'Champagne for your real friends, real pain for your sham friends.' Tom Waits

This November I have been pondering the big questions, such as; How many words actually rhyme with dime? With a week to go until the first show of the 'tour' I'm feeling the growing dread and excitement. These are the dates so far, with more to be added:

Sunday 4th December, 7.30pm. The Cavendish Arms, Stockwell (With Miss Glory Pearl)
Sunday 29th January, 7.30pm. The Albany, Great Portland Street (With Gimcrack)
Wednesday 1st – Sunday 5th February, 6.00pm. Vault Festival, Waterloo.
Friday 3rd March, 7.30pm. The Albany, Great Portland Street (With Eva von Schnippish)
Monday 13th March in association with Theatre in the Pound, The Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone.
Saturday 8th April, 7.30pm, The Beehive, Bromley-by-Bow.
Thursday 27th April, 7.30pm. The Cavendish Arms, Stockwell. (With Ellis and Rose)
 
To be Confirmed; Brighton Fringe 20th and 21st May

I've performed two different excerpts of the show this month, one at Barelesque on November 3rd, and another at Scratch That on November 15th. For both I tested new material. A video edited by Ana Morphic exists for the Barelesque show, but as weebly and vimeo aren't friends, I can't post it here - see my facebook profile/Jeu Jeu la Foille page. Watching that video back was the first time I had seen what the piece looked like from the outside, I wasn't horrified, but I've only managed to watch it once!
The audience for Scratch That wrote me some feedback, here are their comments - written word for word;

* Volume lacking even despite the space (pub noise) but great, liked the darkness
* Excellent structure - starting with the lab was a great idea. The only....us was we couldn't quite hear at the back! You've got an exciting future ahead of you!
* I couldn't quite connect the two halves of your performance. I loved the laboratory concept but who was Tom and what did he have to do with the first half, apart from being a disembodied brain.
* Intriguing, really cleverly put together.
* Loved the props! The hat of Tom was good.
* Wondered if perhaps when you're using Tom's hat you could honour that a little more. Cool when he turns to acknowledge you, but as soon as we see you stop seeing Tom wearing the hat the magic broken. The little brain thing didn't quite read from the back - maybe a bigger prop would be better?

As I've mentioned before, I'm working on this show without an outside eye, so every scrap of feedback is useful, and when I can bring myself to analyse the Barelesque video, I'm sure that's going to help. I'm really grateful to Barelesque and Scratch That for giving me a platform, the show needed an airing this month!

On October 11th I submitted an application to the Arts Council for a grant to take 'Frontal Lobotomy' on tour in 2017, and it was successful! The grant will pay for publicity, rehearsal space and travel costs from December to May. I'm shocked, relieved and delighted - it took me days to complete the form, and I began writing the application in September. So.....HOORAY!!!

Finally, I wrote a new poem. It was inspired by a letter that one of Dr Freeman's lobotomy patients wrote him after her operation, and it's replaced one of the clunkier moments in the show....

Dear Dr Freeman,

Your surgeon's hands are steady and sure
I know you've done this many times before
They cut so clean, the knife sweeps through
I can't worry now, thanks to you.
An artist's hands, a musician's as well
Yours saved my soul from eternal hell
A straight course now is all that matters to me
You'll wipe my mind and set my spirit free.

Yours breezily,

Jeu Jeu la Foille xx