It’s going to be hard taking a hiatus from my theatre company and not producing any shows this year. Thank goodness someone else is taking up the reins. James and Josie (both featured in my last production, Fuddy Meers) have decided to co-produce a show this spring and I couldn’t be happier! James is set to direct and Josie will act. There isn’t enough quality theatre in English here in Barcelona and I know they’ll do a great job of it.

They haven’t decided on which play to do yet so, as part of the selection process, a small gaggle of actors convened at James’ place to read through a couple of scripts tonight. There really is nothing like a civilized play reading on a Friday night with copious quantities of olives, fuet, chocolate, and wine. First we read The Wonderful World of Dissocia by Anthony Neilson – very much a mentally ill Alice In Wonderland but with more sex and violence. Fun! Then we read Betrayal by Harold Pintor – stark and fierce, this is Pintor at his gut-wrenching finest.

As an actor, I would love to work on either of these pieces – Dissocia for its wacky dark fun, or Betrayal for its meaty depth and subtext. As a director, it’d have to be Dissocia. I just prefer directing comedies.

James and Josie have got a couple other plays that are in the running so we may have another play reading sometime soon. But it had better be very soon since they’ve got to start casting the play in a few weeks if they want to be ready for the June dates that they’ve already booked with the theatre. I’m gutted that I don’t think I’ll be available to audition seeing as how my family will need me at home whenever possible in the upcoming months. I’m still very happy that English theatre lives on in Barcelona.