Write Club Toronto – Chapter Six
When I first saw Write Club I knew I wanted to do it. The divine Catherine McCormick invited me to come see the show and asked if me and Wex would like to go head-to-head against each other. Unfortunately he’s waiting to do the edits on his new book, so we needed to find another competitor…. Daniela Saioni is a worthy opponent. A co-creator and producer of The WBI we know each other well. She was one of my first true friends in Toronto and I look forward to kicking her ass next...
Read MoreStarting off by getting specific about my debt
It hurts a little bit to get specific with my debt numbers because I’m embarrassed, but it’s actually way better than I thought, so here goes….. Each month as part of the Austerity Rill program I’m going to document how much of my debt I’ve managed to get rid of. Which means knowing how much I started with. Here are the numbers as they stand today: TD Canada Trust credit card – $2,789.89 TD Canada Trust line of credit – $2,061.06 UK Virgin credit card...
Read More2013 – the year of living carefully
In 2013 I will pay off my consumer debt – two credit cards (one here and one in the UK) and a line of credit. I was wasting time on Pinterest in mid-December when I came upon an article called 56 Things To Do Instead of Spending Money. This led me to And Then We Saved – a blog started by Anna Newell-Jones when she decided to do a Spending Fast for a whole year. The Spending Fast involved spending money on nothing except necessities (food, rent, utilities, bus fare and, in...
Read MoreTrue Stories, Made Up Plays
Sage Tyrtle prefaced her request for me to perform on her show with “I know you don’t like improv, but…..” I should explain…..when I was in the UK I made most of my mortgage money (yes, I could afford a mortgage in those days) doing improv in the corporate training environment. For many years I worked alongside real humans (i.e. not trained performers) playing the part of a nightmare customer, annoying colleague or bullying boss, or perhaps an interview candidate...
Read MoreStorytelling at Caplansky’s in a podcast
It wasn’t my first interview about Storytelling at Caplansky’s. And I hope it won’t be my last. Graham MacDonald is a polite young man (Jesus, I sound old) who has been to the show a couple of times. This particular week he brought his recording equipment with him and asked if he could record the storytellers. I told him that that was fine by me, but he would have to check with each individual storyteller to confirm that they were okay with that. For the record – I hate...
Read MorePost Solo Show Glow
It’s taken me a while to blog about my solo stand-up show (a month) but that’s because I’m still processing the awesomeness…. On Friday 26th October I performed my first solo stand-up show This Much I Know to a packed house at the Flying Beaver Pubaret. I was nervous as hell but the show went well, I filled a full hour and the crowd were appreciative, vocal and gave me a standing O at the end. Heather and Maggie at the Flying Beaver made everything run so...
Read MoreWhat if money didn’t matter?
It’s Thanksgiving in the States today. I’m grateful for my lifestyle, even though it doesn’t include a lot of money. I saw this on Facebook. It reminded me why I’m an actor, why I don’t own a house, why I live modestly and why I love my life. And why money is not the most important thing. A few weeks ago I began experimenting with my schedule. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings I write. For 3 hours. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I promote myself as a...
Read MoreMy first solo show sold out!
I did it! I sold out the show. Five days ahead of time. I am unreasonably excited. And properly scared. Which I think is appropriate for your first solo stand-up show. Right now I’m finessing a couple of jokes and running my material ready for Friday night. According to the data from Brown Paper Tickets the audience will be just the right mix of fans who know my material, friends who’ve never seen my stand-up before and complete strangers. I’m very grateful to Maggie Cassella...
Read MoreMarilla who?
I am a British-born actress and stand-up comic who does lots of voice work (for commercials, cartoons and corporate clients) and sometimes, when I'm very lucky, tv and film. When I was in England I did mostly theatre. Now I'm in Canada I spend the majority of the time writing and performing stand-up. When I'm not producing and mcing Storytelling at Caplansky's, that is. And that's me for you.