Chris New

Ticking On Demand!

Thanks to our friends at Distrify, Ticking is now available to watch On Demand in all territories apart from the United Kingdom.

The UK release will follow shortly.  

I hope you like it.

Cx

Ticking Update

Ticking has been doing the rounds of Film Festival application processes over the last few months.  Thankfully, many festivals seem very keen to screen it.  The first of these will be the Nashville Film Festival - where Weekend also received one of its first screenings - which takes place April 18-25 2013.

If you are going to be in attendance, or live in the area, then go see!

We’ll be able to announce more festival screenings as the year continues.

Cx

Anonymous asked: Chris: Do you know about Roger Casement? Born 1864, hanged 1916, a colorful, dramatic life. Knighted in 1911 for humanitarian work in Africa. Born in Belfast; he supported Irish independence, was declared a traitor, captured 1916, tried and hanged. Important persons pleaded for him; Scotland Yard then revealed his diaries, filled with his homosexual exploits. May I send you my play about him? (150th birthday 2014, 100th of execution 2016) Thanks! John Barrow, NYC

Many people have been getting in touch recently, offering help, collaborative opportunities and even funding for films!  I’m very grateful that the people concerned take the steps to reach out.  

If you do get in touch, either here or on Facebook, then do leave an email so I can write you back.  

John Barrow, get in touch.

cx

Smallholding, Chicken and a twist…

Dear Friends, 

Some of you have been requesting an update, so here it is.

Aside from my marathon training (which is going great - thanks for your support!), I’m currently in pre-production for a number of projects that all kick off this spring.

The first is the play SMALLHOLDING.

I met this play, and its writer Chris Dunkley, at the beginning of last year.  I was so impressed by it that I made a vow to Chris that we would get it on and, finally, we have.  

The great people at the Hightide Festival have teamed up with the Nuffield in Southampton to co-produce the show which will play at both venues.

Performances at Southampton will run 25th April - 4th May (more info here).

Performances at Hightide will run 7th May - 11th May (more info here).

After that will come CHICKEN.

I have written this film (adapted from the play of the same name by Freddie Machin) and will also act in it.

It’s the tale of two brothers, living in a caravan on someone else’s land, who have their lives turned upside down with the arrival of a new land-owner.

It’s set to star Scott Chambers (who many of you will recognise from Ticking), Yasmin Paige (Submarine) and me, and will be directed by the too talented Joe Stephenson.

We’re currently in pre-production with the shoot slated to start in late May/Early June.

Following that, I’m set to change trade again and direct a brand new play.  The image above might give you a clue as to what it’s about….but, more about that nearer the time.

All love

Chris New

Marathon Diary

February 9th 2013 - 10 weeks to go

The Marathon used to be a pretty, distant and safe idea.  It was “that thing next year”.  Now, it’s not next year, it’s in ten weeks!

It’s been over ten weeks since my last entry, so, what’s been happening?  

One reason to sign up for the marathon was that I knew as I increased my training there would be a welcome encouragement in my brain - “it’s time to stop smoking”.  So, I have.  I stopped just before Christmas and haven’t touched them since (apart from a couple of tastes on drunken nights out.  These, thankfully, were so disgusting that they sealed the deal on me never touching them again).  I can’t say I miss them.  

Christmas did a good job of knocking my training schedule out for a few weeks.  This should have been predicted.  I suppose it did my fat reserves no harm.  Sadly, though, when I did return to my training in the New Year I found my right foot failing.  Having broken my left foot a few years during a show, I feared the worst.  I limped home and booked an appointment with my physio.  Thankfully, he reassured me that nothing was broken, just dislodged.  The Cuboid, a bone which links two of the metatarsals to the ankle complex, had shifted - a very common running injury I was told.  What a relief!  After a couple of physio sessions to click the bone back into place, and a little time off to let the tendon recover from its shock, I was back on the road.  

Yesterday, I completed my longest run to date: 10 miles!  It’s less than half a marathon, but, I did it in almost dead on 1 hour and 30 minutes and felt pretty good all the way.  That runs’ physical distance started to give me a hint of how the marathon to come might feel in space and time.  It also continued to train my mind in that most important of marathon challenges - resisting the desire to stop!

Apart from a few aches and pains here and there I’m quite amazed at how my body is handling it.  My heart, it turns out, is in pretty excellent shape and I’m hardly out of breath when I run, which seems to me a kind of miracle.

For the next ten weeks my training is a matter of slowly upping the mileage.  Stretching each run across larger areas of the city and longer hours of the day.  If you see me run, do give me a wave.  I’m aiming to add just over a mile a week and, week on week, I’ll slowly edge towards that 26.2 mile target.  

I’m unsure whether to run the full distance before the big day (any advice is very welcome).  I’ve, so far, received conflicting guidance.  Some say to  run a maximum of 20 miles in training, then let the adrenaline carry you through on the day.  This, to me, sounds risky - like performing a play without knowing the ending.  Others say do the full length so the marathon day is just another run.  I’m tempted more by this idea.  It sounds like a dress rehearsal before the performance - logical and reassuring.  I’ll let my body tell me what it prefers, though, when it comes to the final weeks.

To all who have donated to my fundraising page, again, my honest thanks!  I really appreciate your support and encouragement, and, I know the Terrence Higgins Trust will be thrilled to receive the money.  

For anyone who might like to donate, just click here for all the details of what I am doing and for whom.