"Far more embarrassing, surely, is the fact that Reform UK has not replaced its candidate. Multiple newspapers and the campaign group Hope Not Hate have all been able to claim scoops simply be trawling Robert Kenyon’s social media history. This is not a good sign." Latest column, on Makerfield etc

This month's post...Marcia Lucas, workshops, trying to keep the faith substack.com/home/post/p-...

between the weather and the bank holiday and the president threatening genocide, I am finding it mighty hard to get back into the swing of work, I must say

Girl, are you a trans-lunar injection burn cause you’re escaping my orbit at a speed of approximately 24,500 to 25,000 mph

Was haunted by Columbia, I’ll never forget the newspaper front pages with a photo of a charred helmet in a Texan field. But…I also have thought of this at random points in the last twenty years and it is silly and strange and poignant all at once

I’m afraid humans going into space will always be astonishing to me and I feel grateful to be alive and emotionally invested in this era before the inevitable McDonalds on the Moon stage

Right. I'm back. open.substack.com/pub/patelogr...

Not much has changed since last year. Except that...I'm bringing my Patelograms newsletter back. First post this weekend. Will be nice to talk at you all but in a longer format.

Devastating to learn that famously very good play Arcadia is, in fact, very good

It begins

We asked d/Deaf actors and BSL interpreters to tell us all about how they use sign language on stage. What’s it like, translating written English to BSL? Or trying to sign for multiple characters at once? Or interpreting the dense poetry of Shakespeare, or how a song is being sung in a musical?

"I'm flying!"

The Spirit of Cricket isn’t found on the field - it’s found on a random square outside a pub after a game finishes early where disappointed fans - strangers all - join together to bowl a few overs at a lad clutching a thermos as a bat

Because I’ve misheard the lyrics since childhood I’ve only now realised that Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero” is about escaping the Thunderdome from Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome

Playwrights! Screenwriters! Friends of playwrights and screenwriters! If you're in London on the 24th July PLEASE join us for a #SupportPlaywrightsSummerSocial at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. Pls share.

the Fantastic Four cast get asked about their own personal fantastic four, which leads to some canned niceties from pascal, kirby and quinn, and an insanely he knows ball answer from ebon.

FOOTBALL!!!

Watched The Phoenician Scheme (at a dog friendly screening, yes) and then for some reason came home and double-biller it with The French Connection and boy was that some tonal whiplash

Oh wow! Finally getting Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo over here (and directed by Omar Elerian which is A Good Call)

For the late night crowd, stayed up to finish recaps on THE FINAL ANDOR EPISODES - and holy cow, what a poetic, spy-filled, thoughtful, measured, exciting and emotionally poignant series. I am stunned (and can't wait to watch Rogue One in context, that'll come soon) www.patreon.com/posts/128920...

Happy Andor finale day! Revisiting my old piece about Rogue One again and the me from 9 years ago would've been delighted with how that film lead to such terrific television vinayskpatel.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/r...

I say this not as a slam, but as idle thought: I wonder if I am emotionally (if not professionally) sanguine about AI in the scriptwriting world because I don’t know how it feels materially different to a few people writing what seems like everything?

Would love to do this white smoke business for when I finish a script instead of having a deadline

Think “rebooting” Threads is somehow bleaker than Threads itself www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Nothing dates Glengarry Glen Ross more than the apparent reluctance of Patels to buy property

Netanyahu is a war criminal

Fellas, is it a Supporting Actor role if you’re one of two people on the poster?

Niche politics/theatre fact for you… Keir Starmer met Steve Reed in the Royal Court bar in July 2019 to talk leadership bid. Jack Thorne’s “The End of History” was playing then. Its blurb? “When you’ve named each of your offspring after your socialist heroes, you’ve given them a lot to live up to”

Bit on the nose

Thesis Antithesis Synthesis

(I feel very old)

I guess getting rid of all the posh folks and splitting the money is praxis? #TheTraitors

Why did Frankie not just say “why would I have revealed myself as a traitor to Charlotte?” Did I miss something? #TheTraitors

Do they…really think there were like 4 traitors left last week? This is nuts #TheTraitors

Alexander worked for Bain Capital so I doubt he needs the money. If he gets punted out, it’s all good. A long side-career on Cameo awaits #TheTraitors

Ahhh the lovely moment where tension is gone and now it’s innocent people going for each other like rats in a bag #TheTraitors

#TheTraitors

For anyone who remembers me posting photos of my lovely Ba, here she is as a young woman with my grandfather. I feel uncertain about what it means to be able to have your entire life documented from birth for death but I’m always grateful for the photos at least

Conference

Me, writing the script in December: “Be nice to give this character a happy ending where she becomes a playwright!” Me, re-writing the script in January: “…is that a happy ending?”

What’s an aggressively normie phrase/piece of life advice (of the “live, laugh, love” variety) that you’ve actually found profoundly meaningful?

Richard Schechner in shambles etc. The language of participation is so powerful from a marketing POV that it overwhelms the need to be honest with audiences. I wish companies would realise you can deliver challenging, surprising experiences AND be open.

The Passengers. Fascinating to watch (if slightly overshadowed by the woman in the audience who I think was On Something who constantly slow-clapped loudly and cheered and refused to leave when asked - DRAMA!)

If it makes you feel better about your apparently Blue Mondays, I’ve spent the last hour and a half dealing with a long-haired cat who’s got a bout of diarrhoea

Alexander’s reaction there like a guy who’s had to pretend he supports a football team that just lost #TheTraitors