Wednesday, Thursday, Friday the PSR gang were in Aberdeen!
We had 2 shows, which, if I don't say so myself, went pretty damn awesome!

So after one days rest after Mfest..still tired from dancing the night away with Mr Calvin Harris, we set off for aberdeen.
Lemon Tree was an awesome expericence, we met loads of cool people, not forgetting the German and Norweigan groups, who, by the way, spoke better enligh than me, haha!
I never thought I'd see the day I sat and played Scabby Queen with guys from Norway and Germany, in a tiny kitchen in aberdeen, awesome!!
Well, we were treated like royality, wee Margret, bless her, helped us and showed us around every step of the way, the provided us with the best lunch and tea, not to mention the chocolate! Also, we were all given bright pink T-shirts with they youth fstival logo on them. So cool, and also badges and bags!

The two shows went really well, we all were totaly focused and in the zone. Everyone gave it 100% and it paid off. The feedback from the audience was awesome, I was so thrilled to hear all their good feedback and compliments. It really makes all the hard work and effort worth while.

What a laugh we had though.. like eating a chineese takeaway with plastic tea spoons and kim eating rice out of a cup hahaha. Andrew trying to squeeze into a cupboard, and sucseeding. Watchin team america and almost dying inside. Road trips with funky dancing in the venga bus. Pillow fights and when i beared the bear. Ha! 
I take away some lovely memories too though. Hugs after shows, great feedback from audience, conversations and heart to hearts, being tld from Claire and Anrew that theyre so proud of us. Watching the final film from the wings and hearing the audience go wild at our names on the end credits. Seeing andrew in the wings looks so happy and proud, and seeing Claires face after the show, and how happy we had made her.

I have had, such an awesome time. I can't even describe the friendships I have with all you guys, but each day I think they get stronger, as we all learn from each other and listen to each other, and chill out together, and just having a bit of banter. I have been inspired by C and A on this tour. I look up too you guys so so much. I have been inspired by other peoples work and way of life, there cultures and traditions. I have learned so much about the world, acting and about myself. Thankyou. Thats all  can say, is thankyou. To everyone. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. 

P.S KIM, WHEN I READ UR BLOG I READ IT IN RUSSIAN ACCENT IN MY HEAD. YOU DO THAT TOO? NO?

Missing everyone already, have already began my PSR comedown. I just want to sigh, like all the time.
Now I think it's time I slept for 20 hours and get back to normal way of life. YAWN.


toad/beav/teaver/febble/eager - out.


XXX  

Yello Everybody,

Today is a sad day for Rex. We arrived back from Aberdeen this morning which now means that offcial PLAY.STOP.REWIND tour of summer 2010 has come to an end.. sob sob. It was a slightly emotional goodbye but we all still have the October shows to look forward to. Something im sure the whole cast and crew cannot wait for. The tour in itself was out of this world and the opportunities that we were all given have been unbelievable. I could not of asked for a better summer this year, the weather may not of been the best but that didn't matter as we had the best banter throughout the whole tour and were making memories each second of the way.

The shows in Aberdeen were also out of this world and i am extremly proud of Sam, Daniel, Rachael and Chris. Their performance as per usual was outstanding and i once again found myself learning new lines or actions from the show. The Lemon Tree space was a good size and fitted well with the Play.Stop.Rewind set. Abbie, Andrew and myself were also at a very good advantage as the way the tabs were positioned we could watch the show from offstage easily, something we have not been able to do since Rothes Hall. It was brillant being able to watch the show this time instead of just listening offstage and imagining what was happening. Whilst handing out badges at the end of the show its always great to see everyones reaction to the play and how excited they are when we tell them about the website. But a feeling that i never forgot is when you walk through to the stage and see all of your close friends happy and over the moon that they had made their way through another sucessful show.

The tour to me has been amazing in so many ways. I have met people from all over the globe, from Norway to Germany to London. I never thought that i would find myself and my russian half playing 'Scabby Queen' with the norweigans and germans in a kitchen late into the night. Maybe one day we will get our norweigan husbands Rachael haha, this is obviously after the marraige with a mister Harris. But seriously most of the people we have met have been a true inspiration on and off stage throughout the tour.

Like Sam i will leave my sad and cheesy blog until the very end. But i would like to thank Claire and Andrew for EVERYthing over the past summer. Also Abbie, Sam, Rachael, Daniel and Chris for making my summer of 2010 brillant and unforgettable. I could not think of anyone better to tour and share my summer with. To me, we are all way more than just a youth theatre. We joke about being a family but in all seriousness and despite the fact that Sam is my real sister.. you guys are just like a family to me, i know that yous will always be there for me and there to support me if i ever needed you. I even have my russian wife...

Thank you for an amazing summer and brillant opportunities. The friendships that have been made inside and outside theatre guys have been ones that i will never forget or i never want to loose.

Danke, Danke Zu Bitte..

signing out.
Porks/ Rexy.

xx

What A week..

So, this week, now last week, we all set off for mFest fesitval up in Stirling. The week began with rehearsals for another project Kinectic Productions currently had on-going and was premiering at mFest, called 'RED'. Rehearsals were 4-10, it was pretty hectic but good fun and our full focus was on 'RED' but PSR was still floating around as our performances were on Sunday and Monday.

Our tech rehearsal was on Sunday and it was pretty weird getting all the set and costume out, after almost 2 weeks off, but also really exciting as we were getting to perform PSR at a festival for and by young people. I would like to Thank the mPower/mFest commissioning panel as it was a great honour and I was so proud to perform at a festival for and by young people as it was a great chance to tell our story and share themes/messages to the people the show was made for. In addition, I would also like to thank the panel for having faith in us and the show and commissioning us, in order to allow us to re-visit PSR.

Overall, it was a great expereince and opportunity performing at mFest. In addition mFest allowed me to learn 'life skills' at the halls of residence, watch great shows and companies yet also be part of something that was made and created for people my age. I believe the shows went really well and its overwhelming and amazing to still see more and more new feedback come into the website.

This week has been an emotional week and I really hate to think what Friday's going to be like, as the tour comes to an end. ( Not to worry, I'll leave the soppy, cheesy and sad blog until it actually finishes). However, I kinda feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster this week (good use of metaphor- I think so) as the people that are involved in every part of the show were 'emphasised' to me. Whether it's the cast who are like brothers and sisters; continously supporting each other, making sure we each reach what we want but always being there, Kim and Abbie - backstage crew, whose job is one that is really important and are always there making sure the group is in high spirit, the audience who are also fully supportive, if thats friends, family or people that care about you or your character and last but not least Claire and Andrew, whom a thank you is not enough for everything they have given me and it's kinda hard to try and explain how much they and Kinetic mean to me.

And so, we jet off to Aberdeen tomorrow.. Can't wait.

PSR is once again on the brain but will always be in the heart. ( Ah, how cheesy.. haha.)

What a week it has been!
Play.stop.rewind. visited Stirling this week.. at Mfest, a festival for teenagers created by teenagers.
We had 3 performances, one on sunday and 2 on monday.
I am so happy at how the performances went. I think we performed at our best and we really gave it our all. As each performances goes on, and the tour progresses, I feel our performances progress and each time we do PSR we become more and more confident in what we are doing and we belive in what we are doing, and we are actualy living the play, not just going through the motions, if you like.

Feedback from audiences at Mfest was phenomonal, the young people of Mfest said they felt they could relate to the story in differenct ways and that they had never seen anything like it before. Which, for me, was music to my ears.

I had the best time at Mfest, wether it was being in RED or doing PSR or simply chillin' out with everyone, I know i'll keep these memories with me forever.

So were all exhausted and its 5pm and im just out of bed and writing this blog. It feels so good to bed home, yet I miss being with everyone already. .

What an inspiring week it had been. Claire and Andrew, I look up to you guys so much! You have gave me everything I could have ever wanted this year, and i would just like to make it clear that I am so thankful for it all and I am so proud of you to aswell as the PSR's. You have given me PSR, friendships and experiences and memories I will always have. Thank you.
Thankyou also to Kim and Abbi, you guys were awesome backstage this tour, yous are such a help and support backstage and you make PSR behind the scences so much more relaxing and fun. Thankyou.
Thankyou to all cast. Dan, Sam, Chris.. I feel we worked toghether so well this week. Thankyou for being htere for me, thankyou for supporting me, and thanks for being good friends. I can always reliay on yous. Thankyou.

Thankyou, finally, to everyone who came and seen PSR and supported us on the tour.

Beavers tired. Need sleep. Goodnight!! XXX

I just wanted to post this for posterity. I think it was filmed in and around some estates in Glasgow by Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher/Morvern Callar/We Need To Talk About Kevin).



Awesome all round.

It's all gone pretty quiet at PSR HQ. The cast and crew have all sauntered off to Stirling this week to take part in rehearsals for another show Kinetic are involved in at mFest entitled 'Red.' This leaves me to hold the fort, so after the one-off mutant freak that was Music Wednesdays, I thought I'd celebrate the return of MM by posting up some stuff I'd been trawling through on t'internet recently, using a PSR band as a jump off.

Spending twenty minutes on Youtube tends to remind me how small the musical universe actually is, despite the ridiculous number of bands, rappers and 'artists' there are to choose from these days. Case in point: you can even draw a connection between St. Albans dance kids Friendly Fires and Barbara bleeding Streisand (see below if you don't believe me). FF have been a regular on my iPod since 2008 with their infectious, dance/funk/rock/shoegaze sound - it's like Prince and Daft Punk had a baby taught synths by Air. They're also brilliant live, and I don't say that very often. At the time of writing PSR, I lived in Edinburgh and used to drive forty minutes there and back everyday from work. On the return leg I'd always, always pump 'Jump In The Pool' as loud as possible, and it was this track that inspired the whole 'unjumping' bit in the last film - none of it was in the script until I heard this song, and the entire scene is pretty much shot for shot was I envisaged on those daily drives along the A92. To me, the song gives off such a strange mix of euphoria and melancholy and the lyrics sit perfectly with the upbeat, reflective tone the show strives for at its conclusion.

Anyways, I was chuffed to hear a new FF track this week on Youtube, with a cool 90s vibe...



Until I discovered it's actually a cover of Swedish songstress Lykke Li, but then she's no stranger to covers either. Here's a clip of her performing A Tribe Called Quest's seminal hit.





And A Tribe Called Quest were a huge inspiration on Kanye West. Yup, even The Super Ego has his heros... there are Tribe lyrics and references scattered all over Yeezy's albums (yeah, I called him Yeezy, because I'm cool). And I think Q-Tip confirmed he's set to appear on Kanye's fifth album, now that he's finally given up the auto tune and has gone back to beats and rhymes again, as you'll see if you download from the link below.

Kanye West ft. Dwele - 'Power'

Now we all remember when Kanye made a damn fool of himself in front of Taylor Swift at the VMAs, but you might not be so aware of when he stormed the stage at the MTV Europe Awards because Justice V Simian's 'We Are Your Friends' beat 'Touch The Sky' to the best video gong. After the debacle, Kanye's tour DJ A-Trak had a word in his employer's shell like to advise him that Justice were the BIG thing coming out of Europe, so Kanye subsequently stole their record label's visual style for his 'Good Life' promo.

A-Trak is not only a prodigal DJ and electronic music producer, but alongside Armand Van Helden is one half of disco house revivalists Duck Sauce, responsible for last year's summer smash 'aNYway.' They've outdone themselves again though as their latest offering proves... all together...





Barbara Streisand!!!

Hopefully Calvin Harris will play this next Monday when he closes mFEST. If he doesn't I may need to sneak into the booth to ask him nicely.