I've been buying books for decades, and I remember when the plague of slick, stiff paper ads inserted in the middle of paperbacks fell upon the book buying public. Usually cigarette ads, as I recall, probably because that was after cigarette ads were forbidden on television and radio. They were annoying as hell because they tended to make the book open to that point by default--and you couldn't cleanly pull them out, either.
Fortunately, this plague on book buyers was fairly temporary, probably because it wasn't a good investment for the advertisers. A given book's ad can only reliably be expected to be read by ONE reader, and there was no way of tracking who it was, whether it influenced their buying habits, etc.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
There's this notion that being able to stream professional theater shows will hurt the industry, because people won't go to the effort to support live theater anymore, and this is based on the anxieties of the film industry, but live theater isn't a film. The better analogy is sports.
Look me dead in the eye and tell me that people being able to sit at home and watch The Game -- the fandom that encourages, the ongoing investment over the years, the memories and traditions of Watching the Game with family and friends -- harms the ticket sales of real live go-to-the-stadium sports. Of course it doesn't. Of course all that *is the reason* that people care so much about sports they'll invest a small fortune on not only tickets but often travel costs to be part of it all in person. And the people who aren't doing that *can't* do that and weren't going to regardless, but their at-home participation and investment still boosts the profile of pro and NCAA sports as cultural institutions.
Maybe it's possible to fall in love with film and be immune to the romance of Going to the Cinema such that you'll just freely choose the same film in the comfort of your living room. It's not possible to fall in love with something that happens live and not want to be there to experience it. The consequences of procasts, for theater just like for sports, can only be A) more people motivated to make live theater part of their worlds, aka more money, when theaters everywhere could desperately use more money, or B) more love. Which is worth arguing for because reasons I assume I don't have to defend.
still thinking about the time my bf asked about favourite dinosaurs and my brother said quetzalcoatlus (pterosaur (not a dinosaur)) and my bf said dimetrodon ((synapsid (stem mammal) (went extinct 50 million years before dinosaurs evolved)) and i said crows (bird (dinosaur)) and yet i was judged to be the incorrect one in this scenario
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
My toxic trait is that if I find a product I like I want to keep using the same product forever. It's not even brand loyalty. It's called stop changing and discontinuing everything.
Interview about Red Rabbit White Rabbit on BBC Radio 4 Front Row. 7 July 2026. Thought people in my fandom corner might be interested seeing as Steve Pemberton will be performing this on Monday 5 October 2026 - but also of interest to anyone whose blorbos include the other upcoming actors (at the time of writing the list is: Kathryn Hunter, Kunal Nayyar, Munya Chawawa, Ginger Johnson, David Harewood, Mel Giedroyc, Adam Buxton, Archie Madekwe, Christopher Eccleston, Riz Ahmed, Nish Kumar and John Bradley)
NA: Now, 15 years ago, the play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit had its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. This one-person show has gone on to be performed around the world - starring actors from John Hurt to Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Margolyes to Dominic West. The play changes every night. Each performance begins with a guest actor arriving on stage and being handed the script. They don't know anything about what they're going to perform until that moment in front of a live audience.
The play is back in London this month, running until the autumn with a cast of actors including Riz Ahmed, Jodie Whittaker, and Christopher Eccleston. Well, I'm joined now by the writer Nassim Soleimanpour and the actor who was handed the script on the 8th of June during a run of the play currently taking place at the Duchess Theatre in London, Lucian Msamati.
So, Nassim, why did you want to create a play that requires no rehearsal, no set, and a different actor at each performance?
NM: Oh, hi. Well the play has never really been about not rehearsing, to be honest. To me, it's about discovering what becomes possible when we let go of certainty. I really trust this hive mind of 500-600 people and I think the history of the show somehow has proven this. And once you get an actor like Lucian, for example, they manage to take you to a different place. Like watching him, to be honest, walk on stage without having read a single word beforehand wasn't actually anything that I would call terrifying. It was actually very reassuring to me. If someone can embrace the unknown with that much generosity, trust me, the audience immediately follows.
NA: (laughs) Well, we've gotta ask you, Lucian - why did you agree to this?
LM: Well, that's very flattering. Thank you, Maestro Nassim. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You know, where else do you get a chance to go, you know, the enactment of the so-called 'actor's nightmare?' No script, no rehearsal, no preparation: get on stage in front of 500 people. But it was once in a lifetime. And as Nassim said, it's not about the lack of preparation. It's about that moment of being together and of trusting that when you jump out of the metaphorical aeroplane without the necessary parachute, you are assured of a safe landing. And that actually what you need to do is to make a virtue of the fact that - even as the winds buffet you here and there - you are exactly where you're supposed to be. So just keep going.
NA: I love how you wrung out that metaphor, Lucian. *laughs) o here's there's a thing about White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, and it's that it has this kind of almost Mousetrap ... Mousetrappian secrecy around it. You're not allowed to discuss exactly what happens. So, I'll ask this carefully, Lucian. Tell me about being handed the script. What does that moment feel like for you?
LM: It feels like being handed the baton to a relay race and you're about to run the final leg of the 100m gold medal 4x100 relay. It's a mixture of adrenaline, of excitement, but also it has to be said, curiosity. That's also the thrill. You know, you have agreed to do this. I personally come from an improv background - having done a lot of improv - so stepping in front of an audience quote-unquote "not knowing" is sort of a natural wheelhouse for me. But at the same time, there's the thrill of the unknown going, "Well, but then whatever is in front of me, I must honour". If these words, if this piece that has been carried for, you know, X number of thousand performances, it's now my turn. Let me handle it with honour and just be present and not let the adrenaline take me too far.
NA: Nassim, explain to us why is it necessary for the actor to be completely in the dark and... Well, they don't even know the genre of the play! Why is that necessary?
NM: Well, look what's happening here. I didn't know what you're going to ask me and I'm not ready for that. And I think that that what makes it fun, right? There is - I was born in a country where Islam, of course, is practiced and I was raised in that society. They have this saying in Islam that they say, "Hell is the embodiment of your sins in front of your eyes". And I think that's the constant life of a playwright, right? You make all these mistakes and you have to see it again and again and again. When you do the cold read, that's okay - no one is rehearsed. We can all make mistakes. But for a good reason. That is the machinery of the play. So I think "why not" is the short answer. Let's do it, right?
NA: You mentioned your background. Now you wrote the play having refused military service in Iran and you weren't allowed to leave the country. One thing you are happy to say about the play is that it is "as much about contemporary Iran as the rest of the world." I'm really interested to know how the play speaks to Iran today. You wrote it 15 years ago and Iran has gone through so much change. How does it talk to contemporary Iran?
NM: It does to the contemporary world and to the contemporary Iran, you're right. Well, I refused to do military service and now with the war that is happening... somehow it says something about my decision! But I remember when Brexit happened, for example, I got lots of emails from audience members in the UK telling me, "Oh, this play is about our country". When the American election got very heated, I got it from the Americans. To be honest, I think the play has survived in a way because it refuses to become a museum piece about my country. Every new performer, every new language, every new time somehow pulls it back into the present.
NA: I want to ask you both about this extraordinary cast that the play attracts. Lucian, you're following John Hurt, Whoopi Goldberg, Riz Ahmed's coming after you, Nathan Lane has done it. Why are actors so willing to sign up to what you've already described as The Actor's Nightmare?!
LM: It's magical. It really is magical and there is nothing like being forced to be present. And also, you know, there is such a spirit of theatrical experimentation. You are in the hands of such a willing, such a warm and welcoming audience who are in on it with you, that you just... it's an offer you simply cannot refuse.
NA: Nassim, what does it add to you to have such starry names appearing in the play?
NM: I'm flattered, mate! I mean, I don't know! You know, in the evenings sometimes I take myself seriously, but in the morning I wake up and I'm like, "What? Are they gonna do it?" It's stunning, to be honest.
NA: I have to say I've never seen the play and I know quite a bit. I've read a lot about it. I'm fascinated by it. The thing that fascinates me most, Lucian, is that I wonder if this is theatre in its purest form. Theatre is about the moment that you create with an audience in a space and it never happens again. And on the 8th of June, you were there and that moment will never happen again. Would you say - here's my question! - is this pure theatre or is it an elaborate table read?
LM: (laughs) I have never been at an elaborate table read, thank you very much! It's pure theatre. It's community. It's no frills, no quote-unquote "BS". It's people trying to understand each other, coming together in a moment of magic communion. We have always done that as human beings. That is who we are. And if anything, this is an endorsement and a celebration of that. So more, please! I look forward to those who are going to be in the hot seat after me.
NA: Now, I happen to know that you've just finished writing The Godot Diaries. It's all about your role as Estragon in Waiting for Godot. And it struck me that's an example of a script where everything is so meticulously rehearsed and very tightly scripted. It struck me that there can't be two more different experiences in theatre, or... or am I wrong there?
LM: Well, it's interesting because they actually share DNA. You are always stepping into something unknown. The interpretation, the feeling, the moment is always in the gift of the audience. And in fact, a play like Godot specifically really teaches you to be totally in the service of the writing, totally in the service of the moment, and totally in the service of the relationship with your fellow performers and through that, the audience. So they are... I count them as very much two sides of the same coin. And I'm not sparing Maestro Nassim's blushes putting him in the same bracket as Maestro Beckett.
NM: Oh no, brother, I'm flattered!
NA: That's quite the accolade. Let me ask you, Nassim, the: it's been performed around the world and it's always performed in local languages. Are you consulted about translations and why do you think it's travelled so far?
NM: Hmm. There are some instructions that we send to the translator. It's a cold read, you know, there are details that we have to consider because of the performer who comes in. Why? I don't know. I think many reasons. One is the one that I gave you about the museum value. I also think in a way, to be honest, it's like a frozen scream in time. I wrote it - without spoiling the play - I wrote it out of the reason that I didn't do military service, right? And I wanted to tour and I wanted to communicate. So I just asked actors to perform it and it worked like a message in a bottle. All these brave performers, all these brave producers, audience members, they somehow got connected.
NA: Well, listen, I'm disappointed that I couldn't connect with you, Lucian, on June the 8th when you were there. But it was a moment and it didn't exist. Maybe I'll get to see it during its run. Thank you so much for joining us. White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is on at the Duchess Theatre in London on Monday nights until the end of October.
there's a group of high school boys in this McDonald's and I just heard one of them say "I bet you you cannae break your own arm" so something interesting might happen shortly
Goths aren't "true to seed" in the sense that the biological offspring of two goths do not necessarily grow up to be goth, though inheriting the inclination for it from both parents increases the odds significantly. That is not how goths naturally reproduce.
The process is actually quite sophisticated, and requires the presence of a full-grown goth to trigger it. A pupal-stage proto-goth, at this point completely indistinguishable from any other small human child, only needs to encounter a mature specimen once - and while the initial imprinting that ensues will only take seconds, the incubation period often takes more than a decade, even several.
The first visible step of the transformation is triggered when the dormant goth suddenly gains awareness that they have free will and can do whatever they want with their appearance. While the progress may be gradual, or seem like the transformation happened all at once overnight, the initial seed was planted years ago. And now, in full bloom, a fully-fledged mature adult goth may finally be happy.
And that's why it's important to sometimes look goth as fuck in the grocery store. You might be seen by small child who had previously hoped to die before adulthood because everything they've heard about becoming a grownup is just pure misery, who will then consequently think to themselves "actually nevermind, that's what I want to be when I grow up."
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
me: "have they tried not being fucking ignorant religious bigots?"
article: βI suspect that a bit of the steam has gone out of the LGBT thing,β Backman told the right-wing outlet, staying ahead of the issue. βThere may be the odd protester, but if they have got armies of PR people laser-focused on that then I suspect it may be OK.β
The thing that pisses me off the most though is the fact I know so many LGBTQ+ individuals that still go there, and they are surprised when I actually don't. It's literally like that tweet.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
We're at the "JK Rowling is personally funding litigation to try and destroy AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL" stage of rabid UK terf brain.
Screenshot via Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net on bluesky
Tldr Amnesty International, global human rights organisation, published a report called 'A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK'. In it is detailed, amongst others, a whole bunch of transphobic groups and organisations, including Beira's Place, JK Rowling's trans exclusionary sexual violence support service. JK Rowling threw a shit fit and got Amnesty to take the report down by threatening libel. This was obviously not enough, because you can't appease a fascist, so now she's going to bankroll a bunch of lawsuits anyway through the JK Rowling Women's Fund.*
You can read an archived version of the report here, please save it and share it.
*Not so friendly reminder there is no way to engage in the wizard books without enabling this shit.
