andrew allen
@mygrayne
Writer, director, actor, creative coach, list maker. Credits include ONE WOMAN ALIEN, YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER, FOUR PLAY, THE CITY OF DR MOREAU, THE HAUNTING OF GABRIEL CHASE
Our summer writing challenge starts next week! Are your vampires dying for someone to fight? Is that memoir just a memory? Is your cosy crime making you sleepy? The 10,000 Words of Summer challenge is a totally free, low-impact way get words on a page. It's simple.
NEW SUBSTACK My advice about what to do when you’re locked out. Basically, don’t get locked out. open.substack.com/pub/aallen/p...
CAST IRON NEWSLETTER has been sent to subscribers! Info on upcoming acting classes and this weeks short play night! If you want details on how to submit plays for future nights, apply to act, improv & acting classes & much more, subscribe! Details in the CAST IRON button via the linktree above 👆
It’s been 30 years or so and I still don’t think Jack Geller’s ‘ice on the internet’ scheme is such a bad idea
#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched #SpiderManNoWayHome #Heat #Kes #TheInvite boxd.it/4jPzr
Today is mainly about tonight’s online table read of seven short plays from across the world in next week’s @cast_iron_btn short play night. I can’t be entirely sure but it might be that Cast Iron is the longest running regular short play night in Brighton.
Hosting some escape rooms, prepping for tonight’s dramaturgy / playwrights online class, and clearing the decks for next weeks @cast_iron_btn short play night. And I’ve only had one coffee; what have I become
Possibly not the first time I’ve been around Crystal Palace in the last 30 years but certainly the first time I can really remember so
Real maturity is realising that Margo Leadbetter was actually the most patient, empathetic and championing of all the residents on the avenue. A true icon. Penelope Keith 1940 - 2026
All the submissions to the next CAST IRON SHORT PLAY NIGHT have been read & rated. Long list consists 16 possibilities. The winning 6 will be chosen tomorrow and successful playwrights will be emailed as soon as possible (as well as the actors suitable for the roles, chosen from a list of 21)
“And you know, I mean, to be perfectly honest, I think it’s… there are too many prime ministers. You know, I don’t love all the PMs, but I’ve lost count now of how many of them there are. So, the weight of this kind of regeneration is diminished”
It took me over thirty years to spot one of the cleverest jokes in the Bond franchise.
If you have to remake a classic movie, it’s so important to get the casting right
I’m much more team Doctor Who than Star Trek (I haven’t seen even half of Trek, I’ve seen almost all of Who), but it’s difficult to sensibly argue that there was ever a finer sci-fi cliffhanger than this. I didn’t watch it at the time, I can only imagine what the wait between episodes felt like.
I saw this meme many times, long before I knew it was from Matilda, and I *widely* misinterpreted what kind of film it was from
Back in ‘77, there were beautiful lights against an inky black sky, bringing new knowledge. In 2026, there are many more lights, and we don’t know if we can trust the beings behind them (and the ‘knowledge’ they bring)
Betty Blue (37°2 le matin) is 40 years old this year. I have a question - or more accurately a theory, that I’ve not seen suggested anywhere else, not even on sites like TV Tropes. Is there within the film concealed a particular cruel joke: namely, that Zorg is actually a bad writer?
Disclosure Day. What if Close Encounters, but instead of awe and wonder everyone’s really exhausted
And as fans come to terms with the reality that they have no idea when their favourite show is coming back, the showrunner dashes out a meaningful coda to the show that’s been on our screens for over 20 years.