January 2012
4 posts
“Last Christmas, I slept in a park;
And the very next day I was carried away....”
– Cuts
by Tom Markham
“So here it is, merry Christmas
But I’m stranded for the night.
The whole thing...”
– Stuck for the Night at Marylebone
by Tom Markham
“Sing für mich
Sing für dich
Sing doch
endlich
hat’s geklappt obwohl war‘s...”
– Sing
by Tom Markham
September 2011
16 posts
““Give us money; give us time.”
Don’t make me hold the line....”
– Growing Up
by Tom Markham
“This poem remains unwritten.
The words it contains unsaid.
Its meaning...”
– Tom Markham
Columbus' Cock and Ball Theory
I was walking, talking (to myself), and as I walked, talking (about me versus wealth), I spotted a cow. Now, cows aren’t - not that they can’t - predisposed to repose upon any of the rows of pretty little (pitiful) fences lining the terraces along which - still not rich - I walk, talking, to me (if only he would heed). This reclining bovine’s fine shape, smiling face, and...
Househunting and Testicles
Househunting. Such a common phrase it has now been trunkated to one word. Such a universally feared and loathed term it has been identified as one of the six main causes for Bubonic Plague. Such a necessary evil it is unavoidable when one needs to relocate oneself and possessions. However, really, it’s not so bad if one is looking forward to moving and experiencing something new.
Estate...
1 tag
“If some butler being in-keep,
buttled away the washing bowl,
I would...”
– The Bowl
by Andy Balmer
1 tag
Tangled Up In Ed
The small man sat as if in fear That someone else would see him here Among the darkened figures that Lurked and watched him in his flat; That smirked and joked if ever he Dared to even think to leave And see the world he knew was there Just out the door and down the stair. It might be in his cereal, Prone-to-fire material, Falling bricks, a haemorrhage, Killer bees, an exploding fridge, Riotous...
2 tags
“Came the soldiers, burly men,
All armour, bang, and bustle them.
With office...”
– Old Debtor by Tom Markham and its sequel The Remaining Two by Andy Balmer and the sequel to that Fetch My Lawyer by Tom Markham
Now, we’re surely missing characters; there are plotholes, damn it; and, of course, we need some more jokes so we invite you to write your own sequel/spin-off and...
Ed's Kinesics and my Potatoes
Ed’s stopped dreaming about Kevin Spacey and is now experimenting with teleportation. He recently managed to coalesce in the kitchen at the exact moment that I was jabbing a finger at society and telling it that it was the reason my baked potato was undercooked. This foray into futuristic matter transferral - in this case, Ed and his preferred homo sapien form, his corpus Edi - led to...
1 tag
““They killed the king!”
“They what the whom?”...”
– Fetch My Lawyer
by Tom Markham
You can join in this storypoem by sending in your own piece - expand on this story and the pieces below that began it; anything you like that fits and in any style you wish - to tmarkham@ceptiontheatre.co.uk and I’ll post it here to continue this epic tale of...
August 2011
17 posts
1 tag
“A price of them would be demanded,
for returning empty handed.
Thus they took...”
– The Returning Two
by Andy Balmer
In response to the poem posted 11th August. Andy felt the two who survived had a story of their own and now the Prince is dead! You can join in this storypoem by sending in your own piece - expand on this story with the wives of the mercenaries, or the truth...
5 tags
A Girthy Day
Yesterday was an immense day. A really big day. One of the girthier of days. It was big fat Friday. Breakfast was a bagel and an apple; lunch was a bagel, an apple, a pasty, and two baked potatoes covered in melty cheese(!); and dinner was…four and a half roasted peanuts. The midnight snack turned out to be a bagel, too, though, which was tasty. However, where our meals might have...
1 tag
“Came the soldiers, burly men,
All armour, bang, and bustle them.
With office...”
– Tom Markham
6 tags
Camden Fringe: Day 6 - 'The Endening'
Probably the best night of the entire run. Ever-innovative, our actors responded brilliantly to the audience (just under fifty people, I think) and wove beautiful emotion into every scene. I have enjoyed watching it every night and this one was probably my favourite.
The audience included yet more of our various families and even Ryan’s mafia contacts (aunt and uncle) had turned up, too,...
5 tags
Camden Fringe: Day Five - 'Chalk the Streets'
We’d been pursuing a policy of maximum publicity. We’d acquired a very large banner from the Fringe Femme Superior and hung it across the entrance to our park. We’d drawn chalk pictures, written chalk instructions, and hinted at chalky rewards for every walker of Camden High Street and Pratt Street. We’d even cajoled a young author (previously minding her own business in...
3 tags
9 tags
Camden Fringe: Day Four - 'Mad Bastards'
Our rest day was moderate to exceptionally poor. I don’t want to talk about it.
Disappointed face.
However, it was showtime again and we kicked off with more setbacks for our mentat Ryan to solve in his indomitable manner. Someone had taken all of the posters down from their perches in the park - posters that our friends the very friendly Friends of St Martin’s Garden (friends of...
2 tags
1 tag
“A graceful parabola draws the comet,
Delighting the rabble that fawns upon it,...”
– Tom Markham
Camden Fringe: Day Three - 'The Overcrowdening'
Another awesome day. Flyering went well and the whole lunching mass in the park received little A5 rectangles of Ryan’s excellent photomanipulation work. We lunched again by the canal and dipped our toes into the rugweed of Camden’s waterway, all the while looking forward to our evening’s performance.
Our actors arrived and donned their outfits later in the afternoon. ...
Camden Fringe: Day Two - 'The Crowdening'
The Crowdening
A great mass of people turned up to watch our outdoor show last night. There were families; twenty-somethings; solo oldies; couples; bohemian German hitchhikers… We were very nearly at maximum capacity, captain.
66 faces gathered on the grass around our stage.
Making 125 over the two nights so far. That’s a lot of eyes and ears (I’d calcumalate but sometimes...
Camden Fringe: Day One - 'Flapjack Save Us'
We woke up; Ryan had tonsilitis.
He pilled up and we considered breakfast. The powerbrunch was abandoned, partly due to the third member being unable to attend, partly due to the fact that Ryan was a little too ill to make it. Flapjack - it was swiftly decided - would be the fuel for the day and we felt better in the knowledge. We left for Camden around midday, all the while ready for the set to...
The Hell is 'Ception?
Theories abound.
Yet one goes that it describes the possibilities in an imaginative universe. Quite simply, the word is from the Latin basic root cipere, which can mean all sorts of things with almost any preposition - con, pro, de, ex…etc.
That’s the etymology, anyway.
We wanted to provide the very same potential of expression and, thanks to evolution of language and lack of...
July 2011
7 posts
Little Bear: Reloaded (Director's Cut)
Tomorrow is Monday. Tomorrow, Ception Theatre Ltd springs into the Camden Fringe and invades St Martin’s Garden for its dramatic purpose. At 1900, the show will begin and by 2000 it will be over and the sun, ever gliding down to rest under the earth, will shine in over the playspace to illuminate it for a few final minutes.
Naturally, we discussed this arrangement at length with the...
'Cupdate: Camden Fringe Launch Party
As another week wends its way Wednesday-ward we’re celebrating. We’ve been at business meeting after lunch conference after train chat every day so far and things have moved forward at an incredible pace. Soon we’ll have a production team ready for constructing Little Bear 3.0, which will begin a UK tour in late spring 2012.
We’d like to thank Chris Walsh, our producer,...
End of the IYAF
We had our last performance at the IYAF yesterday and it was excellent, if a little early in the morning for theatre audiences at 1030! Yet after a lovely lunch we were all set to think about how to make the show ready for performance in the round at Camden’s St Martin’s Garden.
The company after us in the slot was ByMoonlight, who did a hilarious piece called Survivors, all about...
Ception Theatre Ltd
Today saw the establishment of Ception Theatre as a private limited company.
Tomorrow shall see a great deal more.
8 tags
The Morning After
Our first show went marvellously! Well done to the cast - Laura Markham, Sean Hammond, Michelene Maris, and Ed Badham! And thank you to the production team - writer Ryan Sullivan, producer Chris Walsh, and Michaela ‘Misbehaviour’ Mullins, who is Chris’ padawan learner.
The IYAF was a grand chuckle and we had a good and active day hours before the performance. Our little skit...
June 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Live Streaming at Camden
We attended a meeting today at the Shaw Theatre all about how the Camden Fringe is offering to film and broadcast all of the shows live as they’re happening. A fantastic idea and if they conquer the logistics then it’ll be quite a success.
So we’re in. The show will be available as a pay-per-view and then after the Fringe for download. Or you can come and watch it for free in...
Little Bear at the IYAF
Hullo, world. For Ception Theatre this is our first tussle with Tumblr and it begins with an end. We have completed the first course of rehearsals for Little Bear that culminates in our performances at the IYAF in Kingston this weekend and we are very much looking forward to seeing the script given life in front of an audience.
Also, today we crossed the 250% mark on the crowd funding site...
