After the laughs

This weekend Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival comes to an end and Cultural Exchanges week begins. Cultural Exchanges will be great and I urge anyone and everyone to go.

However, I'm sceptical that this week of events can possibly live up to the 16 days before it. Can it possibly be as interesting as seeing stars such as Russell Howard, Jon Richardson, Gary Delaney, Johnny Vegas etc. at Marc Oliver's comedy chat show Dancing About Architecture? Can it be as touchingly insightful yet hilarious as Francesca Martinez's touring show WTF Is Normal? Can it be as charmingly surreal as Joey Page at The Exchange? - incidentally he is an absolutely lovely man who put me on the guest-list for his show because I gave him directions.  Can it be as outrageous and spontaneous as An Ideal Night Out? And who can forget last night's Gagging For Attention? (Admittedly that one is more memorable for me Because I happened to be in it.) 
 
And, although Cultural Exchanges is just around the corner, we mustn't forget that the comedy festival is still in full swing. Tonight sees legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke take to the stage, there are still two more Dancing About Architecture shows to go and the last show I'm going to see is Sean Walsh in Sean To Be Wild on Sunday night. My account of all the above events will be in the next issue of The Demon.

I'm particularly interested in seeing the interview with Geoff Rowe at Cultural Exchanges. He is the director and founder of the comedy festival and will be talking to the big man, VC Dominic Shellard. 
 
I am also reliably informed by DMU's Rob Brannen that Daniel Bye's show is well worth watching.
 
Hope to see you there.

Matt Watts

An evening with Murray Melvin

I find myself at something of a loss for words. An hour ago, I had the honour of being able to sit and listen to acclaimed actor Murray Melvin speak about his craft, his experiences and his work with the company, Theatre Workshop.

All grace and elegance, Murray was a pleasure to listen to. There were no words wasted as he covered a wide range of stories, from a humorous recollection of his very first audition with Joan Littlewood, to an emotional encounter at a Doctor Who convention. He also spoke at great length regarding his role as archivist at Theatre Royal Stratford East, along with the history of the building and his many memories of the theatre. His recollections of making the tea for the company, his first role as a messenger in Macbeth and his defining role as Geoffrey Ingham in A Taste of Honey were told with great fondness, as were his many other stories.

He explained his acting techniques originating in Laban, picked out moments of his life and shared his thoughts on the importance of works such as Oh, What A Lovely War!, Murray remained fascinating throughout, regaling us with stories both amusing and upsetting. It was a wonderful evening, and I feel honoured to have been able to be in the presence of such an inspirational, influential and exceptional man.

Edward Spence