I’m dead against national military service but strongly believe there should be a specific national service initiative in which Eton boys work in a supermarket/factory/hotel etc for a year before entering politics.
I can finally tell you what I’ve been writing all these mysterious songs for. A musical adaptation of CORALINE! This has been such a wonderful project and collaborating with the amazing
@ZinnieH
and
@jamesbrining
has been a dream!
My anti-AI stance mostly stems from the threat it poses to the arts sector (and a little bit to do with Terminator coming true), I hadn’t considered the dire environmental impact those systems have. Excellent🧵 below…
I still can't get over how bad AI has become. And this is coming from a computer scientist who spent over a decade studying and programming AI.
I fucking LOVE AI, but here are 10 reasons I absolutely fucking hate it now, a 🧵 ...
After five years of not being able to tell EVERYONE IN THE WORLD about this project it’s so brilliant seeing people excited about it. Can’t wait to share it with you all!
CORALINE A MUSICAL based on Neil Gaiman’s book to premiere at Leeds Playhouse & tour
Based on Neil Gaiman's
@neilhimself
hit book, Adapted by Zinnie Harris
@ZinnieH
, Music by Louis Barabbas
@louisbarabbas
Starts
@LeedsPlayhouse
Spring 2025
Read more:
"Be careful what you wish for...”🖤
Join us in Spring 2025 for the world premiere production of
#CoralineAMusical
– a spine-tingling new family friendly musical based on the novel by Neil Gaiman.
📅Fri 11 Apr – Sun 11 May 2025
🎟️
I realise people following this account probably did so either because of my songs, label or union work but if anyone’s interested in my ongoing firefighter application, I just passed all the practical and fitness tests, just my medical to go and then it’s onto actual training!
The best thing I learned today is that putting a question mark next to an exclamation mark (?!) is called an Interrobang. An INTERROBANG?! I love it. I’m going to be interrobanging on about this for a long time.
Cannot even begin to express what a joy this week has been. Such a lovely welcoming team at the
@NationalTheatre
and a gorgeous group of actors, movers, designers and puppeteers. Looking forward to the next step!
Photo of me and
@ZinnieH
back when we were workshopping
#Coraline
at the
@NationalTheatre
studio a couple of years ago. Didn’t share at the time as I thought the cardboard button glasses might’ve given the game away!
My main job is supposed to be writing for musical theatre but as side-hustles go, putting out fires with
@fire_scot
is pretty awesome. I never thought the two jobs could overlap though!
Check out
@DunveganFire
’s music video here:
Just had my first call out as a firefighter. Turned out to be a false alarm but I have now been in a moving fire engine with blue lights flashing and no one can take that away from me.
Just got off the phone with Scottish Fire & Rescue Service who informed me my application is at the next stage. This’ll be my first job interview in years. Yep, I’ve officially applied to be a fireman. I figured my future biography needs hotting up.
Just pitched a new musical at
@the_lowry
for
@MercuryMusicals
#BEAM2023
. Lovely panel, very friendly and encouraging. Now to check the news, anything interesting been happening in the government?
Found some litter while walking near the loch, picked it up and discovered it was a partially decayed Bedlam Six album. This is one of the weirder things to have happened when out with the dog.
I love that we’re all celebrating the new
#Coraline
musical but spare a thought for my mother who has a button phobia. Challenging times.
My Other Mother is thrilled though.
#koumpounophobia
.
I’ve been songwriting in this beautiful room the last few days. There’s no phone signal or internet so I get a lot done but there’s a very distracting view, seals keep popping up and looking at me!
Listening to
@louisbarabbas
while walking the dog and the trumpet started playing in time with her pooing.
Made my day.
I hope everyone else is having a good one.
Child actors really amaze me. I’ve been writing this show for nearly six years and know this character so well and just spent all day with three dozen potential Coralines and they all bring something different and unique. So impressed with their talent. It’s a real honour.
@NatashaHodgson
In my first year of uni I laughed uncontrollably for an hour at “200 channels and nothing but cats” then a woman from the flat above came to see what all the hysterics were about and concluded I must be deeply troubled. That woman was
@Bry_dog_
and we’ve now been together 17yrs.
The musical I’ve been working on for a million years is getting workshopped at The National Theatre next week, so as far as I’m concerned, no covid precaution is too extreme right now.
I got the job! Working with lots and lots of amazing creative people on a multidisciplinary arts project across Skye & Lochalsh. All thanks to those lucky dog hairs.
I have a job interview today for a really interesting arts project. Haven’t ironed a shirt since before the pandemic and I think it shows. Hopefully the stubborn dog hairs on my smart trousers will distract them from that.
After writing zillions of songs about buttons and button-eyes it’s a nice change to be writing a musical that has no buttons in it whatsoever (except melodic ones). It’s about firefighters so it’s all zips, straps and velcro!
Miriam and I are doing a night shift at a neighbouring fire station to help with their crew levels. Spending the night at an unfamiliar fire station feels like the plot of a John Hughes film.
Me revealing what’s under my PPE is by far my most popular tweet, but I was smuggling
#DoctorWho
references into my previous job as a touring musician too! I’ve always been very timey-wimey, the fire service won’t change that!
After twenty five years of songwriting I have, for the first time, rhymed “maybe” with “baby” - the line is narratively, thematically and emotionally earned and sung completely without irony.
Exhilarating.
Had a midnight shout and the roads were an ice rink. Almost slid into a ditch twice as I drove to the station in first gear. Painfully slow progress and the second crew got stuck behind a crashed bus. Be careful on the roads this time of year everyone.
My partner asked what I’d like to do on my birthday. I said I’d like the two of us to watch all 10 episodes of Patrick Troughton’s final Dr Who story. She replied “I would do anything for love but I won’t do that” thus honouring both Meatloaf and the annual disappointment ritual.
The amount of times I record a demo then listen back only to hear my dog has been loudly sighing through all of it... that’s so rarely the vibe I’m going for.
Five years since I passed my initial training at Oban
@abewdhq
fire station and joined the
@DunveganFire
crew. Singed my celebrated eyebrows a couple of times but wouldn’t change it for the world.
To the lovely people who’ve recently started following me since
#CoralineaMusical
was announced: Welcome! Brace yourself for lots of photos of my dog and the odd random post about my other job working for
@DunveganFire
.
I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t done theatre as a kid. It gave me confidence and a sense of value. I was so shy before. That’s teenage me as the MC in Oh What A Lovely War! “Goodbyeeeee…”
Does anyone else have magical memories of making theatre from when they were younger? 😍🌟
Our Lyceum Youth Theatre classes are returning soon for the Autumn term, and there's still space to secure a spot for ages 5-19.
🎟️
My favourite response to Coronavirus came from my partner this morning: “So I’ve been sacked from work and I can’t socialise?” *picks up electric clippers and shaves her hair into a mullet*
Passed my breathing apparatus and fire behaviour training. Knackered but very happy, had a great time at
@InvergordonFire
, now back to
@dunveganfire
where I’m finally a full member of the team!
Shout out to people who’ve spent years working from home suddenly faced with partners in the house asking why so much of their “creative process” involves watching Star Trek in their pants.
Me giving songwriting advice: Just write, just get something down, write fast, write instinctively. Improve it later, just do it.
Me actually writing: Why isn’t this instantly perfect? Why aren’t I better? What am I doing with my life? Where’s the wine?
Getting patronising replies from red-faced men about “controlled heather burning” after my crew have literally spent three days trying to extinguish miles of blazing moorland is like getting a small glimpse into a woman’s experience of twitter.
Bit concerned the blog I wrote about getting the Coraline job is being taken as a “never give up” motivation piece. If your mind or body needs to rest then rest. Quitting doesn’t have to be forever, you need to look after yourself. Don’t let the thing you love make you ill.
I had a sudden surge in followers when I was announced as songwriter for the Coraline musical but that was nothing compared to what happened this week after *that* photo! What a crazy few days, I’ve loved it.
We didn’t buy a tree this year, just cut branches off one that had blown down and fashioned our own. Then
@Bry_dog_
constructed an ingenious base to offset the natural curve of the main branch. It’s good living with someone practical!
As if I didn’t already feel like I was living inside a children’s book, my partner has just started volunteering at the local animal sanctuary knitting jumpers for orphaned lambs.
This has been such an unexpectedly lovely day thanks to the best part of the doctor who fandom (and one random spur of the moment tweet). What a lovely community, all just saying really kind and complimentary things. It’s been a difficult week and you’ve all helped so much!
Went to see
@SWtheatre
’s brand new musical To Save The Sea last night at
@TronTheatre
. Full house and standing ovation from all. Now THAT is what we like to see when new musicals come out! Well done to
@A_R_McGregor
@islacowan
and the company!
People who don’t like musicals say they’re shallow, but our team has spent nearly three years, eighty songs and a dozen script drafts interrogating all the subtext, post-structural-post-everything meta shit, melodic foreshadowing etc and sometimes I wish those people were right.
I've finally attempted to answer that question about ceasing to gig. It's one of those messy TLDR blogs that needed to be written a lot more than it needs to be read.