#british playwrite

[mybeingthere]

Lettice Sandford, British printmaker, draughtsman, watercolourist, publisher and craft worker. 1902 - 1993.

Born 1902 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Studied at the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art, then at Chelsea School of Art, 1926-9, working under Percy Jowett (1882-1955). She was taught to engrave on wood by Robert Day and etching by Graham Sutherland (q.v.). She married Christopher Sandford in 1929. Their son was the playwrite Jeremy Sandford (1930-2003). With her husband ran the Boar's Head Press, whose books were printed at the Chiswick Press. In 1933 they bought the Golden Cockerel Press from Robert Gibbings (q.v.). She illustrated many of their books: engraving on wood, copper and zinc and published two of her own children's books. After WWII she illustrated 4 books for the Folio Society. After the Press was sold in 1959 she and her husband created a small museum at their home in Eye Manor nr. Leominster. She became an expert in corn dollies, reviving the craft and writing a practical leaflet and 'Decorative Straw Work and Corn Dollies' 1964.

The British Museum

[queermania]

my mother just sent me this out of nowhere and i have no idea why. does she want me to date deceased british novelist, playwrite & poet william golding? does she want me to know the true depths of my Divine Feminine Power? is she finally dabbling in misandry after noticing the shit her husband comments on my pics?? or is she just telling me it’s time to settle down because i’ll be one year closer to forty in a couple weeks?

[denimbex1986]

'...This weekend a good friend invited me to a filmed play of what was billed as a radical new version of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

And playing ALL EIGHT PARTS in this retelling of a 125-plus-year-old Chekhov story was none other than the actor Andrew Scott.

Netflix’s Ripley.

The tortured gay heartthrob from last year’s All Of Us Strangers.

The hot priest from Fleabag.

Moriarity from the long-running BBC series Sherlock.

Among others.

You watch this guy nimbly jumping back and forth from one character to another, sometimes in mere seconds and other times in minutes, or monologues, as he quips, cajoles, argues, eats and occasionally even, with the use of his hands, shoulder, neck and breath, simultaneously portray two different male and female characters making love to each other, and all you can think about initially is….

How?????

How is this possible? How is he able to do this?

And then… who imagined it?

Well, it was adapted last year by the playwright Simon Stephens, who a decade ago theatrically shed light on and likely helped change the way we thought about autism in the groundbreaking play The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time (Note: Adapted from the novel by Mark Haddon, it’s won most major playwriting awards).

And he is billed as co-creating it with both Scott and Sam Yates, a 40ish British stage and sometimes television and film director known for his unusual approach to both new and classical material.

Okay.

But then you ask yourself…

Why????? Why do this?

Why do we need this? Why do it at all?

Well, because someone, or a handful of ones, thought of it and needed to think of it. Something about the world they lived in, or events they were personally experiencing, prompted them to think of it. And then move forward with recreating something (and a bunch of fictional someones) from the past that would allow them to understand their present in a different way.

It’s not as if before seeing this filmed version of a play done last year at the National Theatre I was excited about seeing Uncle Vanya done as a one-man show.

Or frankly, any production of Uncle Vanya at all. Nor, I venture to say, is the average person.

But watching Mr. Scott (Note: I so want to call him Andrew, or even Andy)… okay Andrew… throw himself so fully into instantly becoming so many people – with no wigs, no costumes, only a trajectory of mangled feelings, conflicts and eventually emotional outcomes, denials and realizations – well, it was about as contemporary as it gets for me.

It seemed that this film, of this play, had nothing at all to do with Uncle Vanya, or even the playwright himself.

What it addressed were the myriad of emotions, sometimes life and death ones, we are ALL trying to manage as best we can these days. Only to be shown there is no managing.

There is only being truthful about how and what we feel, taking the actions we believe fitting and holding out some hope for a better future when they don’t work out.

And, well, to keep trying.

It might sound a bit trite, but that’s what this new version of Vanya, the one I didn’t think I needed but some other people imagined I might need, did for me.

It made me realize once again that navigating what we call the politics of today is not much different for our generation than it ever was.

And that, lucky for us, back then Chekhov was quite an imaginative fellow himself.'

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 3, Episode 11, The Rashomon Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Arvin: Arvin Brown, Director.

John: John Rogers, executive producer and writer of this particular episode.

Chris: Chris Downey, executive producer, and this is The Rashomon Job. John?

John: Yeah. Which we played around with a couple different names for it, it’d always been shorthand, The Rashomon Job, and then it just- we wound up keeping it. This was-

Chris: You had another title, though, that you kinda-

John: This was The Five Story Job. 

Chris: The Five Story Job. 

John: The Five Story Job, just cause ‘Two Story’ is a classic. And also House won their Emmy with a three story job. So I figured two more stories would get us our Emmy. 

[Arvin and Chris Laugh]

Arvin: I like Rashomon Job, though.

John: Thank you very much. It’s a classic. And really, it was born- this has been the free pitch that’s been kicking around for ages. This was that high-concept idea I think we even had in the first year, and just, like, all right, you have to know the characters really well for it to make any sense whatsoever and it has to be basically a standalone. And nicely enough, we hit a weird soft spot, a gap in the arc narrative this year. 

Chris: Right. 

John: So we had this free one. And so I took all our notes we had accumulated and basically banged this out in about a week. Which turned out pretty great.

Chris: Yeah, it has to be executed perfectly or it’s a complete disaster. 

[Arvin Laughs]

John: Yeah.

Chris: And you did it in a week.

John: Yeah. [Laughs] Well, no, the boys up on set did it, because this- writing it was a bear, but- oh, “I stole it!”  That was the high concept. The pitch was always, they were watching the news and “I stole it!” And Sophie Soong, who is a recurring character now, she’s the reporter from The Inside Job. Arvin, what’d you think when you got the script?

Arvin: I thought it was impossible. 

[John and Chris Laugh] 

Arvin: I thought this was probably the end of my TV career. 

Chris: [Chuckles] Now Arvin, you have a background in theater. Now- and this one really required an awful lot of entrances and exits. What did you bring from your theater background to approach this?

Arvin: Well actually, y'know, the interesting thing is that a lot of the plays I did, particularly toward the end of my theater career before I made the total transition into television, were very impressionistic plays. Y’know, the- television and the screen has influenced contemporary playwriting more than anyone realizes. So, a lot of times I’d be in situations where I needed to create transitions, and odd appearances, and disappearances. One in particular, for example, there’s a writer, Peter Nichols, British writer. And I did a play of his called Forget-Me-Not-Lane in which people would open closet doors and there would be somebody, and then they’d close the closet door, and open it again and that person was gone. You know, so all that really played into this in fine fettle.

John: This is meant to be, really- you could do this as a play. This episode, if you had like three staging spots on a stage, you could pull this off.

Arvin: Yeah, that’s true.

John: And that was the key, is- our 1st AD, Eric- and this was also- the recurring visuals was really important for editing.

Arvin: Incidentally, doesn’t Gina look gorgeous?

Chris: Oof, wow.

John: Gina looks stunning in that dress. That dress is killer. And it was interesting, Eric, our 1st AD saw this and he said, “You’re mad.” And then as we talked about it, you realize everything really takes place in three spots. Everything else- is just, you talk about it a lot but you’re never actually there.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: You know what I mean? And that’s the key to any of this. Ah, there’s Traber, Traber Burns, he’s a local Portland actor, and did a great job for us as the main villain.

Arvin: And who had incidentally, a wonderful time doing it, and has been in correspondence with me since.

John: Oh, that’s great. No, he was fantastic. Now talk about- sort of the challenge about setting up Tim as the observer character. Because we talked about a couple different ways to establish him, and he was coming up the stairs with Gina there, as the, sort of- y’know, and there he is, he’s popping into frame.

Chris: I guess we call this the “Annie Hall” sort of narrative.

John: Yeah.

Chris: In which people appear in the flashbacks.

Arvin: One of the challenges, though, in this kind of a situation is to keep him active. Because the trap with the observer character, y’know, is that it becomes very, very passive. So that’s one of the reasons I kept finding these ways to sort of have him physically be there, appear, and visit, and suddenly be gone whether it’s in the closet or just-

John: Rather than just hanging about.

Arvin: Yeah, exactly.

John: It has to be startling and notable when he’s there. Also-

Arvin: And that creates its own sense of amusement, so that he’s got a certain color watching all of this stuff.

John: That also is an in-camera effect. The fade out. Dave Connell came up with that, right? The idea that we would have him fade out by bouncing a bright light on him and reflecting in that glass and then just killing the light.

Arvin: Right, yeah.

John: No, it was a really, really lovely effect.

Arvin: Yeah. I was- I loved that. 

John: And this is where we start to get into the bones of it. Oh, that’s Juan, that’s Juan Canopii, who’s playing our minister. And this was- this was the trick, the- I’ll have on my website, you can go find it on kungfumonkey.com, or blogspot.com. There is the flowchart for where everyone is, who everyone is, and what they’re doing at any given time. And it’s three pages long.

Chris: Now, did you do it with- did you do it visually? Did you have the maps of the sets, and you had- and you had three pages, and you kind of-? Is that how you worked?

John: No, it was- I specifically built each person’s story.

Chris: Okay.

John: I figured out, what would Gina’s attack as a grifter be- and that was the fun of it, that was what really gave us the birth of Grifter, Hitter, Hacker, Thief. 

Arvin: Right.

John: And nicely enough, a phrase we threw away in Season 1 became the archetype for the show. 

Arvin: This guy, we should mention quickly, incidentally, is Riley.

John: Oh yeah, of course!

Chris: Riley Smith.

Arvin: Who is best friend of Chris Kane, yeah.

John: They’ve been friends since they were teenagers.

Arvin: Yeah. And he did a great job.

John: Just a great, great job. Really, really flawless. No, it was really- that was the trick, was building out Gina’s- pardon me, Sophie’s story, what everyone else could possibly play within that story, and then after that everyone’s approach to the crime fell out of that.

Chris: Right.

John: You know, why they would need to be there? Why they would need access? etc. etc. etc.

Chris: And then, presumably, the things they interacted with then were kind of things that you could incorporate into the other stories.

John. Yeah.

Chris: The ‘World’s Greatest Grandpa’ mug-

John: Yeah.

Chris: And stuff like that. 

John: And we’ve got- I mean, in the room, I finally came out into the room with a bunch of paper cups and objects and folded notecards, to the writer’s room and said “All right, help me.”

[Chris & Arvin Laugh]

John: “I have- this object has to wind up in this cup. At some point through the iteration.” Cause the trick is, each person needs a perfectly flawless plan. 

Chris: Right.

John: It’s five heists that have to all go wrong not independently, but interdependently. 

Chris: Right.

John: I was drinking fairly heavily by the end of this one.

[Chris and Arvin Laugh]

Arvin: Incidentally, we should note, too, that I have rarely done a script that actors have fallen so completely in love with as this one. Cause of course every single member of the cast gets a phenomenal opportunity.

John: Oh, yeah. And they get ten big pages of playing a character-

Arvin: And every time they got hopelessly confused cause of the way I had to shoot this, and to try to remember desperately which story they were in, I would remind them of how much they loved this script. 

[John & Chris Laugh]

John: “I know you’re really miserable right now at two o’clock in the morning.”

Chris: There’s some actor maintenance advice there from our director.

John: Yup. And John Billingsley, Oh, he’s great in this.

Chris: Now that was your suggestion, wasn’t it, Arvin?

Arvin: Yeah, John I have worked with so often and he is the most versatile, most remarkable character actor. I did a television film with him where he played a just brutal interrogator, prosecuting attorney. So he’s got tremendous dramatic chops.

Chris: But- but you needed him to swing from kind of meek to menacing. And that is- that’s a tough thing to do.

John: Absolutely.

Arvin: And have a certain believability in all of it, and also have a sense of comic timing. Which incidentally, is one of the things that the regular cast has in spades in this episode. Their timing is so good.

John: Yeah. And that was something that- we could not have a weak sister on this character. This character is as strong as the other five in this particular situation. 

Arvin: Absolutely.

John: If you don’t believe that fifth act turn, you’re done.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Really, yeah, no, it’s Noises Off, but with crime.

Arvin: [Laughs] That’s right! That’s almost- exactly right.

Chris: In a way, it’s almost his story, isn’t it? I mean, you look at it that way?

John: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. 

Chris: If you had to zero in on whose story it is.

John: Absolutely. If the rule is the protagonist is the person who suffers the most, it’s definitely Cosgrove’s story. 

[Arvin & Chris Laugh]

Arvin: Yeah.

John: No, it’s just- also I was delighted by the idea of the sort of cluelessness of hearing what people say and you’re not really paying attention so you assign- I love the fluidity of memory. That’s just one of my favorite things to write about. I’ve written about it a bunch of times.

Arvin: It’s wonderful- it’s a wonderful phrase, too. And I gotta tell you, while we’re looking at Gina, a very quick funny story there. We had one dark moment in prep where we had gone to Gina and she was really hoping to have complete costume and hair changes in every single story.

John: Yes. In each story.

Arvin: And of course, practically speaking that would have been an absolute nightmare.

John: Production-wise.

Arvin: So we had to convince her that she could do it completely from an acting point of view, which of course eventually she got excited about.

John: Yeah, and she does!

Arvin: She does. That’s wonderful.

John: Those are two entirely different- and that was - the hair is different, the difference between the geeky woman in the little jacket, and, you know, Gina in that dress- there’s no comparison, you know?

Arvin: Exactly.

John: And also, that’s tricky, because that was one of the discussions we had about the audience being able to track what the hell is going on. 

Arvin: Yeah.

John: You know, because the entire episode is basically a series of nested flashbacks, and so if she’s wearing something different and she’s too different you lose-

Arvin: Exactly right.

John: Where in the narrative you are. Yeah.

Chris: Mmhm.

John: Also the voices are great. Because at some point in the episode, as her accent deteriorates, I actually wrote in the script, “Sophie:” and then the dialogue block just says “Unintelligible British gibberish.”

[Laughter]

Arvin: Yes! I know. I loved that.

John: And just- Gina, being a fantastic comedic actress, just tee’d off on it. Beth could barely keep herself together.

Chris: That was right, didn’t you- you got to shoot that over and over again, right?

Arvin: Oh yeah, they couldn’t control themselves.

Chris: They kept breaking up.

John: And now, also to say, Arvin, I also wrote this bear and then stranded you. Because I went straight from this into the finale with Chris. 

Chris: Right.

John: So Jeff Thorne, the writer on Inside Job, who had been my writer on Inside Job, the one I directed, babysat this. 

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And since, you know, we’d worked together, he knew what I was going for.

Arvin: And he did a nice job. He really did. And he has the right sense of how to deal with actors.

John: Well, you know, he used to be an actor.

Arvin: Oh, no, I didn’t know that?

John: Yeah that was Jeff-

Chris: [Laughs] We’re outing you on DVD, Jeff!

John: I know- How long was he on In The Heat Of The Night? Five-

Chris: Five seasons.

Arvin: He was on what?

John: He was on- In Heat of the Night for five seasons.

Arvin: Oh my-! I never knew that.

John: And it’s one of those things that he never talks about it in the writer’s room.

Arvin: Nor on set, let me tell you!

Chris: No.

John: And it’s like, when we found out in the writer’s room, it was like we found out he’d been involved in human trafficking. 

[Laughter]

John: We were so filled with rage.

Arvin: One of the things I kind of worked on here with these little framing scenes-

John: Oh yeah, framing devices.

Arvin: Which is very important to me. Had a link with each- one actor would take us to the next area of the set that they would be in.

John: It’s a great use of space, whenever you bounce back, you know what version of the story you’re in. 

Arvin: Yeah, rather than just finding people in different places, there was always a thematic element that took us to the new place.

Chris: Now this is a great little fight, John, and if I may just blow some smoke. I think you do an amazing job, in these episodes, of bringing us in media res in these-

John: Yeah, thank you.

Chris: In these Eliot fights, and they always have a great punchline to them. 

Arvin: Yeah, this was- I love this one.

Chirs: They have a setup, they have a punchline, and it delivers exposition.

John: Uh, I will absolutely tell you that Jackie Chan taught me that. Jackie Chan taught me, because I worked with Jackie briefly, and he was like, you know, each fight is three acts. You know, each fight- and there’s also, if you look at the fights that I write, I wind up- you know, everyone’s got their toolbox, in a lot of scripts, in the Eliot fight, even if it’s not my script, I end up swanning in on it. He also showed me the fight line: the one line that you do the fight along. And everything else is peripheral, but as long as you have one line to shoot on, you can shoot it quickly. And that’s why you’ll notice a lot of times Christian is fighting along one axis.

Arvin: Yeah.

Chris: It’s great.

John: And then you can just throw a lot of stuff at him.

Chris: Yeah, exactly.

John: And this guy is named Gutman, of course because of The Maltese Falcon.

Chris: Oh, that’s great. 

John: There you go.

Arvin: We love that.

John: There you go, this is plainly The Maltese Falcon at this point.

Arvin: We all love that.

John: Yeah.

Arvin: He did a great job.

John: He was fantastic and it’s a very small part.

Chris: And a nice menacing push in there.

John: I know!

Chris: I love a good push in.

[Arvin Laughs]

John: I also love the- love the read Christain found here on like, “You know I have to do this, right?”

Chris: Yeah!

John: “You're aware I have to punch you.”

Chris: And there's our joke.

John: There's the joke. The bit with the knife was fun.

Chris: And we got all the exposition out.

[Arvin Laughs]

John: Yeah. No this- and again, the sort of recurring shot, the reset, this is what kept me sane when writing this, was always knowing I was gonna get to the reset scene.

Chris: Right.

John: And see- and this was also a ton of fun. I actually shot this. This was crazy, I got up there-

Arvin: And I was very grateful that you did.

John: I got up there and I had not had any sleep cause I'd been working on the finale and I swung by the set to say hello. 

Chris: Right.

John: And they were like, “That's great, you can shoot the second unit!” “I don’t- tired!” And Christain, I will give him full credit, Christain really powered us through this.

Chris: It's a long speech here.

John: That's a long speech and it was- we covered the hell out of it. And he nailed it every single time, and we could've been here all night. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: I mean really. But that's the advantage when you're in season 3. You know- this is the longest speech Eliot’s ever said.

Chris: Right. I'd say so, and you know what's nice about it, too, is it gives you a sense- which helps you in the finale, of what his life was like before Leverage. 

John: Yeah.

Chris: There's definitely- you wrote the characters in a different way than they are on the show now.

Arvin: Here’s an example of that fade out that you were talking about.

John: Yeah so you get the- him in reflection next to Christain in the shot.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: It's really a nice piece of work.

Arvin: Incidentally, you know, one quick thing that I should say, which was such a joy, you know, that I didn't do the second season. Of course I did the first season and then came back for this. And the growth in the actors, in the regulars, is really remarkable.

John: No, they own these people now. I mean, to a great degree a lot of our fun in the writing room is knowing if we toss the ball into the pit, how they are gonna play with it. And so it's just coming up with stranger and stranger balls that we can throw.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And just alright,’’ how about this one’? You know. Yes and- also, this is where we start to put in the dueling flashback attitude.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: This was an awful lot of fun. And- [laughing] oh and the corncob pipe killed me every time!

Arvin: That's great.

Chris: Oh, the corncob pipe! 

John: Kills me every time.

Chris: And the nice comedy wipe right there.

John: Yeah.

Chris: Rhhh!

John: Classic comedy wipe. No the- that's also something we don't get to do, and this is another reason it was one of my favorite episodes not because I wrote it, but because we got to do something we never got to do because we were such a plot heavy show. Show what they're like when they're actually not on a job.

Chris: Right.

John: You know, this is what they're like when they're hanging out in the bar.

Arvin: Yeah, that’s interesting.

John: And Sophie's- something we never get to address that much is Sophie's truculence. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: And just the sort of- she's very hard done by, you know she's very- she's a princess in her head. You know.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And an actual duchess we find out later in the season.

Chris: Oh, this was so funny.

John: Oh I forget- this, I believe this comes from a friend of mine’s comments about the British spelling of elevator and color. It’s like, isn’t it stupid? The ‘u’ just makes us feel bad!?

Chris: Sea roaches? Oh that's so great.

John: And yes, Eliot’s a thug, but he's not a bad guy here. I mean he's not gonna let somebody let some dude die on the floor.

Arvin: Right.

John: No, this was an enormous amount of fun. And this when you start- honestly, it's not that complicated a story once you figure out who everyone is. Great job here. And now, when you shot this, if I remember correctly, you literally parked the cameras, had them come through, do one version-

Arvin: Yeah!

John: Had them come through to do the other version.

Arvin: That's why I was so grateful that you were outside shooting the night shot. Because it was like organizing the Prussian army, I mean it was-

Chris: Oh boy.

Arvin: And also figuring out which exact lines and moments could be done that way and which couldn't because of either a change in look or a change, you know-

Chris: Or some inconsistency in blocking.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: But that’s-

Arvin: It almost is exactly the same blocking, but not really. Just enough changes.

John: That's where- I will admit, even when we were working on this. That's where the idea that everyone's version is slightly different, I knew was gonna save us.

Arvin: Yeah.

Chris: That’s right.

John: Because otherwise we'd be trying to mirror and we'd have guns in our mouths.

Chris: Right, well of course, because people accept- I mean the whole premise of this episode is recollection is flawed.

John: Yeah. So if everyones standing a little off or a little different places, it’s, you know. There's fine- and then figuring out what you had to shoot- what you had to shoot new and what you would just keep reshooting-

Arvin: Exactly.

John: Sequence of. Cause that was originally our 1st ADs thing, which was, ‘Oh my god, there's a thousand shots in this.’

Arvin: Yeah.

John: It's like no, that’s- that shot.

Chris: Oh.

John: That by the way, a comedy- a locked off comedy frame.

[Laughter]

John: There's nothing better than a locked off comedy frame.

[Laughter]

Arvin: That was-

John: A medium with, like, bullshit happening in the back, there's nothing funnier than that. I wouldn't have staged it that way in a million years, that was inspired, Arvin. 

[Arvin Laughs]

John: That was great. No, love that.

Chris: And now here we see walking down with the flowers and not the gun.

John: Not the gun. Yeah. And then it goes back to a gun for Parker and you see what- yeah. 

[Chris Laughs]

John: See how everyone builds it. In retrospect I might have written that the jackets were different colors. 

Arvin: The jackets?

John: Like, cause that's a little close to Riley- the doctor's outfit. That’s the only thing I can think of looking back on-

Chris: Yeah, but it doesn't throw you. I mean I would say-

John: Yeah it doesn’t throw you. That was the only thing that bothered me.

Arvin: I wouldn't have thought about it, that's interesting.

Chris: Yeah.

John: I was watching it. And still never hit- oh and that is of course a- and that's the reveal of the previous shot. That is, of course, a shout out to the great British comic book writer Warren Ellis on the address label.

Chris: Oh, is that his address?

John: No that is- it’s Warren Road, Ellis County.

Chris: Oh that's great.

John: Just a little something. and this was great cause I told them it's Raiders of the Lost Ark. You just- you know, you're going through the-

[Laughter]

John: We also had an intern, because we had to do multiple takes, hiding behind him to catch the vase. And, you know, Christain’s just whipping that piece back there.

[All Laugh]

John: Just like- he's like ahh! 

Chris: That's true, I imagine we wouldn't have nine vases.

John: No, we do not have nine vases.

Chris: Do they have nine vases on NCIS, Arvin? I bet they do.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: On the network show?

Arvin: Certainly NCIS LA.

[Chris Laughs]

John: On a cable show they had- we had one vase. Take good care of it.

Arvin: That's right, [laughing] it's a rubber vase.

John: No, I love the choice that Gina's making here which is Sophie’s getting more and more drunk as the night is going on.

[Chris Laughs]

Arvin: Yeah.

John: She's getting angrily drunk. Yeah, and the World's Greatest Grandpa mug.

Chris: World's Greatest Grandpa.

John: That was insane. That was the point in the writers room where I just had my head on the table because it was- what is each person trying to accomplish, what do they wind up with, and how does that object wind up in their hands because of the other humans?

Chris: Oh boy.

John: It was not- it was not a fun day.

Chris: Don't try this at home, kids.

[John & Arvin Laugh]

John: This is the one you do after forty of them.

Chris: Don't try this at home.

Arvin: It was very interesting working with Timothy on this episode, because he had to find his inner progression in the piece.

John: Yeah, when he's- cause he’s-

Arvin: Of what he's trying to accomplish.

John: He's playing chess, and the rest of them don't know it. Yeah, Tim-

Arvin: But nevertheless there are also certain things he needs to find out to bring him to the very final point of the script.

John: He's actually interrogating them. Subtly. Which is very clever.

Arvin: That's right, that's right.

John: And then you move to the dartboard, which is nice. It's really important. This was a ton of fun. And calling Apollo and going, “How do we do this?”

[John & Arvin Laugh]

John: And I originally had it with rocks glasses and just- because rocks glasses aren't that transparent but I love the teacups.

Chris: Wait, so this was all practical?

John: This is practical. The way you do it- although Beth has amazing hands, it takes a lot of practice to learn how to do that properly. There is a ball bearing inside the crumpled up bill and there is a magnet on the inside of the teacup.

Chris: Oh, this is great! This is why we do this!

John: Yeah.

Chris: I did not know that, folks!

Arvin: That was so much fun.

Chris: I work on the show!

Arvin: That was so much fun.

John: It was a ton of fun. You never know with Beth, cause she's learned how to do a lot of it, so you never know.

Arvin: And that's also the sort of thing my years at O’Neil [¯\_(ツ)_/¯] didn't really prepare me for.

[All Laugh]

John: Oh really? No? Yes, and this was a lot of fun, was the James Bond. Cause, you know, let's all face it, the female fans are thanking us right now.

Chris: Yeah.

John: They've been waiting to see Aldis in a tux for a while.

Chris: He looks pretty good.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Yeah, this was a ton of fun and randomly picking a name off the list. Look at the- look what Tim plays there, right there, he plays that he's starting to figure it out.

Arvin: Yeah, that's right.

John: Just at that moment. No, this is lovely. That may be a slight anachronism with the phone, we'll assume he built his own sliding keyboard five years ago. He may have innovated that himself.

Chris: We'll take the emails.

John: I'll take the emails on that one. 

[Chris Laughs]

John: God bless you, God bless you. Now this-

Chris: No, they had that five years ago.

John: Yeah, eh. This was also fun was the- was figuring out why he needed to be there, physical insertion versus remote attack, you know the different stages of hacking.

Arvin: Right.

John: This montage was great. Adorable. There's no reason this should've come out as well as it did.

[Laughter]

John: The only thing - the only thing- yeah and there he's presenting the flowers. It's great. The only thing I miss, and it was ridiculously impractical- oh, I love this shot.

Arvin: I love that. This one was- that was really.

Chris: They're all over each other.

John: Yeah, and taking the picture. And I'm willing to say that's canon. I'm willing to say that happened. Nice wipe, by the way, nice wipe to reveal Tim. Did you have that in your head at the time? 

Arvin: Mhhm.

John: Yeah, to get him back in the shot.

Chris: That's great.

John: The only thing I regret is in that montage, in the script, there's a moment- there is one shot, which was just impossible to shoot, which he's playing chess with an old man.

Chris: Yes! That's right.

John: And [laughing] just the crowd is watching!

Arvin: Yeah.

John: It's like no, there's no way to do it.

Arvin: I couldn't figure out how to do it.

John: Surrounded by honeys.

Arvin: Could not figure out how to do that one.

John: Yeah. And this one was great, because what was also fun was Treber really has to sell this three different ways, also.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: You know, Portland actors. Never let us down. And the freeze frame.

Chris: And the freeze frame!

John: And that's great. This is a common-

Chris: That's when you go beyond the wipe. That's when you just stop the- stop the rolling.

[All Laugh]

Chris: The first one is the wipe, cause it’s like you're trying to wrap your head around it. Then you need to-

Arvin: I think this is almost an encyclopedia of film.

Chris: Yes it is.

John: You had to pull pretty much every trick out of the can on this one.

[Laughter]

John: There you go, and psychopath Eliot! This was a ton of fun to do. And again-

Chris: And the much larger knife.

Arvin: And of course Aldis-

Chris: Cause that's what he would remember!

John: Yes.

Chris: He would remember a much larger knife.

Arvin: This is Aldis’ great strength. He's just unbelievable.

John: Oh yeah, yeah. And by the way, Christain digging in.

Arvin: Oh yeah.

John: He really, there's not a lot- it's like, “Oh, so I'm psychopath?” ‘Yes, yes, you’re terrifying.’

[Laughter]

John: Yeah. He told me this was the most fun bit, this bit.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Just the creepy bit with the knife.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Peppermint. we got to use his signature line, ‘it’s a very distinctive smell’. Yeah, trying to figure out why he needed to be in there.

[Laughter]

John: Walk the halls in the dark. Oh yeah. This is- the little half smile, he's genuinely creepy here.

[Laughter]

Arvin: And that reaction. The thumbs up. Inspired.

John: Creepy crazy. And bang in, and where's Nate?

Arvin: He will be there right-

John: There you go.

Arvin: Right behind him.

John: And that's fun. I will tell you the day that a hacker friend of mine told me that he was running OSX- he was running his operating system off a thumb drive is the best thing that happened to us. 

[Chris Laughs]

John: Don't have to lug a god damn laptop around everywhere.

Chris: Now, what was the option other than having Nate appearing in the flashbacks? Were you gonna do a voiceover? What were you playing around with?

John: I was thinking about a voiceover, but-

Chris: It becomes like the voice of god, I guess.

John: Well it's- he's talking to- each character would end up talking to the screen.

Chris: Right.

John: But that breaks the fourth wall so heavily.

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know, it's just not something we do and- yeah.

Arvin: Well you know what else you would have lost, is that part of what tells the audience how to respond to the tone is Nate's attitude.

John: You know, it really- I played with it for like a day and then tossed it. Nate had to be not just asking questions, but in the scene. Which at the point I was like, “Oh god, Arvin, I'm sorry.”

[John & Arvin Laugh]

John: In my head, cause I knew you were directing this one by that point. Which also to a great degree, I’ll tell you, is why I wrote this one in this order. Cause I knew you could, with your theater training, you'd be able to handle it.

Chris: I think that in the House he appears in- if I remember right, that Emmy-winning House, he appears in the flashbacks like that. And it was pretty- it's a bold move to do that.

John: Yeah.

Chris: You know, I mean it's-

Arvin: But I think it's vital, I think that's-

Chris: Yeah, no, it's now that you look at it again, I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Arvin: Almost the single most important element in the entire show.

John: No, you can't. Yeah, I did one version where they talked to the screen and I did one version where it was just clean, and then no, you need some sort of pipe.

Chris: Right.

John: You need exposition cause we still do four really complicated heists in this. You need to explain what the hell they're up to. Yes, and the blocking on that, the whole design of this hallway. Who’s standing where, and what are their sight lines, and how can they see?

Arvin: Oh boy that was- we spent a lot of time on that.

John: Oh my god. But the-

Chris: I mean, and the doors and stuff, this is where you get the great far sell.

John: Yes.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Yeah, that was intentional.

Chris: Once you got people shoved into doors, and throwing people.

John: Noises Off, exactly. I’ll tell you what was interesting, I had originally envisioned the supply closet closer to the downstairs over on the other side, out of sight line of the antiquities room. Now by the way, Aldis just slapping Eddie Murphy on there, hard.

[Laughter]

Arvin: Yeah.

John: However, putting in the other place gave you the locked off comedy frame to play stuff back and forth across that door.

Arvin: That was the big-

John: Yeah, which really was- I never imagined that.

Arvin: That was the thinking of behind-

John: This, by the way, is the fun of television. You write it, and you actually make it.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And it winds up being better than you thought.

Arvin: Right, and oddly enough, because you make it at such speed, a lot of ideas kinda crystallize that might not be there, you know, if you were thinking it out over a longer period of time.

John: And each one of them lying, each one of them not- this was- and this was fun. Actually, I'll tell you that was the hardest one to write. Was the hacker’s.

Chris: Oh.

John: Eliot’s was fairly straightforward, cause he needs to get into- because it's true that the most vulnerable place when you're transporting valuable objects is in the transition from storage to transport.

Chris: Right.

John: Figuring out why he needed to be there and what his scam was? Was the hardest one. She was easy.

Chris: Mhhhm.

John: Cause this is almost beat for beat exactly a heist she does in almost every episode. This is her thing, you know?

Chris: Right, right.

John: She's a thief. Once you're in the fourth act, you're in the home stretch, you know.

Chris: Right. And play around with- because for those of you that aren’t aware, the acts have different lengths-

John: Yes.

Chris: We knew that we were gonna end with Nate because Nate’s the one who's gonna give you the true version. But in the other order, did you always think that Parker was gonna go on our fourth act?

John: Yes.

Chris: Cause that's the shortest act?

John: Cause that's the short act. And we actually talked about it being no dialogue.

Chris: Oh.

John: We actually debated- “What, I'm a thief?” And then no explanation, that's what she is.

Chris: Right.

John: And she nailed that. We actually- remember we talked about for a while- this was before, well before we wrote it, Arvin, the idea that we would shoot this in like a really weird black and white expressionistic idea of like-

Chris: Right, right, right, right.

Arvin: Oh really? wow.

John: Yeah.

Chris: It's like the way dogs see the world.

[Arvin Laughs]

John: She just sees like- everyone would be wearing the same clothes, and just like it's just- only the objects that have reality. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: And then we realized that was just from a production standpoint, impossible.

Chris: Yeah

John: Just impossible to do. And as a result, just gives us a lot more fun to play with.

Arvin: I love this little brief moment with Aldis here, cause again with the interconnect.

John: Yeah.

Arvin: And he's stuffing himself with-

John: Yeah, with freebies. This was actually- in Montreal when I was going to McGill University, the strip joints had free buffets.

[Laughter]

John: So and the- I don't know what it does now, but the meal plan at McGill University in the dorms, they are not covered on the weekends. So you would put plastic bags in your pockets and you'd go to the strip joints and fill your pockets from the buffets.

[Chris & Arvin Laugh]

Chris: Wow, pretty impressive.

John: And that's- I love that. I love her frustration. ‘I hate you all.’ She just nailed it.

Chris: There's a great little sequence too, Arvin. Cause the camera was always moving or people were moving. I mean it’s, you know, considering it's a party where somebodys stuffing hors d'oeuvres in their pockets, it had a real dynamism to it.

John: Oh this thing flies. Well Parker’s always moving.

Chris: Yes.

John: That's the key, is if you're following Parker and she's always moving you're just- yeah, you're aces up.

Arvin: And the change in attitude here, of course, was just wonderful.

John: Yes. And that was tricky because one time we talked about this being Sterling. I mean one time we talked about- it couldn't have been Nate. You know, but we talked about it being Sterling and then realized- no, we fell in love with the crush story. 

Chris: Yeah.

John: Also love- this worked out. Look at the way she does that line. She knows somebody else is there.

Arvin: Oh yeah.

John: She just figured it out.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: You know, she does that great. She’s just now pissed she wants to get on the job. It's actually what motivates her to do the job.

Arvin: Right, exactly. And I love the linking of the blackout in each story.

John: That was key.

Chris: It gives you like a timing.

John: Yes.

Arvin: Yeah, and that's right.

Chris: Cause it orients you visually to- ‘Okay, I remember when that happened.’

Arvin: That's right, cause the time is complicated. I mean you go back, you go forward, you go back.

John: No, it's- the- I remember developing it’s like, we need a starting gun. And the blackout became a starting gun for when it just goes to hell.

Arvin: That's a perfect image.

John: Cause everyone’s in the party until the starting gun. And then you’re, you know, and then you're up and running. And there's the two bags cause she's got two bags. It's a ton of fun. Ton of just crazy second unit stuff here. Because there's so many- we have to look at so many plans and diagrams and maps, cause trying to make sure the audience knows where the hell and what we're doing.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Just crazy. And she grabs the wrong bag.

Chris: Right.

Arvin: And where those bags would be in relation to each other, those are the kind of tiny details you have to figure out in this.

Chris: Oh boy.

John: I don't relish directing this one. [Laughs]

Chris: And look at that! There's a great transition, right?

John: That's the classic highlander transition.

[Arvin Laughs]

Chris: Crane up. Crane up through the floor.

John: If you actually- ordinarily that crane up is through the- it reveals a Scottish village in the 1400s.

[Laughter]

Arvin: [Laughing] That's right! Yeah, right.

John: And catching it before it broke. That was just a lift from Jackie. I love when he has fights when he doesn’t- when he tries to keep stuff from breaking while he's fighting. It just always makes me laugh. And it's not there! Yeah, there was, like, another layer of transport originally, in the original design of the script, and then it just got ridiculously complicated. 

Arvin: Yeah.

John: So. And establishing that. Oh, tons of fun. 

[Silence]

John: God, I can't think.

[All Laugh]

Chris: I know when you watch it- there's so many pieces in it, it’s-

John: A little sick.

Chris: It blows you away.

John: This is the fun bit, this is why you pay Beth Riesgraf whatever the hell she wants. I say this, it will come out after contract negotiations.

[Laughter]

John: I would not have come up with this! In a million years. That little sword fighty bit?

Arvin: Yup!

Chris: Child-like skipping!

Arvin: And this! And the skipping out.

John: She got the shiny thing! 

Chris: Yeah.

John: Love the shiny thing. Also I love the- it’s fun, you could play her episode without dialogue, it totally works without dialogue.

Chris: It does work.

John: Absolutely works.

Arvin: Which is interesting, since there was a silent modern film that was done as a silent film called Thief.

John: Yes! Of course!

Arvin: You remember?

John: Oh yeah, the opening. No, and then we built- how did we do this shot down? Cause we did not- we did not have a ventilation shaft that went 30 feet down. How did we do this?

Arvin: It was-

John: Mirrors? Or did we do it digitally?

Chris: Ohhh! [Laughs] He just gets punched.

Arvin: It wasn't-

John: He's just having a bad day. This is digital.

Chris: That's digital? That's great.

Arvin: That- yes.

Chris: Looks fantastic.

John: That’s digital. But when she comes out of her side, I think we just built a small drop.

Arvin: That's right, that's what we did.

John: No, it was nice. And everyone still digging in on- it’s interesting, they’re each playing this realization differently. It's really lovely.

Chris: Now this was all done over the course of how many days? The-

Arvin: Seven days.

Chris: No, no, but I'm saying the framing device in the bar? How long were you in the bar?

Arvin: In the actual shooting, you mean?

Chris: Yeah.

Arvin: Uh, one day.

John: One day?

Chris: This was all done in one day? All the framing scenes in the bar?

Arvin: Yeah. All the framing scenes were done in one day.

Chris: Wow, that was a lot of pages.

Arvin: That's why I had worked out the movement pattern so clearly in my mind beforehand, so that it would be very clear what brought each person to the next area.

Chris: Right.

John: And you didn't double set ups.

Arvin: Yeah, right.

John: See that’s why it’s- interesting thing, for those of you listening for film school, you don't measure television shows when you're shooting in pages, you measure them in set ups. 

Arvin: That’s correct.

John: Cause each time you set up the camera it takes about 20 minutes.

Arvin: That's right.

John: So that's your shot count. That's your shot list. That clock is- and it's amazing, no matter how complicated or not complicated the shot is, it's always 20 goddamn minutes.

Arvin: Oh yeah.

John: You know, at least.

Arvin: Well, never less!

John: Never less.

Arvin: Certainly a lot of times, more.

John: But if you can light a set- you know, like the bar where you don't have to light it like a freakin’ miracle. Then you just know- you just know what your coverage is, you know your coverage, you know how long you'll be there.

Arvin: Now an interesting thing here is the difference in Timothy's attitude when he's actually now in the story.

John: Yeah.

Arvin: Compared to what it's been throughout up to now. Cause now he's coming in with a chip on his shoulder because he's already suspicious of-

John: Also, this is our way to remind the audience he was a prick back then!

[Laughter]

Arvin: Exactly! And that was a big factor too.

John: Tim Hutton's character is not a nice- you know, Nathan Ford, not a nice guy back then. You know?

Arvin: Yeah.

John: This is- he was a lot more like Sterling than he cares to admit. So, yeah. This was- this meet cute, I love this meet cute. So, you know, that was kinda fun. It allowed him to- we kinda missed that guy.

Chris: Yeah.

John: The flashbacks, you don't really flashback to those days anymore and since we're kinda moved on past that in the character, because he's playing the thief not the ex-insurance guy.

Chris: Yeah.

John: It's always fun to watch Tim play Nate from five years ago.

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know. And he's got- John's so amazing in this.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And just- what were the character beats? I mean the dialogue had changed, but you know, what- I mean was- I see the glasses, and his hair is done differently. And just any sort of difference, you know-

Arvin: It's a really different attitude.

John: Yeah.

Arvin: It’s what he's able to do internally that makes the-

John: I love the giving- and she's giving him the big knife in this one, kinda like Excalibur. It's just a subtle difference in each version of the story.

Chris: Yeah, and what's nice about Nate being the prick also is that, you know, usually the final version is the true version- the reason it has credibility in the audience, is because he didn't make himself out to be a great guy.

John: Yeah.

Chris: In other words, like, if he had made himself out to be the hero, you're suspicious, but the fact that he makes himself out to be kind of a hard ass jerk, and the character reveal is that Cosgrove is the sympathetic person.

John: Yeah, absolutely.

Chris: It really - I mean that really is what tells you not just that it’s the fifth act.

Arvin: And I think of all of the aspects of John's performance that are so tremendous, the fact that he achieved a real vulnerability.

Chris: Yes.

Arvin: Not a play- not just a kind of casper milktoast quality.

Chris: Right.

Arvin: But a real caring about Gina.

John: Also, we had stripped him of one of an actor's most valuable tools, which is different dialogue.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: This- it’s gotta play- he's gotta say the same words.

Arvin: Same thing, that's right.

John: Or as close to the same thing as he can and still get it. You know, there's a great Hal Hartley movie that's gone completely out of my head. I think called Flirt. I have seen that my wife is a giant Hal Hartley fan and I will say that is- and this is totally Noises Off, by the way. This bit right here with the door.

Chris: Mhhm.

Arvin: And one of the rare moments we were able to use actually the same footage.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

John: That is three twenty minute movies, each one using exactly the same dialogue. Not necessarily spoken by the same characters. But exactly the same dialogue. In each of the twenty minutes.

Arvin: Oh, wow.

Chris: But did with different inflections that gave it a completely different meaning.

John: With different characters, different settings, different places.

Chris: Oh, that's great.

John: And it's fantastic. And that really is one of the birthplaces of this episode. Is the idea that each person can remember even the words differently.

Chris: I'm guessing Martin Donovan was in it.

John: Martin Donovan may have been in it. You cannot-

[Chris Laughs]

Chris: Isn’t Martin Donovan in every Hal Hartley movie?

John: I'm sure at this point you can IMDb on your Google TV right off to the right hand side while you're listening to this, but yeah. Oh and he's so sweet here!

[Laughter]

Arvin: I know!

John: Everyone's such a bastard to him, I feel really- I feel so bad for him.

Arvin: Although you have to say, not cut out for security work.

[Laughter]

John: No, but you know what-

Chris: He's a little lovesick. Right?

John: But, you know, Gina's worth falling in love with! I mean that character- you know. That- you're not not gonna fall in love with her. And then the reveal the person who ran by was Eliot. A ton of fun. Yeah, we should have slicked back his hair, I missed that.

Chris: Yeah, but you know-

John: Yeah.

Chris: That’s okay. Still works.

John: And the reveal of the roses.

Arvin: There was a discussion- that was strictly a time issue, as I remember.

John: Yeah cause he would have remembered to do it.

Arvin: No, we had discussed it.

John: Oh, yeah a time production issue. The ability to just throw that suit and tie on him and walk him through those sets was a big deal.

Arvin: Yeah. And the museum stuff of course had its own issues connected with it, in terms of the time sequence.

John: Yeah. Cause this is set. The upstairs, the gallery is at the museum where we shot.

Arvin: Is actually at the museum.

John: Yeah, so we had limited time there. I mean we could- you know, this was our bank vault slash mine slash, you know.

Chris: Mhhhm.

John: Becca and the production design people do an amazing job as usual. Oh he's so wrecked up here.

[Laughter]

John: That's a great performance. And Aldis kinda- like I love also the Aldis choice here of like, just, ‘Are you ok?’ Is just-

Arvin: [Laughing] right!

John: He's not a bad guy! He just, you know. 

Arvin: No, right.

John: This is a little disturbing.

[Laughter]

John: Now that I'm thinking about it.

Chris: Right, what happened to him?

John: Yeah. Again, Eliot was not a nice guy. 

[Arvin Laughs]

John: By this point, I mean, this was the trick, too, was designing it so you could do shorter and shorter takes.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Because Gina’s has to be the longest and the most narrative, and each one is a sort of a collapsing set of information.

Arvin: And I used Gina’s to really teach everybody what the shape of the thing was.

John: Yeah. Oh look at those ropes! He's so nice! I should write them a nice letter! He's just great. Also that was a big part of it, was writing down everyone's equipment. Was figuring out who would need what when. You know, why and how they can- how you can wind up screwing them.

Chris: Wow.

John: Yeah. no I was pretty much just locked in our office [laughs] for that week. 

Chris: Wow.

John: Like, ‘Where’s John?’ ‘He’s in there, don’t bother him.’

Arvin: Oh this is good- there's a funny thing about this.

John: Oh this was great! Tell them what happened on set. And then boom. And he’s- oh look! He finds a strange girl in the shaft and he's still concerned about her. And the drop. And- this is not digital. We literally dropped this.

Arvin: We literally dropped it. Here's the story: this was the real thing. This was really quite heavy. And we had a rubber one, an exact duplicate which we wanted to- intended to use because we were afraid that Timothy would get hurt.

Chris: Yeah.

Arvin: It's not so easy to catch, with the momentum, something like that.

Chris: Yeah.

Arvin: To take the chance of catching it, and he insisted, god love him, you know, the actor till the end.

John: Yeah.

Arvin: He was gonna work it out that he could catch the real thing. And he tried it a couple of times and it didn't work-

John: Yeah.

Arvin: And then finally, man, the catch was perfect.

Chris: Oh it’s perfect.

John: Oh, well I remember it didn't- cause I was actually on set for that day, cause we were prepping the finale. It didn't work in the rehearsals, but he got it on the first shot.

Arvin: That's right! That's it. Yeah.

John: The first time the camera’s rolling he caught it. 

Arvin: Yeah, that’s absolutely right.

John: He might've been hamming it up a little during rehearsals. Just “Oh, I don't know!” Yeah.

Arvin: Yeah, yeah.

John: No this is- and Traber’s just lovely here as the guy who never really believes he's caught.

Chris: And everything ties up here. I mean there's the, I mean-

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Why is he there?

Chris: Every thread, why is he there, what his plan is, that wraps everyone else's story up-

John: Oh my god! That was the insane thing. The insane thing is we had broken all of these great crimes to keep everyone from stealing the dagger, and then realized we still needed the crime story in the news to say it had been stolen.

Chris: Right! Right.

John: That was a bad day.

[Laughter]

John: That was- that was a bad day to realize when we pretty much finished breaking this that-

Arvin: Oh, but the logic of it came through perfectly. I mean, when you created that scene, I mean it's totally believable. 

John: Yeah, that was kinda the- that was- and I'll fully admit, by the way, that's just one of those ones where you can't logic yourself out of it. That was a good four glasses of Irish whiskey.

[Laughter]

John: In the writers room.

Chris: And the-

John: And just like, ‘You know what? Here's what he did.’

Chris: And the Gutman thing ties up, too.

John: Yes.

Chris: And was that- was that after the fact when you realized-

John: No, ironically he was the easy one. 

Chris: So the fact that he was responsible for the Gutman thing-

John: Yeah, it was originally all gonna be Gutman.

Chris: Okay.

John: And then it was like, wait, Gutman never owned it, so why would it matter if it was stolen or not, how would that lead to the news thing?

Chris: Okay, right.

John: Nice blocking there, by the way, moving John over to next to him. It's the- in my head, although he is unlucky in love, he gets full credit for this.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: And so we- you know, the Leverage team never hurts the bystanders. We do what we can to avoid it.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: Unless you've taken a job with a security firm, in which case you know what you're getting into. Maybe you didn't expect to get choked out quite so often on the job.

[Laughter]

John: Stripped down to your underwear, but you know.

Arvin: Now you know what I love here, is that the end- that you manage to find in the ending, John, something a little bit underlying the whole thing, which is the idea that it’s better for them to work as a team than separately. Which I think is such a wonderful-

John: Well you have to do it or else this is masturbatory. Honestly? Otherwise it's a magic trick.

Arvin: Yeah.

John: You know, it's- oh nice bit of plotting but what was the illustrative character point? And this is the illustrative character point. You know, and we really felt this way - is they’re a family now.

Chris: Right.

John: You know, the show is a family now, that's kinda the point of it. You know?

Chris: I mean, and there’s an inherent desire, I think, in the audience wanting to believe that they ran into each other. I mean that's the star-crossed lovers-

John: Yeah.

Chris: Fantasy is that we met-

John: Destiny meant for them to be together.

Chris: We met as children, you know? And I think that's something that- that’s what drove you- why we're drawn to this story.

John: And to a great degree, he is the best British asshole on Earth.

[Laughter]

John: Man, is he good at this! And what's great is we just took the stuff the guy from BP oil actually said.

Arvin: Actually- I know! I love it!

John: And it was so dickish! There was really no way to there's no way to improve it.

Chris: He’s great, look at his face.

John: Look at his face. God, you just wanna burn parliament down.

[Laughter]

John: Ugh. And they're off! And yeah that's great there's never any doubt.

Arvin: Now I gotta tell you, one of my- here’s a favorite actor moment. Watch how Timothy gets out when he decides to join them. This is a pure little actor- this is the kinda thing Timothy comes up with-

John: Yeah.

Arvin: That is somehow so unexpected to go over the bar like that.

John: Yup. And turn out the lights. If this was the last episode of the show, I would've been perfectly happy.

Chris: Yeah, no!

John: Honestly if we had never done another episode.

Chris: It's got that vibe, doesn't it?

John: Yeah, if we had never done another episode I'd be perfectly happy. Oh my god, that was a ton of fun!

Arvin: It was a joy for me, I'll tell you.

Chris: As I said when I read it John, instant classic. 

John: Thank you.

Chris: And Arvin, script- we were amazed and executed to-

John: Arvin, incredible job. Incredible.

Chris: Wow.

John: Just on an impossible- and by the way, big shout out again to Bekka Melino who- Melina, pardon me, who just killed it on production design on this.

Chris: Yes.

John: The museum, the downstairs building, the set, making it- you know.

Arvin: That closet with everything- Yeah.

John: The closet, everything, yeah. 

Arvin: Absolutely.

John: Alright, stay tuned - there's more of this coming up right on the next disc. Put it in, get drunk.

[finniestoncrane]

Hey, congrats on the milestone!! I’m a new follower but I love your writing, and can’t wait to see what else you have in store!! I was wondering if I could request a No.9, please?

A little about me:

I’m a nonbinary British (unfortunately) goth, with very sickly pale skin, freckles and a messy black mullet. I work in theatre and am a writer of poetry and plays, as well as a dancer, but I’m also very much obsessed with the death industry and ‘morbid’ interests in general. I collect bones and taxidermy, and my prized possession is my taxidermy crow, Edgar (full name Edgar Allan Crow!)

I’m autistic and suffer from depression and psychosis, but I’m generally a very confident, outgoing and fearless person, often to the point of being reckless. I’m also a huge horror fan (I even chose my name based on my favourite horror character!) and I’m the type who laughs through the gore scenes and is kind of rooting for the villain lol. That being said, I’m very much an animal lover and can’t bear to see a non-human in pain, and having been raised vegetarian I’ve actually never eaten meat. I’m greyroace but bi, so although attraction is rare for me, it could in theory be toward anyone!

I hope this wasn’t too long or short, and I can’t wait to see what wondrous writings you come up with next!

🎀 No.9: Ever Fallen In Love With Someone 🎀

tell me a little bit about yourself and i'll give you a rogue pairing a/n: oh this was easy-peasy! and thank you so much ;-; 💚 1k milestone info! 🔞minors dni🔞 • kofi • tag: finnie1k

(hey don't feel bad, depends which flavour of british you are, although i suspect if you were from anywhere but england you'd say that, source: me typing scottish every chance i get)

ah, the sickly pale goths, forever paired with the nasty crow boys lmao but even better you sound scruffy and scrappy which is literally jonathan in a little nutshell

he's a romantic soul, i think poetry and playwriting are such strong interests for him, maybe not writing them himself, but he'd love to have someone who could dedicate one to him, or write it for just him to read

i don't know why but dancing seems like such a jonathan thing. it's maybe his bouncy gremlin-like movements in asylum, or his footwraps? i don't know, he seems like he enjoyed interpretive movement before he got his leg injury

ok now we get to the real meat of the relationship: taxidermy??? crows??? yeah, i don't think he would be able to conceal his excitement about that. it would take everything in him not to beg you to make him his own little beasts for decoration in his lair

don't worry, totally normal, completely helpful, he's only super interested in your mental health so he can help you! but a fearless person? perfect for him! yeah it might annoy him at first, but he'll get used to it, and it would actually be beneficial to not have to worry about creeping you are constantly

horror movies together is your every night before bed routine now, no questions asked no arguing, that's it, especially if you're willing to out loud proclaim your love for the villain, he feels so touched

yeah jon would probably be a vegetarian now too... it's not fun to be munched on like a piece of meat so... yeah

he requires a companion, a partner in crime, kindred spirits more than an attractive based pairing, so that works for him!

[papermoonloveslucy]

CURTAIN UP!

Lucy On Stage ~ Act 1

Lucille Ball’s dream was always to appear on Broadway. That dream didn’t become reality until 1960. In the meantime, if Lucy couldn’t go to Broadway, Broadway would come to Lucy - on her radio and television shows!  

“The Milkmaid’s Dilemma or The Lady’s Not For Turning”

“Liz Substitutes in a Club Play” (1951) ~ In this episode of Lucille Ball’s radio sitcom MY FAVORITE HUSBAND, Liz (Lucille Ball) is determined to play the lead in the women’s club play, even if she has to keep the leading lady from showing up. There’s only one problem: Liz has learned the lines for the wrong play! 

The title of the play is a pun on the play “The Lady’s Not for Burning” by Christopher Fry. It opened on Broadway just two months before this episode aired starring Richard Burton and John Gielgud, who also directed. Coincidentally, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would say “the lady’s not for turning” in a now famous speech in October 1980. 

“John’s Other Whistler”

“Liz’s Radio Script” (1951) ~ Liz's entry is a finalist in a playwriting contest, and the Coopers and the Atterburys perform it on the local radio station.  

The title of Liz’s play combines two of the most popular radio shows of the time: “John's Other Wife” and “The Whistler”. Liz has retyped the script so quickly that there are some misspellings that lead to on-air goofs!

GEORGE: You’ve got a face like a camel. LIZ: That’s ‘cameo’!

IRIS: I don’t care. I’ve got another liver.  LIZ: That’s ‘lover’! IRIS: At my age, I’d get more use out  of another liver!

GEORGE: ...And your nose is continued on the next page!

This dialogue was later rewritten and recycled into...

“The Perils of Pamela” / “A Tree Grows in Havana”

“Lucy Writes a Play” (1952) ~ Playwright Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. The hitch: he refuses the part. So she changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky’s spot. However, Ricky has decided to surprise Lucy and appear in the play… only problem is he has the wrong script!

Voice from the Audience: I think it stinks!

The title “A Tree Grows in Havana” was inspired by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which was a book and a film in the mid-40's. There was even a Broadway musical of the same title starring Shirley Booth that closed two weeks before the episode filmed. Lucy rewrites the script into an English comedy titled "The Perils of Pamela", a nod to several films titled The Perils of Pauline directed by Lucille Ball’s friend George Marshall. Some sample dialogue from her rewritten opus:

LUCY: What's the mater, Matter? Uh, what's the matter, Mater?

LUCY: Pater won't be down for tea. We just buried him. Had to. Dead, you know.

FRED: Would you pour me a spot of tea, my dear louse? [looks at script closer] I mean Louise.

“The Pleasant Peasant”

“The Operetta” (1952) ~ The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League is putting on an operetta and Lucy is in charge. As treasurer, she has no money in the club account so she has to write the show herself!  Needless to say, Ricky and the Mertzes are in the cast as well.

Because the repo men come to take back the unpaid scenery and costumes, we never see the end of the operetta. According to Lucy’s description of the show, there were two acts, with 18 scenes in the first act alone. The plot involved Lily being kidnapped by highway men because their leader had been turned into a frog by a wicked witch. Lily is really the frog / leader’s long-lost sister, separated from him when they were tadpoles. Later the Prince (who thinks he’s a peasant but is really a frog) goes to work for Squire Quinn at the Inn on the River Out.

These are references to composers Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml, as well as Charles John Thomas, a popular baritone of the time. In 1915 Thomas starred on Broadway in a Friml operetta called The Peasant Girl which included a song called “The Gypsy” sung by 'Celeste and Chorus.’ “The Pleasant Peasant” even includes a parody of “The Drinking Song” from Romberg’s The Student Prince.

The operetta contains an original score by Eliot Daniel that features “The Pleasant Peasant Girls", "The Good Squire Quinn", "Lily of the Valley", "Queen of the Gypsies", "The Troops of the King", and "Good Prince Lancelot". Lucy plays Camille, the snaggle-toothed crone. Ethel is cast as Lily (of the Valley), Ricky is (the good) Prince Lancelot, and Fred is (what else) Friar Quinn of the Inn on the River Out. The ladies of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League (including Myra Marsh and Betty Jaynes) are the chorus.  

“The Professor and the Co-Ed” 

“Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined” (1953) ~ A new Broadway musical is casting and Lucy and the Mertzes want to land parts. Unfortunately, Lucy’s eye exam leaves her a nearsighted mess just before the big audition.

Ethel translates the Variety headline for Lucy: “Parker Preps Prod for Pitts Preem” as “Parker Prepares Production for Pittsburgh Premiere.” The article goes on to say “William Parker, formerly legit prod, currently top pic exec, seeks thesps for flesh tuner.” Ethel doesn’t translate this section, but it means that “William Parker, formerly a theatrical producer, currently a top motion picture executive, is casting actors for a live stage musical.”

Although we never see the musical itself (just the auditions) it is a musical comedy set in the 1920s titled “The Professor and the Co-Ed” and it sounds reminiscent of Good News, a real-life 1927 legit tuner (Varietyese for 'stage musical’) also set on a college campus in the roaring '20s. Good News was made into a film in 1930 and then remade in 1947.  

All three versions of Good News include the song "The Varsity Drag,” which Fred and Ethel sing in this episode. A musical about college co-eds must have been familiar territory to the Arnazes. Too Many Girls was Desi Arnaz’s 1939 Broadway debut and the 1940 film version introduced (literally) Desi to Lucy.

“Gay ‘90s Revue”

“Mertz and Kurtz” (1954) ~ Fred's old vaudeville partner (Charles Wininger) is in town, so the Mertzes pretend to be wealthier than they really are to impress him. But it turns out that he has been doing some pretending as well!  

Perhaps not strictly a stage musical, this revue has a bit of a story and characters, so it qualifies. Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Fred and Barney play dairymen attending a convention, Lucy and Ethel are bathing beauties, and Ricky is the handsome lifeguard. The score includes classics from the theatre and popular music. 

"Peach on the Beach" by Vincent Youmans and Otto Harbach was originally written for the 1925 Broadway musical No, No, Nanette which (coincidentally) starred Charles Winninger.

"By the Beautiful Sea" by Harry Carroll and Harold R. Atteridge. The song topped the early American music charts in the summer of 1914, during the outbreak of World War I. By the Beautiful Sea was also the title of a 1954 musical that was on Broadway when the episode was filmed. 

“They Go Wild Over Me” by Fred Fisherin, who also wrote the lyrics for the 1919 Broadway show Irene.

"On the Boardwalk to Atlantic City" by Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon for the 1946 film Three Little Girls in Blue, about three sisters from Red Bank NJ who spend their inheritance on a trip to Atlantic City, where they hope to snare rich husbands.

“Over the Teacups” 

“Ethel’s Birthday” (1954) ~ It's Ethel's birthday and she gets two memorable presents: Hostess Pants and tickets to the theatre. An argument with Lucy over the former threatens to spoil the latter.  

The fictional play is said to be “the biggest hit in town.” The tickets cost Ricky $6.60 each! Although we never see the actors in the play, we hear Mary Lansing as the weepy Cynthia. English actor Richard Kean voices the character of John, who breaks the news to Cynthia about the death of their mutual friend. 

“Kildoonan!”

“Lucy Goes to Scotland” (1956) ~ While in London, Lucy dreams of going to her ancestral home in Scotland. Although not strictly a stage show, Lucy dreams in the musical comedy format!  

The inspiration for this episode is clearly Lerner and Loewe's 1947 musical Brigadoon. The name of the village in the musical is the similarly-sounding Kildoonan; and the two-headed dragon appears once every 30 years, just as the village of Brigadoon appears once every 100 years. Both also feature a sword dance and bagpipes. Although the show had closed in London several years earlier, the film version was released in 1954, a little over a year before this episode's filming. It was produced by MGM (the Arnazes studio of choice) and featured Van Johnson, who Lucy danced with in “The Dancing Star”. 

The dream has five original songs by Eliott Daniel and Larry Orenstein (who also played the Mayor of Kildoonan): "'Tis Nae a Braw Bricht Nicht", "A McGillicuddy Is Here", "I'm in Love with a Dragon's Dinner", "Two Heads Are Nae Better Than One", and "The Dragon Waltz".  

The Townspeople of Kildoonan include Betty Allen (who was a background singer for the 1954 film of Brigadoon), Betty Noyes, Norma Zimmer, John Gustafson, John Hynd, Robert E. Hamlin, Ann Ellen Walker, Dick Byron, and Chuck Schrouder.  

“The Enchanted Forest”

“LIttle Ricky’s School Pageant” (1957) ~ Little Ricky is cast as the lead in his school play, with Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel also getting into the act. 

The scenery and choreography for the pageant were designed by Desi’s fishing buddy and friend Pepito Perez (aka Pepito the Clown) and his wife Joanne, who ran a nearby Dance Academy. For years afterward, Joanne used the Enchanted Forest backdrops for their productions of “Hansel and Gretel.” Their school also provided the two dozen other students for the pageant. Candy Rogers (Susie Brown) was their prize pupil so was rewarded with the female lead. Lucy played the Wicked Witch, Ricky played a Hollow Tree, Ethel plays the Fairy Princess (she fit the costume) and Fred is Hippity Hoppity the Frog. The pageant also features 12 gnomes, 12 bunnies, 3 dancing owls, and a skunk! 

“The Most Happy Fella”

“Lucy’s Night In Town” (1957) ~ Lucy has tickets to a big Broadway musical, but she mistakenly got seats for the matinee instead of the evening show. 

FRED (seeing the title of the play): I’ll bet he wasn’t married!

This episode takes the foursome to the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella. Because the Arnazes were investors in the show the original cast album and show poster were used in the filming. The Frank Loesser musical was simultaneously playing at New York’s Imperial Theatre, although except for an establishing shot of the theatre’s exterior, the episode was filmed entirely in California. Coincidentally, the Imperial was where Desi Arnaz made his Broadway debut in Too Many Girls (1939). In 1979, his daughter Lucie Arnaz also made her Broadway debut at the Imperial in They’re Playing Our Song. Vivian Vance appeared there in 1941’s Let’s Face It! starring Eve Arden. The 1,443 seat theater opened in 1923 and is still in operation today.

The episode utilized the Frank Loesser songs “Standin’ on the Corner,” “Big D,” and “Don’t Cry” - all sung by the original cast: Susan Johnson, John Henson, Alan J. Gilbert, Shorty Long, Roy Lazarus, and Art Lund. Although Robert Weede is billed on the marquee, he is not heard in any of the songs, nor is leading lady Jo Sullivan, the composer’s wife, although both were nominated for 1956 Tony Awards. This is not the first Frank Loesser musical to be featured on “I Love Lucy.” A clip from the 1955 film Guys and Dolls was inserted into the MGM executives show in “Lucy and the Dummy”, but was cut for syndication and the DVD.

“The Queen’s Lament”

”The Celebrity Next Door” (1958) ~ Stage and screen star Tallulah Bankhead has moved in next door to the Ricardos and Mertzes! Once Lucy discovers that a celebrity is in her midst, she has gotten Bankhead and the entire gang involved with the local PTA show.

The fictional play “The Queen's Lament” is probably a hold-over from when Bette Davis was intended to be the 'celebrity next door', as she had recently played Queen Elizabeth on film in The Virgin Queen in 1955 as well as in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex in 1939.

The cast and crew of the play includes: The Queen ~ Miss Tallulah Bankhead; Her Lady in Waiting ~ Lucy Ricardo; The Duke of Farthington ~ Ricky Ricardo; Genevieve, the Royal Cook ~ Ethel Mertz; A Knight ~ Fred Mertz; Musical Entertainment by the Westport Glee Club; Directed by Mrs. Ida Thompson; Written by Mr. Thompson; Costumes by Mrs. Wilson.

“Western Frolics” 

“MIlton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos” (1957) ~  Lucy wants Milton Berle to perform in the PTA play so she secretly offers her home for him to finish his latest book in peace. 

“Western Frolics” consists mostly of the musical number “Them There Days”  composed by Arthur Hamilton especially for this show.

CURTAIN DOWN on Act 1

[winterisol]

I hate the English language and I hope poetry and Shakespeare die in a ditch.

(I have an essay on analyzing scene three of The Merchant of Venice and the silly British playwriter’s words make no sense in my head)

[lboogie1906]

Benjamin Zephaniah (April 15, 1958 - December 7, 2023) poet, playwright, novelist, and activist, was born the first of eight children, in Birmingham, England. He grew up in Wandsworth until the age of nine. He turned to writing, choosing to describe local and global issues, inspired by his Jamaican heritage and “street politics” of Birmingham. He left formal education at age 14 but built a reputation in the city as a popular dub poet, an art form that involves mixing the spoken word with reggae rhythms. He had a troubled adolescence, which was punctuated with periods of incarceration.

His first poetry collection Pen Rhythm was published. His poetry has been motivated by political stimuli: “The Dread Affair” is a critique of the British legal system, and “Rasta Time in Palestine” is a memoir of his visit to that area. His most recent volume We are Britain! reflects on the multicultural nature of the country. His live performance of this art has received tremendous acclaim.

He is a successful dub and reggae musician. His many recordings, “Us and Dem” and “Belly of de Beast” for example, exhibit his native identity and voice. During Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment “The Benjamin Zephaniah Band” recorded a song of solidarity for him which led to him working with children in South Africa. He has published poetry for children and novels for an adolescent audience. The themes explored in this work are racial: “Face” which addresses discrimination and “Refugee Boy” which follows a young protagonist fleeing conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

His “Dread Poet’s Society” was screened on British television and he was a winner of the BBC Young Playwriter’s Award with a contribution entitled “Hurricane Dub.” The successful radio play Listen to Your Parents saw him receive the Commission for Racial Equality’s drama award. In 2003 he controversially refused an Order of the British Empire. He has thirteen honorary doctorates.

After periods of living in Egypt, Yugoslavia, and South Africa, he divides his time between Beijing and Lincolnshire, England. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[parttimesarah]

Look at this sweet man! 🤓 💜

[vinescreens]

Discworld - Wyrd Sisters

[webvacancy]

BBC World Service/British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2023 (£2,500 prize)

BBC World Service/British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2023 (£2,500 prize)

Deadline: February 12, 2023 Applications for the BBC World Service/British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition 2023 are now open. The global competition, hosted by BBC World Service and the British Council, offers the unique opportunity for writers from outside the UK to use the medium of audio drama to tell stories for an international audience. They are looking for entries in…

[of-thieves-and-witches]

Ethan

Inspired by @ossyserenity

Her heart pounded loudly in her throat as the green vehicle came to an abrupt halt.

" Your residence awaits m'lady" Kevin voiced in an ol timey British renaissance tone with a giant goofy grin on his face.

It seemed fitting at the moment, given how the topic this fine evening together had been Shakespeare. Gwen had been taken aback on his views on the writer, mostly due to the fact she didn't think a guy like him would actually take out the time to read anything that wasn't a car catalogue, but was pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

What was more astonishing was how they both had similar opinions on the playwriter.

He sucked. And they both concurred they could make a better love story than he ever could.

Gwen hadn't heard his comment, she really couldn't over the ringing in her ears.

" uh Gwen? We're in fro.."

" WHAT THE HECK KEVIN?!"

He jumped slightly at her sudden outburst. He thought they were having a good time and now he worried he may have miscalculated.

" uhh what'd ya mean?"

The red head shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. " you call that driving? We almost hit a truck and died!"

" ahhh but we didn't" his tone laced with pride and satisfaction, recalling how he had managed to maneuver out of the way at the right time. It would've been catastrophic but he knew what he was doing, he always did.

Gwen sighed, " there's no way on earth you actually passed a driving test, because I really can't think of any lunatic on earth who would approve this "

Now it's not like she wanted to be mean to him, not after the nice time they had, a great time actually since the third wheel wasn't around and Kevin didn't need to put up his " tough guy who doesn't care about anything" act. But coming face to face with a near death experience , and mind you this wasn't the first time Kevin had been reckless, could make a girl lose her cool.

Kevin straightened up in his seat a little annoyed. Driving was one of the things he was genuinely proud of, beside his ability to con his way out of any situation, and he was not pleased to have that aspect of him be insulted like this.

" first of all Gwendolyn, we're fine. We've always been fine cuz I know what I'm doing. Second of all, I do have a driving license , and instructor was not a lunatic. Sure he had a giant t rex tattoo on his face and a crazed look in his eyes, and he might have believed donkeys were government spyware, but he was NOT a lunatic. Just a little unstable. And a little bit of a kleptomaniac"

Gwen just stared at him wide eyed, not knowing how to respond to that.

" so what I'm hearing is that you don't have a real legally approved driver's license. Which just further proves my point of you not having one."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

" no, I do have state licensed one , I did a test and everything a couple of weeks ago at the DMV as back up. And that instructor was completely sane."

He could see that the anodite still wasn't buying his story , so he pulled out his driver's license from his back pocket and handed it to her, as sort of a " i told you so" moment.

" See , there you go. My license"

Gwen couldn't believe it. He really did have one. She read over the details and it looked legit.

Kevin watched her as her eyes scanned the card, before noticing a smirk forming on her face.

" um Kevin?' she let out, trying to hold back a giggle.

" what?"

" Ethan? really?"

Kevin shrank down in his seat as she chuckled, mentally smacking himself for not thinking this through.

[scotianostra]

Happy 78th Birthday Billy Connolly.

The comedian and actor we know as The Big Yin was born on November 24th 1942 in Glasgow, into a poor and not altogether stable family; he left school at age 15 and served as (among other jobs) a shipyard worker, a paratrooper in the Territorial Army, and a welder, the latter including a stint building an oil rig in Nigeria. 

Shortly after his return, Connolly quit working and, supporting himself with the money he'd saved, concentrated on learning to play folk music on the banjo and guitar. He became a regular on the Glasgow folk scene, instantly recognizable with his wild hair and beard; he drifted in and out of several bands before forming the Humblebums with guitarist Tam Harvey in 1965. Gerry Rafferty (later of Stealers Wheel and "Baker Street" fame) joined sometime later, and the group built a following with their live performances, which spotlighted Connolly's humorous between-song bits. 

As Rafferty's songs became the Humblebums' primary musical focus, tensions among the members escalated; Harvey departed, and Connolly and Rafferty recorded two albums in 1969 and 1970 before disagreements over Connolly's concert comedy split them up in 1971.

Billy soon began performing around Scotland and northern England, concentrating more on comedy but still mixing occasional folk songs into his act. 1972 saw the release of his first album, Live, and also the debut of The Great Northern Welly Boot Show, a musical play Connolly co-authored with poet Tom Buchan based on his experiences in the shipyards of Glasgow. The show was a hit in Edinburgh and London, and Polydor signed Connolly to a recording contract. 

In 1974, his Solo Concert album sparked protests from the Christian community over a rowdy routine in which Connolly described the Last Supper as if it had taken place in Glasgow; all the publicity only helped his career, and he was quickly becoming one of Scotland's favourite entertainers. His 1974 follow-up album, Cop Yer Whack for This, became his biggest hit yet, going gold in the U.K., and his comic take on Tammy Wynette's "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." became a surprise number one hit single in 1975. That same year also saw Connolly put in star-making appearances on Michael Parkinson's chat show and at the London Palladium. He consolidated his success with a rigorous touring schedule over the next few years continuing to release comedy recordings on a regular basis into the '80s, the best known of which were In The Brownies and the theme to Supergran.

During the late '70s, Connolly had began taking on acting roles in television and film productions, and tried his hand at playwriting, with somewhat less success. His first marriage dissolved in 1981 amidst an affair with comedienne Pamela Stephenson (whom he would later marry in 1989, the same year he first shaved off his trademark shaggy beard).  Taking up residence in London with Stephenson, Connolly continued his comedy career while taking on more theatrical and television roles. Toward the late '80s, his appearances on American television became more frequent, which -- along with an unsold pilot for a Dead Poets Society series -- helped Connolly land a gig replacing Howard Hesseman on the high school honour-student comedy Head of the Class in 1990. 

His highest-profile American exposure was short-lived, however, as the series was cancelled after just one season; however, Connolly was back on American airwaves in early 1992, starring in the sitcom Billy. It too was cancelled after a short run,  after an appearance in the film Indecent Proposal, Connolly returned home, (though he still officially resided in the Hollywood Hills). 

In 1994, Billy hosted the acclaimed series World Tour of Scotland, which explored the flavour of contemporary Scottish culture. It proved so successful that Connolly hosted two further exploration-themed BBC series: 1995's A Scot in the Arctic, in which he spent a week on a remote northern Canadian island, and 1996's World Tour of Australia, lent a new respectability to Connolly 1997 Ssaw The Big Yin appear in the historical dramas Deacon Brodie  and  Mrs. Brown, the latter of which also featured Judi Dench and was released worldwide to much acclaim.

In 2012, Connolly provided the voice of King Fergus in Pixar's Scotland-set animated film Brave, alongside fellow Scottish actors Kelly Macdonald, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, and Kevin McKidd. Connolly appeared as Wilf in Quartet, a 2012 British comedy-drama film based on the play Quartet by Ronald Harwood, directed by Dustin Hoffman.  In 2014, he appeared in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Dáin II Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Thorin II Oakenshield. Sir Peter Jackson stated that "We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of dwarves, than Billy Connolly, the Big Yin himself. With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of The Hobbit is now complete. We can't wait to see him on the battlefield."

In September 2013, Connolly underwent minor surgery for early-stage prostate cancer. The announcement also stated that he was being treated for the initial symptoms of Parkinson's disease.  Connolly had acknowledged earlier in 2013 that he had started to forget his lines during performances, adding later he was also finding it hard to remember how to play his banjo. 

On his 75th birthday Glasgow bestowed upon Billy three giant  murals to add to the many murals in the city.

In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. He once again topped the list on Channel 5's Greatest Stand-Up Comedians, broadcast on New Year's Eve 2013. Billy's last big screen role was in 2016 in Wild Oats, which had Hollywood Stars Shirley MacLaine, Demi Moore and Jessica Lange.

In recent years he has established himself as an artist. In 2020, he stated "My art is about revealing myself" as he unveiled the fifth release of his Born on a Rainy Day collection in London.

Billy was on our small screen last year in Great American Trail, wfollowed him as he replicated the route taken by Scottish immigrants who came to America in the early 18th century.  He also brought out a new book, called Tall Tales and Wee Stories, to launch it Billy's face was projected on to buildings in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In November 2019, The Evening Times named Connolly as The Greatest Glaswegian as determined by a public poll.

Connolly is a patron of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability.  His first sculpture, which is inspired by his past as a welder, was released in March 2020. as seen in the pic, the sculpture shows God welding the world together

[equalseleventhirds]

Hello!!! Kind of random question (if you feel comfortable answering ofc): Do you have any recommended reading on worldbuilding techniques or fave authors who you feel get it “right” or close enough?? Am absolutely loving ur tma critical analysis bc it all hits so many nails for me as someone who writes but would like to learn how to avoid some of the holes that tma stumbled into lol 🤧

hmmmm idk that i have a lot off the top of my head... i would say that discworld does a good job of blending story and symbolsm, like i mentioned

and actually as far as podcasts go victoriocity does too? like, they are also extremely silly so they can get away with a lot of things, but there’s a lot of worldbuilding that goes on there that’s like, specifically designed around the larger narrative & symbolism in order to mesh with them. the stranger elements of the world are mostly told to the audience in order to explain what’s happening in the story, u kno? (it is also extremely british but like, confined to a specifically british story, rather than to a Whole Big World)

i enjoy reading prokopetz’s tumblr for like, picking apart of common worldbuilding tropes, too; tendency there to focus on ttrpgs, but u get a lot of rly interesting thoughts about like, the deeper implications of things that ppl often don’t think about

(actually like, i got super involved in ttrpg twitter for a while, and altho i got overwhelmed by twitter in general, a lot of ppl who play & design ttrpgs have Lots Of Thoughts on worldbuilding and the deeper implications thereof. poc especially tend to notice & pick apart like, colonialism within games, which is fascinating and makes u think abt things!)

my playwriting class also recently read elinor fuchs’ essay ‘a visit to a small planet’, which is not entirely like, BIG worldbuilding (it’s more focused on the atmosphere of a play’s smaller setting) but can help with getting a feel for like... how ur story Feels, or how ur world operates on a smaller level?

hmm what else... i will think abt it i guess? i wish i had more resources to give u anon but mostly i am poking at things based on like... many many years of reading & analyzing stuff, so coming up with specific resources is hard...

[mocweepe]

This is late but!! 🍓

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