X-Men 3 was really, really goooooooooooood.

Oh yes, oh yay.

Everything continues to tick along nicely in our run up to our first intense rehearsal session! I'll be emailing the actors we want to use in Dracula tonight, and then calling them later on in the week to have a little chat!

It's all too much I tells ya!

p.s - I wanna be a mutant. Or a wizard. Either will do.

I got sent home from work an hour early yesterday after I almost vomited over a woman! Seems I have a rather nasty throat infection... dammit! Anyway, no time for rest so today I'm in the office printing, laminating, folding, ringing, worrying... the usual.

I still need to call the actors we're using in Dracula. We've made the decision to stage Liz Lochhead's version as I just won't have the time to adapt the book, and really do it justice. Christmas Carol took me three months to do, and I'm still making changes to that. Plus I have Alice in Wonderland to utterly, utterly rewrite plus all the songs... and the revisions to Pirate! Taking on the task of adapting such a mammoth novel at this time would be sheer lunacy, and it would probably end up sounding a load of old balls. Oh yes!

Lost has captivated me again. This series was feeling a little slow until last night, and then Oh. My. Lordy. The rage in Sayid's eyes. I'm pretty sure he won't kill her but oh me, oh my, I love it so.

I've even chosen to love Big Brother this year, and found myself almost shouting at the screen at Shabaz's antics. If this is the way that television culture is heading, I shall gayly embrace it, love it hard, and do so with a camp grin on my face.

Poor blog... so neglected!

It's a very busy time! We're currently putting together our "for the love all that is good give us some funding" applications, as well as working hard on the pre-production tasks involved in running a mini-tour (more than you would think... the red tape of DOOM! DOOOOM!) as well as casting our big Autumn / Winter tours.

Tickets, posters, programmes, marketing, money, websites, finance and many many more. It's all rather dull I'm afraid, but it needs doing so we won't whinge about it. Much.

What about me? Well, I'm currently working on the acting team in the York Dungeon... click on York, you dummies. It's a hell of a lot of fun, if not utterly exhausting, but in the last few days I've performed several live shows to more people than the total audience of a show I was in last year! And they're right in front of you, which is a crazy experience, but utterly divine in it's own right. It's also very, very refreshing to just act, and not worry about ticket sales, costumes, props... lighting, oh God!

Oh the scares! People throw up in there! They faint, pass out, scream and yelp in fear! THE POWER! THE TRUE AWESOME POWER AND IT'S ALL MINE!! MINE I SAY!! MUAAAHHAHAHAHAHA!

As you can see I'm still in character...

We start rehearsals for Bouncers and Shakers in two weeks! Where the Hell did the time go? I'm not working many hours next week, so I have a little time to get everything out of the way before I work a crazy full week at the Dungeon, finishing there on the 4th, before walking into rehearsals on the 5th for two weeks.

Busy... busy times.

Too long without an update, so I shall postpone it even longer and write one tomorrow.

Needless to say I'm stupidly busy, and tonight was sort of my first night off in a while, except I had more scripts to learn... more on that tomorrow as well!

Now... I must sleep.

It's the day after the two days of auditions for our Autumn / Winter productions, and a very odd two days it was!

We saw a number of people, and the standard was high throughout the days, with some serious competition for roles such as "Belle", "Renfield", and "Fred". Belle / mina / Lucy is going to be a real bitch to cast, as every actress we saw gave us a strong audition, and took well to the rather sudden changes of pace we threw at them.

One Renfield audition had Aidan running for the door as the actor bit him on the arm! Wonderful! Scary for Aidan, great audition for me!

A few people just didn't show up on the second day, which infuriated me as we'd spent a great deal of time choosing who to see on the two days, and we sacrificed a few actors (not actually sacrificed...) because of the small amount of time that we had... these people could have had an audition after all! How rude!

No Scrooges or Marleys though, so I think we'll have to hold a second audition day just to cast those characters (unless I can persuade Allan Thorndyke to return... his Marley was phenomenal, and I doubt anyone will come close to what he did with it. Unless of course they're an actual ghost with the power of flight, which is very unlikely.

So Sunday brings upon us a day of BBQ food, wine, and the casting of several roles. This week I have to approach several major venues and persuade them to let us perform the shows in their truly magnificent spaces... it's all very worrying. I feel I've auditioned people too early, but we had already hired the space so it was a bit dumb not to make use of it.

We have cast Bouncers (possibly...) and Shakers (also possibly...) I'm just waiting on a few phone calls / surgeries / managers to run their course, and then I can give answers to those that auditioned for the two productions.

It is the dawn of the auditions. The dawn of the first day of "real work" for the company. So far there's being little else other than stacks and stacks of paperwork, hundreds of phone calls, new cv's arriving in the post every day (still arriving, although the advert was weeks ago, and we're seeing people tomorrow!) causing us the household debate "who opens the mail?"

I argued for me, as it has "Jamie McKeller" on it. Beth argued her, as it has "Stageworks Theatre" on it. I won, because she's small and doesn't fight very well. Two jabs to the face and she went down.

No. Not really. I just want to stress that I DO NOT BEAT MY GIRLFRIEND.

Unless she needs to be put in her place.

Anyway... later today I'll be zipping down the A64 to Scarborough to collect fellow Stageworks brainchild Nathan, and then back up the A64 into the heart of York to collect Aidan McCarthy, the actor I mentioned on here a week or two ago. He was going to be with us for Dracula and Christmas Carol (at least I hoped he was!) but the lucky devil is now touring the country in "Danny - Champion of the World", earning real money, buh jeebus!

In the early hours of the morning we will awake, consume vast amounts of coffee and pig, and then ride saddle high into York city centre... and LO, it will begin. Two days of auditions, workshops, improv, games, krusties sandwiches* and more silliness than you can possibly imagine.

Sensible silliness, of course.

* Krusties - the best sandwich shop in the world. Seriously.

I'm out of action at the moment due to food poisoning.

FOOD POISONING DAMMIT!

As if a truck ran me over... is how I feel. I have so much work to do it's unreal, yet I can't move from the sofa. Well, I can... because I got here to type this, but only because Pimp My Ride UK started on MTV, and Tim "Big Dog" Westwood offends me more that animal porn.

This weeks tasks! Venues, beer keg, bar, cocktail shakers, rights, cash money go go, music, lighting equipment, disco lights, a goat, and illuminous orange fishing waders!

It may all make sense to you in the course of time.

Apologies for the radio silence... busy times for busy men, or something equally poetic.

I've booked several venues for our tour of Bouncers and Shakers over the last few days, and I keep finding the shadow of a company I used to work for looming over them. Now, I have no idea what happened, or why it happened, but I'm a bit annoyed that whatever these horrendous events were, they're casting the shadow of doubt as soon as I mention my name.

Were the staff at these venues briefed? Did this company practice Satanic rituals in the dressing rooms? What happened to cause such bitterness at the mention of this companies name?

I knoweth not these things. All I do know is two venues have had to ask for the hire fee in advance because they no longer trust professional theatre companies. This would be fine if we were funded, but we're not. We're just a ticket income supported group at the moment, and the current situation is that we're going to spend £1000 before we've set foot inside our first venue, sold our first ticket, handed over our first programme.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I must now begin selling advertising space in the show programme to help combat these bills. I just want to stress, I really dislike selling advertising space in the show programme...It means the programme has to have more pages, it has less overall content, and it means more work for yours truly.

In other news...The auditions are a week away. We are five weeks away from the first Bouncers/Shakers rehearsal...We NEED some arts funding, like...Last week. I'm scared shitless, and I'm struggling to find a job that is flexible enough for me to carry the immense workload I have, and yet allow me to earn a half decent wage to eat, pay rent... and to further cripple me and my girlfriend - we're currently taking on around 80% of the company outgoings, even though in the initial setup of this group the general agreement was that the finances would be a burden shared equally throughout the team until we succeeded in acquiring the golden joy of funding.

"I been laid off from work my rent is due
My kids all need brand new shoes
So I went to the bank to see what they could do
They said son looks like bad luck got a hold on you

Money'’s too tight to mention
I can't get an unemployment extension
Money’'s too tight to mention

I went to my brother to see what he could do
He said brother I'’d like to help but I'm unable to
So called on my father, father
Almighty father, he said

Money's too tight to mention
Oh money money money money
Money's too tight to mention
I cant even qualify for my pension

We'’re talking about reaganomics
Oh lord down in the congress
They'’re passing all kinds of bills
From up there on capitol hill, we'’ve tried it

Money'’s too tight to mention
Oh money money money money
Money's too tight to mention
Cutbacks!

We'’re talking a’bout the dollar bill
And that old man who'’s over the hill
Now what are we all to do
When money's got a hold on you

Money'’s too tight etc.

We're talking about money money
We'’re talking about money money"

I don't have to buy my kids new shoes. I don't have any kids. But you get the general idea.