Peak Performance

TOTAL WOW! What an amazing couple of weeks! Festival shows in New Mills, bingo nights in Stockport and Bury + a Celebrations sized variety of shows in the next few weeks. It's all go as ever.

So let's start with the bingo. Stockport's venue was a weird one. Cabaret bars usually find themselves on the magical streets of west end districts in major cities. But tonight Matthew, NO! Our cabaret bar is going to be three floors up in a converted mill, a converted mill nowhere near the town centre and surrounded by units hosting anything from karate to homeware. Was this a problem? NO! It was RAMMED! So I sang songs and told jokes, Annie twerked on the dancefloor to the Greece soundtrack and one of the bingoers even got up and sang I Wanna Dance With Somebody to a very much lubricated army of ladies (man count: 1, poor luv.) Despite being super hot thanks to an actual sauna being based one floor below, the party carried on 'til late and I stayed cool thanks to the fact I'd bought an outfit from Boohoo in their 70% off sale. The 70% seemingly coming off the bottom of both the skirt and top.

After Stockport, the next stop was Bury at a very swanky hotel. With our largest crowd yet, it looked like a wedding reception for the kind of couple who end up inviting everyone including their neighbour's cat sitter. We had groups of teachers, the staff at a wedding dress shop and an absolute army of gym bunnies in the room. INCREDIBLE! I sang my songs, did some jokes and called out the bingo numbers in trademark rhythmical style. Annie had her photo taken with everyone and Pamela got people on their feet singing club classics. Whoop whoop!

So away from the numbers game I've also been in New Mills the past two Saturdays for their classy festival. On the first weekend I welcomed a lovely audience to At Home With Miss Angela Bra and we had a right laugh. So much so my 50 minute show turned into a record-breaking 75 - plus lots of meeting and greeting afterwards. We had a right giggle and a wriggle. The Peak District knows how to party!

The next Saturday, Annie was with me for Disco Divorce Party to an audience largely made up of the same people the week before. There were smiles all round as we took our audience on a virtual pub crawl car crash and we had a lovely chat with some of them afterwards. Some of the older gents propping up the bar gave me some quizzical looks but I can't blame 'em. Look but don't touch sir, look but don't touch.

So that leaves the future to talk about and what a future it is. Next Wednesday I'm at Santiago's in Leeds to do ten, on Thursday it's the turn of The Parish in Huddersfield and then on Friday I'm MCing in Rhyl at a very swanky theatre. No bingo this week so I'll be resting my heels over the weekend and getting things prepared for Glossop Comedy Festival on October 8th where Disco Divorce Party is very nearly already sold out!

Manche-STAR!

Oh lordy I have travelled SO HARD these past few weeks. Telford, Manchester and Oldham. I really have been living my best life!

So get this. I'm fresh back from Camden Fringe with my best mate Annie-Sup and we're checking the diary and it's like "Telford, 8pm" and we're like "Where's Telford?" And we fiddle with the Google and it's bloomin' MILES AWAY. But we don't care, we're professionals. So we jump in the car and blitz the A roads of destiny until we reach the best looking beer garden in the north-midlands.

The crowd is decent and the staff are LOVELY so we has a proper alcoholic drink and everything with our complimatary ticket and decide that once our show's done we'll watch Stevie Gray do his in the second half so we're definitely 0% when we're back in the buggy. Disco Divorce party makes people rock harder than the cliffs of Dover and every beat is accompanied by my heels a-tap-tapping on the very solid but very hollow wooden stage we're stood on. Like riverdance with proper music.

So that went real nice and it was back to Glossop in the early hours ready for Manchester Fringe the next week. Both my solo show and DDP happened back-to-back the next Wednesday (my humps, my humps, day) and I did mine again on the Thursday too. Was they good? They was AMAZING of course and the review on North West End said, "with plenty of audience participation, including Angela’s own amusing take on musical statues, it all in good fun and you won’t begrudge the hour spent in her company." - which I reckon ain't too bad at all. I also had some good friends come to the shows. Friends are good. Especially when they come to your shows.

After all that it was to Oldham at Tokyo's for Bop & Bingo on a MASSIVE stage in their beer garden with a proper loud PA (I mean speakers, not an assistant with a megaphone.) 80 drunk ladies and a handful of lads bopped and dabbed their way through the night and Annie busted out some wicked moves on the dancefloor. One lad with bad trainers proposed to his girlfriend after eating a pint of marshmallows as part of one of my games. Romance is not dead!

So now what? I'm off to Pride of the Peaks this Saturday in New Mills as part of the town's festival. Show starts at 8pm. It's proper cheap this one, just £5. I am SO NICE! Click Here for the box orifice.

Ta-Ra.