Here is a quick update with as few emotional flourishes as possible. I may choose to embellish upon any of these at a later date. I may not.

The plays closed last week and went really well. Really well! I was even happier with my performance than I thought I'd be. It's nice to not have to spend my weekends in the theatre.

Emily is wonderful. But she never stops talking! New words and sentences every day. The verbal linking of ideas is quite impressive.

It is officially hot in Spain. Oy.

Looks like I'll be in another HP training video next month. Good for a laugh and very good for the bank account. I'll try not to swing my arm so much this time.

I got a call today from a recording studio that wants my voice for some sort of McDonald's thingy. I might not be available on the dates they want. I'll find out more tomorrow.

I'm off to England tomorrow morning with the family for five days in Jersey with Jan's mates. This marks the beginning of our Summer of Travel Extravaganza. Also known as: Get It In Now Before She Turns Two And You Have To Pay Full Fare.

And here are a few pix:

Well hello, Clarice

Take Time

Gaze

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While I attempt to recuperate from this weekend's theatrical extravaganza, here are a couple of videos of the little girl jumping - a favorite pastime here at the Zamrycki home.

Jump I depicts Emily and daddy taking turns climbing on the couch and jumping off, and even attempting the death-defying Jump Real High, all seen through the exclusive Bird's-Eye-View cam:

Jump II has Emily and mommy practicing the art of the couch jump in an attempt to perfect the subsequent landing, taking time out every three jumps to violently plow into the daddy cameraman:

Jump III does exist, but I couldn't be bothered to upload it. If anyone really needs more than the already displayed 7+ minutes of jumping, just let me know. I'll see what I can do.

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Two shows down, two to go. No time to write. No time to eat. No time to breathe...

Totally sold out our opening night. Great show. They were a bit taken aback by the second piece. Last night was a smaller audience but the laughed a lot more at the darker material. Both great nights. Very much looking forward to tonight which is selling very well and tomorrow which is almost sold out.

Here is a great piece written from an interview I gave to the Catalonia Today newspaper.

And here is a nice little preview in Life In Cities.

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Directing a play (especially one written by Christopher Durang) tends to affect your life in strange ways.

On Friday, my shopping list was as follows:

• a dirty old armchair
• 2 garbage pails large enough for me to fit inside
• a French maid's frilly apron
• a whip
• a large gold medallion
• white tights
• 15th century executioner's axe

Though not an easy task, I had successfully crossed all of those items off my list by Sunday.

I spent most of Saturday night looking for the perfect piano music that would insinuate a hotel on the French Riviera in the 1930's. This was, of course, after I had spent two solid hours listening to helicopters and harp music.

On Sunday, I made sure everyone was kicking, spitting on, slapping, and throwing my lead actress to the floor in more or less the same fashion. Consistency is highly underrated.

And tonight was spent atop a very tall and shaky ladder, hanging and focusing very old lights as they precariously dangled from rickety old iron beams.

Tomorrow is our tech rehearsal. I thought it would be a good idea to rehearse at least once with the lights and sound before we open on Thursday. Have you bought your tickets yet?

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 1:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As promised, here is the next video of the series. This time, we begin with our darling little girl narrowly escaping death in a misguided attempt to get her groove on.

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've got so many videos of Emily stockpiled that if I don't start posting them now I'm afraid she'll be in college before they ever see the light of day. In an attempt to not overwhelm anyone with sheer toddler cuteness, I'll start off slow and just post the one for now.

On a side note, Emily relates the exact same snorting sound with both pigs and her granddad in England (aka Dadda). The common answer to the question, "What does a pig say?" is "Chhhwww chhhwww [snorting sound]... dadda!". He snores quite impressively.

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've got no time to tell you about all the exciting and painful things going on in my life at the moment, so I leave you with some quick snapshots that have been waiting to be shared. Enjoy!

None Shall Pass

Cookie Push

The Getaway

Wet Feet

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dear friends,

Barcelona's Jocular Theatre is back with its latest outrageous production, "The Nature and Purpose of the Universe". You remember Jocular, don't you? The same irreverent English-language group that brought you "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", "All In The Timing" and "The Marriage of Bette & Boo". Anyway, this year's offering promises to be just as much fun and just as sharp.

Your appetizer at this jocular night of theatre, "The Actor's Nightmare", is a hilarious spoof detailing the plight of a stranger who is suddenly pushed on stage to replace an ailing actor. Your main course, "The Nature and Purpose of the Universe", is a dark comedy homage to the Book of Job in the Bible that will assault your sensibilities quickly and brutally, while appealing to a sick sense of humor that you almost wish you didn't possess. Both pieces are by the American playwright Christopher Durang.

Thursday, 12 June at 21:00 / 7 euros (save 3 euros!)
Friday, 13 June at 22:00 / 10 euros
Saturday, 14 June at 22:00 / 10 euros
Sunday, 15 June at 20:00 / 10 euros

at the Antic Teatre Riereta
c/ Reina Amalia 3, 08001 BCN
T 933 292 196
L3 Parallel or L2 Sant Antoni

You can purchase your ticket by contacting the theatre directly or via a member of Jocular Theatre. Though tickets will be on sale at the door, we encourage you to please book your tickets in advance as our shows do tend to sell out and we don't want to have to turn you away at the door.

We must be good, we've got our own web site!
www.joculartheatre.com

Feel free to forward this to anyone you think may appreciate a twisted night of comedic theatre in English.

Thank you,

Joshua Zamrycki
Director, Jocular Theatre

The Nature and Purpose of the Universe

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd like to share a short photo-journey through our lovely day at the beach from last week. Emily had never been on a bicycle before and was ecstatic when we proposed the idea of renting one. She was even keen to wear a helmet (most of the time), which she dutifully called a "hat".

Speed Racer

We only rented the bikes for an hour, but that was just enough time to ride a couple of kilometers up the coast and back, stare out over the surprisingly crowded beaches, and emphatically call out the names of everything we recognized along the way: sea, beach, ball, cloud, kite, dog, etc.

Which way to the beach?

Even though she was on the back of my bike, I could still tell which way Emily was looking because her helmet would bounce off my back every time she turned her head. And then she would exclaim, "Daddy's back!" and pat me. Jan was left unfettered to ride circles around us and show off her stuff.

Grace

After we returned the bikes, we headed down to the beach for duck-shaped sand castles, a giddy round of "run into the sea but run out before a wave touches your feet", and dirty sand tickle wrestling. A good time was had by all.

Sandy smiles

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember when I said I was cast in a film called Paintball but didn't know anything about it? Well I know all about it now. Here are the relevant bits.

Spanish production company Filmax to shoot this horror/thriller in English here in Barcelona from May 20 through June 20. I have three days of shooting. Paintball. Murder. Mystery. Shaky cam. Lots of blood.

There are five lead roles. I am not one of them. My character's name, as previously mentioned, is Player 2. This turns out to be a much more interesting part than Player 1, so that's cool. And I do have lines! Five very emotional, aggressive, adrenaline-riddled mini-speeches where a few of the lead characters have to literally pin me down to stop me from going totally ballistic. That's very cool. Oh, and did I mention that I only speak Polish? WHAT?!?! Yeah, I only learned this fairly important bit of information last week. Talk about a challenge.

I received the script last week but it was all in English. I just received my lines translated into Polish today. My first day of shooting is this Thursday. That doesn't leave a lot of time to perfect my Polish accent or memorize my lines. Here is the first of my five lines:

Zwariowalas? Co ty kurwa zrobilas? Zabilas ja! Przeciez to tylko gra! Ja pierdole! Ona naprawde nie zyje! Co ci strzelilo do glowy? Wiesz co teraz bedzie?

By the way, the five main characters are all supposed to be American. Four of them are played by British actors. The fifth is Spanish. Go figure.

Posted by Joshua Zamrycki at 1:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)