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 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 MoreMy one-woman show(s)
Maggie Cassella called my bluff. After my second night performing at The McComedy Show (and having been at the Flying Beaver Pubaret for Topher McFarlane’s The GLAM! Pride Game Show Revue) Maggie, who runs the Flying Beaver, told me I should do a one-woman show there. I told her I was toying with the idea of a one-woman show. She told me I should email her the next day with a date. I did. It’s on. Fuckadoodle. Now I have to write the bastard. I have seven weeks. I want the show to...
Read MoreI’m pitching my movie at TIFF
Almost exactly a year ago my friends Annie Bradley and Daniela Saioni invited me to lunch. They said they had a proposition for me. Intrigued and excited I met them downtown at a private club filled with important-looking media types. I got nervous. Annie explained that she had an idea for a movie – a female ensemble comedy – and was putting together a team to help her create the story. Daniela was on board and so was Nikki Payne. She asked me if I’d be interested in joining...
Read MoresoulOtheatre recital: The Tale of the Little Princess
Twice a week for five weeks we met together and shared our stories. Six fabulous women plus the most incredible of them all: Tracey Erin Smith. Quite by chance at the beginning of November I happened to see Muniza Rauf-Miller’s post on Facebook, saying that there was one spot left in Tracey Erin Smith’s one-person show class at Second City. My gut told me I had to do it. My bank balance disagreed. It’s been an up-and-down year for the Wexes financially. Although The Railway...
Read MoreThe great iambic pentameter experiment
I thought I should give you an update on how my week’s worth of tweeting in iambic pentameter went. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Tweeting in verse, I read Stephen Fry‘s book The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within and was inspired to practice my iambic pentameter. Here are the results: I’m using Twitter in a brand new way. Expressing thoughts in poetry this week. I’m reading Stephen Fry’s amazing book… …The Ode Less Travelled which is...
Read MoreTweeting in verse
A couple of years ago I asked my husband to buy me a book. I’m a big fan of Stephen Fry and had seen his book The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within. Like a good husband he bought it for me and I promptly ignored it for many months. Then in the days running up to the monthly artists’ salon I attend (run by the delicious Inge Christensen) I suddenly felt the urge to write some poetry and I remembered the book I’d wanted so badly and never read. So yesterday afternoon...
Read MoreI booked Stand-Up Showdown again!
Hooray! This coming Tuesday (23rd June) I will be competing in my second Stand-Up Showdown. I came second the last time I was asked to be in the show. It’s at 8 o’clock at the Comedy Bar which is on Bloor at Ossington. 8 comics compete. There are 3 topics – all the competitors do a 2 minute set on the first topic (self-help books). Then 4 go through to the second round to do 3 minutes on the next topic (tribute bands). Only 2 survive to the final – 4 minutes on the last...
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.