Semi staging this R&D today. We are sharing tomorrow (Tuesday 2nd June 2026) in the studio downstairs at The Other Palace at 2pm. I’ve definitely seen something down there, but what? And when? I will never remember.
Today was intensive. There’s been a rewrite and we basically only had today and a flash tomorrow morning to work out how we are going to present this piece to whoever cometh.
I really hope that there’s a further life for this project, for the simple reason that I like the people involved. Katia is fun and gets me. Guy similar… I haven’t seen Guy since what I think must have been my thirty first birthday and Tassos and I got swept into a big long night in Dalston that had no end and no beginning but the bottom of glass after glass and the loud sound of voices and bright lights in the dark and how did I get home or where did I sleep? Back then there was always so much going on, the shared houses, the parties. I’d wake in an unfamiliar room full of empty glasses on a sofa, I’d let myself out onto unknown streets with no mobile phone to map me home, just the local bus stop always there to offer a clue, and my hangover as motive.
Those two are writer and director, with myself and three other actors across two generations. It’s about love and ambition and money and life. It’s about the things we wanted against the things we have. It’s about the way we pretend.
It’s an unusual piece to come from the pen of Katia, whose last piece was political. This is a human comedy. She has written my character in a voice I know. There’s a healthy slice of my brother Rupert, a chunk of John Cleese and a few squeezes of Hugh Grant mixed up with all the Al Barclay. The others are distinct as well, and it feels like a good professional company of clever dedicated practitioners honouring a smart piece of text. And that is knackering because in a room like that you absolutely have to show up.
I’m trying to learn my lines for this lovely audition on Wednesday around this work. I tried for a Friday slot knowing I’d be flooded but no dice. So I’m just gonna be flooded right now and that’s ok cos it’s what I wanted.
I’m supposed to be inviting friends and family to the R&D at 2pm at The Other Palace, so there’s a home crowd and so we can examine it and know if it works for people that aren’t us. If you fit that brief just warn me by text so I can add your name to the list, or you might be turned away. I’ll have time to check my phone and would love some friendly faces.
