I went to an all-female birthday party the other day. It was hosted by a life coach and attended by therapists of various persuasions and people who’d had their lives changed by them. I’m neither of these but I was very nearly converted by a glamorous lady from Dorset who said I needed to take up tapping for pre-show nerves.
Tapping involves smacking yourself in the face whilst chanting how brilliant you are. This works by tuning into some vibration or other which in turn sends your wishes to the cosmos. She said all my questions would be answered, my problems would be solved and I would feel amazing. All I need to do is pay £90 an hour for a few hours and I’m away.
The funny thing is after years of sitting around being a miserable mother waiting for some miracle to happen, now that I’ve taken the bull by the horns and written my own show, I’m busier than ever. Why is that? Is that the cosmos at work? Admittedly I haven’t done much tapping but I have looked up at the sky in despair. Or is it just because people have decided I might not be such a lazy arse after all?
This week I’m playing the role of Beverly for the pop up restaurant The Art of Dining. They’re hosting an Abigail’s Party event in the East End. Beverly – now there’s an iconic funny female character.
My lines for this event are mostly from the script of Abigail’s Party and partly improvised. What struck me last night about this was that some of these lines were received with one of those teeth sucking noises that indicate the speaker has crossed a line in the realms of what’s allowed in this universe. Lines that in the time of Abigail’s Party everyone was laughing at. Are we too PC now? I’ll start smacking myself in the face and see if I can get an answer.
