It’s been a busy few weeks, to say the least. My normal schedule, which (outside of fringe season/touring) typically consists of 9-11 hours a day teaching, gigs with my regular bands (Fred’s House and Queen Bee Blues) and a lot of writing, has continued, but with lots of extra bits thrown in. We had the first reading/rehearsal of my new Christmas play, which opens in December (obviously) and has a brilliant cast including my old mate, former Blue Peter presenter, Liz Barker. I was guesting in the studio drumming for another old mate, Gavin Chappell-Bates, which was great fun and his new album is sounding great. I also stepped in to help ska band Big 10, which was really good fun, despite having 48 hours to learn their set…a challenge is good, though, yeah? And also, last week, we ran our Edinburgh Fringe shows for a final time before moving on to new projects.
A double bill, running in Cambridge for three sweaty and pretty much sold out nights, the first half was always The Paul Richards Playhouse, which was myself and Alex Machell having lots of fun bashing through 12 short plays in 45 minutes. It was very much a last-minute fringe show and one we never assumed would go further, but we had such a great time in Edinburgh that we thought it would be worth revisiting those characters one more time. We were right, it’s a messy little bundle of chaos, but with lots of energy and the audience took to it every night. After an interval we then had my solo show, Is This the End of Edward J Payne, a show which opened in Brighton earlier this year before heading to New York for a run in Manhattan and then Edinburgh (via a bunch of previews). The plan when I wrote this at Christmas last year was that this would be the show that runs for years, a bit like my Harvey Greenfield is Running Late piece, which still sells out everywhere even though it’s totally exhausting to perform. The decision to leave it after last week was a tricky one; I’m really fond of this but sometimes the time just doesn’t feel right to keep it going. In Edinburgh it was ‘fine’ - it never shook the foundations or felt like I was creating a buzz, but everyone smiled and seemed to enjoy it. It was ‘nice’, which is something I often try to avoid. In the US, they seemed to really like it, but I’m an Englishman, a very bumbling one at that, I get the sense I could have done anything there and they would have been so lovely to me. It’s a complex show, one which some may have struggled to follow - there’s at least 8 plots running at all times, with extra jokes and set-pieces thrown in, it’s a solo show but fast, wordy and mega intense. It’s needed for the story and I’m really proud of the punchline which ties it all in, but ultimately it’s a show about death, and, in these negative times, people just need something a little more positive. And also, my other show which launched on the same day in Brighton, The Only Drummer in Town, seems to be really popular with booking agents so I need to turn my attentions back to that again, and that’s a happy piece full of drums and panicky costume changes. Turns out people love that stuff.
The Cambridge run of Eddie Payne was a real treat, the best it’s ever been and I certainly felt during it that I should take it on the road for a bit but…when? This is the busiest I’ve ever been and I’m so grateful, but there’s only so much Richards. This was the show that got me into New York and was well received everywhere else, but it’s time to throw away that sweaty football shirt and start the next adventure.
Next up: new Fred’s House album sessions, a load of band stuff, Christmas show, and my new solo stand-up theatre thing which opens in Leicester in February. More soon!