On Thursday the 13th of April I’ll be interviewed if anyone wants to stick around and listen at the end of the 2:30 matinee of WOLVES IN THE WALLS at the Lyric Hammersmith. (I just checked the Lyric website, and there is apparently only one ticket left for that performance.)
( I would like to go on record here as saying that I miss Concorde. I only flew it once, and that was only because of some stuff falling apart which meant I discovered I was going to have to use an obscene amount of air miles to cross the Atlantic, and when the lady on the other end of the phone said "Wow. For that many miles you might as well do it on Concorde" I took her up on it. And I know how wasteful of fuel it was, and was very aware while riding in it that I was in a thirty year old plane. But right now I could really do with a 3 hour trip across the Atlantic.)
Hi neil. I like what you've done with the place.
I've read a couple reviews that like to slap a little Paradise Lost into their thoughts on "Murder Mysteries". I know that you sent something in for "Milton and Popular Culture", which is coming out this fall (not an advertisement, BTW) but I'm wondering if you're willing to type anything about Milton's influence on you in the meanwhile for us impatient psuedo-academics.
Cheers,
Jay
Er... I don't think I did send anything in for "Milton and Popular Culture", did I? If I did I don't remember it. I suppose that we'll both have to wait until it comes out to find out what I think about Milton.
Dear Neil,
I finally got around to getting myself to the theatre on Thursday to see Wolves. First, a confession: I've never read the book... But this meant I could take the pandemonium as a piece of theatre, rather than grumbling about how it's not how I see it in my head.
So, the opening is a little slow, but the tuba/chair duet, and the brother's song upped the tempo (sorry), and set us up nicely for the wolves, which I cannot praise highly enough. The physicality of the puppeteers really brings out the essential wolfy-ness and the glee of having somewhere new to play and something new to play with. I was laughing and in horror simultaneously when they captured pig, but it was the hip hop that really did for me...
Though the humans deserved their applause, it was the wolves who deserved - and got - the biggest cheers of the night. And they are why I shall be buying the book, though Dave McKean's wolves will always turn into sackcloth puppets with humans attached I fear.
Many congrats (and many thank to Maddy for her dream). Hope you're readjusting to whatever passes for normal life these days after rushing across the atlantic and around the UK.
Cheers,
Louise
Which I post mostly because it shows me how much things change with a live show. I remember the first previews, when the wolves weren't funny. And I'd think "I suppose that could be funny..." but it wasn't. And then the wolf-actors got more comfortable and at ease with what they were doing, and as I was leaving they were getting funnier and funnier in each show with the same script they'd had since the beginning.
Dear Neil,
If it's not too much to ask, is it possible to mention that Mike Carey's very FIRST novel "The Devil You Know: A Felix Castor Novel" was just published this week in the U.K.? (I'm NOT a paid shill, just a friend and fan who would like to get the word out and help support his creative efforts...).
Best Regards,
Michael K.
www.enjolrasworld.com
Sure. Easy.
...
Some MirrorMask around the world news -- In Singapore MIRRORMASK will open exclusively at Golden Village Cinemas on 20th April.
While coincidentally,
Hi Neil, MirrorMask is the big opening film of my beloved Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (www.afff.nl) on April 19th, and I can't wait to see it. I heard that Dave McKean is going to be a special guest on the night. Any chance that you will be there as well?Hopefully,Marjan
I don't think it's going to possible, unless I manage to master the art of trilocation -- there are at least two other places I already need to be at the same time on April 19th.
For more on where I will or won't be, http://www.neilgaiman.com/where/ has some details of the Sydney Writers Festival, and some other things.