Tassie Babes reaction

We're about half-way through our season of The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, and it's going really well. Having said that, we have lots of spare seats still available that I'd like to fill up. Bigger crowds are always better - more fun for the performers, a great vibe, more merch opportunities for us!

We've had a lot of great feedback and publicity, and some marvellous reviews. I thought I'd collate as many as I could here.

• The Courier Mail
• Stagediary
• Absolute Theatre
• Media Culture
• Stage Whispers
• Brisbane Blog
• Brisbane Critiques - this has been our most unintentionally hilarious review. Kellie Scott really didn't like the show, and some of her quotes are just gold - for example, "Many in the crowd laughed – but I don’t know why. I’m always amazed by how many people find stupidity utterly hilarious" and my favourite, "Do not take your Nanna or your under-aged daughter to this one". Which is a relief for us, because we're obviously targeting Grandads and under-aged sons. There's no way to comment directly on Kellie's site, but I've discovered her reviews are cross-posted on another theatre site where there IS a comment section... just sayin'...

What's been wonderful is finding people's own personal reviews and write-ups of the show. Of course, having author John Birmingham describe Tassie Babes as "better than Felafel" is probably the highest praise we could have hoped for. His former literary agent now Earth Mother Extraordinaire Hughesy brought tears to my eyes with her heartfelt response to seeing opening night. The way she writes, I've produced genuine art, as opposed to the collection of well-timed nob gags that I was going for!

A whole bunch of other "Burgers" have come along to see the show. Drej flew all the way from Broome, and had some lovely things to say. Mayhem and Enjoy Medway were both highly complimentary. There's also a host of mini-reviews on Twitter, if you search the hashtag #tassiebabes.

We've also had a couple of neat little feature articles on the show in both TimeOff and Scene magazines.

Due to a combined effort of sharp-eared radio listening-tweeters, we managed to get cast member Drew Jarvis onto Triple J yesterday afternoon, due to comedian Sam Simmons' obession with the axed Channel Nine show "The Shak". Drew played Curio on the show, and you can have a listen to his exchange with Sam here. It's about 48 minutes in, and he gets in a very classy plug.  Drew will also be heading into the 4ZzZ studios on Sunday night to be a part of the Televised Revolution Logies special. I've requested the hosts Dan and Simon allow enough gaps between jokes about Richard Wilkins' appalling red carpet manner for Drew to mention the play.

I really want to encourage everyone to come and see The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco. I'm obviously biased, as I want to have big crowds for my actors, and to make the theatre as much cash as possible. But also because it's a good show, a fun show, a show that just wants you to lean back and have a laugh, free from any restraint of what theatre "could" or "should" be. I like to think that's what Shakespeare would have wanted.

You can book online through our secure web ticketing system. A note: John Birmingham and Simon Bedak (our illustrious playwright) will both be back on closing night, 15 May. If you want to come along for that night, you MUST book ahead - it will sell out.

Thanks to everyone who has supported and promoted the show so far - please keep it going. Word of mouth remains unbeaten as a publicity device.

Driving Me Crazy

So my car is a write-off.

That was crux of the phone call I had late Friday afternoon; obviously all the official business has yet to be done - including the solemn ceremony of me tracking down my poor Hummer to retrieve all sundries from the glovebox and boot (including, I suspect, a box of porn leftover from Felafel). Next week sometime I will get an official figure, but it looks like I'm going to paid out roughly $15,000 for the car.

And I think I'm going to need your help.

Line of Credit

Queensland Health is in a fair spot of bother due to its bungled introduction of a bungled payroll system, which has caused significant administrative bungles resulting in employees being underpaid or not paid at all, leaving them feeling particularly bungled.

Now this is a serious issue, and I certainly feel for those whose wages and entitlements have been up, down or non-existent over the past six weeks.

But I'm pondering reports of families having to approach charities or default on loans because they didn't get paid by Queensland Health. I'm wondering - do we have a problem with money management, and do more of us skim the edge of the credit line more than we like to admit?

New Look

A big thank you to Dan for creating my new website header, and to Aurelie for taking the photo. Both are very skilled people - I'm terrible when it comes to photography, Photoshop, all of that stuff, and I'm very fortunate to know so many talented people who are willing to help a noob like me.

The site makeover did happen a touch faster than I'd planned, so it's not properly finished yet. Just warning you in case you notice further fiddling going on.

Please let me know if you'd like to see anything else on the site - I'm always open to suggestions, ideas or challenges. I do like to stretch and flex my writing and other creative skills, and sometimes I feel like I've got nothing left in the tank, beyond promoting my beloved show The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, of course.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who takes the time to read Girl Clumsy - and props to those of you who comment. I really appreciate everyone's two cents!

Top Five Costume Dramas

My mother and I - along with millions of others - share a love of lavish BBC adaptations of great British literary works. I present to you now, my Top Five Favourite BBC Costume Dramas.

Crash Boom Bang

So, yeah. Today I was in a car accident.

#daylight

A young lad named Jamie has been bagging me out all week for what he describes as my "addiction" to Twitter.

Now, this is a bit rich coming from a bloke who's currently getting his sock-clad tackle out in front of people on a regular basis. Sure, he's a cast member of The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, and I kind of made him do that, but let's not dwell on "facts", all right?

Anyway, Jamie's a very talented - intellectually! intellectually! - young journalism student, and has been coming in to Parliament House during sittings to do intern work with me. This week, he's been on hand to watch as I achieved a monumental change in public policy, and the way politicians interact with voters.

I got Anna Bligh to use a hashtag.

Sit on it

I found myself at Royal Brisbane Hospital this morning, and not to check in for a nervous breakdown as many theatre types had been predicting. No, in fact, I was there for Official Journalism Business.

I wound up standing at the back of a conference room packed with hospital types and TV cameras, waiting for The Right Honourable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister, who was in town to announce another plank of his national healthcare reform plan - this time aged care funding.

Now it was a long speech (the PM loves a long speech - but a short media conference), and at its conclusion, everyone wandered out to the foyer for morning tea. Delicious chocolate mini-mousses by the way, RBWH. Nicely done.

I wandered up to the podium to stop my recorder & save battery while the PM chit-chatted before his conference. I flung myself onto a nearby chair to write a few notes, then had to move quite promptly as TV cameras re-arranged themselves near the front of the room.

As I rose, something fluttered onto the floor. I picked it up:

It was a seat-holder for the PM. He'd sat on it, albeit briefly, as he was up speaking most of the time.

But yes. Today I shared arse-space with the Prime Minister.

Up and Running

Thank you to everyone, absolutely everyone, for making opening night of The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco insanely wondrous and awesome. The cast in particular deserve a special shout out for their magnificent work onstage. They deserved their post-show beer.

Now it's full-steam ahead for the season. We need to keep up the promotion to ensure we get as many people in Brisbane as possible to this play. To that end, I present to you some genius work by Mr Kris Anderson. Feel free to spread this around the internet like you'd spread chocolate on Charlize Theron:

Internet stupidom? I'm generally pretty happy with the service provided by both Blogger and YouTube. But I discovered trying to embed this video from YouTube that they've increased their minimum embed size - and that new minimum is too wide to fit in my Blogger reading pane. As I've already discovered, I'm not the only blogger to be affected by this. You would think that some thought might have gone into that, given that both services are owned by Google. So instead, I've had to upload the vid using the Blogger video upload, and I'll just have to link you to the YouTube video.

Opening Night

Opening night is here. In a few hours, my actors will be strutting 'n' fretting for a few hours upon the stage as The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco premieres at the Brisbane Arts Theatre.

Our crazy busy tech week has been... well, crazy busy. Any number of people could vouch for me being particularly hellish to be around. But the best roads are always the rocky ones, and - much like a turtle with a SatNav glued to its back - we have got there.

Thank you to everyone who has given their time, help and support over the past few weeks - I appreciate it more than you could know. I hope you all get to see The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco - and I hope you all have a great time. And to John Birmingham and Simon Bedak - I hope I do you proud, sirs.

Allright, time to fuck this puppy!

In the Arena

I wandered down to the little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop on Petrie Terrace this morning to get some flat whites and cappucinos for the brave souls of my cast & crew, who'd begun work nice and early at 8am for bump-in (that's the ol' theatrical parlance for "build the set and do the lights and props and stuff").

I noticed a poem pinned to the side of the bench.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Sure, someone probably had just seen Invictus and been inspired by Morgan Freeman's dulcet tones to put up the eponymous poem. But it was certainly nice to read in the early morning autumn sunshine, while gearing up for a challenging week ahead.

Checking Wikipedia this evening, I was disappointed to read that the filmmakers made up the part in the movie about Nelson Mandela inspiring the Springboks to rugby glory with William Ernest Henley's verse. That was until I read what Mandela actually gave captain Francois Pienaar to use as literary rallying cry:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

 -Theodore Roosevelt, 1910.

No wonder the Springboks won that World Cup.

And as much as I think Nelson Mandela is wonderful...

....I think this week is going to be a Teddy Roosevelt kind of week.