March 2014

In the last 6 months, I've become a Twitter fiend. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me. Life is change, huh? So I've suspended this Blog in favour of my Twitter feed. It's only a click away. See the teeny logo on the left? Catch you there.

October, 2013

Busy, busy and indeed very busy. Have almost finished writing "Listen, We're Family" (as mentioned in my most recent Phone Call). Rehearsals are imminent, with a wonderful cast including Isy Suttie (Peep Show), Maggie Steed (National Theatre and RSC) and Tom Berish (incredible young actor most recently seen at the Tricycle Theatre and Watford Palace) and me.

Gotta run. There's much more here, in my first Huffington Post Blog:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/../../kerry-shale/the-jewish-thing_b_4071668.html

August, 2013

Following on from my June blog, my co-writer Matthew Lloyd and I have been dashing around London interviewing people for our project Listen, We're Family, a verbatim play that opens on 10 November at JW3 on Finchley Road. Less than three months, folks.

We're still compiling material about the interior lives of Jewish families. Our interviewee yesterday, who grew up in Ruislip, told us about his father's penchant for making and distributing spanking videos. And his subsequent murder. It was eloquently remembered and strangely moving. I suspect it will be a surprising addition to an evening that will probably focus on more mainstream (but no less interesting) concerns. Even odder is the fact that I'll be the actor playing him on the night. So as his words tumbled out of his mouth, I realised that they'd be tumbling back into my ears (via earphones) in a few month's time.

In June, I recorded readings for a wonderful Radio 4 series, Lucy Kellaway's History of Office Life. I travelled to Budapest to film one last scene in The Centenarian. I recorded the new Jack Reacher book by Lee Child, Never Go Back. I did tons of Impro. I provided a spaceman voice for a Waitrose telly advert. There were video game sessions, Thomas the Tank Engine sessions and other sessions. A bit of a blur, quite frankly.

Things came into focus in early August, when I re-joined Saturday Review on Radio 4. We were lucky to see Southcliffe before it went out: stunning. And unlucky to sit through Only God Forgives (or to give its full title Only God Forgives Such Massive Self-Indulgence). I'm not sure he does, actually.

A few days ago, I recorded a Book of The Week for Radio 4, Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter by Alyn Shipton. Wonderful to be involved. I've been a big fan of the man since I was a long-haired freak (a while ago now). Got to do Nilsson, of course, plus John and Paul, Jimmy Webb and others. It goes out from 26 August.

More soon (ish).

June, 2013

Flick, flick, flick through the Filofax (yes, I still use cut-down trees to organise my life). What have I been doing for the past few months? Aside from reviewing on radio and television, video games, audio books, advert voice-overs, radio plays, video games, Apps, standing in for Jeremy Piven when he can't make it to a Mr Selfridge reading, documentary narration, radio features and did I mention video games?

I recorded an episode of Radio 4's A Good Read which goes out on 18 June and 21 June. What could be more Radio 4 than chatting about favourite books? The other guest was film critic Antonia Quirke. Our discussion may have been a bit more free-ranging than most. Topics covered included child abuse, repressed sexuality in a born-again Christian community, the pitfalls of short poetry and fart humour amongst the Iraqi marsh Arabs. Not sure if the last one will make the cut, so to speak. Tune in here. It's on-line for the next year!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x7t3y

I have been doing a huge amount of Improvisation, mainly in the form of classes and workshops with a few actual performances here and there. I love the process and will be looking to become part of a fully-functioning Impro group at some point. But it's harder (much) than it looks. It's not unlike learning a musical instrument. I can play in tune but need to work on my tone. The best place to study Impro in London is here:

http://www.hooplaimpro.com/

I'm signed up to co-star in a short film, shooting this summer. It's called Incognito and is written by award-winner Jeremiah Quinn, who will also direct. The story concerns two middle-aged men meeting for coffee and cake at a cafe in Buenos Aires in 1960. One is downtrodden and paranoid (me), the other is wealthy and seemingly carefree. They are both Nazi war criminals. Oh, there's also a severe but sexy waitress played by a wonderful Argentinian actress. There will be much more on this soon, but for now here's a photo of my character. Not the sort of fellow you'd want to meet in a dark alley.

In the autumn, I will be writing a verbatim stage play with Matthew Lloyd, former Artistic Director of The Actor's Centre and Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre and The Royal Exchange. It's early days. We will start interviewing subjects this summer and begin writing in September. The project (with a cast of four) will open in November at JW3, the new Jewish Centre on Finchley Road. It's the first drama commission they've undertaken, so no pressure... The subject is Jewish families and the conflicts within them. As the actors will be wearing headphones and performing their dialogue exactly as they hear it, we're calling the piece Listen: We're Family. 

http://www.jw3.org.uk/

Till next time...

March, 2013

I've been Saturday Reviewing, and Review Showing and contributing to The Curse Of The Confederacy of Dunces, a fascinating Radio 4 feature; I provided readings and an interview. As usual, I've been adding character voices to the world-conquering animation series Thomas and Friends. My most recent TV voice-over was this rather amusing advert for the USA/CANADA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAW7iWhjJbU 

But the thing that's been floating my boat in 2013 is Impro ("Improv" in the States, "Improvisation" for those who prefer the longform). It's taken over any free time I might once have had. I've been consumed with drop-ins and workshops and eventually hope to get back into gigging.

I've made contact with old Impro buddies from my Theatresports days in the late 80's and early 90's. Heady times: we ran a weekly late night slot at The Donmar Warehouse before it got itself poshed up. This week, I'm do a bit of playing around with these lovely people:

http://www.shootfromthehipcomedy.co.uk/

More on this next time...

mid-Feb 2013

"Show business is dog-eat-dog. It's worse than dog-eat-dog. It's dog-doesn't-return-other-dog's-phone-calls. Which reminds me. I should check my answering service." - Woody Allen said it and now I've stolen it as the title of my new revamped BLOG.

Lots of action since last last time. First of all, I've learned to love Twitter (@kerryshale). It took many months to get it, like it ... and even love it. What a wonderful way to waste time. Thank you, Internet Gods for introducing me to ridiculous delights like: http://www.youtube.com/user/BadLipReading

I've been reviewing all manner of books, films, theatre and exhibitions for Radio 4's Saturday Review and am currently prepping for my live appearance on BBC2's The Review Show on 1st March. Blogging and Tweeting are fun ways of avoiding my work, so as soon as this is published it's back down to the comfy sofa for a few more chapters of this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Give-Me-Everything-You-Have/dp/0374219079/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

This blogging stuff is hard for a freelance actor. I tend to forget a job, good bad or indifferent, as soon as I finish it. You gotta keep moving forward, like Woody's proverbial shark, or you die. Looking back on the last few weeks, the highlights were:

a couple of nights working on this terrific new British film, Hello Carter:
http://www.sainou.com/kerry-shale-films-hello-carter/

recording a BBC Book of the Week, Far From The Tree:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/09/far-from-the-tree.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/09/far-from-the-tree.html

I was interviewed for a BBC Radio 4 feature about the difficulties in making a film version of John Kennedy Toole's nutty and never equalled cult novel A Confederacy of Dunces. I also read some extracts from the book. The programme is called The Curse of Confederacy and goes out on 11 March at 11 am. C of D was my first adaptation job. My solo version of the novel ran 2 and a half hours and damn near killed me. It was worth it.

My acting agent has just rung with an audition, so must finish...

Late December

It's been such a busy month, a bit more typing is required.

As mentioned in my early December blog, a funny and spooky Roald Dahl playlet The Way Up To Heaven, goes out during Radio 4's Women's Hour on Christmas Day and again at 7:45 pm that evening. I co-star with the evergreen Lorelei King.

Also following on from early December, I have started to record the first 26 episodes of the rather fab animation series "Four And A Half Friends". I play the slightly portly but very endearing fourteen year old below on the left - and also his trusty dog. Of course. I played Gnasher for a number of years in the now-classic BBC children's series Dennis The Menace.

I paid another visit to Radio 4's Saturday Review where we panelists were none too kind to mega-success The Hobbit. I forgot to mention that Martin Freeman is always good, no matter what dodgy Dwarf-infested world he finds himself in.

And I played a cameo in an ambitious British Sci-fi Thriller this week. The title is Dreck but don't let that put you off. It should be terrific. For one thing, it stars my hunky but brainy pal Elliot Cowan, who became a new Dad during the filming. I play a sleazy television talk show host, interviewing a mysterious mega-billionaire (played by Battlestar Gallactica's James Callis). James, sometimes typecast as bad guys, is a pussycat in real life.

A screen shot from the film: