2011 – an amazing year!
2011 was an incredible year for me professionally for many reasons. At the beginning of January I was looking forward to returning to London, Ontario to play Madge Larrabee in the Grand Theatre‘s production of Sherlock Holmes, the Final Adventure. I was delighted to have something in the pipeline. In the second week of January my agent called and said that I had an audition for The Railway Children. Rehearsals would start two weeks after Sherlock Holmes closed. It was too good to be...
Read MoreIn the news again
The Brantford Comedy Festival is in the news again! This article appeared in Brant News today. And I get a mention – hooray! I dunno, all this media attention could go to a girl’s head. First The Sputnik and now Brant News – where will it end? I had a blast tonight opening for Tom Green at Chrysalids Theatre in Kitchener. The audience were very responsive and Tom is a super-nice guy. I can’t wait to do it again in Niagara Falls tomorrow night and on Saturday night in...
Read MoreThe Railway Children makes it to its 100th show!
Despite having got our two weeks’ notice last week, there was still cause for celebration yesterday when the Toronto production of The Railway Children reached its 100th show. It’s been an interesting journey – working in a tent with no hot running water, dealing with the heat when the sun beats down on a few hundred square feet of plastic, smelly chemical toilets and audience members passing out or throwing up – but this is a show that we’re all very, very proud...
Read MoreThe Roundhouse Theatre takes shape
Today the cast of The Railway Children were introduced to the Roundhouse Theatre and Vicky the steam train for the first time. We were all blown away by the space and the train and the scale of everything. I admit it – I had a little cry in the theatre! It’s gigantic – but Damian Cruden, our director, assured us that the theatre feels very intimate despite its size. After our tour of the theatre we got to actually go on the train! Needless to say we’re all very...
Read MoreStorytelling at Caplansky’s Deli
When Zane Caplansky sent me a Facebook message asking me to call him, I was puzzled. Was he mad that I hadn’t been into the restaurant since he introduced the new beef ribs? All became clear when I phoned and he asked if I’d be interested in hosting a new storytelling event he was planning for Sunday nights in the restaurant. I was delighted – I love to MC – and I knew that there was someone very close to me who was a champion storyteller who needed to be involved....
Read MoreWest End Girls gets a shout-out from Humber College
Daniela Saioni, StandUp Sister and Humber graduate, gets a shout out from the Humber College journalism program laboratory newspaper for her work in creating one of my favourite chick-centric stand-up rooms in the city of Toronto. I found that there were a lot of programmed shows and a lot of open mics, but not a lot of them were programming women…I have a token male on for two reasons – not only because I’m making fun of the way it is in clubs but I also want them to know what it...
Read MoreSherlock Holmes rehearsals are a blast
We’re into week two of rehearsals for Sherlock Holmes and I’m having a ball. The cast are all seasoned actors – most have worked at Stratford or the Shaw festival – which makes rehearsing an extremely pleasurable and fun time. The last few shows I’ve done have had a lot of recent graduates from drama school and it’s a very different experience working with older turns who have been around the block a few times. There’s also a fellow-Brit in the company...
Read More2011 is going to be a great year!
It didn’t start off so well…. Over Christmas I was working in upstate New York (I’m the co-director of the children’s program at Klezkamp – the largest Yiddish cultural festival in the world) when my bag was stolen from the hotel. My laptop, Blackberry, wallet and other stuff was gone. Needless to say I was gutted. But at the end of the day – it’s just stuff. It took me a couple of weeks to get a replacement laptop and my good friend Becky Bays gave me...
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 making episodes of Talking Bollocks, that is. And that's me for you.