Night of the Living Dead (For Kids)

Brand new track for new stage adaptation of this classic horror...

Created this soundscape for this speech, played really well under the speech in rehearsal this week.

BEN: Well this room looks pretty secure. If we have to we can run in here and board up the doors. Won’t be long before those things come pounding their way in here, they’re afraid now.
They’re afraid of fire, I found that out…
 
You know a place back down the road called  Beekman’s, Beekman’s Diner? Anyway that’s where I found that truck I have out there. There’s a radio in the truck. I jumped in to listen to it. But a big gasoline truck come screamin’ right across the road with there must have been… ten.. Fifteen of those things chasing after it, grabbing and holding on. I didn’t see them at first. I could just see that the truck was moving in a funny way and those things were catching up to it. The truck went right across the road. I slammed on my brakes to keep from hitting it myself. It went right through the guard rail. I guess…  I guess the driver must have cut off the road into that gas station by Beekman’s Diner. It went right through the billboard, ripped over a gas pump and never stopped moving. By now it was like a moving bonfire. I didn’t know if the truck was going to explode or what. I can still hear the man… Screaming… These things just backing away from it. I looked back at the diner to see if there was anyone there who could help me. That was when I noticed that the entire place had been encircled. There wasn’t a sign of life left except… by now there were no more screams. I realised that I was alone, with fifty or sixty of those things just standing there staring at me. I… I started to drive, I just ploughed right through them. They didn’t move, they didn’t run, they just stood there staring at me. I just wanted to crush them. They scattered through the air like bugs.

Night of the Living Dead (For Kids)

Discovery 15 - Drokk

Getting some Escape from New York John Carpenter vibe which is no bad thing at all. Superb. I am now in Mega City One if anyone needs me...

Discovery 14 - Brit Alt Country - Aron Attwood

Different from other fare here, but that's the point, the loneliness of this country sound  evokes a very desolate and emotional atmosphere...

Listen to it all

And then buy it

Twice

Dolly Dolly Birthday Card

I LOVE DAVID YATES

Found this, been meaning to share it, when blogger works this shall be my favicon...

Review: New theatre company Off the Block in style

By Caroline Cook 
April 27, 2012

The curtain up on a new theatre company is always going to be a tense moment.

Will they succeed with their intentions? Will they live up to our expectations? Will they pull it off?

The answer to all three in relation to Reading Between the Lines is a resounding yes.

Rather than opt for a full-scale production for their first offering Reading's new professional theatre company decided to put on a writer's relay, Off the Block.

The concept is a unique one for Reading and sees four writers each pen a play in 24 hours which starts with the finishing tableau of the play before.

The actors are then given their scripts on the day of the show with just a few hours to polish the productions.

Sitting in the audience at Off the Block it was almost impossible to believe the 16 actors - four for each play - had only seen their scripts that morning.

Admittedly they are all professionals, so they should be used to learning lines, but barely a single word was dropped, and if you were not aware of the concept you'd think they had been rehearsing for weeks.Each play was slick and entertaining and wildly different from the next.

Before getting underway the audience were shown a mash-up video of clips from each of the actors - a clever way to break the ice of a new company.

Before the main relay the audience were also given a short play from Chris Lambert, which was the piece written for RBL's Find a Reading Writer competition.

The funny little skit, based around a complaints office, was performed by assistant stage managers from four local drama schools, showcasing Reading's promising young talent which RBL hope to champion in the future.

The first relay play, written by Bea Roberts and directed by Sonia Fraser, saw a group of vigilante style neighbours recruiting the latest member for their neighbourhood watch team.

The three 'super hero' style characters were hilarious, particularly Mark Middleton who stood out as a comedy bulldog character, and balanced well by the nervous new recruit Tim (Ben Ashton).

Walking a tightrope between hilarious comedy provided by completely fallible characters, and a darkly political message, the play was a great starting point.

Next up was a family-based play from Bristol Old Vic trained writer Jim Rastall and director Louise Hill. Although it's hard to pick a favourite, because the plays offered such different styles, if I had to this was probably it.

The play revolved around a family meeting, and parents trying to work out which of the sisters is responsible for an incident with a toffee apple.

Anne-Marie Piazza, who was an actor with Progress Theatre before training at the Old Vic, and Roslind Steele, sparkled as the warring sisters who are set to be punished by their parents, played by Richard Warrick and Jane Scott.

Again something dark lingered under the humour and when Dad says flippantly that the only thing left to do is to kill the girls so 'they will learn for the future' everyone laughs, because he cannot be serious, right?

The third play, written by Angus Barr and directed by Deirdre Mullins, was a not-so-star-crossed lovers comedy with a couple who stop off at a house after a night out, to be greeted by the owners who are, at first, less than impressed.

Sprinkled with wit and made funnier by a rather posh, rather drunk wife (Phillipa Howard) the play was a nice little interlude before the hard-hitting drama of play four.

Chris Lambert's play was undoubtedly the darkest of the lot, involving three friends who meet a strange man in a bar and are promised their deepest desires - money, fame and friendship.

Exploring the ideas that we don't know what we really want, and most of our deepest desires remain buried for a reason, the play left audiences with plenty to think about.

With each of the plays offering something different Off the Block was a feast of brilliant acting, superb writing and theatrical entertainment of the highest quality.

RBL creators Toby and Dani Davies say they are trying to put Reading on the theatrical map with the town's newest professional theatre company.

And if Off the Block is a sign of things to come from RBL then theatre in Reading is about to get very exciting indeed.

The Stranger - Off the Block

Great pictures from my play "The Stranger" last night. Thanks to Ian Legge for these.

Discovery 13 - Fenella Fielding sings PIL