It's great that recordings from last night (and, presumably from Tue?....I'd really like to hear the others too) will be made available. It was an excellent evening...and was lovely to meet up with everyone.
'Othello' is a lovely, funny, touching story which Damien read brilliantly...with an American accent. For both of the Word Theatre events which I've attended Damien has read a story which has included a number of different voices.....and he is just so good at them! And another story featuring a record collection! (He was first to read again, too!)
I guess the point of the event is to create some publicity for the award, and bring the stories to the attention of a wider audience before the winners are announced. Bearing in mind that it is the stories, not the performances, which are being judged (and that I haven't actually read any of them) I must admit that I think - out of the three stories which I heard last night - my vote would go to 'Nirvana' by Adam Johnson.
There was a brief q&a with the authors at the end - which was an unexpected bonus....
Damien stopped briefly outiside to chat to us before he left - it really is very sweet of him to be so generous with his time - and we retired to.....the pub (of course!)
I know it's the short stories that were being judged, I just meant, had the winner been picked before this event or were the judges present to listen to the stories being read before they made their decision.
Looking forward to listening. He's becoming the go-to for voices and accents. Love how animated and emotive he looks in those pictures. Must have been a real treat to see.
__________________
papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
It's great that recordings from last night (and, presumably from Tue?....I'd really like to hear the others too) will be made available. It was an excellent evening...and was lovely to meet up with everyone.
'Othello' is a lovely, funny, touching story which Damien read brilliantly...with an American accent. For both of the Word Theatre events which I've attended Damien has read a story which has included a number of different voices.....and he is just so good at them! And another story featuring a record collection! (He was first to read again, too!)
I guess the point of the event is to create some publicity for the award, and bring the stories to the attention of a wider audience before the winners are announced. Bearing in mind that it is the stories, not the performances, which are being judged (and that I haven't actually read any of them) I must admit that I think - out of the three stories which I heard last night - my vote would go to 'Nirvana' by Adam Johnson.
There was a brief q&a with the authors at the end - which was an unexpected bonus....
Damien stopped briefly outiside to chat to us before he left - it really is very sweet of him to be so generous with his time - and we retired to.....the pub (of course!)
Thank you for sharing fifi! Glad you had a lovely time it sounds like a truly special evening>
Aha! an american accent all the way through! yay! cannot wait to hear the recording! It is fab that Damien's accent talents are getting even more exposure, is there no end to this man's talents?
From the WordTheatre cast listing of last night's event I had thought Damien may be the last to perform, but as the tweets from Sunday Times EFG came in it became clear he was up first!
It was a lovely night out. Glad I joined the gang in the pub afterwards. Sorry I had to rush off. Too many late nights were taking their toll.
And before that was fun too. I'm beginning to appreciate shorts. The Q&A afterwards was all the more informative for how brief it was!
As for the readings themselves, Damien was a perfect way to start. An amusing and touching story, beautifully read, of course. The middle story was 'literature' at its least beguiling for me. The third, Nirvana, was tragic and funny, everything a short should be, and the actors did a beautiful job.
I'll definitely be going to more of these.
__________________
"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
It was a lovely night out. Glad I joined the gang in the pub afterwards. Sorry I had to rush off. Too many late nights were taking their toll.
And before that was fun too. I'm beginning to appreciate shorts. The Q&A afterwards was all the more informative for how brief it was!
As for the readings themselves, Damien was a perfect way to start. An amusing and touching story, beautifully read, of course. The middle story was 'literature' at its least beguiling for me. The third, Nirvana, was tragic and funny, everything a short should be, and the actors did a beautiful job.
I'll definitely be going to more of these.
Thanks for sharing UJ, glad you made it and enjoyed it
I gather 'Nirvana' won the award (and the £30,000 prize) and it sounds well deserved!
I think we were all pretty much agreed 'Nirvana' deserved to win out of the three that we heard...so I'm pleased it did....although 'Othello' was a great story too. All I'll say about the second one is that some stories work better read aloud than others....maybe it needs to be read.
I guess they just list them in the order that the stories are being read....and the order will be dictated by the stories, not the readers....
-- Edited by fifi on Sunday 6th of April 2014 07:05:50 PM
It was great to meet you too, fifi. I already knew Laura and Kat and I've had brief hellos with Su before. Now we must wait patiently for Damien's next appearance.
__________________
"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Hello all!! Apologies for the delay in posting, im currently huddled under a pile of uni books....
Twas a lovely evening. Damien was looking ab fab minus the beard!
Damiens story was good, i enjoyed the comedy moments but didn't feel he connected with the audience as much as he could have. He is getting rather good at doing funny female voices though lol and his american accent was very good!
The final story was absolutely epic. I don't cry in public but if i did i would have been then. Damien was clearly enjoying that one too, i could see him sat on the front row enthralled.
We lurked about a bit outside afterwards but to be honest we thought he had already left! It was a nice surprise when he came out and we managed to have a quick chat! We talked about the third story "nirvana" and how amazing it was. Then we talked about my dissi and me avoiding it and he told me i should have been doing it on the train. He thanked us for coming and aksed if we were staying for the weekend since we had come so far lol.
That was it really! He looked lovely. It was lovely. There was free wine. It was a good night :) xx
__________________
Sooner or later, we all go back to being the monsters we truly are!
Hello all!! Apologies for the delay in posting, im currently huddled under a pile of uni books....
Twas a lovely evening. Damien was looking ab fab minus the beard!
Damiens story was good, i enjoyed the comedy moments but didn't feel he connected with the audience as much as he could have. He is getting rather good at doing funny female voices though lol and his american accent was very good!
The final story was absolutely epic. I don't cry in public but if i did i would have been then. Damien was clearly enjoying that one too, i could see him sat on the front row enthralled.
We lurked about a bit outside afterwards but to be honest we thought he had already left! It was a nice surprise when he came out and we managed to have a quick chat! We talked about the third story "nirvana" and how amazing it was. Then we talked about my dissi and me avoiding it and he told me i should have been doing it on the train. He thanked us for coming and aksed if we were staying for the weekend since we had come so far lol.
That was it really! He looked lovely. It was lovely. There was free wine. It was a good night :) xx
Loved reading this Su.. thanks for sharing about the night and sooo glad you enjoyed the readings and had a small but special moment with Damo.
It was lovely to see everyone. DaMo looked well. When he was reading he kept on looking up at people in the audience so there was a bit of eye contact going on, almost like there was with Body Of An American. Othello was absobing, the second story did not engage me at all. It was longer than the other 2 and I lost concentration and had a look around at the audience. It seems DaMo felt the same as he kept on looking around too. He loved Nirvana. I wonder if he wished he had read that one. When we were chatting with him after he said he really liked Adam Johnson and said he was the perfect Best Friend, he joked he wished he was his Best Friend. He didn't like his sideburns. He found them too long and said "I can't believe they made me keep them. I have had to walk round London with these." He thanked us all for coming and he really appreciated our support and hoped we had enjoyed it. We asked him what he was doing next and he smiled and said he couldn't tell us.
It was a good evening.
__________________
~Hal Yorke is in my dreams. Can't wait to go to bed!~
Hi Laura, thanks for sharing - everyone who went seems to have enjoyed Nirvana the most, but obviously Damien's reading had to be captivating too! Longing to hear that american accent in the recordings.... when they eventually come.
"He didn't like his sideburns. He found them too long and said "I can't believe they made me keep them. I have had to walk round London with these."" Now that is a scoop if ever there was one! I assume he was referring to Kill your Friends?
The lady from Word Theatre said that the recordings would be made available online eventually. I think she said it would take at least 6 weeks, but I could be wrong. This is a new thing for Word Theatre to do so we'll have to be patient.
__________________
"You know you remind me of a conquest back in Madrid 1784. I wooed her with a thousand tulips."
There is still no sign of the recordings from this! But WordTheatre have uploaded a video to YT of all the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award readers from 2010 - 2015
Looking back to earlier in this thread, at the time of this event WordTheatre said the readings would be online in six weeks. So keeping everything crossed that this may eventually happen, or this would be an awful tease!
Glad you had a lovely time it sounds like a truly special evening> 
