claytoncast

There are some cities in the world I am really destined never to see the beauty of. Brussels is one of them. i first encountered it in my very first job as an actor. Touring Shakespeare with the Royal Exchange Company we had two performances in Brussels in a large theatre that I cannot remember. For those of us who spoke French Brussels was a welcome relief after the German leg of the tour and I remember that twenty of us went to a restaurant where the bill was over £700 - not bad for 1978. Other than that, I don;t remember anything. Fast forward to a Sunday afternoon in 2004 when Rich and I spent a few hours in Brussels on our way back from Bruges. Then I seem to remember it consisted of an underpass and a bizarre art museum in a subway. 2006 sees me in Brussels for a night prior to staging a play at a drug company on the outskirts. A nice hotel- actually all the hotels in Brussels seemed nice, and a bar - nothing more Then the last two days to take part in a storytelling workshop for

Friday morning and what treats lie await for the weekend.? Well, it's a working weekend as tonight I'm heading up to Manchester courtesy of Virgin to spend tomorrow in some Jewish centre auditioning existing members of the NYT for the forthcoming season. We have a massive intake each year now at the National Youth Theatre, some 6 or 700 hundred new members. Quantity is the way to get the funding these days. No one at that stage really gives a kick about quality. At the end of the first year the members can reapply to join the main company by taking a casting audition. Not all of them do. In fact I think it's quite a low percentage. For many of them having done the course and got their certificate thats it. been there .Done that. Got the badge. For me membership of the National Youth theatre - when quality did matter - lasted for five summers returning each year to be in a play and spend time in London, getting myself to and from rehearsals, cooking and managing my money. No

At last the snows of Kilimansydenham seem to have been washed away and its got warm enough to go outside with having to look like a bag lady. So yesterday suited and booted I set off for a Fiat ad casting. It was nice to have an excuse to dress up for a change as work hasn't ben falling off the trees this year so far. Of course it's the law of castings that if you live in South east London a short commercial Casting will be held in North west London. This one was in Ladbroke Grove. Some building called The Old Dairy. I always want to know what dairy it was. Just a dairy or the dairy to some large house that didn't survive. ...and how old? In twenty years time will young holograms be making their way there and looking for The Old Casting Studio. As someone who likes to speak his mind and not hold back, I should be aware of how this process happens in reverse. Having been sent two scripts to work on, I went in around 2.30pm and seemed to be one of the last people they were s

The Darwin Awards - 2009 Yes, it's that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us. Here is the glorious winner: 1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked. And now, the honorable mentions:

So within the first twelve days of 2010 we've been to the theatre three times. It would have been four but the great snows of Kent prevented me from getting to "Legally Blonde" last week, though friends who have been to previews so it is great fun. We saw "Altar Boyz" in New York on New Years Day. Off Broadway show about a Catholic boy band - run for five years and just closed this weekend. Funny, but not in the hysterical way it was received by the audience. Someone on tv last night sad that we share common cultures with the Americans. Well they have obviously never sat in a theatre audience with a load of americans watching an American show. It's as though they collectively inhale some sort of taste drop gas. You end up watching the whole spectacle. You're watching the audience watching the play and observing both. Immaterial what I thought about Altar Boyz as its now closed, but not too bad - a 4 out of 10 Definitely a 8 or 9 is the revival of "S

How lucky - the first job of the year involves a trip to Amsterdam with flights on....yes, you've guessed it.....British Airways. Relieved that the flight is leaving at all I head to Heathrow on Thursday afternoon. A short stop in the lounge and we are loaded onto the plane only 30 minutes late. We sit on the runway for a further hour before taking off and arriving in Amsterdam, a cold but still functioning city, about two hours late. My delay is as nothing compared to that of my colleague Marianne, who gets on the 6pm flight at Heathrow to be told they will leave at 6.40pm. When having sat on the runway for five hours, with no information from the BA staff(Bloody Arrogant) she finally arrives at our hotel at 3am. We spend the day teaching Dutch law students the rudiments of presentation techniques only to receive a text message mid afternoon that our return flight has been cancelled. Strange as we have had no further snow, and neither has Heathrow. We mange to arrange a transfer

2010 has started. Plumbers checking out leaky bathrooms, late cleaning ladies and snow. Hardly the worse snow we've had for thirty years in Sydenham as threatened by the always on top of it Met Office!. The Monday afternoon fall just before Christmas was far heavier, but enough to grind things to a dull thud of existence rather than the bouncy spring one had hoped 2010 might be. Christmas and New York all seem a long way away on a morning when the plumber arrives before the alarm goes off. Cheeky and pert though the plumber is , there is a time when staggering to the door clutching ones partners dressing gown around one as you cant find your own is hardlythe way to begin the day. The year has started in fits and starts. Hardly inundated on the work front. A trip to Amsterdam this Thursday and Friday looks like being the highlight at the moment, and then lots of empty days that currently need filling. The post Christmas financial slump with VAT and tax bills due at the end of the

So it's been a week n New York and what a gorgeous week it has been.After a lovely and laid back Christmas which with the exception of two hours of dreadful dullness watching "Nine", passed without event and in a joyous mood, we set out on Monday for the Big Apple. Even security- or rather a few cursory glances by bored undertrained rude people at Heathrow couldn't dampen our holiday mood. It sagged a little with an hours wait at US immigration but a wintry subway ride into the city, a walk to the supermarket on 57th to stock up and the holiday was in full swing. Given that Rich has been here many times over the last two years and this is my fourth visit in the last sixteenth months, there has ben no pressure to do things. We have been happy to set of and just walk. Tuesday saw a biter cold sunshine day and a walk in Central Park to find the ice rink for skating on Saturday with Kazia and Brian and Teddy. Tuesday night saw a visit to the Radio City Christmas spectacul