meant the highly stylised way the show and the character are since his style is very naturalistic.

It was just what I needed and I really appreciated it. Thank you Adam!

After two really upbeat shows last night didn't go so well. It just didn't feel like it was really working last night and that was partly down to me not feeling my best and partly down to the audience who were not the warmest I've ever had. I think a lot of them were drunk. In the front row, two girls sat whispering to each other for quite a lot of the beginning part of the show, they kept giggling to each other - obviously not because of anything I had said, just generally giggling and whispering. This behaviour was preferable however to the girl at the end of the front row on my right of the aisle who just sat and stared at me with a stony face; for some reason I found myself drawn to directing some of my early comments to her, recieving virtually no acknowledgement. I soon decided to pretend she did not exist.

The guy we pulled out of the audience turned out to be the lead in 'Midnight Cowboy'. I had always thought the stuff I say  would be funny with a well known or successful actor: 'the reason this young fella's career hasn't taken off is that there is nothing distinguishing about him...etc'. This guy, however, had an air of being a bit above it all and slightly sneering. That said, before the show he was encouraged to sit at the front and he did expressedly say 'he won't pick on me will he?' so I suppose maybe he had reason to be like that. I didn't know who he was but I didn't really want to pick him, I was going to go for someone else until I realised it was a girl (in the shadow I couldn't tell at first). I didn't have any choice because there were only two boys where I had indicated in the audience and we had already used the other one. (This part of the show has to be done with a man since it is all about male character types).

The audience laughed quite a lot and in the right places but to me the laughter felt somewhat harsh, almost mocking. I felt none of the warmth I had felt on the two previous nights. Hearing my friend Todd's laughter I just felt he was trying to show support. Amy, the director of 'Finder's Fee' laughed once from what I could tell; it sounded a bit like a cough. (I'm not sure it was her, I can only see the front couple of rows of the audience but it sounded like her.)

I considered ad libbing to the whispering girls, telling them to pay attention or something but felt it would be pushing my luck. Someone had shouted out 'no' when I said 'Got it?' to which I responded by repeating part of what I had just said. Sometimes the ad libs are great, this one fell flat, they hadn't really laughed that much the first time so it didn't really warrant repetition. I made a decision somewhere along the line to just stick to the script. Ad libbing works well when they are on your side, last night I felt it would just prolong the discomfort.

I felt like an unfunny joker, someone sweating on stage acting silly to garner strained laughter. As I approached the end I was thinking to myself, thank god it is nearly over.

This whole thing is a learning experience. I have never done a show like this before where I am on for nearly an hour. The show is driven by me so if I am off there is nowhere to hide. I did feel tired last night, not necessarily physically tired but kind of wanting a break from the show. When the audience is warm and open to it it really flows, I do, however need to devise a strategy for dealing with a less than friendly audience - perceived or real. I actually feel I will be able to do this; next time I get a vibe like that from the room I will remember this show and over ride it. I need to up the energy, up the charm, not lower it which I guess I did somewhat last night. It really is a confidence building exercise because I am realising that I have to generate my own confidence and even more so when the audience aren't responding in the way I would like. I am certain that by the time I go home I will have learned a lot more about how to do this.

On the plus side it held together. I didn't lose my lines or get stuck. I didn't leave any really long pauses although I am aware the energy was down from the two previous nights. Everyone, including the drunk girls said they enjoyed it. Again my accent was complimented although I had noticed it slipping at one point. Actually an american guy said he had picked up on a few things and another guy said it was one word which gave me away so still pretty good. (both he and Myndi from Finder's Fee said it was 'Everything' and Anything' that were off. Great to have them point it out as I would never have thought of that in a million years. I hope they don't mean that 'everything and anything' about the accent was wrong!- only joking)

Feeling in a less than bouyant mood I was actually ready to take well meant criticism so this really didn't hurt my feelings. I would rather somebody told me minor faults so they can be improved than not. Also, when you don't feel great about what you have done - exuberent praise can be a little hard to take. One guy said to me he liked it and then added if that had been a 15 minute sketch it would have been brilliant! I thought this was really interesting since it actually started life as a 15 minute sketch and even though we have bulked it up the main features were all covered in that 15 minutes: the five steps, the audience participation and the 'denouement' with Miss Peabody. It has always been a concern of mine that we may have stretched the material a little thinly. I think this doesn't notice when the show is running smoothly and I have lots of energy and bounce (and also when the audience are going for it) but when it is not at that level I think the holes begin to show a little.

 

Anyway, it's a day off today, my only one of the fringe - woohoo!

This is my third attempt to write a blog whilst in Edinburgh. Last time I got timed out at the internet cafe just as I was about to post my blog so lost it.

Rick Chester's Five Steps to stardom is finally going well. The show is zippier and we are beginning to get better audiences in, though partly on the strength of handing out some free tickets before the show.

Yesterday we had a guy in from the 'Eddies' which are the new awards, taking over from the Perrier awards. I don't really think our show is the kind of stuff they are looking for, but apparently he said to a work colleague of Ryan's who sat next to him that out of the six shows he saw that day he liked ours the best. Still he also said that he wasn't sure it was awards material. Even so this is a great response, to have someone whose job it is to judge shows rate us well is a fantastic endorsement. (the night before we also had the Scotsman in so we are waiting to see their response. The show went really well and got a good audience response so if they don't like it at least it wasn't because of anything we did. I would hate to feel the show had gone badly the day a reviewer was in).

Last night Josh, Myndi and David from 'Finder's Fee', the other show I am doing, came along to see the show. I was pretty nervous about them coming as they are fantastic actors and the style of Rick Chester couldn't be more different to their show which is very naturalistic. Also they are american (from LA!) so I was concerned they may not rate my american accent. It was really heartening to hear them laughing almost from the start and after the show they said they really liked it and that my accent was spot on. Today Myndi was saying that it was especially impressive because it wasn't just an american accent but a slightly old fashioned 'movie star' accent. This is exactly what I am trying to produce, the idea that he may have had elocution lessons or whatever so it was wonderful to have someone pick up on that.


Anyway, gotta go. Going to catch Amy Lame (that should have an accent on the end of it) in 'The Mama Cass Family Show' Whoopee!

I just wrote a new entry and instead of it being posted it just disappeared! I'm not doing another one, maybe tomorrow!

I have removed this blog entry as it caused offense to some of the people featured in it.