For Your Delectation.. The Penny Dreadfuls

newses

2009-03-17T21:28:00.002+00:00

dear the internet,

we are preparing for our voyage up north to the scotland. should be great fun. i'm kipping at my friend evil's house and he promised a poker tournament one night. yes! two shows at our old home, the bedlam theatre, before we head across to glasgow to play at gilmore hill in the g12 theatre. coincidentally, both theatres are converted churches. come and genuflect!

we have restructured* the show after the battersea gigs, and have inserted a b narrative. this is because one of the main problems we had with the show was that it was a little too linear. hopefully, this will address that. we've also cut the girl. we love cutting girls.

that's all for now, until the interview we filmed with comedy demon is published and i point you all in its direction.

yours e-motionally,

thom tuck, esq

*as in 'not yet re-written'

Dear The Internet...

2009-03-12T22:28:00.002+00:00

Once again it is far too long since the last post: three months or so I believe. Every time I do blog, I cross my little fingers that one of the boys will pick up the baton and BLAM! we will have a group blog. But it is not to be. So I shall have to take it upon myself to become the group's very own Crosby.

There are many things to report. First of all, we have all joined twitter. There has been much media-ing of twitter over the last month and a bit. Much of it is informed, much of it not. The not camp culminated in a stunning piece of ignorance from Humphrys on the Today programme, where he repeatedly asked someone whether they would be putting something on "the Facebook" or "the Twitter". Rock on, John. Twitter is, mainly, fun. Should you like to follow us, we are as follows: David, Humphrey, Moi, Neil, Idil and Steve.

Secondly, there have been bits and bobs of media for us over the last few weeks. We were interviewed by the lovely Jay Richardson for The List magazine to promote our gigs wot are coming up in Scotland. We were also delightfully mentioned in the Independent the other day. We were interviewed for London listings website Spoonfed just before our Battersea shows (of which, more later). Emma was a delightful interviewer and they have picked a brilliant photo. And I, of course, have been in the Catholic Post (the link is here, but it is annoyingly Flash(tm) so you need to go to page 21 to see me pouting. i don't think anyone can accuse them papists of being 2.0 friendly).

Thirdly and, i think, finally, as this is taking longer than i thought it would, the prospect of New Show (tm). We have actually got a full, hour-long show that we have shown to people and everything. Lovely, lovely people they were too. Three sold-out nights in the little room at the BAC have really helped the show on its way to being proper good and that. We know now that lots of the jokes work, that repeating "dried beef" is definitely funny, and that the plot must be ripped apart and constructed anew. Oh well. We've got two weeks before we head up to the Caledonian Hinterland. Contrary to popular belief (we've been asked this question A LOT) it is not about nazis. This may or may not have anything to do with little Ms Sukan's ever so slightly misleading publicity image for the Edinburgh shows. Hope that link works.

Right. That's that for now. I promise to post more often, as it's blatantly going to be only me.

Yours e-mmediately,

thom tuck, esq.

merry christmas to all, and to all a dark knight...

2008-12-27T18:24:00.002+00:00

well, this is christmas... isn't it? a quick glance at the radio times corrects this flawed assumption. it is actually heath ledger season. the battle rages between the channels to plunder the deeply flawed back catalogue of everyone's favourite dead-o.

just thought i'd add an addendum to the previous post as, when i read it back, i realised i hadn't wished anyone a merry anything. well, have a merry everything won't you?

and as to verity's request... stay tuned as there will be an announcement on that front imminently.

there won't be snow in africa, because it is mainly tropical.

2008-12-24T09:31:00.003+00:00

dear the internet,

we do seem to start all our 'little chats' with the apologies. i'm sorry that i haven't been there for you, what with all your troubles recently. but let's make like a sherpa and put all of that behind us. let us move forwards, purposefully and inexorably, into this my christmas letter.

थे फ्रिंज

i figure that ain't no classier subject heading than a hindi subject heading, right? 2008 has been a very nice year for das penny dreadfuls and there is no nicer time to be a moderately successful sketch comedy troupe* than august. like a terrible electrician, we've spent a few years on the circuit now. consequently, we actually have friends when we turn up at gigs or brookes bar. this is not necessarily a good thing. consider this. i mean, exactly.

the show we did was a step forward for us: attempting to weld our hyperkinetic style (read - mugging and voices) to a full length narrative like wot they do in die hard. what originally began as an interweaving triumvirate of stories was curtailed into one sort-of-story when we realised it would have been ninety minutes long with the original plan. and so, aeneas faversham forever was born in march this year in the bedlam theatre before popping over to glasgow. the show developed all the way up till august (the fringe draft was draft 9, i think) and beyond (we're on draft 11.2 now). it were well good and that.

थे फुतुरे

we've had a cracking year on the radio also, being transferred to radio four and in the christmas radio times and all. in fact, episode three is on tomorrow night. that's right, christmas bloody day. it's the story of marcus faversham, victorian britain's greatest actor. although it's a testament to david's performace as the best friend that everyone at light intertainment ( aren't comedy apparently**) seems to call it the alan bennett episode. tune in and see why.

after this, we're to wait to hear on a number of things as to where our next project will take us. live-wise we have kinda decided what we're doing for 2009, but i think we'll keep it under wraps for now.

अल्बुम्स ऑफ़ थे इयर

everyone else does it, so why can't i? i have four albums to recommend. boxer by the national. alas, i cannot swim by laura marling. one and counting by the wrong trousers. any other city by life without buildings. that's your last minute shopping sorted. you are welcome.

yours e-nexorably,

thom tuck, esq

*this status has been rescinded.
**this status has been rescinded.

Dear The Internet...

2008-09-19T01:13:00.003+01:00

Or, I forgot to tell you about Episode One.

So. Here I am. There you are. Looking all sexy. Have you had your hair done? It looks lovely. No, really. I'm not being sarcastic. Oh. Don't be like that. Come back...

Well. It seems that the repeat of our BBC7 show, The Brothers Faversham, has started and we all forgot to tell you about it. How silly of us. Well, you can listen to the second episode if the fancy takes you. I think it's my favourite from the first series. And now the BBC has got all the radio stuff on iPlayer it's easier to tell your friends how to find it. If you fancy spreading the word, do.

I'll try and do a bloggle each week to tell you when the new episode is up. So you know. Incidentally, they're going to run the first series straight into the second. We're super proud of season two cos we think we've got better at doing them.

Yours e-mmediately,

thom tuck, esq.

podcast interview

2008-08-11T15:41:00.003+01:00

Alongside the glut of generous reviews featured on the main site, there's this podcast interview from the good people from Three Weeks, who also just gave us five stars in their print daily. Huzzah!

Aeneas Faversham Forever - The Soundtrack

2008-08-06T21:13:00.006+01:00

Forever has a rollocking soundtrack, and I'm always being asked "what was that music?" So here's the list in show order:

The Good German - Unrecht Oder Recht
V For Vendetta - The Dominoes Fall
Stalker - Theme
Shadow Of The Colossus - Sign Of The Colossus
Pearl Harbor - December 7th
X3 - Twenty Years Ago
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - Evacuating London
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Tia Dalma
Alias (Season Two) - Hitting The Fan
Alien vs Predator: Requiem - Main Theme
Bioshock - Welcome To Rapture
Medal Of Honor - Taking Out The Railgun
Prison Break - The Manhunt Begins
Apollo 13 - Master Alarm
White Witch Doctor - White Witch Doctor
Bioshock - Main Theme (The Ocean On His Shoulders)
Conan The Destroyer - Main Title (Riders Of Taramis)
Van Helsing - Who Are They To Judge?
I Am Legend - Evacuation
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Dinner Is Served
Van Helsing - Attacking Brides
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - Main Theme
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - To Aslan's Camp

This time I've crowbarred some videogame music into the mix, with bits and pieces from Bioshock, Shadow Of The Colossus and Medal of Honor. And Team Dreadful is particularly pleased to get the work of Michael Giacchino into the soundtrack for the first time - it's been tricky finding a piece from Alias that suits the Victorian aspect, but if I can get Prison Break in there then anything's possible!

five stars from fest

2008-08-06T12:14:00.007+01:00

A five star review - and the front cover - from FEST:

Not content with joke-peddling, the Dreadfuls are adept storytellers, weaving a coherent and compelling mystery in amongst the humour. Funny walks and hammed-up accents abound, but the trio also find time for irreverence towards theatre itself.

The banter is sharp, and nothing is spared the knife – every comic situation is, like one of the more unfortunate characters, “completely murdered.”

FEST were also nice enough to treat us to a feature elsewhere inside - Worth Every Penny:

When preparing for their Victorian adventures, however, the history books are left firmly on the shelves. According to David, “A Muppet Christmas Carol is heavy source material for us - and Round the World in 80 Days,” while Humphrey adds Sherlock Holmes and Disney’s Basil the Great Mouse Detective to the list.

Even Die Hard [2] makes the cut – “It’s basically the story of Britain’s rise to industrial dominance in the latter half of the 1830s set in an airport in Chicago in the 1990s – one of the greatest Victorian stories not set in the Victorian era.”

There's even space to add to the ongoing almost-feud with Pappy's Fun Club:

Like everything with Aeneas Faversham, it’s all good spirited, though: Ker relents, “We decided to pick fights with people we like – so when we nemesis each other, we’re at least having a good time.”

Hurrah!

Dear The Internet,

2008-08-03T09:41:00.002+01:00

I am very disappointed in your commenting ability. Steve and I have provided you ample opportunity to put your tuppence worth in the mix and only people named Chris have been up to the challenge. Let's have a chat.

Have you seen any shows? I've seen a fair few. I think I've probably done more though, if you count Spank! and the Pleasance Press launch (Berkoff's back and he's gonna be in trouble, Hey now hey now, Berkoff's crap). What's the bestest thing you've seen?

Yours E-nnately,

thom tuck, esq

Five stars from Broadway Baby

2008-08-01T11:42:00.002+01:00

Hurrah! The first review of the festival, and it's glowing so brightly that you might not want to look directly at (though please do look directly at it, or you will not be able to read it).

From Broadway Baby:

Whoever thought a ‘Victorian sketch show’ would work? Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck – The Penny Dreadfuls – that’s who, and they should be applauded for their ingenuity, comic prowess and real comedic innovation.

Something macabre is happening in the city of London. The Brotherhood have built Tower Bridge to use as a temple under the leadership of Mr Frost, who ‘puts a lot of hours in’ to being evil. People are being killed left, right and centre – for reasons, besides the aforementioned evil nature, that I didn’t quite work out (though I didn’t care). Only second-chance copper McAllister, whose first chance was spent when accidentally ignoring ‘Rule Number 1’ of policing (i.e. not shooting a child in the face), and childrens’ author Rufus Hambledon – he of Jeremy Frog (and all its sequels) fame – can save the day. [...]

An exceptional show has been created here. Not only is it at times snortingly funny, but in form, content and structure it is unlike any other sketch show that I have seen. Imagine a crime thriller inside a gothic horror which bypasses action movies and comedies of manners. Add a significant dollop of stupidness, a smattering of silly voices and some expert character comedy and you just about have Aeneas Faversham Forever.

Click through to read the whole thing.

day two

2008-07-31T11:13:00.003+01:00

First preview down, with a nice big audience which hopefully forecasts the rest of the run.

To celebrate, here's a picture of Thom, working the Royal Mile. Though you might not be able to tell, Thom is in costume and is having some depth-perception problems.

Tickets?

2008-07-30T11:56:00.004+01:00

Previews for Aeneas Faversham Forever - at a startling low £5 - start tonight and run through until Friday night.

The Fringe Box Office has had various entertaining problems with ticketing this year (the "printing tickets" thing being just too darn difficult, alright) but the system does now seem to be up and running.

However, if you've had any trouble buying from edfringe.com, we'd suggest strolling over to the Pleasance website. Anything that you buy there can be collected from the Pleasance Courtyard, with the box-office the merest stroll across the square from our venue.

If you're still stuck and unable to book a ticket, please either leave a comment below or drop an email to me at steve [at] readwriteplay.co.uk and I'll do my best to help you out.

The Wrong Door

2008-07-28T08:24:00.000+01:00

oh yeah. this too.

Dear The Internet,

2008-07-27T21:48:00.003+01:00

it seems to me that this thing better start rolling before august explodes upon us and, seeing as how it explodes in july this year, i thought i'd better push now - sysiphisian a task as it may be. my first real post of the festival concerns our origins at the bedlam theatre at the end of george iv bridge in delightful edinburgh.

the dreadfuls arrived separately to study separate degrees at edinburgh university, but quickly found ourselves in the improverts, edinburgh university theatre company's resident, self-renewing improv troupe. remarkably, if you want to see the work of other improvert alumni then edinburgh is the only place to be in august. al smith returns after jealousy-inducing success with enola and radio and before that, chalk, with his half of the bird and the bee, the bird. lucy kirkwood is, unfortunately, not presenting a show at this year's festival. but she has been busy. over the road, at the forest fringe, andy field is curating. while never strictly an improvert, he did come to "wednesday workshops" for a year.

(take a breath, there's a lot more).

juppers the tubby little comedian (NB he has lost weight) is back with a brand new hour of mellifluous, confessional stand-up. miles is, of course, the narrator of our BBC7 radio series, the first series of which is repeated in september before the broadcast of the second. also appearing for their fortieth consecutive fringe are garry dobson and stuart murphy at the stand. and if one full length comedy play ain't enough for ya, then briony redman attacks the fringe with the rules of drama and suspense.

(tell me if this is getting tedious).

in addition to the people with whom we made improv funnies, there are numerous people doing shows who are also in some way connected. up first, it's super sub dreadful: the magnificent pegabovine. my pegabovine cherry was popped way back at NSDF 2003. the show was the freudian slip and the company presents a one-man show this year. it will be fab. incidentally, the show i was in at NSDF03 was like skinnydipping featuring the aforementioned andy field. next in line is watson and oliver; and here the strands intertwine. for lorna, the former, used to be an improvert and ingrid oliver has latterly appearead as alexandra faversham in our radio show.

(weird).

of course there is the other show of our puppet director jeremy bidgood, the last yak, that you simply must see, darling. his show from 2007, haozkla, was beautiful, inventive and gloriously silly. and you should probably go out of your way to get to thought art, a performance piece presented by two absent artists and co-ordinated by our production's second-in-command, dr steve. one of the absent artists was also the director who enabled me to stop doing comedy for a while as she cast me as christ and then as centenarian clown. and... dr steve was also an improvert. and idil. and neil.

lastly, but by all means leastly, i'm doing another show. i'm still not one hundred percent certain what i'll be doing, but it will probably be a play. if, at the end of that, i've got time i might tell some jokes.

well. that's that i suppose. do let me know if that has far too long for a blogging or, indeed, i have forgotten about your show and totally shouldn't have done.

yours e-mmediately,

thom tuck, esq

Dear The Internet,

2008-07-21T23:45:00.002+01:00

Just got back from Latitude. Thank you everyone who came to see our Sketchatronning at the Theatre or Cabaret tents. One of these appearances was considerably awesomer than the other. But they were both awesome because we were at a festival! Saw Joanna Newsom harp that shit in half.

More Soon,

thom tuck, esq

it heats up.

2008-06-20T00:31:00.002+01:00

dear the internet,

it's been a while. why don't you write back? i expect it's something to do with all this crunchy credit that's been going around. it seems to be the route cause of all our woes.

any other business?

a) the set is being built. i listen as i type to our delightful helper jez snore.
b) we tried on our costumes today! i get an eyepatch. so watch out for that.
c) we were totally on telly. and hump and i were discussing how much of a difference it makes being on BBC2 instead of three. when we had a whole four minutes to ourselves on the latter, noone gave a monkey's arse. now we eat dinner on 2 and the world and its handcart send me a text. crazinesses.
d) we've all been doing grumble work on the wrong door which is a sketch show to go out in the autumn... on three. it's done with loads of cgi, except in the scene where i am the human spider i can't spot any.

anywhom.

to bed.

yours e-nevitably,

thom tuck

It's Official: Best Comedy Show

2008-05-26T21:22:00.005+01:00

After a month of sporadic appearances at the lovely Brighton Fringe, Victorian murder-mystery/sinister-skullduggery play Aeneas Faversham Forever has just been crowned Best Comedy Show at the Brighton Festival Awards. How excellent is that? Very excellent!

Forever has been getting some great feedback from the press since it was unveiled in Scotland some months back (eg: The Scotsman, The Stage, ThreeWeeks, Latest 7, Brighton Argus) so it's all going rather favourably on the run up to Edinburgh. And we've still got two months to add even more japery before our third year at the Fringe gets underway.

Of particular interest to an ardent FaverFan should be the upcoming Grand Preview Shows at the Greenwich Theatre - why not book a whole cartload of tickets online?

फ्रॉम वित्हीं थे Bowels

2008-03-27T13:56:00.002+00:00

Dear The Internet,
For some reason the title is in hindi। Fair enough. I quite like that there is no word for bowels. As I write this, I am sitting in our "office" ( ऑफिस ) on the fifth floor of Henry Wood House at the BBC, trying to script bits and bobs for our second series. Early news is that there will be five brothers... but four episodes.

Since we last spoke, we have revisited Scotland (our birthplace) and done two lovely gigs. We have a full play for August but it has not yet had the surprise bonus sections inserted. Should be fun.

Yours E-mmediately,

Thom

"As the moonlight fell upon the faded tapestry, there was a searing blaze of silver light, and spelt out upon the wall was the word Leicester..."

2008-02-18T15:06:00.002+00:00

So, after swearing last year we'd never return to Leicester after performing in a small brown nightclub to eight people, we decided to get back on the horse and attempt to show the people of the finest historic junction town what they had been missing. Against almost all the odds, such as the almost total indifference of the people of Leicester to the fact that there is a comedy festival going on in their city, we had a nice crowd of 50 people turn out in the Sparkenhoe Arts Theatre, which is one of those fantastic small arts centres dotted around the country which don't get used as much as they probably should be.
Not quite ready to debut our 2008 Fringe show, we did a mixture of our previous two years' stuff and a couple of new ones especially for our loyal fanbase. The show was fine, but suffered a little from a certain degree of rustiness on our part, and the fact that most of the lights were pointed at the audience, rather than the stage. The next night we went and did a 10 minute slot at the 'Comedy Heaven' charity night at the Phoenix art centre, compered by the esteemed Arthur Smith. We rattled out 4 sketches, and after some initial confusion, the audience being unaware that we were either a sketch show, or Victorian themed, we went down pretty well, with the 'Duel' once again proving it's worth as an applause generator.
As is traditional, with these trips, however, the greater part of the fun was derived from the car journey on the way home, where we listened to really crap pirate radio and laughed at its super rubbishness. Ha ha ha, rubbish!

Episode Three : Leonidas

2008-01-26T11:33:00.000+00:00

Dear The Internet,

So there you have it. Eustace Carmichael's own Leonidas Faversham. Just listenagained with my flatmate CJ. Good fun. Also in the good fun stakes was last night's Sketchatron: Hyperdrive or whatever it was called. Us and the Idiots in the first half and then the Sunday Defensive and Pappy's after the break. Although some in the audience may have thought it was an hilarious ploy, the boys were in fact without Ben who was filming an advert and had locked all their props in his car. So they busked it, and it was brilliant. Very irritated I didn't buy a ticket to the meat raffle. A Minnesotan tradition indeed.

In other news... um... not much really. The Woman's Hour serial I'm in is on the week starting the 18th of February. It's during Woman's Hour (shock!) and then repeated at 19:45. Five instalments of FAUST, baby!

Kissums,

t tuck, esq

Episode Two : Theseus

2008-01-22T23:19:00.000+00:00

Dear The Internet,

So, there you have it. The greatest detective the Victorian World ever knew. Had to wait till we got back from our gig, and first ever standing ovation, in Dublin to listenagain and Alex Riley (t'announcer bloke) was hugely complimentary. So that was nice. Once again a couple edits made me go ouch; it really was a pity to lose the seven deadly sins joke.

Fact fans: the name used by the B of G when he is incorrectly informed by Mulgoon comes from these giants of musical comedy, and this song in particular. Rocking. *** EDIT *** I've just watched the video and, although remarkably good, they've changed the name from Chiniqua to Hanifa from when we saw it live. Oh well. *** END OF EDIT *** *** NEW EDIT *** Ok. I've just found, within this interview with them, the original version of the lyrics. So. Thar. She. Blows. ***END OF NEW EDIT ***

And, excitingly, the two episodes that follow I actually get to do more than be functionally bland. Watch out wireless world.

In other news... Heath Ledger is dead. He was very good. Even in A Knight's Tale and The Patriot. Tremendously sad.

Yours in memoriam,

t tuck, esq

Episode One: Horatius

2008-01-12T14:21:00.000+00:00

Dear The Internet,

So. That's the first one then. Major ahthankyou to all who tuned in to listen to the exploits of Horatius Faversham. It was very exciting to actually listen to it live (we've had the edits since before Chrimble). And your feller who hosts was the Comedy Club was very nice. Special thanks also to whomsoever at the Beeb who stuck us on the Radio homepage. Tres unexpected.

Couple thoughts... There were at least three jokes in there that made me laugh, and I've heard them thousands of times. So that's got to be a good thing. Only one edit made me go ooo-er. And it was a shame to lose Lobardie the Saucier (played by the inestimable Juppers) who makes the Legionnaires a custard and then is killed cos all he has is a whisk.

And finally, hoot hoot we have a second series. Bonza.

Yours E-mmediately,

t tuck, esq

bee bee sea. seven.

2008-01-09T16:21:00.000+00:00

Dear The Internet,

Excitingly, we now have our own hastily constructed BBC page. Have a look. Even more excitingly, I played Brian Lara Cricket on the xbox last night. Classy stuff.

Kisses,

t tuck, esq.

extraNEWSextra

2008-01-04T21:29:00.000+00:00

&&&UPDATE$$$
i very cleverly for
got the link. so her
e it is for you now.
&&&+++%%%$$$

Dear The Internet,

They are like buses, you know, blog posts.

Some news. We are in this highly subjective article. Nice though. I got one call and two texts. DK, Field and Idil should really have something better to do on a Friday than read the London Paper. Still... nice though, innit?

kissums,

t tuck esq

The Centenary of Harry Bensley's Trip**

2008-01-01T19:41:00.000+00:00

Dear The Internet,

It has been an unacceptable amount of time since I, or others in Team Dreadful, have related to you, the world wide wonderbots, the momentous events in Faversham family life. Two months indeed have passed since we last put pen to keyboard and opened up.

First of all, may we wish you a happy new year? Do let us know as soon as possible, as we would fervently like to do so before it becomes a pointless endeavour. Secondly, we assume that you have had a wonderful Chrimblemas. That seems to be the most obvious reason for your lack of contact: being all fat from eating eight geeses or something.

In terms of stuff, the PD's will all be appearing in a BBC3 sketch show that is currently titled The Wrong Door. I am playing Wagner in a Radio4 woman's hour serial. Dave will playing Peter Cook (yes, I know) opposite David Walliams in a BBC4 Frankie Howerd* biopic. Humphrey has been asked to play the central character in CBeebies epic The Magical Wishing Tree. He has declined.

And we appeared, together, in Victorian Supersize Me, presented by Giles Coren and the lovely Sue Perkins. We were the parlour entertainment, and guests for the ludicrous dinner. Most importantly, Sue kissed me twice. There was a pie that was bigger than my torso, rabbit curry and lots of boozums to consume before we shot off to do a gig at the Pleasance Islington, which is becoming a regular haunt nowadays. Totally come and see the Sketchatron: The Resurrection or whatever it's called. It'll be proper good.

I have spent the winter solstice and the days before three kings playing lego and scanning photos of myself from when I had a ponytail and lived in the tropics. I could've seen that one coming. Sheesh.

Yours E-mmediately,

Thom Tuck, esq.

* Interestingly, the first bit of press David & I ever got together was for The Fellowship of the Panto in the Edinburgh Evening News that said "utterly stupid, utterly brilliant... part Spike Milligan, part Frankie Howerd". We used that quote for our first Fringe as the Dreadfuls, twice: David Reed "part Spike Milligan... utterly brilliant" & Thom Tuck "part Frankie Howerd... utterly stupid".

** On the first of January, 1908, Harry Bensley set off on his trip around the world, pushing a pram, wearing a mask that weighed two kilos and selling postcards of himself. For a bet.