Ed Rapley

What an amazing run of shows, it was great to work with everybody and the response for the audiences has been so encouraging, look out for the review in this weeks Venue.

As soon as I get them I'll be posting photos and if i can make it work videos of the show.

Onwards and upwards with the performance life! Sustaining the massively creative start to 2008 is The Wonder Club with their top notch massively collaborative 'The Juniper Tree'.

Based on the darkens little fairy tale, collected by those erudite brothers Grimm, it's a sprawling promenade performance, amongst a cast of 25 I'm playing the miller.

The wheels of progress are ever turning, always onwards, often upwards, often downwards, occasionally sideways.

So it is that this weekend The Licensees will again be performing their solo show: 10 Ways to Die on Stage. Check out www.artheatre.co.uk/home.htm for more details.

It's going to be the last act in the main space on Friday and Saturday.

Rehearsals are also under way for The Juniper Tree, a site specific, theatre event by The Wonder Club. I'm part of it, I'll be playing the miller and it promises to be a beauty.

The Warwick Arts Centre is massive, I hadn't realised just how big the complex was, so it was a bit of a shock when i got there (I have made a point now to do a bit more research on upcoming venues).

First up were The Plasticine Men, with a wild and rolling work in progress called Cargo, based around the Cargo cult which sprang up as a result of the influence of the US military upon indigenous pacific islanders. Full of beautiful ideas and lovely moments, the piece felt like it needed to be structured more and developed in terms of an overall arc.

Now that is something I did not know, so i will need to buy a ticket from Warwick to Coventry, whoops.

Why does this matter? Because I'm performing there this Thursday. It's going to be 10 Ways to Die on Stage, and I am really looking forward to it.

Also on the bill are fellow members of Residence: Action Hero. who will be doing their "A Western" show in the bar. The Plasticine Men (= Simon Day + Spanner) are also in the house and they will be presenting Cargo.

It should be a rocking night. Tell your friends in the midlands!

With any luck I'm going to be taking !0 Ways... up to the Edinburgh Fringe this year.

I'm feeling rather excited. I think that the show should go down well up there. I will keep everyone updated about how it goes.

I'm very happy with how well the performance went on Saturday night. It was the best thing I have ever done.

I would like to thank Steve Ryan & Holly Stoppit for discipline and direction, Rob Coxall for getting me to run the show 20 times in one weekend, Helen & Tim at the Arnolfini for taking a gamble and all the folks who made it down for being such a wonderful audience.

Now the plan is to get the work out there, it would be great to get together an informal tour. If there are any programmers out there who are interested then get in touch.

Here's to 2008!

Next week it all starts off...get yourself down to the Arnolfini for 7:30 on Saturday the 12th.

Then it's off to Warwick on the 17th for the second '10 Ways to Die on Stage' of the year.

Here's an unrelated photo from The Invisible Circus's Ghost Town (it does feature me in a small way so it's not totally unrelated):


Chris Lucas/arunproductions.co.uk

2007 is over for me bar christmas and the partying. But 2008 kicks off in finest style with a performance at Bristol's Arnolfini check this link for details:

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/livedance.php?id=89

I'll also be doing a little bit for Spaghetti Club's Three Minute Warning on the Sunday

After that it's off to Warwick Arts Centre, again with 10 Ways...

The next big event will be the What If? week, wherther or not I'll have an project on the go is debatable but whatever happens I hope to be involved.

I'm off to the Performance Arts Centre at Frensham Heighs School this week to work on 10 Ways to Die on Stage.

I'll be working on the Technical side of the show, so that'll be sound and lights. Rob Coxall, whose studying at Central will be the man behind the desk, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out.