This has been a manic month. Last week, I was up in Edinburgh, staying with Zander (currently my one wonderful follower – hurrah!) and seeing various things at the Fringe.

Pick of what I’ve seen so far – well there’s a few things. Ryan Good has a show called Cosmonaut which is a fun filled hour of participatory, silver latex onsied, polyamorous, autobiographical, educational, sensational fun. Well worth a watch.

Then there’s Andrew Doyle’s show ‘Minimalism!’ – an hour of comedy which seeks to understand, amongst other things, Ghandi and Gibraltar based sailors. It’s fab. Really really good. This is a man who knows how and when to push all the right and wrong button. Controversial and yet loveable. Well, in fact, Zander’s done a cracking review for Scotsgay that sums it up better than I can and you can read that here.

And not forgetting North East’s own Rowan McCabe with North East Rising, a show which sets out to find the beauty in Newcastle in between your Cheryls and your Geordie Shore types, and does so excellently. And that’s coming from someone who’s got a secret soft spot for Geordie Shore – Rowan is funny, poignant, thoughtful and builds a picture of what it means to be from a place which will and does hold relevance outside of the North East. Not to mention he’s the North East’s cultural ambassador. It’s true. It says so on a sign. Go check him out.

So that was last week. This weekend I’ve been on a writing retreat at Whitehaven Farm in Yorkshire. It was great. Writers and actors hanging out in a barn together and making bits of theatre better. Lovely weekend. Seeds sowed for a new show. I got the train there and back and passed places such as Shipley, Skipton, Bigley, Scar Top, Thirsk – there’s something about Yorkshire place names that I love, never mind the kick of reliving the tour of fictional punk band The Slave Boys from a show I was in a couple years ago.

And now I’m back in Newcastle, sweaty and tired, getting ready to head back up to the burgh on Wednesday. See you up there. Unless, of course, I don’t.

Tara for now chickens x