Humbled and Jealousy-Ridden
Posted on | May 24, 2007 | No Comments
It’s hard for me to get over it when success strikes so nearly to me that my eardrums split and my teeth clench and I can barely sputter out a “How … NICE … for … them!” It’s ten times worse when I can’t take potshots at my friends who find themselves among Glory’s Chosen because they have worked their asses off and happen to be really talented. It makes me long for the heady days of 1996 when we all gathered round the campfire and ripped on Katie Holmes.
I alluded to this back at the beginning of the year, when I was just back from London and had gotten the updates on the life and times of my friends from the Bedlam Theatre (home of the Improverts, among whose ranks for a time I was the requisite American.) Turns out that Mr. Al Smith, who was quite literally the first person from the group to talk to me as I nervously skulked outside the gothic-cathedral-cum-performance space that is the Bedlam, has now become something of a big deal. He’s now simultaneously writer in residence at the Royal Court and is a staff writer at the BBC – apparently the only person ever to go from coffee-boy level to creative-contributor level in one leap. His newest play, Radio, is playing in NYC at the Brits Off Broadway festival, after selling out at the Edinburgh Fringe and at the SoHo in London.
As if that wasn’t enough, Gemma Fairlie (another Bedlamite and ex-Imp) is out for blood on the directorial front, having landed a job at the RSC, ADing their production of Two Gentlemen of Verona and directing a fair bit elsewhere. Oh, and she’s recently landed the AD post for this little production. Word has it she’ll be running the show after Trevor Nunn departs and will continue on to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, New York, Minneapolis, and LA.
Oh, and, funny story: When Trevor Nunn put out word that he was looking for an AD (“I don’t want an Assistant Director, but a Director who can assist me”), Gemma had sought to apply but was discouraged from doing so by some folks at the RSC as she “didn’t have enough experience.” Trevor Nunn apparently threw out all the applications from the first round. When word went round again, Gemma put her name in (through back channels, reportedly) and was one of four names handpicked by the director for interviews.
Nice work if you can get it, no?
Buy me a beer?Comments
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