On Monday night I met Mr S Hewitt in Finsbury Park for a SECRET GIG - so secret in fact that even I didn't know where it was happening. Well, I did a bit - Ms I Adams, who had very kindly TECHED for us when we did the two-man Dinosaur Planet at Edinburgh in 2010, had asked us to come and do a show in her front room as part of a series of preview shows she's doing in the run up to this year's Fringe - but did not know the actual ADDRESS. Thus I followed Steve and Ms A Paynter (who was also going to the gig) through Finsbury Park and then into Stroud Green, an area I'd not heard of before, probably because they were keeping it quiet from the likes of me as it is Quite Posh, a bit like I always imagined Islington before I moved to London, all Organic Barbers and Free-Trade Chemists.
Steve had promised me a trip to "the crazy off-licence" which turned out to be an AMAZING cavern of BEERS called Jack's. It was FULL OF BEER and we walked the shelves unable to decide, much like (I told Steve) it is when you're Vegetarian and read the menu in a Vegetarian restaurant! We then nipped to the pub for a quick pint during which Steve and I discussed our AILMENTS - well, he IS officially in his forties now - before finally heading for the venue i.e. Isabelle's house.
The gig was occurring in the living room, as stated, and it was set up PROPERLY with the furniture loosely arranged into rows and Actual Stage Lighting. We sat and chatted as various chums turned up, including a chap in a Hey Hey 16K t-shirt, which is ALWAYS a delight to see!
Around 7:45pm we got set it up and did the SHOW, and it was GOOD! As usual we did the "it's a preview, there will be ERRORS" speech and as usual this turned out to be an accurate prediction, but we are EXTREMELY used to it and, I think, dealt with the situations as they arose. Steve did a particularly good bit of freestyle swannee whistle at one point, and also launched us into an entire section where we stepped OUT of character to explain something and then back in again to restart the show - although this was a bit confusing for me as my character IS me! The only downside really was that we couldn't properly use the hula hoop, but we DID manage to do the tap dance sequence even though we were both in our socks!
After the gig we packed up and headed home, Steve to watch The Women's Football and me to cook some TEA, but not before getting Isabelle to agree to send us NOTES - she did GRATE notes for Dinosaur Planet so this was one of the reasons for going and DOING the gig. The other reason, the main reason, tho was for the DELIGHT of going and playing a gig in a living room. They are the BEST gigs!
