Jim Bywater

Appologies for my absence. Lots been going on - not all of any consequence. I'll try to get it all down.
Last significant entry - 28 June 2006. Since then, er, er....... I'll just refer to my diary/calendar, 'ang on.....
Well, there are only four or five things to report, apart from Saddams demise, of course.
Firstly, me and the missis had ten days in Tuscany, right at the height of a heat wave that even the Tuscans described as 'too hot'. We went to the first night of Puccini's 'Tosca' at Torre del Largo where Puccini had lived and worked. It was big, it was posh and it was disappointing. The sound was crap, the lighting was crap and the direction left a lot to be desired. During the interval we met the lighting designer of The Producers, in London's West End and he, an opera buff, confirmed that it was less than good. And, on top of that, we discovered that we had to pay to go on the beach - that is, unless we wished to associate with the 'Great Unwashed' on the pathetically small public beach. So, if we fancied a couple of hours by the sea at about 3 o'clock it would cost us £8. Nuff said. We found two or three excellent restaurants. The one that I remember easily is called 'Lo Studio' in Pietrasanta. A menu of local dishes deliciously prepared and entertainingly presented and served. The Mother cooks and the family - of clowns - wait on table. There was an exciting and intriguing atmosphere in this ex artist's studio. Delightful.
THEN, Beth found that she was accepted onto the popular music degree course at Goldsmith's University. Since then she's actually read a book. Ooooooh!
At the back-end of August I worked, as an actor, on the last show to be produced at the Southwark Playhouse before they moved to the arches under London Bridge Station prior to an eventual move to their own building at the Elephant and Castle. So, I appeared in the show that closed the Southwark Playhouse! That's one for the C.V.
THEN I redirected 'Missing Dan Nolan' at the Queen's Theatre for another schools tour featuring a cast of actors which had each been trained at E15 drama school. They were all v. good so the E15 must be doing something right.
THEN we arrive at NOW!
I'm still at the Queen's Theatre til mid January. I'm Dame Tilly Buttermilk Full Fat Egg Custard Fromage Frais Gold Top Devon Knows How They Make It So Creamy I Can't Believe it's not Butter Gorgonzola Dollcelatta Double Gloucester Trott BA. I'm one of the Wensleydale Trotts. Mother of Jack Trott - he of Jack and the Beanstalk by Nicholas Pegg. Don't try to come on Boxing Day - I've just bought the last twenty tickets. It's a family affair.