Monday 5 November 2018

Sgt Pepper and Me. Part 1


Set in Rawtenstall Lancashire this is the first part of the true story of  Rita O’Brian. On Friday March 24th 1968 the 16 year old Rita was babysitting, that night she went missing.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Friday 21 September 2018

Your Mug


Jo likes the lower buckone and I like the beatles one.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Monday 17 September 2018

Living in a car park


This week Mark and Jo are living in a car park in Derbyshire, mixing with boy racers and hating the daily mail. 


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Thursday 5 July 2018

El Dingo


We've just come back from Mallorca and we met a lovely couple from Glasgow.


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Tuesday 19 June 2018

Have we got a video?


Twenty odd years ago Mark went to collect a box of VHS videos from an old lady who was a recent widower.  What he found made Michael Sheen laugh and share the story with an American chat show.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Tuesday 1 May 2018

Snikkit.com


This week we're selling, well not really selling more like giving you something you might enjoy.  We've invented an online App that talks to you and tells you great stories, for free.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Wednesday 11 April 2018

Strange Town


I got an email from a woman offering me a story.  A random act and an invite to a very strange town in Lancashire.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Friday 30 March 2018

Good Moaning World


What bugs you?  What really, really pisses you off?  Drivers?  Council?  Littler?

 

Well listen to this funny rant by your very own Joanne (Foxy Wharton) and Mark D. Spot. 

Rubbish left for us to clean.


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Wednesday 21 March 2018

Superstition


See a penny pick it up the rest of the day you'll have good luck.  If you listen to this on a day with a Y in it you'll have a better life.


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Friday 16 March 2018

Be a working Actor


   

Hello, I've been knocking about in this game for many years. I remember the day I left Arts Education in London and thinking "what do I do now"? I had no agent, no work and didn't really know how to go about it. Drama school was great for many things, but teaching the business it was not.

 Personally, I was hard working and imaginative (obviously, I'm an actor) and I soon began to work out how to work. I went from a co-operative agency in Nottingham to one of the biggest agencies in the world. I have worked in profit share all the way up to Hollywood movies and as I look around I see young performers struggling to get started. We at Hard Graft have a long history of employing young actors, but we can't do everything. So what can we do? Anyone who has worked for so long in this industry sees it differently to you.  I now produce theatre, so I'm on the other side of the table and I see mistakes actors make, mistakes I've made myself. So, what if I offered a 'How to work as an actor course'? If there are enough of you I will book a room and share my knowledge. Probably be £20 each for the afternoon. Pop your details here and I'll get back to you.

I want to act.

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Tuesday 20 February 2018

Two, too hot in Tenerife


Let's face it, why would you want to spend January in the Great British weather?  We don't we like to feel the sun on our faces and the warm African wind in our hair.  

 


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Friday 16 February 2018

Tenerife


Every January, like a sparrow Mark and Jo migrate to warmer climes.  This year we have travelled to Tenerife, the largest of the Canary islands off west Africa.  


Check out this New Podcast episode!

Tuesday 9 January 2018

I love the past, but I couldn’t live there.

We have been thinking a lot about the past twenty years. How we have built a story telling machine that entertains people, all people with comedy and drama. I’ve mentioned Thick as Thieves, how we took it from nothing and turned it into something special, something award winning and successful. I have gloated about being innovative and a front runner in pop ups and site specific and adventure projects like Poles Apart and Coast to Coast.

As 2018 begins we have sat down and thought about the future and we’ve come to the conclusion that all those thoughts and conversations have been about work in the past. Bringing stuff back. Well, bugger that. I have very little time to leave a lasting memory on this planet and I’ve got to start, as ever, by looking forward, not back. Back is comfortable and fuzzy and warm, but tied. Forward is frightening, poverty potential, lunacy, but exciting.

So it’s January 9th 2018, we as ever are skint, but me as ever has a million and one ideas about telling tales.

Stay tuned friends, it’s going to be an exciting, roller coaster of a year and I want to put you at the centre of it.

See you soon

Mark

Happy Birthday Hard Graft

20 years ago 4 newly graduated actors decided to put a show on, above a pub in Nottingham.  Who would have thought that the company would still be knocking about today.
Do you remember any of these past shows?
  • Win,Lose,Draw (above a pub in Nottingham)
  • Bedders & Pike (above a pub in Nottingham)
  • Much (Nottingham Playhouse studio)
  • True Story (17 Forester St Netherfield)
  • Weird Doug goes Camping (video)
  • Thick As Thieves (Shops, houses, theatre everywhere, Edinburgh festival)
  • Burt & Joyce (Charity shops across the country)
Thick As Thieves
Thick As Thieves 2014
  • Charity Begins at Home (shops and a theatre tour)
  • Pop Tarts (shops and a theatre tour)
  • Christmas At Our Carols (Audio Play)
  • The Big Adventure (fields, barns, kitchens, pubs, anywhere)
  • Coast to Coast (National theatre tour, Edinburgh festival)
  • Poles Apart (National tour)
  • When Will I Be Famous (National Tour)
  • Red Riding Hood (Regional tour)
  • Grass (24:7 festival and a shop in Oldham)
  • The Elves and the Shoemaker (Regional tour)
  • Ghost walks (Oldham, Rawtenstall, Saddleworth & Burnley)
  • Pinocchio (Regional tour)
  • Knife Edge (National Tour)
  • Hansel & Gretel (Regional tour)
  • Babushka (Regional tour)
Awards
  • TAPS comedy writing award
  • Manchester Theatre Award
  • Alfred Bradley Award (runner up)