John Webber

The outside of the Southwark Playhouse theatre with its name up in lights.

What a fantastic balance between light and dark - Lifers by Evan Placey @swkplay.bsky.social last night really played with my sympathies - one minute laughing with prisoners who are later revealed to be something quite different. Recommended.

Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards We demand that the UK Government immediately commits to not introducing a digital ID cards. There are reports that this is being looked at.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

Tonight is the Press Night of @ruthdsilva.bsky.social's Bungalow @theatre503.bsky.social and I'm excited for this wonderful play - it's a beautifully written piece about a family coming to understand the profound secret that is sheltered within the family home - it's subtle and funny and I loved it.

Watched the first episode of Yellowstone now it’s on Netflix & it’s like, who are we meant to like here?

These companies donated $1 millions or more to celebrate Trump's inauguration, a day when Trump pardoned the rioters who assaulted police officers at the U.S. Capitol on January 6:

Amazon
Meta
Google
Uber
Robinhood
Ford
General Motors
Toyota
Intuit
Delta

The EU has ordered Elon Musk to let their engineers have access to Twitter's code to prove it isn't biased and passes the EU's Laws for Freedom of Speech.

He is damned either way, hand it over and Twitter will be banned.

Refuse and Twitter will be banned too.

Really happy to say that I've got ACE funding for an R&D on my climate protest play, Fire Fire, at @mercurytheatre.bsky.social - in association with @hightidetheatre.bsky.social - the journey to production begins! Well, 🤞!

Excellent!

Oligarchs argue freedom of speech but the truth is their algorithms promote particular speakers, suggesting the platforms are really publishers of curated content much like mainstream papers - the owners should therefore be liable for the views voiced - something they’ve lobbied against for years.

‘We stand by Jess’: Telford survivors criticise Musk’s attack on Phillips Exclusive: Victims of male violence sign letter praising minister for devoting life to ‘fighting for women and girls’

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Brighton. Yesterday evening. Might cheer us up this evening.

Happy New Year!

Caught up with Masterchef - yes, Dan! What a story.

Looking at the chaotic events in Washington, my theory is that Elon Musk - rather than being a genius - is really the Liz Truss of American politics. But richer.

Julia Masli was absolutely brilliant @sohotheatre.bsky.social - it’ll have you on the edge of your seat and warm your cockles in equal measure.

Congratulations!

On a Bill Evans listening mission at the moment so good to be introduced to this, thanks!

Wonderful venue, wonderful play

Silly grantium question - where do you upload letters of support from partners on the arts council England project grants application?

Excellent read here…

Yes!

It's 5pm pals, get that laptop shut and let's get the weekend started 🪩

For anyone in the UK, If you text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 when you are in a dark place or suicidal, a trained crisis volunteer will text you back. This is great If you find talking on the phone challenging. It’s completely free 24/7. Please Repost, you never know who might need this support

When shall I put the Christmas decorations up?

Robert Icke’s Oedipus w/ Mark Strong & Lesley Manville is the best theatre I’ve seen this year, & they’re doing an extra matinee on Dec 19 for under-30s, all tix @ £10 - pls do share if you know a young person who might enjoy a bit of incest & murder:

www.soniafriedman.com/under-30s?fb...

A thumbnail of the blog post, with a photo of Josie facilitating a workshop in a theatre with a flipchart.

I'm researching how co-creating theatre with communities can promote social justice. Would love to connect with artists, activists and academics.

I wrote a blog about starting this project, so maybe I'll stop boring my friends about it in the pub. (Probably not.)

Read it here: bit.ly/JLDPhDblog

Travelled on my new Windrush line only yesterday. Like it.

Thanks @kitdewaal.bsky.social and @bridportprize.bsky.social - this is a fantastic initiative. As someone who left it *very* late to start writing fiction, I applaud you.

Laughing

Lovely to meet you in person last night at the amazing and packed out #RoyalCourt Writers Event last night - had a great chat with Gurpreet too - and was totally absorbed by Emteaz's Expendables the night before. Great photo.