TheBlog
Thoughts on theatre, education, identity and the stories we choose to tell - and the ones we've been avoiding.
Let's Talk About Death, Baby… The Thinking
Every show starts somewhere - not on the stage, but in the questions you can't stop asking. What made me want to stand in front of a room full of people and talk about the one conversation we all quietly, politely, determinedly avoid? It starts, as most honest things do, with fear. And it ends - if it ends anywhere - in something that feels a lot like relief.
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Multiculture and Why it Matters
In 1995 I took a year away from acting to do a postgraduate teacher training course at University College London. My teaching practice was at a school in Stepney Green - 999 boys, every one with a Bengali heritage. I was very uncomfortable. Twenty years later I understand why, and I haven't changed my mind.
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Why am I Doing This?
In the mid-nineties, when I compèred on the comedy circuit, I had nothing to say about my own life. I ran silly competitions instead. Twenty years later, with three children reaching adolescence and stories pouring out of Arvon residencies, I have rather a lot to say. This is what it feels like when the subject matter finally arrives.
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