In October 2005 Queen played two shows in the US under the guise of Queen + Paul Rodgers, the plus one being the former front man for Free. I got slightly swept up in the excitement of it all and bought a ticket to see them at the Hollywood Bowl. Fortunately I saw sense in time and didn’t go and blogged about it here. (more…)

Tonight is my second FronteraFest show, the one about my obsession with Queen. This image below is called Barkemian Rhapsody, created by Erik in the show’s honour for his brilliant website Dogaday. Damnit he’s talented.

Oh and I came up with the awful but catchy title, Barkemian Rhapsody. Erik thought up ‘Mama, just smelled a man’, but I guess that’s why he’s an artist.

A review of the show will be forthcoming.
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While her plays are in development, Gallant will show them to fellow playwrights, but she insists “it’s not until I put my work in front of an audience that I can really get a feel for it.”

Daily Texan, DT Weekend, January 24, 2008. (more…)

Class went ok last night. I admit I got a bit teary-eyed reading my letter out loud, but it was either that or snort derisively at myself. My allergy problems also produced a lot of sniffing and back of the hand nose-wiping which added to the overall effect. (more…)

It’s the week of my FronteraFest show and everything is going according to plan. I had my tech rehearsal last night and came away from it feeling awful. Weak script, weak performance, everyone else is better than me, blah blah. I think my predictability is one of my stronger characteristics. (more…)

Just found out that the night I’m performing ‘That Diana Look’ at FronteraFest is already sold out (Friday January 25th). It appears to be the first night of the festival to sell out. Clearly this is a predictor of my show’s brilliance and has nothing to do with people booking tickets for the other four pieces that will also be playing that night. (more…)

Had an audition today, a blog-worthy event as I don’t get too many - there’s not a lot of demand for Texan Brits. The brief sent from my agent called for actors who looked and acted like real people - specifically:

‘..talent who are rough around the edges, such as amateurish actors’

‘..we don’t want polished professional actors unless they can appear to be real.’

Of course I was the perfect choice. (more…)

The FronteraFest fringey festival starts next week at the Hyde Park Theatre in Austin. They’ve changed the description on the website - last year it said

‘FronteraFest …. expect the unexpected’

- which didn’t really make a lot of sense and probably led to a lot of people demanding refunds when the unexpected failed to materialise and all they got was more of the expected. Kind of like a night at Austin’s Esther’s Follies.

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I’m in the mood to run away. Preferably to a place where I’m not responsible for ageing parents, or saving money or my share of the housework. Yes, in my utopia we are slovenly, carefree and we kill family members over the age of 50. (more…)

Just over a month to my 42nd birthday and any last hope of my being cool is gone. I turned on the radio on my way home from CapCity and was excited that they were playing ‘Breakfast in America’ by Supertramp. I definitely wasn’t tuned into to 107.1 KGSR. (more…)