My WICKED slide show

Edinburgh prepares for the Fringe

Fringe 2007 5 - 27 August

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Pictured: Edinburgh gets ready for over a million visitors during August.

Title	Description	Date
This Sketch Show Belongs to Lionel Richie	LIONEL RICHIE SET TO OWN THE 2007 EDINBURGH COMEDY FESTIVAL	7/30/2007
Backpacker	Jody Kamali, the half-Iranian, Bristolian comedy actor; brings the comedic essence of travelling to the stage, in a one-man, character comedy show.	7/29/2007
Best of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 07	Media releases and images from some of the shows UKTheatre will be reviewing at the Edinburgh Fringe	7/29/2007
DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE'S "HOW TO GET ALMOST ANYONE TO WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU"	Afternoon stand-up leaving you ready to pull tonight	7/29/2007
The Witching Hour III	The scariest late night show on the Fringe is back with Perrier nominee Stephen Harvey.	7/14/2007
Grasmere By Kristina Leach	Debuting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe ‘07, RoaN Productions will be travelling from their home city of New York to present the European Premiere of GRASMERE, showing at C between 1 and 27 August.	7/14/2007
ASHES by Ali Muriel	Four actors, four fires, four darkly comic stories.	7/14/2007
The Maids'	Genet's 'The Maids' is a transgendered exploration of volatility, destruction, eroticism and murder.	7/14/2007
Real Circumstance makes its debut with LIMBO at the Edinburgh Festival!	LIMBO is the tender and compelling story of a young girl’s relationship with an older man. A young Catholic girl gives her confession from the edge of Camlough Lake.	7/14/2007
Dye Young / Stay Pretty	Before Madonna, blonde ambition had a different name: Debbie Harry.	7/7/2007
Paul Chowdhry’s ‘Lost in Confusion’	Edinburgh set to misunderstand confused comedian	7/7/2007
Kitty Flanagan’s Edinburgh ‘Festival of Me’	“Flanagan is one of the most subtle and perceptive of live performers regardless of gender”	7/7/2007
Jim Bowes has a complaint to make	On average, a person is likely to moan to more than twice as many people about a bad experience, than when praising a positive one.	7/7/2007
Dear Future Wife… in Edinburgh?	One man’s desperate search unfolds on stage	7/7/2007
SPREAD	A MOUTHWATERING PLAY FEASTING ON WOMEN'S FIGHT & FROLICS WITH FOOD.	7/7/2007
Doctor Deepak’s Edinburgh Festival Surgeries	A visit to your Doctor will never be the same again!	7/7/2007
BUTCH - A QUEEN’S STUGGLE TO BECOME A KING	Menno wants to ‘butch-up’, he wants to be less Graham Norton and more Vinnie Jones......	7/7/2007

Finding Kevin Spacey

It sounds like the title of a new movie, but in fact it is just my ongoing search for the elusive man to find out if he would be interested in 'K-PAX II: The Return Of Prot'.

I popped down to the Old Vic today to find out more about the 24 hour plays which he launches every year around September. These are for around 50 new and emerging performers who are taken under the wing of the 'Old Vic New Voices Team' and coached and developed. Many go on to bigger and better things.

Did I meet him ? No. The picture is from the publicity poster from the David Mamet play Speed-The-Plow which he is performing in next year but it had you going didnt it ?

Rachel Stevens, (no, not the S Club 7 star, the Old Vic New Voices one), told me more about the 24 hour plays and will be keeping me posted with the entry timetable. There will be regional auditions which will be sponsored by Red Bull and these will be coming your way in October.

Right, its back to calling Mr Spacey's agent John Fogelman tonight to see if Gene Brewer's latest script, coupled with my ideas around the fringe play have captured any initial interest.

Nothing ventured......

An actors best friend

BAFTA held a casting session tonight with four of the UK's top Casting Director's.

It was an interesting event listening to the trials and tribulations and varied experiences of those responsible for everyone selecting A-list actors to one line newcomers in the major films in the cinema today.

One of the UK's top film producers kept them on their toes and brought some honesty and humour to the evening.

I'll update you more on this and the Raindance session with a producer who got Ewan Mcgregor to work for Equity minimum in this weekend's newsletter.

Classical Busking on the South Bank

The arches under Southwark Bridge have great acoustics for impromptu buskers. Best of all is a quartet playing Vivaldi. The sound resonates nicely delighting the ears of passersby. This quartet didnt have a name when I asked them, but they did say they were from Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Sunday on the South Bank. Do it !

Olivers Army storms the Tower of London

I had just read about Elvis Costello on the tube home. He is opening up the Tower Music Festival tonight at the Tower of London. He had just arrived the second I was passing and a polite 'hey Elvis' was enough for him to turn and give a mean stare as he headed for the stage for a sound check.

The Tower Music Festival ends on Monday with The Good The Bad and The Queen, Damon Alburn's Supergroup.

Bafta's Annual General Meeting

An interesting evening tonight with the people who run Bafta. Like most AGM's it had its fair share of angst ridden individuals with trivial points of detail which commanded more attention than the good news. Hilary Bevan Jones did a remarkable job of keeping the session in control and focussed. Her ideas for connecting with more people is a breath of fresh air and her final year as Chairperson will see some big changes, primarily using the Internet. I spoke to her afterwards in the bar and volunteered my services to help where I can.

As ever it was a great networking night with BBC execs and famous producers. Sitting behind me was Paul Antony Barber who you may remember was the first West End reviewers for UKTN. He didnt recognise me as I have grown a beard in the last few weeks and I am a slimmer chap from 5 year ago when we last met in person :)

I met a film financer from Glasgow would you believe. A well connected one. He liked K-pax ii.

Next steps is to call John Fogelman in Beverley Hills tonight. He is Kevin Spacey's agent, the William Morris contact in London advised me today. Tomorrow night is the budget planning course at Raindance.

Making It In Hollywood is becoming a way of life, rather than a documentary. There's no business like show business. For sure.

Douglas