So last week I was in London (yet again - I really should move there soon) for what should have been the Los Quattros Cvnts gig with Michael Legge and Jeremy Limb, Paul Litchfield and Dan Mersh of The Trap. The gig, unfortunately, was cancelled due to the venue being double booked but seeing as Nicola (@nwoolhouseuk), Lorna (@lornalily) and I had already booked travel and accommodation we decided to go anyway to meet the Cvnts in the pub, along with James Hingley (Michael's co-host on the Precious Little Podcast) and some of the other regular listeners to the podcast (plus some random extras who probably just fancied a drink).
I had been at university until about 2.30pm on the Wednesday so I headed straight for the airport. I was in plenty of time, there didn't seem to be any delays and all was on schedule for me to get to the pub at about 7.30pm. Well, that was until about half an hour before my flight was due to depart when I made my way to the gate only to discover it was snowing! Stupid bloody Scotland. Luckily the snow eased off and after the plane being 'de-iced' we were only about half an hour late taking off. At Gatwick I made a quick dash for the train (where I bought a cider - only my second alcoholic drink of 2010!) then managed to get to the pub to meet the others not long after 8pm. Not bad going really.
There were some familiar faces in the pub and some who I hadn't met before. Michael, James and The Trap were there of course (although I somehow managed to still not to introduce myself to Dan), Tara Flynn (who I had met at the Christmas London Comedy Improv) was there too, and so was Rob Heeney; another comedian who I've met a few times before. Some of the podophiles I hadn't met before, so it was nice to put faces to Twitter-names. And of course there was Lorna who I was sharing a hotel room with (with Nic) despite having never met her before. Lorna is very funny on Twitter and in her (and daughter Aoife's) contributions to Precious Little so she had a lot to live up to and I'm glad to say she didn't disappoint.
I had a great evening chatting and drinking (although remained remarkably sober all things considered!) I do have a top tip for anyone going out to meet people you've never met before though, if you're a bit worried that you might not have anything to talk about - just wear a t-shirt with something a bit controversial on it and it'll provide plenty of conversation. I proved this point by wearing a new t-shirt I'd got which simply said 'Will fuck for biscuits'. I have to admit the phrase is entirely stolen from something Mark Thomas said in his show when I saw it recently but I liked it and I'm sure he won't mind. For something I thought was fairly unambiguous it certainly provoked a lot of questions - How many biscuits? Any specific kind of biscuits? What about Jaffa Cakes? (the answer to that one being 'no, I won't fuck for Jaffa Cakes - they aren't biscuits for a start and I don't like them anyway') and, something I hadn't even considered but, after a bit of discussion with Tara's American fiance Carl, it turns out biscuits are some sort of breakfast food in America and my t-shirt should say cookies if I want to avoid confusion! Oh, and the last, but perhaps most important point that was brought up was - what if I got raped but the man gave me biscuits? Would I have any defence in court? As it turned out I didn't get raped (which was a relief) and at no point in the evening did anyone give me any biscuits. So despite providing the topic of many conversations during the evening, my t-shirt did, ultimately, fail in its purpose.
So that was Wednesday - despite the lack of gig I still had a lot of fun and I'm glad I made the trip anyway. Somewhat fortuitously it turned out that making the trip (and staying with my brother until Saturday) meant that I was in town for the recording of two episodes of Tom Basden's play, Party, for Radio 4. The play was first performed in Edinburgh last year and I had enjoyed it a lot (apart from that it was the day after Mark Watson's 24 Hour show and I was still very tired). I've seen quite a bit more of Tom and Tim Key; who was also in the play, since Edinburgh and I've become a bigger fan of both of them. I actually didn't manage to get tickets, even though I applied for them as soon as I got the BBC Audiences email, but luckily Simone (@Simone_QoF) had some spare so I convinced my brother and his wife they would like it too and they came along to The Pleasance in Islington. I've never been to either of the Pleasance venues in London before and it was a little odd to see all the signs matching the Pleasance Edinburgh venues which I saw so much of last summer.
As the credit line at the end of each episode declares; Party is written by Tom Basden and stars Tom Basden, Tim Key, Anna Crilly, Katy Wix and Jonny Sweet. I've never been to the recording of a radio play before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Also, we didn't realise two episodes were being recorded that evening (episodes 1 and 3, but it seemed they were more or less stand alone episodes), and we weren't sure how much would be the original play and how much new material. It seemed like the first episode was pretty much the whole of the original play condensed (and of course some visual gags removed), then the third episode was entirely new, and I imagine episodes 2 and 4 will be the same. Being for radio meant that the actors simply stood in front of their microphones and read from their scripts - although of course there was still plenty of acting going on. The play is about 5 people who have decided to set up their own political party to stand in the next but one election (because they wouldn't be ready for this one!). We are never told how old the five are but it is implied they are students and the first meeting takes place in a shed in Jared's (played by Jonny Sweet) parent's back garden. Sweet is absolutely excellent in his role and I actually found him a lot funnier than I had in Edinburgh - he seemed to have really perfected his character. Tim Key as Duncan, who has only been invited because his father owns a printers and has come expecting the usual cake and drinks type of party is brilliant as I have come to expect. I'm looking forward to listening to the finished product on the radio to see how it comes across because I find Key very funny to watch and I don't know how much of that will be lost when I can only hear him.
Anna Crilly and Katy Wix perform together as a comedy duo and they both play their parts (Mel and Phoebe) well. They can both deliver Basden's fantastically written (and funny) dialogue with the straight faces required for the job and really nail their bleeding-heart liberal characters. And finally to Mr Basden. He may have written the play but he certainly doesn't steal the limelight. In fact his character, Simon, takes more of a back seat in the action - usually stepping in as the voice of reason in one of the many debates that form the bulk of the first episode, such as what the party name should be (my favourite suggestion has to be Jared's - Gladios; it's Latin for sword), and the colour (Phoebe's suggestion of 'the rainbow' being ruled out due to printing costs, and the feeling that it's been used before).
As you may be able to tell, I loved Party and would highly recommend that you listen when it is aired on Radio 4 sometime at the beginning of March. And if you're lucky enough to be in London you can see the original play from 1st-13th March at the Arts Theatre. You really should go.
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