An Oompah Brass Update

If you read my blog post back in September (On Tour With Oompah Brass) you will know that I spent a week in August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, performing with Oompah Brass in a show called Blow Up! The Credit Crunch Musical (www.blowupthemusical.co.uk).

Although my part in Oompah Brass’ 3-week stint was only a small one, I’m glad to say it all went rather well: of their 23 scheduled shows and four extras, they sold out all but one and got 5* and 4* reviews in The Times, The Scotsman, The Mail (hmm…), etc.  They shared the bill with the likes of Frank Skinner, Rich Hall, Simon Amstell, Adam Hills and Jason Byrne, and in fact Frank Skinner has since asked them to appear in his London show on 9th November too.

Blow Up is hosted by failed German banker Max Klein who explains the rise and very recent fall of the world’s economy, through the medium of pop tunes in a Bavarian style played by Oompah Brass, who will be drinking beer and wearing improbably tight lederhosen. Honestly.

Anyway, they’ve now brought Blow Up to London, which is really the point of this post. I highly recommend you go to see the show either at the Leicester Square Theatre on Sundays or the King’s Head, Islington. Full details below. NB It’s cheaper to go as a group… ;o).  And if you’re planning on going then let me know as I love this show and would happily watch it over and over!

Sunday performances at The Leicester Square Theatre (6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX)

Nearest tubes: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus

Sunday 25th October, 19.30

Sunday 1st November, 19.30

Sunday 8th November, 19.30

Sunday 15th November, 14.45

Sunday 22nd November, 16.00

Sunday 29th November 19.30

Running time: 70 minutes.

Tickets £17.50 standard stalls, £15 concessions, £12.50 group rate (8 or more)

Book online here or call 0844 847 2475

Weds, Thurs, Sat performances at The Kings Head Theatre, Islington (115 Upper Street, N1 1QN), all 22.00-23.10

Nearest tubes: Angel, Highbury & Islington

Wednesday 14th, Thursday 15th October

Wednesday 21st, Thursday 22nd October

Wednesday 28th, Thursday 29th October

Wednesday 4th, Saturday 7th November

Thursday 12th, Saturday 14th November

Wednesday 18th, Saturday 21st November

Weds 25th, Thurs 26th, Sat 28th November

Tickets £17.50 standard stalls, £15 concessions, £12.50 group rate (8 or more)

To book, call 0844 209 0326 or visit the theatre’s website here

Links

www.blowupthemusical.co.uk

www.oompahbrass.com

www.charlietalbot.co.uk/C&B

Here’s the official blurb from their management company:

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‘Blow Up The Credit Crunch Musical’ will have its West End Premiere on Sunday 25th October at the Leicester Square Theatre. It will continue to perform there for the next 5 Sundays. Times vary from 14.45 to 16.00 to 19.30. Please note that group bookings of 8 or more receive a £5 reduction on the ticket price of £17.50. The show runs for 70 minutes without an interval. Please see the attachment ‘London PR’ for further details.

Blow Up will also be playing at the King’s Head Theatre at 22.00 on certain dates from 14th October onwards. Again please see the ‘London PR’ attachment.

Blow Up and Oompah Brass are also available for corporate bookings. We can offer an evening of theatre, music, comedy and dancing, adapted specifically for your event. Perfect for corporate Christmas celebrations.  Please see the attachment ‘Corporate PR’.

As you may know, ‘Blow Up The Credit Crunch Musical’ was a huge sell-out hit at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Please see the ‘Press Summary’ attachment. Additional information can be found on www.blowupthemusical.co.uk.

If you have any further questions please call our manager Philip Talbot on 07775 517411.

STOP PRESS – Oompah Brass have just been booked to appear with Frank Skinner in his new West End run.

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As I said, it’s a great show – if you go to see it please post your comments here, I’d love to hear your reactions!

A Painful Couple of Months

August and September were pretty painful from a trumpet player’s perspective, and October is proving to be no different.  Since the start of August I’ve been suffering with a cough that just won’t go away.  After the first month of non-stop coughing, and having pulled my intercostals muscles (an old coughing injury which is now re-occurring) I decided I’d better see a doctor.  The main problem for me here is not the irritating cough, it’s the fact that it simply hurts to breathe in and out under any normal circumstance.  So, imagine if you will, how painful it is to take in enough air to play a brass instrument and then be able to muster enough diaphragm support to blow that air back out again.  So, I went to see the doctor; otherwise I was soon going to have to start turning down work on the basis that it was just too painful to play.The doctor’s first assumption was a chest infection, and so put me on a course of antibiotics, which did nothing to help.  The second assumption was asthma, which they’ve struggled to test me for effectively as my ribs have been so sore that I can’t blow hard enough on the testing equipment for them to register proper results – an odd situation for a trumpet player to be in, I’m sure you’ll agree!  Still baffled by the on-going chest trouble, I was referred for a chest x-ray which came back normal.

Along side the asthma testing I was referred for physiotherapy on the NHS, which has been amazingly helpful.  The stretches and exercises given to me by my physiotherapist, Lorna, have been really very helpful, although without my doctor curing the cough she can only do so much to help me.  And the latest exercise of putting my fingers underneath my ribcage and pulling it outwards is pretty grim.  The intercostal inflammation (which was pulling my ribcage outwards) has gone down but now my diaphragm is under tension (which is pulling my ribcage inwards – hence the new exercise).

After a rehearsal with the Big Beer Band last week I have had two ‘remedies’ suggested to me.  The first was a homeopathic treatment called Bryonia, which is apparently excellent for clearing up coughs (cleared up somebody’s 10-month cough in 2 days apparently).  The second was to try changing my toothpaste…Apparently, toothpaste can contain irritants which can affect the chest and cause relentless coughing; a change in toothpaste brand may solve all my problems.  To be frank, I’m at the stage where I’m willing to try anything.  The toothpaste suggestion was a very interesting one.  I have been staying with a friend recently and using their toothpaste and my cough was much better until I went back home again.  However, a week on with different toothpaste and I’m still coughing, so I guess that’s not it.  I haven’t managed to find any Bryonia but am now trying an alternative homeopathic remedy for coughs and chest trouble.  In the meantime I shall just have to keep loading up on the “2x Ibuprofen + 2x paracetamol to be taken 1 hour before playing” method, which does work, but I’d prefer not to have to take so many drugs and just get the cough sorted once and for all.