Month: November 2009

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Buy now, while stocks last!

So I’ve adapted Dickens again.

This year’s Christmas show at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town is Oliver Twist.

Already, more tickets have been sold before opening night than for any other show since Giant Olive moved in a year ago. And there’s still a fortnight before the show goes up.

There’s a great cast, including Eddie Kingham (who starred as Scrooge in last year’s production of A Christmas Carol) as Fagin, and I can tell you now that man is doing sterling work. Watch him before he gets famous. And Ray Shell is again working wonders with the directing.

Also? Wipe the memory of the musical from your heads. This is going back to the raw source material, and it can be a dark and nasty place.

Previews start on Monday 30th November at eight of your earth pounds, going up to twelve quid a couple of days later, and tickets are on sale now.

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Girl Number 9

I didn’t want to blog about these episodes until I’d seen them and could truthfully say “Yes, I recommend this.”

Yes, I recommend this.

Girl Number 9 is an original drama made for the web by Television’s James Moran and Dan Turner of Splendid infamy.

Each of the six episodes is about five minutes long (not exactly, though, and not all the same length – we don’t have to worry about hitting timeslots on the web), and shot using professional kit and crew with strong, well-known talent in the three lead roles.

(That would be Tracy-Ann Oberman, Joe Absolom, and Gareth David-Lloyd then.)

Over the last week, they’ve been releasing an episode a day onto the Internets, and you can watch all six episodes – at least until the end of November – online. After that, in order to view them we’re talking a nice shiny DVD with oodles of bonus material. And there may also be pay-to-watch online or sponsored viewings.

Shall we call it the Horrible Model? It has a certain ring to it, and this way of monetising new drama may well be something that we see more of over the next few years.

So, most importantly, what’s the series like?

Dark. Darker than you expect. And then a bit darker than that, too.

And also, very very good.

Watch all six episodes for free while you can at at www.canyousaveher.com.