nathanpenlington - @ 20six.co.uk

March 2007
I have in my hands, hot of the press, the brand new issue of the UK's new monthly comedy magazine The Fix. Weighing in at 32 glossy full colour pages, it has TV muppet of the moment Russell Brand on the front cover - but don't let that put you off - it has features written by Book Club impresario Robin Ince, an article on The Mighty Boosh, and the regular degenerate centrefold.

As Editor of the poetry section I have included some fine pieces from Tim Turnbull, Tim Wells, Dean Wilson, Tamsin Kendrick and Paul MacJoyce.
And where can you get your hands on this fine piece of contemporary comedic literature I hear you ask? Various comedy venues around London, certain Virgin Megastores, at London's only weekly spokenword fusion night SHORTFUSE (of course), and if you send me a large stamped addressed envelope I will be happy to stick one in the post. Just send me a message and I'll give you the address to send it to.

Full info on The Fix can be found at: www.thefixoneline.com
<<<<<>>>>>
On Monday night I was asked to record as part of BBC Radio 4's new series of 28 acts in 28 minutes. Sixty seconds to define your style, cold – with no introduction, set-up or explanation. Sixty seconds that begin from when you start speaking, a warning light at forty-five seconds, and music that rises loudly over the last five seconds.

Waiting in the over heated dressing room with the twenty-seven other acts, the level of pre-gig anxiousness was unlike anything I've experienced, and as all performers were on a level footing, the tension was unifying in some way. Some of the friendly faces of other acts included the lovely Stuart Lee (who will be performing at SHORTFUSE again in July) and the fantastic Gavin Osborn (who last performed with us alongside Daniel Kitson, but hopefully will be down to perform tracks from his new album sometime soon). It was also good to get a chance to talk to Penny Broadhurst (look out for some of her work in a forthcoming issue of The Fix), Jeff Innocent, Jarlath Regan and Mara Carlyle.

I'd decided to perform an edited version of my poem 'The Heat Ray' – because: A) I hoped that it would illustrate an aspect of my general style; B) It is a self contained narrative; C) It has its own introduction built in – the opening Richard Burton speech from Jeff Wayne's Musical version of War of the Worlds.

Twenty-third on the list, just after Stephen K Amos, I watch some acts receive the dreaded cut off for running over sixty seconds. I edit a couple more lines out and run through the poem a couple more times, hoping I pace it right – not too fast to blur the words, and not too slow to miss off the last couple of lines. In a blink I'm on, barely time to even acknowledge the presence of the 200 strong audience, and it is all over. Unusually for a radio show recording there are no re-takes, and the 28 of us head for the bar and stay there for a lot longer than 28 minutes.

And I awake with the realisation that, technically, I was Richard Burton in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War of The Worlds on BBC Radio 4 last night. As a small boy pretending Rhyl lampposts were Martian Tripods that thought would have been beyond imagining.

The new series of 28 acts in 28 minutes is scheduled for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May.
<<<<<>>>>>

Full details of all live gigs can be found over at www.myspace.com/nathanpenlington and the weekly listings for SHORTFUSE can be found by clicking on the left or visiting www.20six.co.uk/shortfuse

1.3.07 13:26

Permalink

To date 0 Comment(s) TrackBack-URL