Beau Jest Has Opened at The Hackney Empire

Sorry for no posts recently - I have been helping to give birth to a new romantic comedy with a jewish twist at the Hackney Empire - Beau Jest by the American playwrite James Sherman (who flew over to London for the opening week and was a real joy to meet and talk with). We are breaking fairly new ground with a three week run of a romantic comedy at the Hackney Empire - a theatre known for a wide variety of popular entertainement. Its funny, sharp and has a real message to deliver about how families interact with each other - be they Jewish (as in the play), Black,
Muslim or from any other culture. We've got a great cast - with Laura Pulver as Sarah a kindergarten teacher who will come up with any scheme to please her parents, the excellent comic actor Adam Rayner as Sarah's real beau - jest (who is also appearing in the upcomng episode of Dr. Who on BBC), Alexander Giles as her analyist brother Joel, Alex Hardy as Sarah's real beau Chris and Sue Kelvin and Jack Chissick as Sarah's parents (who steal the show!). Susie McKenna (one of the best UK directors we have) has worked with this cast to deliver that kind of quick rapid comic dialogue that made shows like Seinfield, Friends and Will and Grace must see shows - if you are in London its worth seeing (and if you want tickets feel free to email me).

So while I've been doing this I have had very little time for my Tolkien and language persuits. I did receive the new Inkling book which I am looking forward to reading (and I will be bringing a pile with me when I go on holiday to Portugal in a couple of weeks) - for now my reading (along wiht my stress level) is rather on the lite side - polishing off two volumes of the Ellis Peters Cadfael mysteries. Stay tuned for more Tolkien studies - two weeks of Beau Jest to go!!!