Fortune Tell Her has been selected for The Oxford Shorts Film Festival! This is the first festival selection the film has had, I’m waiting to hear back about more. Exciting!

Improv Wolves had a lovely show at Thimblemill Library on the 28th of Feb. Here’s an out of context photo of us lying on the floor during the gig.

On guitars and creativity
I spent a couple of hours in a guitar shop playing some really lovely guitars. I tried 4 quite posh and expensive examples and didn’t feel particularly moved by them, they looked beautiful and I could feel that they were high quality but nothing I played sounded particularly great and they didn’t make me feel inspired. It was hard work to feel good playing them. Then I spotted a second hand, quite battered, 20 year old Fender Telecaster. It’s difficult to put into words but playing this guitar made me feel great. Everything I played on it sounded right and it felt like it was asking me to play, almost showing me what to play. This got me thinking about how many of the best times I’ve had on stage and in other creative contexts have felt easy and right, as if I was being guided to the best answer. I’ve certainly experienced the opposite, when everything is hard work and the final product isn’t very satisfying. I would say that the majority of stuff is right in the middle, fairly hard work and pretty satisfying. I think in a way I’m living for those rare moments when everything just works and feels good.

Coming up in April
05th April
Improv Wolves at The Swan Theatre, Worcester

23rd April
Noteworthy: The Made Up Musical at 1000 Trades, Birmingham

A quote I’ve been thinking about

The ego seeks to get, the soul seeks to give
Jay Douglas

In October I spent a fantastic weekend up in Edinburgh at Remix Festival with my friends in Noteworthy, attending workshops run by improv luminaries Pippa Evans, Katy Schutte, Will Naameh, Chris Grace and… bloody Josie Lawrence! Particularly special to meet Josie and improvise for her because I’ve got really lovely memories of watching Whose Line with my mom when I was quite small, and that was a big part of getting me into improv.

With Josie Lawrence

With Katy Schutte

With Pippa Evans

With Chris Grace

Noteworthy also got to perform a set on Saturday evening to a room full of great improvisers including aforementioned luminaries.

Photos by @motyl.photography

Just getting to do our thing in front of these improv masters was a real treat, having them say nice things about our work in the Noteworthy performance slot and during the various workshops was icing on the cake. I’m trying my best to live by the “what someone else thinks of me is none of my business” philosophy but I must admit it’s been a massive boost to get laughs and encouragement from improvisers I respect so much. Seeing them perform was massively inspiring too.

All in all, a lot learnt and a lot of fun had. Thanks Remix!

I had a really fun acting gig, playing characters from various literary settings for an American tour group visiting parts of England associated with books and writers. Characters I played included Doctor Watson, Calico Jack, Branwell Brontë and an 18th century smuggler.

It was a fun and challenging mix of improv and invisible theatre. Probably the trickiest but also most enjoyable day was playing Alfie, a Yorkshire farmer and Home Guard member visiting 2024 from a 1940 James Herriot type world. For this event we were in character for several hours, including sitting at dinner which is really quite hard when the people sat with you want to chat to you as an actor and make you break character…

“so how far do you live from London?”

“I live on a farm just down the road from here…”

“NO! The real you!”

Also in attendance were the director and two of the cast from Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small, so as well as the tour guests I was also sharing a table with the actors who play Herriot and Tristan, who I don’t think had been briefed about us being there in character which must have been quite confusing for them!

The tour combined my interests in improv, literature and history and I got to visit some really fantastic places in Yorkshire, Cornwall, London and Bristol. I had a fantastic time with the other actors and felt like we were doing good work to make a once in a lifetime tour a wonderful experience for the guests.

Photos by Sarah Becker

I’m a Birmingham Rep Theatre Foundry Artist!

Foundry is the Rep’s artist development programme, it started in April and continues for the rest of the year leading up to a 12 week co-creation project in a community setting. It’s been fascinating and pretty full on and is already giving me a lot to think about in terms of my practice, why I do what I do and how I could develop things. It’s wonderful to have a bit of validation from an organisation like the Rep and encouragement that what I do is interesting and of value. My fellow foundry artists are a massively talented and supportive bunch and the guests we’ve had in to work with us have all been superb. Can’t wait for more!

Improv Wolves have had quite a few shows recently.  Here’s a lesson in things working out but not quite in the way I expected… Improv Wolves did a show for Birmingham Comedy Festival last year. A woman who was running sessions about group facilitation for DWP saw that advertised and wanted to bring her students. The timings didn’t work out so instead she booked us to do a workshop and mini show for her before our evening gig. She lives in Deddington in Oxfordshire and booked me to do a workshop and the Improv Wolves to do a show there recently as well as a second workshop for her DWP project which all went very well. The interesting thing is that had we not done the gig for Birmingham Comedy Fest she would never heard of us and those 4 other bookings wouldn’t have happened.

Talking of improv comedy, here’s the debut of a new group I’m part of. The video and sound here is pretty appalling but you might find the group interesting…

Music wise I had a good time on the mini tour I did recently and I saw The Staves perform as they happened to be playing a show at a record store on a day I wasn’t gigging. I’m trying to get some nice opening slots/tour supports at the moment, but pretty much everyone is saying how hard it is to get people out to shows and there’s not much risk taking happening. I’m playing less music shows than I’m used to, which is some ways makes me feel uncomfortable but on the other hand all the shows I have played in the last year or so have been a lot of fun and given me an interesting perspective on my stuff. A few times mid set I’ve found myself thinking “this song is really good.” I never thought that way very much when I was playing shows all the time, it’s almost as if being a little less familiar with my songs has allowed me to see them in a different way.

I’m very excited to announce a Christmas show!

It will be my first hometown headline gig since before the pandemic. I’ll be playing songs from Homeworking plus a few of my favourite Christmas tunes. I also want to mark a fantastic year with my Improv Wolves friends and they have agreed to join in too. Profits going to British Heart Foundation. Join us!

Tickets available here

Tom has worked on English Folk Expo since its inception in 2012. In January 2018 he took on the newly created role of Chief Executive. During this time, Tom has overseen the expansion of the organisation, creating the artist mentoring programmes, developing industry training activity, launching the Official Folk Albums Chart, creating EFEx Digital and Folk Talk Academy, joining Manchester Folk Festival with EFEx, starting Rochdale Folk Festival, producing newly commissioned touring work, applying for charitable status, recruiting a first board and building the team.

Oliver Senton is an actor who has appeared in most forms of live and recorded work, from the mainstream (RSC, Chichester, Mamma Mia!, BBC Radio, TV staples like EastEnders, Casualty and Hollyoaks) to the highly alternative (work with Helen Chadwick, Nigel Charnock and the KLF; as a founder member of performance trio IROQIM; with Ken Campbell – from the 24-hour play cycle The Warp to esoteric impro troupe The School Of Night; and most extensively in recent years with Alan Lane and Slung Low). He is a founder member of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, teaches and leads workshops, directs, translates and improvises.

Gina Lyons is a producer with more than 18 years’ experience working in British comedy entertainment and scripted comedy. In 2018, she produced the pilot for In My Skin, which won a BAFTA Cymru award for Television Drama. More recently, she produced the BBC3 pilot for Dreaming Whilst Black (2021), which won creator Adjani Salmon a BAFTA for Emerging Talent: Fiction at the Television Craft Awards 2022.

Matt Lipsey is a TV director who has worked on such fantastic comedy shows as Ted Lasso, Inside No. 9, Intelligence, Saxondale, Little Britain, Psychoville and Upstart Crow.

He chats to Robert about collaboration, building a career in TV and working with writers and actors including Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Steve Coogan. He also discusses the importance of having a life outside of work.

Improv Wolves have been chatting to some radio people about their upcoming performances.

Paris Troy, BBC Bristol

Paul Shuttleworth, BBC Shropshire

Pat Marsh, BBC Kent

Jason Forrest, The Milk Bar Podcast

Dr. Randal Pinkett is an entrepreneur, innovator, and DEI expert. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of BCT Partners, a global research, training, and data analytics firm whose mission is to provide insights about diverse people that lead to equity.

An international public speaker, Dr. Pinkett is the author or co-author of Black Faces in High Places, Black Faces in White Places, Campus CEO, and No-Money Down CEO. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rutgers University; an M.S. in computer science from the University of Oxford; and an M.S in electrical engineering, plus an MBA and Ph.D. from MIT. The first African American to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University, he was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame as a high jumper, long jumper, sprinter, and captain of the Rutgers men’s track and field team. Dr. Pinkett was also the Season 4 winner of the reality television show, The Apprentice.

New podcast episode! It was a real thrill to talk to Kevin Kelly about creativity, AIs, 1000 true fans and his latest book Excellent Advice for Living which is a collection of 450 modern proverbs for a pretty good life.

Last week I won the Improv Maestro at Birmingham Improv at 1000 trades.

Excellent performers, lovely crowd!

Photo by Louise Stringer

Robert chats to actor, writer, singer and improviser Lucy Trodd about her work with Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, a baptism of fire with Ken Campbell, writing with Susan Harrison and parenting as a creative.

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I’m excited to share my latest post on ko-fi where I explore the relationship between failure and creativity. Failure can be discouraging, but it's a result of us being creative and vulnerable and should be welcomed. Check out the post and let me know your thoughts!

“Suffice to say I can accept it’s just an opinion, a matter of taste with no right or wrong answer. Maybe it’s justified, maybe not. I’m being vulnerable and presenting my honest self and I’m not that bothered if people don’t get it or like it. Save it for the people who do.”

Read the full post on ko-fi

I wrote an article about building a career in music. Read it on my ko-fi page

On the 1st of February I won the Birmingham Improv Maestro at 1000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter. It was a fantastic night with some very talented improvisers and a wonderful audience.

Thanks for having me!

The show happens on the first Wednesday of every month, I highly recommend going along.

Photo by Jon Trevor

3/4 of Improv Wolves chatted to Jason Forrest on The Milk Bar Podcast to promote their show at The Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton on the 3rd of March 2023. Mentions of Birmingham Improv, Wolverhampton Film Festival, The Light House Wolverhampton and discussion about the ethereal nature of improvised performances.
Tickets to the show at The Arena Theatre 3rd of March 2023
The Milk Bar Podcast

I’ve been sharing some reflections and thought pieces on my Ko-fi page recently. Here’s a bit from one about my worries that I’m trying to do too many things at once. To read the full thing please visit the page and send over a tip/donation…

I think my music has been hard for people to categorise. I’ve got a foot a bit in the folk world, but I’m not really wedded to it enough to be one of those names that a true folk fan knows about and sees on all the gig listings. People might like a particular thing I do or song I’ve written and then be surprised or even disappointed that an album I’ve made isn’t 12 songs in the same vein. I could have chosen one thing and gone with it, maybe I’d be an easier sell for festivals and radio shows. On the other hand, one of my favourite things people say to me after gigs or when they’ve listened to an album is how much they like the variety. Most of the bands and artists I like played around with styles and moods, and it’s just how I’ve experienced music as I’ve grown up and that comes out in my writing.

Here’s the link to the whole thing on Ko-fi

Midnight Ashes

A new project from Robert Lane and Emily Ewing.

First song is out this Friday, 6th of January.

It’s called Life is for Living and you can pre-save it… now!