Gareth Fordred is a founding member of the faction theatre co. In the 2012 Rep Season he is playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Leicester in Mary Stuart and a reveller in Miss Julie.

Uncovering The Faction #11: Evil Goblin Overlords

‘‘Leg it sharpish to the carpark’

My evil goblin overlords will want me to say how wonderfully the run is going, and how much I am enjoying it, and how marvellous it all is, and how the sky is singing with larks and beautiful rabbits hopping about…. ____ x ________ !

Which is actually right (not the rabbits, though). That last ‘ ________ ’ was a facetious ‘ ________ ’ by the way.

Much as my natural inclination to cynical pessimism rails, it’s all spiffing. Spifftastic. Spiffalicious. (I’ll stop that now). We are sold out. Sold out to the rafters. For all three shows. God, this is sounding smug and I really want to underplay it or make a cheap jibe to offset it, but I can’t! _____________________________ !!! (that was too long for a real expletive, surely?)

We are all looking forward to going to Theatre Royal Bath, to the Ustinov space with Twelfth Night. Randomly got contacted by someone I know through my home town who is bringing his A Level class to see it. So we’ll have a chat over a pub meal after and pontificate about what it all means with the little toe tags; who will probably know much more than we do and ask the sorts of questions where you take a sip of water to buy time and then politely ask to be excused to go to the toilet while you leg-it sharpish for the car park.

Next week is going to be my last blog, where I will be plugging all of the upcoming Faction projects and events that are happening for the rest of 2012, before next year’s Rep Season (whatever shape and form that ends up taking).

Jonny McPherson has just trundled in armed with bags from Argos, Next, Home and Bensons For Beds. Jonny is in the process of replacing the entirety of his bedding following a disastrous house party incident: He was feeling a little sleepy at the end of a very drunken night and tried to crawl into his place of comfort, his nest, his shelter from the world – only to find that some oik had vomited all over his bed, duvet, pillows, mattress and all. There – a cast anecdote for you and everything.

Pub tonight – the rather acceptable ‘Feathers’ which I must plug as The Place to go after one has performed at the New Diorama.

Must skidaddle*. Time for Miss Julie.

*Skidaddle – recently found out what this word means. We borrowed it from the Americans, originally meant something about liquid ‘spilling over’ and sort of mutated into ‘spilling over’, ‘spilling out’, ‘going out’, ‘going’. There. Education – in your eye!

-GF

The Faction’s Rep Season opens @ The New Diorama Theatre, NW1 3BF

Jan 6^th – Feb 18^th a cast of 11 perform Twelfth Night, Mary Stuart and Miss Julie

Visit www.thefaction.org.uk for times and tickets