magic-dave.com

I’m trying to put off writing my directors notes at the moment. It’s getting close to the time when they need to be printed and I’m hitting a brick wall. So I thought I would write a post instead.

So there are a few things that I’ve been thinking about. The main thing is drinking. I’ve stopped drinking during this production, and it has got me thinking. If I had been drinking over the last few weeks, what would I have done differently? There are a few things that I’ve realised I probably would have done.

1 – whenever I got stressed, I’d have drunk. But by drinking I would have forgotten what I was supposed to do, and probably done it badly too. Which wouldnt have been good.

2 – I’d have been hungover. Rehearsals when hungover aren’t much fun. It comes to point where I wouldnt be able to work, never mind think.

3 – I probably would have asked a certain girl out now. I wish I should have already, but I’ve never had an excuse. I suppose drinking in this situation may have been a good thing, the whole mini confidence thing, but then again it probably wouldnt have been the right time. I think the only thing would be if she said no (knowing my luck that would be the most probable thing) I may not remember it.  But is that really a good thing?

Theres a load more to, and to be honest with you my dear readers I would love to continue on this, but I think there is one thing that sums it up. Overall I think I am better sober then I am drunk. I am fitter, healthier and have more money to spend, my skin is improving and im feeling more awake (most of the time). The confidence thing, well that will come with time, but for now I’ll be OK.

Also I would like to invite you all to see the production I am working on called S.A.D. The Musical. It’s in the Foundry Studio in the Parry Williams Building, Aberystwyth University – tickets are available at:

OK it’s 1AM, I’m now wide awake, and had to cope with a rather unsettling fear of mine. So to get through it I have decided to bring back the Magic Dave Blog! (If you are that intrigued into what my irrational fear is; I’ll give you a clue. It’s something that over 2/3rds the population dislike and 6% of the country have a fear of. Oh and in “Little Shop Of Horrors” there is a song about this kind of person)

Anyway… I’m trying to think of something to talk about. Something either theatrical or performance based other than the fact that I hate a certain medical profession… Ah ha…

For those of you who dont know I am currently working as an assistant director on a devised production which means one thing… Research… Lots and lots and lots of research. I went to the National library of Wales today to continue my research into our theme – which I’m not mentioning much of here, except the title of our piece is S.A.D. The Musical.

I’m not going to talk about the work I did cos that would be boring. Instead I am going to talk about how I made a fool of myself outside the National Library earlier. As I was waiting for my book to be delivered I went for a walk around as it was a beautiful day outside. Standing outside looking around I saw the wonder of Aberystwyth at its best.

(Deciding to walk around the garden areas nearby I took a few steps down a flight of steps, only to end up head over heel falling down the steps, grazing my arm and back… Ouch.

(On another note the phrase head over heel… isn’t that the way its supposed to be… Shouldn’t it be heel over head. I suppose that doesnt have the same kind of ring to it… anyway i rant…). I had to go back into the library slightly dishevelled, in a bad mood. Still having to find something to kill time I decided to go inside and cheer myself up with a hot chocolate… I did get slightly distracted though when I saw this…

So I had chocolate gatau It brought a smile to my face and made me forget about the pain in my arm. I did my research and continued. Well thats the whole “Fear” segment written…

Fame

I’m finding it strange at the moment. Already many freshers are starting to get some knowledge of who I am, the traditional songs and people coming up to me never ceases. I was performing in a bar recently (spur of the moment thing as I was asked by a friend to) and lo and behold people started to recognise me, asking me for my facebook profile and to… yep you guessed it… show more! I’m always happy to do this, but I feel like this will become somewhat mundane and frustrating. Although I do have a photographer coming to take pictures of me performing on tuesday which will be fun. Stay tuned for more information and of course pictures of me performing some of the cool stunts I do. (You can always see them first hand as well if you come to the bandstand in Aberystywth, today at 8PM… i just realised what time it was)

One last thing before I go… After doing some reading into a few mentalist subjects I’ve decided I’d like to do a few experiments. If anyone would be willing to help get in contact with me. I’m looking for people who have an interest in the supernatural, or have previously been hypnotised, or say for example: if the Derren Brown Subliminal Message thing worked on them, these are the kind of people I am looking for. It’s all for a good laugh and a bit of fun and shall be interesting to see. All shall be explained, and I’ll post my results on here…

I’ve also been working on my hypnotism skills with some good successes. I’ll post my latest “work” up here for people to see soon.

As its now 2AM I think its safe to say I should be going to sleep. Thanks for putting up with me everyone as I work through my stress…

(A special thanks to Rhi, who was kind enough to cheer me up and keep on chatting to me while I constantly complained )

Well what a week… we’ve had the tradegy of Michael Jackson’s death, which I guess I’ll have to speak about at some point so here it goes.

I think Chris Crocker had the idea right when he did this whole “Leave Britney Alone” thing and I think the same should be done for Michael Jackson. He’s dead, leave it. There is no need at all for all of this argument over wills or using the publicity to advertise a record label that is being started up. It is pretty much pointless and disrespecting the dead. Or at least that is my idea about it anyway.But there have been some great and some strange tributes posted on Youtube, some of which I have found and put here for your enjoyment:

This one is all Acapella. Pretty impressive considering this is one man, a webcam and a lot of time…

Going to the weird next

Even people like Jamie Cullum are getting in on the Jackson tributes – see 3:30 in this film taken at Glastonbury

Even Dizzee Rascal was getting involved in the tributes, but I couldnt find a decent enough video..

Anyway enough of the Jackson tribute. A fine dancer and choreographer died today as well. Pina Bauch died. Our thoughts are with their family.  It is a shame that such a creative and inspiring person has passed on and they will be sorely missed in the performance community.

On another performance note: I recently discovered the greatness of Improv everywhere. I’ve put a couple of their videos below

Suicide Jumper

Frozen Grand Central

and probably my favourite

Food Court Musical

I think I’m going to become a big fan of them and think that we should do some of that over here too… now just to find some accomplices

Hey everyone,

As Dave said not only he will be making Blogs on here but also some other people, and I am proud that I am going to be one of them.

I though that i would write a short Blog to defend my actions on that dreaded night that Dave mentioned in which the legend that was Seussical closed for good.

The night before the last show i was talking to the members of the cast who were organising the presents for the directing team and asked them to mention the production team who worked so hard in getting the show together. So I though a little mention was on the books, however the moment came, and we were asked to go onto the stage, due to a lack of cables, the cables around the tech desk were quite tight, and moving around them in low light was difficult, as i tried to walk out from my desk, the power cable to the lighting desk became unplugged and the room went into darkness at the perfect time to make it appear planned. A simple mistake, and in no way dopey as Dave said it was.

My hat off to Magic Dave for his help during Seussical, he managed to stop me stressing and exploding.

Cheers Magic

Bring on the disco’s

Think invisible ink!
Or a gink with a stink!
Or a stair to the sky…
If you open your mind,
Oh, the thinks you will find
Lining up to get loose…
Oh, the thinks you can think
When you think about…

SEUSS

At this point I will stop quoting this wonderful musical that I am proud to say that I have been involved with and instead share some of the stories that have accumulated whilst being involved with this production mainly that of our “wonderful” Stage Manager.

I have a great appreciation for anyone who is involved within the theatre. From working from a directors perspective I know the amount of work that everyone puts in to these pieces, no one more than a Stage Manager. Especially one who also decides to take on the role of Deputy Stage Manager at the same time. (I know for all you none theatre practicioners this means nothing to you, but ah well!) This one though, was slightly dopey at times.

(I’ll try and not use any techie talk, but when I do I promise to put an explanation in brackets)
The biggest example of this was earlier tonight. For the curtain call (bows), the actors had asked us to do something special. Instead of walking off, the actors walked onto the raised staging and then a few actors made a presentation, thanking the directors.

Unbeknownst (yes I used a big word – go me!) to us poor techies, they also decided to bring us onto stage and make us bow, saying how great we were. While we all filed out from behind our desks, the Stage Manager manages to catch his foot on the power cables for the lighting desk, pulling them out. Of course this sends the entire building into darkness; the audience finding this hillariously funny. Meanwhile we are all fumbling around in the dark trying to get the building lit again. Strangely enough everyone thought that this was staged – for those of you who were there I can safely say it wasnt. A general rule of thumb, when dealing with thousands of pounds of electronics it is generally a bad idea to just unplug them. Don’t do it.

Anyway it’s now 3:20AM so I think it is only suiting that I sleep and share more Seuss stories tomorrow.