MaaBre

An homage to Showstopper!

Last week, I saw the world premiere of a new musical which blew my socks off. Bringing together influences of reggae, Sondheim, Brecht, Artaud and many more, Showstopper! The Musical was – on this occasion – a tale of forbidden love against the background of the first ever Leeds Festival. In 1809. With hot air balloons. Showstopper! is pretty much unique – a long-form improvised musical extravaganza which is completely improvised based on audience suggestions. A hugely talented team of performers begin with the contrivance that Cameron Mackintosh wants to put on their show – but it hasn’t been written yet. They beg for our help. So we shout out ideas of musical styles, plotlines, and the team put it all seamlessly together.

If you’re a fan of improvisation of any kind, and you haven’t seen Showstopper! yet, all I have to say to you is this – sort it out. I’m hardly a music theatre fan myself – although the odd one is terrific – but the joy of Showstopper! is in the skill with which all the different styles and influences are integrated. On the night I saw it, the sequence in which a key plot point was acted out using a range of theatrical styles suggested by the audience was a particular highlight. The audience – which evidently contained quite a large number of theatre students – shouted out “Brecht”and “Artaud”. Obvious choices maybe but the switch between the cool clarity of the Brecht pastiche, into the full-on Artaudian craziness, was brilliantly executed. To add to the abstract craziness of the whole show another audience member suggested that it should all be set in Birmingham Airport Parking – a place no body wants to be trapped in for too long!

Above all, it was very, very funny. But the beautiful thing is that it never feels that the Showstopper! team are gunning for laughs. The humour always comes from the strongest way of telling the story, and the dramaturgy is superb. Admirers of musical theatre, comedy, improvisation – or just great performances – check it out.

Women`s preferences 2

Does a man need to land a plane on the Heathrow parking in order to get female attention?

qualities women are looking for when choosing their short-term mates include partner‘ s willingness to invest resources immediately. Men who give cues of being reluctant to expand resources on their female short-term partners will be undesirable. Desired resources invested would include spending money on extravagant activities together and on gifts.

Furthermore, in terms of long-term commitment, women tend to value even more More

Can You Avoid Misfortune?

Sometimes, when things constantly go wrong, there can be a temptation to stop living how you usually do and do things dramatically differently in a bid to break the cycle and change your life: suddenly, instead of doing what you would have done a few months back you do it another way that you would never have considered before that, in the hope that something really good might happen as a direct result. It could be anything, from how you More

Pleased With Myself

I am a girl of the slightly dumpy, hour-glass figure, glasses wearing variety (who has been considering a neck lift for a while, but is unsure if it’s worth it). To look at me you would think there is nothing unusual about me (or maybe you would think there is something unusual about me–simply because I look too normal to be normal–) but I’ve got a secret I can tell you, and it is this: I love great white sharks. More

A Good Man Speaks (on Enigin Social Media)

This blog and link is interesting for two reasons: 1) The blog belongs to energy saving masters Enigin and talks about the phenomenon of social media and how businesses need to take advantage of this in order to stay ahead of the pack and 2) At the bottom right of the page is a fairly stunning confession, I think you’ll all agree. What is it? Well, quite simply it’s a man admitting that he worked for the Inland Revenue for More

Babymus Fearamus

Picking up a brand-new-straight-out-of-the-womb-piping-hot-baby is something that nearly everyone will, at some point in their life, do.

Recently I was fortunate enough to be asked if I wanted to come and see a brand new baby and hold it, without gloves, almost when it was too hot to handle, and trust me not yet wearing any clothes for baby. Though it was terrifying to me I agreed. It being a once in a lifetime opportunity, possibly, I grabbed the More

Football Mad(ness).

Have you ever wondered why we place so much importance on sport? In fact, you can narrow that down even more; why is so much importance placed on football?

Personally, I find football about as exciting as an empty brown envelope (and that isn’t a particularly exciting thing). I mean, what exactly is there to get excited about??? You have two mobs of grown men, running around a big field who are basically fighting over a bag full of fresh More

Be Strong Flat-Foots

I have always been a flat-footed girl. I can barely believe I’m admitting it now; I haven’t ever admitted it like this, not even in acting workshop when Miss Plaviowsly told us to “let everything out”. I know, I know, it’s shameful. I know how horrible it looks when I run down the street: that’s why I wear high-heels all the time. That way I never have to be seen to be the flat-footed, pavement-slapping woman that I am.

The More

Think Positive

Saving money used to be something that everyone did. Here’s an example:

When I was a boy I can remember by Grandmother having a jar (the jar seemed to be almost as big as me, and it only ever got bigger…at least for a while). Every week she’d stuff some money in to it and say to me – she’d have to shout this because I was so tiny that it was as if she was standing on top of More

Wise Old Men

Someone once told me that if I couldn’t get someone to understand what I was saying, then it was my fault entirely. This led to a bit of an argument with the someone. I couldn’t see what he was on about. The more I thought about what he said, the more I thought I will never trust an apparently wise old man again. Wise old men, they’re not as wise as everyone makes out!

It took about five years for More