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I saw the stage version in London years ago with Diana Rigg as Mrs Venables. Diana Rigg was a force of nature. This is a fantastic suggestion. I had been listening to Werner Herzog narration during spells of insomnia but I'll swop Werner out for Williams. I can't imagine a better way to be lulled to sleep (and experience traumatic dreams about a suffocating parent relationship, exactly the headspace I'm looking for to inform the writing I'm working on at the moment - thanks again!).

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That sounds like a peak experience. Who played the doctor?

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I had to google it to be sure - Mark Bazeley. Although 5 years earlier in another production it was Gerard Butler (Rachel Weisz played Catherine). In another Mummy/Tennessee Williams crossover i saw Brendan Frazer as Brick in London in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I got seats so close to the stage i could catch his spittle. But forgot about any BF bodily fluids with Ned Beatty’s Big Daddy performance. He inhabited that shit bag of a character. Mesmerising!!!

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And here I thought you were going to focus on the sensations in the body or what it feels like to be bored and stuck indoors. I like the plot twist, Chuck. Keeping us on our toes!

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It's a balance.

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Thanks, Teach! Will get to work. Had my booster shot Friday, I’m out of it— Sassy close by giving comfort. Watched The Beatles “Get Back” sessions. 2 weeks to produce new material to finish their contract and live sessions. Whew. Magnificent.

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I’m so sorry to hear about what you went through. Glad you are still with us and here writing!!

I wonder how it makes musicians, artists, creators, writers feel when they hear how their work saved us or got us through some serious hard times or were a big part of our happiness?

I’ll never forget seeing FIGHT CLUB for the first time—- I was a different person coming out of the movie theater that day. Everything false around me fell away, there was a truth I had sugar-coated to get through life—- and I sincerely wanted more happenings like Project Mayhem to check the establishment’s ego. For men to feel their strength and emotions— for mental health to be an accepted topic of discussion and more light brought to it. Chuck’s writing is light years ahead of us all—- he’s like Frank Zappa’s music to me— Just discovering it, even though written a little after I was born— it’s still so strong and true today. Chuck’s work has made lasting impressions. I’m honored to be one of his students and to have a friendship through our Boston Terriers. If someone would have told me back then that I would have had conversations with the writer of “Fight Club,” I would have blown them off and told them they’re nuts. Because of Chuck—- I’ve been reading writers I never knew about and educating myself again—- too many years after not being able to finish college because I had to go back to working for our family business— I’m back to writing. Taking the “I” out of the story and framing it differently— just knowing maybe people wanna hear about my wild life as a concession stand owner/worker since the age of 7, but told as a story and not memoir—- I’m beyond humbled— I keep writing and editing. Making great friends through his Substack and just knowing more about how he creates, survives book tours, and actually is present during them to meet fans—- I don’t know many people that care as much as he does. I’m beyond grateful!!

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Hey Kerri, have you read 'Geek Love'?? You of all people might love that novel. It's about a family of circus sideshow performers, very nomadic, very alternative. Written by Katherine Dunn, whom I had the pleasure of knowing. She helped me with my travel guide and was the first writer to endorse 'Fight Club.'

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You bet I did!! You should see my copy!! It’s travelled a lot of places— took me some time to read because my reading comprehension level is a little slow. So did your “Survivor” which made for interesting laundrymat reading. I’d really get into a chapter and the buzzers would go off snapping me back to my life. I really loved her novel— man, I bet she was a damn cool friend to have. ❤️

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Geek Love is brilliant! That book changed the way I thought about writing & story telling.

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Yikes, now you're twenty years older? How does that happen?

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Task completed (but will probably review/rehear). Will also try to get the written version from my usual place, a library warehouse that has supplied me with a Thom Johnston, an Amy Hemple and, this past week, Spanbauer’s “Faraway Places,” reeking of old cigarettes and yellowed a quarter of an inch into the sides of every page. At least it’s fully aired out now and, like the Williams play, its details, repetition, and gory details are bouncing around upstairs.

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I found this compelling despite the pretty crap video quality. Maggie Smith especially was mesmerising. She had full control over the work. The repetition of language was indeed hypnotic.

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