Two Gentlemen Of Verona - Even more new Socks doing Shakespeare

Will this flow of nonsense never abate? Here's another Shakespearian musical number from the Socks, again destined merely to be part of the audience in music, not even part of the show (but as I noted yesterday, I've been pretty busy on that too this week, and these side dishes are an accompaniment to the main meal, as it were. I kid myself that they're also a nice little teaser to keep the avid fans sated, though their viewing figures hardly suggest there are hordes gasping for our every utterance. Whatever, it's fun, do please click and play, and share if you like it.

So, so far the audience are going to be coming in to the sound of Romeo & Juliet (the theme I tag onto the end of most of these videos when I remember) + Just An Allusion, King John, I'm Henry The 5th, Love's Labours Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona and (spoiler alert) As You Like It (probably uploaded at the weekend). A week or more's recording work, adding up to about 6 minutes of music. I did the same last year with that bloody Minging Detectives Reggae medley. Will I never learn?

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

★★★★ "Eat your heart out, Olivier" - What's On May 2016 
★★★★ "Comedy genius at work" - Theatre Bath April 2016 

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

Love's Labours Lost - more new Socks do Shakespeare

My God we've had a productive week of Socks stuff this week. That is to say I've been in the studio for three days, and I actually managed to follow up Derby's Preview show on Sunday by doing some writing that builds on what we've learned (as well as recording 4 videos for local TV, don't ask why). I have also managed to record a number of Socks videos, with new songs all of which will be going into the audience-intro music and not into the show itself. Here's the latest, Love's Labours Lost. I know, very silly and quite short, but there you are. It's done, and I hope you enjoy it. Click to play.

Also written in the last three days are the "That One About" poem, which I rather like; the Free Association short routine; The Insults short routine; and the Hey Nonny Nonny routine. I've also gone through the whole show, removing Forbidden Planet, inserting An Actor Prepares, shortening the Girls & Boys song (by 30 seconds), speeding up Iago's Song (now also 30 seconds shorter) and, significantly, writing in big bold letters the bits where something funny is needed. It's shaping up nicely.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

★★★★ "Eat your heart out, Olivier" - What's On May 2016 
★★★★ "Comedy genius at work" - Theatre Bath April 2016 

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

National Lost Sock Day - 4 new videos from the Socks

Don't ask me why, maybe the Socks are just nice guys, but all it took was one request on Facebook and, free gratis and totally for nothing, they made not one, not two, not three, but four videos to promote Lost Sock Day on Made in Cardiff TV, Made in Bristol TV, Made in Leeds TV, and Made in Tyne & Wear TV. And here they all are, online now, for your pleasure. At time of writing, I have absolutely no idea what Lost Sock Day is.



(Cardiff and Leeds are still to go live, they'll be here as soon as they are).

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

Forbidden Planet Rap - Scottish Falsetto Socks do Shakespeare

It's had two outings in the Preview shows and it's not really working live, so go on internet, you can have it. The Socks do the Forbidden Planet Rap, from Socks Do Shakespeare - The Cutting Room Floor. Click to play, and do please enjoy and share.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

★★★★ "Eat your heart out, Olivier" - What's On May 2016 
★★★★ "Comedy genius at work" - Theatre Bath April 2016 

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

Derby Socks Edfringe Preview - breakdown

(Why yes, we did unveil some new props today, thankyou for noticing)

On the hottest day of the year so far, a sunny Sunday afternoon at 5.30, I was amazed we drew any audience at all, so I was delighted to have about 25 people in the Bean Caffe in Derby for a preview / work-in-progress show for Socks do Shakespeare. Having had such an easy ride with the sellout crowd in Bath last month, who seemed to laugh at anything and everything, a smaller number is always a harsher test of whether you really have material that works or not. Here's how it went.

INTRO gags and banter - good. Doublet was thrown away. Anything that leads to more interaction in this first stage is good and more is needed.

I'M A SOCK - always good.Tempted to try Shakespearian words, but could backfire. Didn't today.

HOSE - New today. Built well, first cracking punchline of the day.

SHALL I COMPARE THEE - Getting better every time.

MET IN THEATRE - Still getting its best laugh from the joke "all this prop just for that one gag?" Needs tightening.

BRUSH UP SHAKESPEARE - Good

CYMBELINE - New today. Slow start, got better & better, some great laughs.

GIRLS & BOYS - New today. Nice, but not sure it's funny enough live. Couple more tries to see.

RICHARD 3 - Great. Part 1 (with new costume) now as funny as part 2. Becoming high point of show.

FORBIDDEN PLANET RAP - Not working. You can't hear it, or it's too fast, with no comedy timing. Resigned to Youtube.

THE PORTER - Very good, some great laughs.

PORTER SONG - Also good, but have to make sure it's clear and audible or not funny.

OTHELLO - Trimmed even further, but by this stage in the show we're wanting more of the overall Sock vs Sock story arc to be biting. That's the bit of writing that most needs doing.

IAGO'S SONG - Too slow, and not funny enough. Might stay, if rest of show can maintain momentum.

ROMEO & JULIET - Brilliant finale as always, and growing lots of new ad-libs.

Thoughts: More interaction with audience needed. Need material to cover every single Shakespeare play still. And Sock V Sock story arc needs to dominate the flow of the hour. We're getting there. (Feels way better than Minging Detectives did by this time last year, or even by the start of August last year!)

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

Ace - the Socks and Sophie Aldred do Doctor Who live

At the Bedford Who Charity Con a week or so back, the Socks had the pleasure and privilege of doing a short and silly comedy routine as part of our set, with Sophie Aldred, who you'll all remember as Ace from Doctor Who. Now a video has emerged of the routine. Not the highest quality, shot on a phone from the audience, but nice to have to recorded for posterity. Enjoy.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

★★★★ "Eat your heart out, Olivier" - What's On May 2016 
★★★★ "Comedy genius at work" - Theatre Bath April 2016 

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe 

Doublet & Henry 4th - new vids from Socks doing Shakespeare

Check out the new costume in this tiny trailer for Socks do Shakespeare. Doublet, which I've also uploaded straight to Facebook, to see if it works in any viral way there. A brand new ruff, all my own work. You're welcome. And while we're at it, here's another quick one for the fun of it.

The Doublet gag came from Hev, and Henry the 5th will probably be in the audience-in music. In the meantime I have written some actual scripts for the boys to actually perform - Cymbeline, Hose, and the Girls & Boys I've already put up here - and they'll be getting a tryout at a preview in Derby on Sunday.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre do Shakespeare at the Edinburgh Fringe August 2016 - see the previews in your town!

May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
June 9 - Bridgend 
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 14 - Market Harborough Theatre
July 17 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm

July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe , Kings Arms Salford 7pm

July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
July 30 - Blaenavon Rhymney Brewery
Aug 3 - 29 - 10.30pm The Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe