March 2010

You’ve not heard much about Matilda, the musical for which Tim is writing the music and lyrics, have you? Well allow me to furnish you with some details.

The musical will run from 9th November 2010 to 30th January 2011 at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, with previews between the 9th and 13th November. Audio-described performances, for the vision impaired, are on the 11th and 29th January and captioned performances for the hard of hearing are on the 15th and 21st January. A comprehensive list of performance dates and times can be found here.

Tickets will be available to buy from 21st April (put it in your diaries so that you don’t forget), priced between £8 and £56 depending on what day you see it, and which seats you book. More details, including individual band prices, can be found here.

You know you’re really looking forward to it and, well, if you don’t, why not? It’s going to be ace!

The announcements for festival season begin: Camp Bestival is 30th July – 1st August 2010 at Lulworth Castle in Dorset.

Tim will be performing as part of the Jestival Sessions on Friday 30th.

The great comedy line up for Jestival also includes: Rufus Hound, Jim Jefferies, Marcus Brigstocke, Andrew Maxwell, Andre Vincent, Tiernan Douieb, Carl Donnelly, Craig Campbell, Mitch Benn, Rob Rouse, Matt Kirshen and Tim Fitzhigham!

Weekend tickets are £155 and can be purchased from the Camp Bestival website.

So dig out that crumpled tent and shake the spiders out of your wellies and have fun!

You know how on Tuesday we mentioned that Sam Leach’s portrait of Tim was one of the finalists for the Archibald Prize, one of Australia’s most prestigious art awards? Well, it’s only gone and won!

Leach said he approached Tim to do a portrait, “primarily because I really like his style of comedy,” as well as seeing parallels between the pair’s lives.

“The topics he deals with – social commentary, the appeal to reason over religion and that kind of thing – tie in with my work.

“But in a funny way I also see my career reflected in his. His career is much bigger than mine but we became successful in our fields almost simultaneously and our first and second children were also born about the same time.”

He continued, “It was very important for me to get the toes in because he performs with bare feet and I was very happy with them.”

Tim gave this statement about his portrait: “What I like about my portrait is that it’s clear young Samuel has really put some effort into it. I particularly like how he made my lounge room floor look so clean – this will please my mother – and I’m seriously considering buying a print.”

Click the thumbnail to see the full prize-winning portrait.

So, it turns out that Tim’s going to be on Australian television this weekend as well as UK TV.

On Sunday, at 8pm, Tim will be appearing on the panel show ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation on Ten, alongside Chrissie Amphlett and Brooke Satchwell.

After his recent appearance on Good News Week, you’ll know that you won’t want to be missing this!

As the post titles suggests, these are a few snippets of news that don’t really justify a whole news post to themselves.

1. Tim has won two Green Room awards in cabaret for the best artiste and best original songs. Unfortunately he wasn’t even nominated for best male dancer. The full list of nominations and recipients can be found here.

2. Tim has also won a Chortle award for best music or variety act. Looks like he’s going to need a bigger mantelpiece for all these trophies. The rest of the winners can be seen here.

3. Speaking of awards, a portrait of Tim, done by the artist, Sam Leach, is a finalist for the Archibald Prize, which is regarded as one of the most prestigious Australian art awards. The painting, along with the other finalists can be seen here.

4. ‘So F**king Rock Live’ is being repeated on e4, in the UK, yet again, on Saturday at 11pm. Not that we’re saying you should watch it because it’s already been on three times, and you’ve probably got the DVD too, but just so you know.