Rope - Opens 24th February 2017

RoPE

A PLAY BY PATRICK HAMILTON

"I have done murder. I have committed murder. I have committed passionless, motiveless, faultless, and clueless murder. Bloodless and noiseless murder." - Wyndham Brandon.

For the mere sake of adventures, danger, and the "fun of the thing" Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak-minded friend, Charles Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, a perfectly harmless man named Ronald Kentley. They place the body in a wooden chest, and to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead youth's father, to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper grows outside, the guests leave, and we see the reactions of the two murderers, watched closely by the suspecting lame poet, Rupert Cadell.  It's a murder mystery in the context of you know who did it and why they did it, but will they get caught?

Rope first produced and published in 1929, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and remains to this day one of the classics of the thriller genre.

Cast: 6 male, 2 female.

I think what interests me the most about this play is how two young people can commit such a terrible crime and feel like they can get away with it. It's not like a murder mystery where someone has been murdered and the murderer and their reasons for doing what they did is revealed at the end, you know who did it and why they did it and the threat of exposure could come at any point, it's interesting to watch characters reaction to that and it will be interesting to see how the audience react to it as well. The chase is on!

The main thing I love about doing a play is the rehearsal time because that's 80% of the whole process, the cast really get to delve into their characters and discussing things over, that's when things start to come off the page and as soon as you've set it, it all becomes a lot easier. 

It's a joy to come to rehearsals and watch the cast work their magic because all of them come from different backgrounds, have got their own experiences and have particular set of skills which they bring to the play. 

I'm thrilled to be working on Rope, so please, come and see this fantastic play!

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW: http://www.abbeytheatre.org.uk/whats-on/rope/ 

Doctor Who : Tenth Doctor in Tuxedo from Voyage of the Damned - Forbidden Planet Exclusive

Hey there everyone.

So I was quite surprised and pleased to see that this arrived in the post yesterday. I had pre-orderd it at the end of January when it came up on Forbidden Planet's website, and it arrived yesterday and when I opened it I thought "Oh right, it's this" because it was almost like I had forgotten I ordered it. It was quite weird but still, my reaction to this was overall very pleased. This is a figure I have wanted for a very long time. 

The tenth doctor in tuxedo is a collector figure from Forbidden Planet and underground toys. Which is basically an action figure of the tenth doctor in his black tuxedo suit from Rise of the Cybermen/ The Age of Steel, The Lazarus Experiment and The Voyage of the Damned. 

He looks very sleek and cool. Almost like James Bond. This variation I'm not sure if the body copies or borrows from the eleventh doctor figure for the bow tie. It looks like a new sculpt but it could be borrowed from another figure. Standard tenth doctor body, with one noticeable difference and that is articulation in the arms is different. Ball jointed so you can position the Tenth doctors hands in any position, which is great. 

The likeness to David Tennant is excellent. It looks like him, the hair I think is a new sculpt, it's not like the end of time head with sticky out hair, the sculpt of the hair looks different.  

This is a variation I have wanted for ages. The Tenth Doctor is definitely the doctor to have the most toy variants of his costume made for him. Better late than never that we get this. Truely it is a nice variant and stands out as part of the collection.  

BATMAN : Series 2 - The return of Scarecrow

"And at the end of fear... Oblivion!"

Scarecrow.

I am pleased to announce the return of BATMAN after a long wait. It was delayed off to this year from last year. Rest assured that the long awaited second series will be out sometime in 2017. 

And what better way to announce the new series than to say that Scarecrow will be in one of the episodes. "The Terror of Gotham City" where Scarecrow is up to his old tricks. He's working for the mob, by intoxicating the whole of Gotham city with fear gas he's created. Batman is forced to confront his greatest fears to try and defeat Scarecrow and the mafia bosses he's working for. 

COMING SOON : The Return of Eggheads

A new series of Eggheads starts recording this weekend, with a new series of twelve new episodes to begin in March 2017.

What to expect?
More shows for a start. The last two series there were only eight episodes per series, now with popular demand I'm now doing more episodes which of course means the series will last longer and run for a few more weeks.

That being said, it's the same format as before where it's not anything like the real eggheads set up that you see on television. It's basically me playing the eggheads app on my phone but simulating the possible outcomes of six well known celeberities working together as a team to try and beat the eggheads for charity. Just as I do for The Chase and neither seires is made for a profitable purpose and all rights go to the BBC.

Got some interesting teams of people to form teams to take on the eggheads and I'm treating the series in two blocks, six for one set and six for the other set. Both sets will be uploaded in different times of the year. Like I did for The Chase series six. Some episodes will be out in March, and then the other six will be shown later in the year making up twelve all together. I just think that works better than having tweleve episodes in one go.

So filming for the new series starts soon and you can expect an update post about the first episode later this month.

This MONTH From DANBURY Productions : FEBRUARY 2017

Have a look at some of the things on the way this month from my channel.

• MORTAL KOMBAT XL: GAME PLAY VIDEOS

Daily Gameplay videos of myself playing the game. Including: Single fight battles, tower challenges, online player vs player battles, Invasion Boss fights, faction challenges, and character backgrounds.

• BATMAN: RETURN TO ARKHAM

Bits and pieces of walkthrough style gameplay of myself playing Batman Arkham games.

• ASSASSIN'S CREED: GAMEPLAY VIDEOS

Gameplay videos of myself playing The Ezio Collection. 

• INJUSTICE - GODS AMONG US: GAME PLAY VIDEOS

Daily Gameplay videos of myself playing the game.

More information on these projects to be revealed upon request.

INJUSTICE : GODS AMONG US!

Just a formal announcement to say Injustice: Gods Among Us turned up in the post today. I've been trying it out all day and its and awesome game. Very similar but very different kind of game to Mortal Kombat. But I love it.

Videos start tomorrow, and I can't wait!

Peter Capaldi on leaving Doctor Who

Having learned of the news that Peter Capaldi is stepping down from the role of the doctor in Doctor Who after the 2017 series and Christmas special, I thought I might address this issue.

First of all, I'd like to start off by saying I feel very saddened by this news and shocked that Peter is leaving. When I found out I was reading a post on facebook someone put up that he had announced it on a BBC radio 2 show. And that he said "It's time to move on" Now being the dedicated and loved fan of the show I know Peter is, I honestly thought that the programme would leave before he got fed up with playing the part of the doctor. It was almost like someone had to shake me because I thought it was a bad joke. But it wasn't it was very real. With Trump in the news, every day since he became president this news was just as unwelcoming as updates on what Trump was up to.

Secondly, It's a shame that Peter will never get to play the part under new management. Chibnall takes over very soon, and I would have liked to have seen what ideas and the way things would run under a new showrunner because from what the last two series have shown is that Capaldi's doctor and Moffat's scripts are hit and miss in my book.

Thirdly, I think the whole thing is a bitter shame and feel that Peter's doctor was in more cases than most a missed opportunity. Every time I watch his episodes, I don't need to praise him for giving an outstanding performance because I know he's going to be good. He gets it. He gets the doctor's character and what the doctor is meant to be like, and granted when he started off after taking over from Matt Smith, he wasn't the most popular of doctors, and there are some people who are rejoicing in Capaldi's resignation and thinking "great, new doctor, start fresh!"

I'm very annoyed at the fans or people who say on their social media suggestions of who they think the new doctor should be and granted, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect and understand that but for goodness sake Capaldi hasn't even left yet? can we at least enjoy him while we have still got him? because the year will fly by and we'll be asking ourselves "whatever happened to Peter Capaldi?" it's almost as if people can't wait for him to leave or are getting too excited over who they think the new doctor should be and what will he or she be like.

Fans like to come in with their suggestions, and to be fair, some of their suggestions are barmy but quite good suggestions. Most people are saying they want a woman or Sean Pertwee. For me, neither of those would work. One because I'd never want to see a woman play the part unless it was a non-cannon spoof and I don't think Sean Pertwee would ever even consider it, not because I don't think he'd be very good but because he's got a tight schedule anyway filming Gotham and apart me feels that he feels quite insulted by the show in a way.

It's a terrible shame and missed opportunity to have a doctor that good as Peter Capaldi and not give him a decent story. There aren't that many Capaldi stories that I can pick out and go "that's a classic' or "that's a really good one" because when you get stories like "The Husbands of River Song" or "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" what are you going to expect? I think this whole thing is a bit like history repeating itself, we've gone back to the Colin Baker era. Peter Capaldi. He's a good doctor but with shit scripts. It's not Capaldi's fault the show is how it is, it's down to bad scripts, the executive producer, and BBC restrictions.

I'll be pleased to see Moffatt leave because he's like an expired car whose out of date and getting tired. But I was not expecting Capaldi to go with him. If I don't like any of the stories in series ten I am hoping Capaldi's send off in the Christmas special will be a good story for him to go out on and not to be anything like Matt Smith's departure. A story which is all about the regeneration at the end of it. Make a gooden. Make it a proper adventure where the doctor finds himself in mortal peril and the only way to get out of it is to risk it all and if that means sacrificing himself in the process then so be it. I want a story like that. I don't want this big thing like in "Time of the Doctor' which was all about leading up to the regeneration at the end of it. Peter is an excellent doctor who has given so much to the fans, so its only fair he gets the send off he deserves I will be very angry and disappointed if Capaldi's last story is not a decent story.