The Nerdy Notebook

I once (ok several times) used the phrase "You don't grow up wanting to be Dana Scully and not become a feminist"

Wise words, if I do say so myself. But I also learnt so much more from Dana Scully.



The X Files in general taught me so much about life-in that it was one of those formative experiences, I think you're really lucky if the thing that you're really into across your teens (and sometimes beyond) is something of substance you learn from, and that can stay with you. So much of what we're built to obsess over in those years is transient, tied to that time in the world or our lives. I got really lucky that the thing that was influencing me was so good that it still holds up. And that so many years later I'm seeing it come back to TV in a few short hours, thinking of all it did for me.

The X Files inspired me to write, it gave me practice at it (I don't have to spell out how right?) it gave me analytical skills I use to this day, in breaking down a…

I'll be honest, I'd not heard of the Collyer Brothers before I booked to see 'The Dazzle' and in an attempt to come to the play open minded, I didn't find out much more. So other than knowing that they were slightly 'eccentric' and hoarded newspapers, I knew little elsee.

So I was relieved to read in the programme this note from playwright Richard Greenberg:

"The Dazzle is based on the lives of The Collyer Brothers, about whom I know almost nothing"

True or not, it is probably a better way to experience this play, becoming immersed in their world in the particular way this production allows.

Photo: Mark Brenner
The setting for this produciogof The Dazzle is responsible for a lot of it's magic. Housed in Found 111, the original building of St Martins art school, and a building I've often walked past and wondered about. The audience is taken first to the bar space The Tipple Club, which I highly recommend for sheltering from the rain as we d…