The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

Life, Laughter, Resilience and a Joyful Exploration of the Life-Affirming Psychology of 'Yes and...' & on Surviving a 'Showstopping' Aneurism on Stage, with Serial Fellow Comedy Improviser, Ruth Bratt

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

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Delighted to welcome fellow Comedy Improvisation Performer, Writer, Actress & regular "Comedy Store Player", Ruth Bratt to The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'.

Ruth is the 1st 'new recruit' of "The Comedy Store Players" in the last 30 years of their close to 40 year history.  Ruth was 'Passed the Golden Baton' to be in the show by Comedy Store Player Co-Founder Neil Mullarkey, who recorded a "Good Listening To Show" LIVE with me at the Bath Theatre Royal a few months ago.

You can also Watch/Listen to Neil's LIVE episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Ye4tXFI4k

Just before doing this interview, Ruth Bratt had very recently completed a mammoth 50 hour Improv Marathon (which she does at least once a year - which we talk about) followed by a glass or three afterwards to celebrate! 

She is also, rather profoundly,  a survivor of having had the extraordinary experience (last Summer) of an unexpected brain haemorrhage, whilst performing live on stage, with "Showstopper: The Musical", in Edinburgh.  This obviously took her months from which to recover - and delighted to say that Ruth is here in the Clearing , very much restored & the 'right way up', made of Sterling stuff indeed! She is a real trooper. A proven performer, who admits to being addicted to improv. A successful co-writer of TV comedy. An amateur potter, an occasional painter, a reliable person who prefers to push herself rather than feel cosy in any normal comfort zone. 

You can now find Ruth Bratt most Sundays at the Comedy Store, where as a recently signed up member, she is happy to be live and vulnerable. 

Ruth is proud to be a collaborator, who is inspired by the twinkle in another actor’s eyes. 

And to think, at Nottingham University she thought she fancied becoming a Human Rights Lawyer - until a drama tutor in a small college in North America almost randomly repositioned her career prospects!

Ruth would like to remembered simply as being both ‘fun and kind.’
On the basis of this interview, that is an odds-on certainty!

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Chris Grimes:

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. And there we have it. Welcome to an auspicious, glorious day.

Chris Grimes:

In the Good Listening To Show clearing, we have Ruth Bratt, who is an extraordinary improviser extraordinaire, and she was passed the golden baton to be here in the show by Neil Malarkey of the Comedy Store Players. And just to blow some extra happy smoke at you. I believe that you are the first new core member of the Comedy Store Players, I think in about 30 years, but I might be exaggerating yeah, it's a real.

Ruth Bratt:

It's definitely a few decades.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah. And you're a singer because you're also part of Showstopper the musical, a founding core member of that too. So you're a serial improviser Because you're a singer as well. I was thinking, oh, this is going to be giving Josie Lawrence a run for her money because of her.

Ruth Bratt:

It's the joy of my life singing with that woman.

Chris Grimes:

And, as we know, comedy, improvisation being the joys of our lives, it's not about competing anyway. It's yes and yes, and, and everyone pulls in their own different directions and everyone's a winner chicken dinner. So welcome to the show, ruth. Very, very happy to have you here.

Ruth Bratt:

Very happy to be here. Thank you, lovely.

Chris Grimes:

And as we tuned in just now, you were nom nom nomming by your kitchen window.

Ruth Bratt:

I was I really misjudged at time. Uh, really misjudged it.

Chris Grimes:

Is that something you do a lot, or just no?

Ruth Bratt:

yes, I mean it's it's exacerbated at the moment because we did the 50 hour improvathon at the weekend, um, and I did 42 hours. So what it does is it really skews your relationship with time quite massively.

Chris Grimes:

And skews your relationship with sleep. Oh, hugely. On two flights to Australia and back. Whilst you're improvising, I can imagine.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's, yeah, it's bonkers really.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's yeah, it's bonkers really, and I'd be intrigued by asking you more about that anyway, because I was going to say that you've just come off the back of Flushed with Success, a 50 hour imprethon.

Ruth Bratt:

So do forgive me if I'm a bit squiffy.

Chris Grimes:

No but I do short form comedy improvisation because Instant Wit is the company that I run in Bristol. We're about 10 years behind the comedy store but even we've been going for about 30 years, so I understand and know exactly what you're up to in the cut of your jib, if you like. But interestingly, I've always had a very curious relationship with long form, particularly the imprethons. Because why I say that is because one of my audition speeches years ago used to be the player king from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and there's that idea of when you're just speaking to the wilderness and no one's watching or listening, what's the point of it? So I know that there is a point to it, but at three in the morning I can't imagine many people are watching. Or maybe they are, because it's been.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, yeah, there are people who come and watch all 50 hours wow, and is it being streamed as well, which makes sense in terms of it going to other parts of the world?

Ruth Bratt:

I don't think it was streamed, no, no, no, because I mean, I think all of us feel, well, I'll speak for myself. Um, I can't speak for everyone. I it streaming. It seems to go against the, the kind of the spirit of, because it is only it can only be experienced there. And you know, recorded improv is always tricksy because you're missing half of the point of it, which is that it's ephemeral and in the moment, which is that it's ephemeral and in the moment. Yes, and you know, half of the joy of improv is that a thing happens out of nothing. Yeah, and it happens then, yes, and then it's gone and it's done, you know.

Chris Grimes:

How big was the squad that did the 50-hour one over the last weekend?

Ruth Bratt:

So altogether I guess there were about 30 performers and musicians and lighting and tech, and then I think 10 or 12 people did the full 50, including our technicians, and it's a weirdly addictive thing.

Chris Grimes:

You know, I'll take your word for it, because I just know that I just well. I suppose it's because of the AGM, but about 10 o'clock at night I've generally lost the plot anyway and need to go to bed.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, I mean it's a funny thing because you, I mean you don't have to do all, that's the thing. No one has to do it. When, when we first started doing it, Ken Campbell was the one who who introduced us to it and he never told anyone that you didn't have to do the full 50. So everyone just sort of thought you had to and the Canadians were like, no, no, uh, you know, you know they all thought we were nuts, but you know, it's a there's something about.

Ruth Bratt:

So I was chatting to Jamie Kavanagh last night, who's one of the Canadians that came over, and he talks about it like it's like the membrane that holds you in, about I can't remember what time, but you know, after about 15 hours that membrane has has gone. So you're way more open and, um, kind of honest and truthful and all those things and I mean crazy stuff happens, of course it does. Um, Jamie and I just laugh at each other for a very long time. We can't help it. We catch each other's eyes on stage and that's it, you know, and it just laugh at each other for a very long time. We can't help it. We catch each other's eyes on stage and that's it, you know, and it always happens at exactly the same time, for exactly the same amount of time every year. It's clearly what our brains do, especially what our brains do in connection with one another.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, the true nature of ensemble.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, and it's, you know, know, it's just such a beautiful thing and it's, you know, it's, it's like a, a family and a community and a um, you know, and the audience create community as well.

Chris Grimes:

You know that they're, they create like little friendship groups and you know it's beautiful, it's beautiful thing I can imagine there's a parallel with an athletic uh, you know, running a marathon the moment when you get through the pain threshold and then you're suddenly completely in flow, when you all of the sort of hurdles, of the pain, barriers, to get you to that point yeah, we call it the gates of hell.

Ruth Bratt:

Um, yes, and the gates of hell are about. I mean, there's two locked in a 50 hour but they're around, they're like, you know, the, the overnight kind of like on on saturday night, sunday morning, so kind of two o'clock, sunday morning, three to about seven so you've overcome the gates of hell many times and that's a good, that's a great life skill right there, which, of course, improvisation is a great life skill yeah.

Chris Grimes:

So welcome to the show and I'll just ask you a couple of unexpected questions, first of all, for the audience. Um, if we haven't met you before and obviously I know and have researched and have really enjoyed doing that but, um, if someone goes, oh hello, you look interesting. What do you do? Uh? So what's your favorite way of answering or avoiding that question, ruth? So what does Ruth bring to the world?

Ruth Bratt:

uh, when I'm, if I'm doing so, we're doing a course where I don't want to tell anyone what I do. If I'm an administrator and then no one else do any more questions, that's always my favorite thing to do. I'm an administrator. Um, I always call myself a performer because I don't, I don't. I mean, I am an actor, but I don't kind of. I think that doesn't quite cover the full gamut, so I just say I'm a performer.

Chris Grimes:

And that's all encompassing being what. And, as we know, it's very polymathic because obviously there's comedy, there's writing, there's singingmathic, because obviously there's comedy, there's writing, there's singing, there's performing, there's improvising, and there's tv, there's film. It's a very polymathic capability. So, yeah, we commend you to the house having that polymathic capability. Next, just unexpected question, before I start to curate you through the main thing is um, how's morale? What's your story of the day, please?

Ruth Bratt:

oh well, uh, last night I went out and I, um, I got drunk.

Ruth Bratt:

I don't drink um at all, really, and anymore just before you're coming on my show I know, but it was because, like because me and jamie went out, we were like, yeah, we got really overexcited and uh, and I, I woke up this morning and last night when I got in, quite tipsy, um, I put on a load of washing. So when I woke up this morning, all my washing was done and I was like, well done me. So I think that's pretty I'm gonna say pretty good, I love that I did washing without remembering I'd done it hit the bottle again and you've done the washing, that's fantastic.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, yeah, yeah that's a great, great answer. So it's my great joy to begin to curate you through the journey of the good, listening to show stories of distinction and genius. It's the show in which I invite movers, makers, shakers, mavericks, influencers and also personal heroes into a clearing or serious happy place of your choosing. Then there's going to be all the usual hoary chestnuts. There's going to be a tree, a five, four, three, two, one, some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden bet, the cake. So it's all to play for. So Ruth Bratt, wonderful comedy improviser, english actress and comedian. What is where is a clearing for you? Where do you go to get clutter-free, inspirational and able to think?

Ruth Bratt:

I was. I was trying to think of this and, weirdly, I think, um, most of my clearings are quite cluttered. So I love, I love the south bank, which is not a clearing at all, but I get, I'm very inspired by the south bank. And then, um, I don't know if you've heard of it Dennis Sever's house. Have you ever heard of Dennis Sever's?

Chris Grimes:

house. No, tell me more. Dennis Sever's house.

Ruth Bratt:

Beautiful. So Dennis Sever's was just a bloke in East London and it's in Spitalfield and it's an old Georgian townhouse and he just did it up as it would have been and he kind of he followed. He sort of did it up and followed a family's fortunes through from georgian times to sort of I don't know victorian times I guess, and the the top floor is a a weird dickens room but the in the basement is the most beautiful kitchen with a fireplace that you know. And in the winter when you go, I remember going with my friend Bill and my dad and we just sat in the kitchen looking at the fire but what seemed like hours.

Chris Grimes:

beautiful place you've given me two beautiful clearings. There we've got the South Bank, which has the freneticism of the energy of just the, the cosmopolitan quintessence of London, if you like. And then there's Spitalfields, which is the sort of more Dickensian side of it, if it's fair. So I'm attracted to both. So where would you like us to go?

Ruth Bratt:

Let's go to the South Bank, because I think you could get a tree in there easier Also.

Chris Grimes:

I don't know that we want to put a tree in the fire. We can either be in the sort of wedge into the Spitalfields house or shove it on the South Bank, but you've chosen the South Bank.

Ruth Bratt:

South Bank, yeah, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

Okay. So I'm now going to arrive, a bit Waiting for Godot-esque and a bit surreally, with a tree in your South Bank, and we're going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. So this is where you've been kind enough to have taken five minutes, or as long as you've needed, to think about four things that have shaped you, ruth Bratt, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention, and that's where the random squirrels come in oh, squirrels Borrowed from the film Up. And then a quirkier, unusual fact about you we couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us so over to you, it's not a memory test. I'll curate you through as we go. So how would you like to interpret the shaking of the canopy of your tree?

Ruth Bratt:

Oh, four things that have shaped me. Well, I find all these questions very hard. I'm not really a kind of navel-gazy kind of person. I just and I think maybe that's an info thing I kind of just accept where I just and I think maybe that's an info thing I kind of just accept where I am and what I am, and you know work with what it is.

Ruth Bratt:

So I was thinking about it and I was like, well, so in terms of my career, uh, or in terms of who I am in that sense. So when I was 20, I went to, uh, I was doing American studies. I was going to be a human rights lawyer, so I was doing american studies and I was going to do a conversion course, it's slightly more cooler than saying and I'm an administrator, yeah, human rights lawyer, yeah sure yeah, I know I'd have been a terrible human rights lawyer.

Ruth Bratt:

By the way, um, and I went to the states because you did a semester um abroad and we went to me and my friend hannah went to a um, a place called middlebury which was a. It's a tiny college. I think there's like 2 000 students and I think the town only has like 6 000 people in it, and we were at nottingham and there's 15 000 students at the university, let you know. So it was like the opposite, and so we were doing our you know our courses, which was African American narrative and history of American women, and in my off time I was doing just some. You know, I joined a theatre group and, and um, one of the guys was doing this is a long winded story One of the guys was doing a um.

Ruth Bratt:

One of the guys was doing this is a long-winded story one of the guys was doing a directing course and he was directing a Noel Coward play and he said please, will you Black Spirit, I think and he went please, will you be in it, because you've got the accent, so it's like you're a ringer and I went yeah, okay, so we did it and he had his feedback. And then his tutor said to me who are you? And I went oh, hello, you know. And he said and why aren't you doing any of my classes? And I went oh well, I'm not allowed to. I have to do African American. Now it's the history of American women. And he said but you're going to do this right? And I went oh, uh, no, no, I hadn't really thought about it and it was the first time that I think anyone had said to me you could do this as a job, as a living what a great mentor.

Chris Grimes:

Someone that suddenly, in that yes and moment, just went spotting somebody's potential and just said, yeah, you're gonna do this and that was the only conversation I ever had with him.

Ruth Bratt:

I don't know his name do you remember his face?

Chris Grimes:

so you've got an energy.

Ruth Bratt:

I do. I remember his face and I remember his hair. He had quite wild hair, is what I remember. And then I came home and I went well, maybe let's try this then.

Chris Grimes:

Was he a professor of drama then?

Ruth Bratt:

I think he was. Yeah, he was a drama, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

So he ran the directing course.

Ruth Bratt:

It's wonderful, isn't it, how life's doors when they open and they really are for you, you just sort of fall through. Yeah, and I and I just went. You know, I mean, and that's the thing, like I, I said yes and to things before I knew what improv was and I just went yeah, all right let's try that then. Um, so I think that was very formative. I mean, you know that started what has now been I don't know 20, well, probably 30 years. Now we're coming up to in acting and performing.

Chris Grimes:

So great shapeage, being present at the age of circa 20, but just being encouraged through a door with a very lubricated hinge into the world of hecting. I love that great shapeage. Uh, shapeage number two, please, if we ever get stuck. I've got a bell, by the way, which is okay, we're not stuck, but this is that was a great first shapeage. What's the second thing that shaped you?

Ruth Bratt:

I'd say all of my friendships, all of them, the ones that I still have, the ones that I don't have anymore, the ones that ended badly, you know, the ones that continue to be glorious and fulfilling. And because every friendship you have is transformative, I think Every friendship you have Nice answer.

Ruth Bratt:

Thank you. I you know, and I think often you know, women talk about female friendships and I have incredibly strong female friendships that I am so grateful for and that you know, lift me up and provide you know um, provide sucker, and you know real joy and strength and um. But I also have brilliant male friendships that I think are sometimes kind of forgotten about. You know that, that's you know, some of my just most joyful moments are with friends of both sexes, all sexes, all genders. You know, and I think it's a, I think every friendship you have is a, is a real gift, and I think we can get really caught up in sort of romantic relationships and sometimes you forget the, the non, the platonic ones, the blissfully platonic yes yeah, and they're, and I think they're sort of in some ways more important.

Ruth Bratt:

Yes, you know, platonic relationships have lasted longer.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, way longer you're able to be more constant than if you have a metaphorical or literal divorce from a an intimate relationship. Yes, different type of intimacy. I get that good relationships are intimate in any case.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah. So I find that those really shape me hugely and continue to do so and change me. You know you meet people who change you and I think because of the kind of job I do like, you meet so many people, so many people. So you have friends who are work friends. You have friends who are friend friends. You know you have work friends who are friend friends you have. You know you have people who are friends for I don't know the the duration of a job and then they're not anymore but they're still friends, like you know that's like a what's lovely is the through line of Ruth Bratt, brought to you by the word friendship.

Chris Grimes:

Friendship, that's lovely. Yeah, that's a very lovely thing to have at the core of what we're talking about.

Ruth Bratt:

Third shapeage All my experiences, be they good or bad. You know, bad stuff happens. I don't know if I have to swear, so I stopped. Bad stuff happens, but that didn't sound sweary to me bad stuff happens and and I think that's um vital like I'm as shaped by the negative stuff as I am by the positive stuff, and I don't mean like in a negative way, I think I'm positively shaped by negative experience.

Chris Grimes:

And, if I may, you may or may not be talking about this, but we were going to do this a few months ago when Neil Malarkey first passed the Golden Baton. Yeah, but do you mind me mentioning you had an aneurysm, didn't?

Ruth Bratt:

you Well. Yeah, I had a brain hemorrhage. Yeah, on stage which was brilliant.

Chris Grimes:

Were you going to just forgive me? Were you going to talk about that anyway?

Ruth Bratt:

I wasn't, but I don't mind talking about it. I haven't talked about it on social media. People are like where have you been? And I'm like I'm not gonna talk about this on social media. That's weird, you know. Um, so I, yeah, we were doing showstopper in Edinburgh and um, we did the opening number and then my, my head exploded, imploded really um, did you know what was happening?

Chris Grimes:

obviously, you've never had no idea.

Ruth Bratt:

It felt like the worst migraine. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced and it was like the worst migraine, so I left the stage. I think actually the other people on stage are slightly more traumatized by it than I was because I don't really I remember the basic gist of it all, but I don't.

Ruth Bratt:

You know, I was in a lot of pain, so I don't have a strong memory of it. I think it's a bit like, you know, giving birth, like people don't know. You know they remember the sort of you don't remember the bad. The other gates of hell, the other gates of hell, yeah, yeah, so they.

Chris Grimes:

All the gates of Wundham.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, I just left the stage, which you can do in an improv show, right, and they carried on.

Chris Grimes:

So you didn't have a dramatic collapse.

Ruth Bratt:

Obviously you were collapsing, but I sat down and so I was just sort of sitting holding the table, kind of thinking wow, this hurts, and trying to work out what to do about it, but not like not listening to anything else um at all, because you can't, you can't you can't, so did somebody notice this is strange?

Chris Grimes:

and then just get you rushed to hospital?

Ruth Bratt:

no, so I I left the stage and because it's improvised, like that could happen anyway.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah.

Ruth Bratt:

And Pippa noticed that I hadn't come back on so she came backstage. But it's quite dark backstage and I sort of went like that and she thought I was kind of going I'm not coming back on Carry on. So she knew I'd gone off. But there's no way of telling anyone that you know that it couldn't tell anyone on stage or anything.

Chris Grimes:

Also, you'd never had it before, obviously, so one doesn't really know.

Ruth Bratt:

But yeah, I was like maybe this is just a bad headache and it, it'll go in a minute and I can go back on um. So I managed to get into the dressing room and then some one of the crew um one of the venue staff happened to come in and found me on the floor and said do you need me to take care of you? I went yes, please. So then it all kind of kicked in. We couldn't get an ambulance because there just weren't any. So then we were trying to get me a cab to get me to go to hospital. I was saying I wanted to go home but luckily our producer was there and she was like no, and were you able to think straight.

Chris Grimes:

You sound incredibly congruent about what was happening, because if I have migraines, I can barely construct a sentence yeah.

Ruth Bratt:

No, I couldn't really what I meant when I want. When I was saying things like I want to go home, what I meant was I want to lie down and I don't want to be here yes, what I?

Ruth Bratt:

meant um. So I wasn't very clear about what. What was going on, um, and then they managed to get me outside. We were going to get me into a cab because they wanted to get me out before the show came down, because that would be 750 audience. And and then, of course, just because we got out, um, the fire alarm went off, so the whole place was evacuated. So the last thing the other showstoppers had seen was me just leaving the stage looking a bit out of it. And then the next thing they saw they were evacuated over the road and they just saw me sitting in a wheelchair waiting to get into a cab and they were like ooh.

Ruth Bratt:

So by the time we got to hospital I was beside myself and they zip you straight through, because it was quite clear there was something going on.

Chris Grimes:

It was, if I may, a bit of a show stopper it was a bit of a show stopper.

Ruth Bratt:

It didn't stop the show. I mean, that's the interesting thing. The show carried on the show must go on, so yeah. So then they did a CAT scan, gave me some morphine and said you've had, uh, a brain hemorrhage. And I said oh dear, oh no, the morphine makes you just go, oh well so were they.

Chris Grimes:

So what was done? They must have plugged what was bursting, obviously, or?

Ruth Bratt:

no, so it was a weird one because it wasn't an aneurysm, so it wasn't. You know, there was nothing to plug I had to have. So I've had all the tests, which again is a great thing, because now I know that my brain's fine. You know, there's no nasties in there, because I've had every test under the sun for it. And, yeah, they couldn't find a cause.

Chris Grimes:

Um, just one of those things I'm very happy to report you're the right way up and the right way up.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, they had 12 days in uh wow in edinburgh. I tell you what, if you're going to have any kind of brain incident, have it in Edinburgh. Their neurology unit is unbelievable. Unbelievable, I mean. The weirdest thing was because it was very hot. That two weeks it was really hot and you get your own room once you come off the high dependency unit. And every morning I woke up convinced I was in a terrible resort in spain and every day I'd be like this resort and they're like it's not a resort, I'll be all right.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, no, I know it's not.

Chris Grimes:

I know it's not, yeah so this show comes into the uk health radio show space as well, and that's the sort of radio network which is why I was intrigued to go a little bit into that, and thank you for being so kind about that I mean, it's been fascinating and I was genuinely concerned that my brain wouldn't work the same way when I went back.

Ruth Bratt:

Yes, because you're like well, I don't know if it's changed the way I improvise or the way I think, or I don't know. So I was really and obviously there's an added thing that it happened on stage. So the first time you go back on stage you're like, yes, you know, um, so it's, I'm pleased that it hasn't altered the way I improvise in any way and you haven't found another sort of skill of being able to sing spontaneously in Japanese or anything?

Ruth Bratt:

I wish, like I wish, I'd come out with a funny accent or something. That would have been brilliant. No, I just had. When my favorite bit of it was they do so many favorite bits. What a wonderful experience. Uh, my favorite bit they do all these cognitive tests, um, you know, and you have to remember five objects and all that stuff. And they got to the maths portion of it and I started doing it and I couldn't and I went just so you know, I couldn't do this before the brain hemorrhage. You've got no chance now, mate, and the nurse went. Maybe you need to get better at maths.

Chris Grimes:

Good nurse right there. Yeah, thanks very much, so I think we could be. We'll get on to the three things that inspire you now. So what about that?

Ruth Bratt:

so I find people, uh, who strive for more and commit to striving for more very inspiring nice answer I don't like people who settle for and it's not. I don't like them. I just don't find that interesting. So I don't find it interesting on stage when people sit in a comfortable place.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, I'm like come on, come out to play a bit of yes and rather no, but you idiot yeah, or even if they're yes anding, but they're yes anding in a very safe way.

Ruth Bratt:

That means that they're in their comfort zone. I'm like oh, show me your vulnerability. That's what I want, that's what I live for. What I like to do is, you know, push myself. I don't want to do the same thing again and again and again. That's why I improvise.

Ruth Bratt:

I suppose, but you know I can't sit on my. You know, one of the things that shows doffer is, as soon as we get good at something we're like right, what's the next thing? That's going to be difficult and that to me, is massively inspiring. To be around, and to be around a group of people who I mean all the performers I work with I find hugely inspiring. You know, I find the comedy store players, like they were what I watched when I was a kid, you know. Yes, so that's hugely inspiring and mind-blowing to kind of be with them on a stage. And I find, you know, in in showstopper. I find the people that I work with their, their commitment to always pushing for more and pushing for better and and pushing for the impossible.

Chris Grimes:

I find I was at um the bristol lobby theater school with somebody called julie claire and she was, so if you see her, say hello from me, I will I saw her at the weekend.

Ruth Bratt:

She was doing a bit lovely.

Chris Grimes:

Uh, great answer.

Ruth Bratt:

Second thing that inspires you the the twinkle in another performer's eyes. I find that massively inspiring. I did a one-woman show and I and I'm glad I did it and I would never do it again because I missed that the collaboration To me that's the most inspiring thing is seeing someone else. They've got something has sparked and they've got an idea, or they've found something funny or they've done something funny, and that little twinkle. You know, the thing I missed most in the pandemic was the twinkle.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely answer, yeah, third inspirer.

Ruth Bratt:

Make things. I find people who make things inspiring and I find when I make things, I can make more things. So I started doing pottery because it's very meditative and beautiful and, you know, it's very mindful, in the best meaning of that word. You cannot be thinking of anything else when you're making a pot, but I find that when I've made a pot or when I paint, I do an online art class and I love it because it sparks other inspiration to write or to you know. So all those things I find.

Chris Grimes:

You should show your pots to Johnny Vegas, because he's a potter. He is a potter, yeah.

Ruth Bratt:

There's a lot of us around, and what's your most recent pot, please? Or is it not just pottery?

Chris Grimes:

That was a potter. Yeah, there's a lot of us around. And what's your most recent pot, please? Or is it not just pottery? That was just an example, maybe.

Ruth Bratt:

Well, I'm going in tonight to Shall. I bring you a pot. I'll show you one of my favourites.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, and bring me a pot, please Fill in.

Ruth Bratt:

Fill she's off to get a pot and I didn't think of a rhyme.

Chris Grimes:

So there we are. That's good, she'll be back. Oh, hello that, that could be your brain it's a globe. It is a globe. It is a globe. It's just, if I may, and no offense, it's a slightly wonky one because it's got a flat bottom.

Ruth Bratt:

It has got a flat bottom because it collapsed.

Chris Grimes:

So the Earth is both flat and round, thanks to you. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, both the flat Earthers and the fact that the flat Earth has, you know, offices all around the globe.

Ruth Bratt:

Obviously it's easier when it's got a flat bottom to.

Chris Grimes:

Yes, it saves the world rolling away from you, because it's your world and it mustn't roll away from you yeah, that's one of my most recent ones. I'm really interested in glazes and yes, looks quite moonscapey now you've placed it quite moonscapey sort of on it. Oh, what a glaze on that whoa, what a pleasure being in your orbit. This is great for a podcast, by the way, we're watching.

Ruth Bratt:

No, one can see it but we can imagine. It it's a globe with a flat bottom.

Chris Grimes:

Marvellous.

Ruth Bratt:

It's made with a terracotta crank.

Chris Grimes:

Ruth Pratt, brought to you by the word friendship, and terracotta crank, please, we like that. Okay, now perfectly segwaying into two things that never fail to grab your attention. Oh, squirrels, you know what never fails to grab your attention?

Ruth Bratt:

irrespective of anything else that's going on for you. Squirrels, uh, other people's conversations, your nosy thing. I love them. Eavesdropping, yeah, I love, I love other people's conversations and I get, um, they're very caught up in them. Um to the point that when I'm with some, you know, my ex used to say, like, can you please concentrate on our dinner? I'd be like, yeah, but did you hear that? No, so I do have bad ears as well. Like I've got very, very sensitive hearing, so I can hear quite a lot, but I love it because you get.

Chris Grimes:

I love the fact you're resting your chin on your glover.

Ruth Bratt:

I know, I know I love it so much. I love my clothes.

Chris Grimes:

No, I know, I love it so much. I love.

Ruth Bratt:

Michael, yeah, I get characters, you know, so I'm always it's amazing when you talk to people or overhear people and it's like a fully formed character. I met a woman the other day. This stuff will never not be interesting to me when someone's got an amazing voice. She's a very old lady. She was in the queue for the um baker and um, she went oh, I've come all the way from tottenham on the bus because I couldn't get any bread and back pudding and I had this such a long conversation with her and um, she's now one of the voices that I do on a regular basis because I love it.

Ruth Bratt:

So anything like that is like as soon as I hear a voice or see a walk or yeah, you're in very good company my all time comic hero, Stan Laurel.

Chris Grimes:

But I remember reading that Oliver Hardy grew up in a Texas hotel that his parents owned and he would just sit people watching and banking characters for his future it's so useful and it's the thing that I again like in the pandemic, when everyone was like, just make your own work, and I'm like I haven't seen anyone yes, I can't, I can't.

Ruth Bratt:

I find the. You know the bit. The tidbits are the things that make me want to do.

Chris Grimes:

I'm a collaborator yes, you, that's really clear. And rudy shelly, my ancient european mystic acting teacher, when I will an acting teacher, um, would would always say acting is never boring. You should always be people watching, which is true, true, so I, I'm right there with you being miss, miss people watcher. And now, uh, we could be on to a one or quirky, or unusual fact about you. Ruth brat, we couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us.

Ruth Bratt:

I have a plank of wood in my cupboard under the stairs that has moved with me four times, five times, because one day it's going to be really useful.

Chris Grimes:

So you have the plank of life, the plank of life there's a plank of wood and my ex used to go.

Ruth Bratt:

Do we need this plank of wood? I'm like not yet.

Chris Grimes:

One day we're going to need it and he's gone. Now he's an ex, whereas you still got your wood he's gone, but the plank of wood is still there I've had a longer relationship with a plank of wood than with any man I commend you to the plank. That's a lovely answer, lovely. So the day you're with a partner and you get your plank out, that's what you need to sort of we're building.

Chris Grimes:

I'm done, I'm finished, we're building my bridge to my future. I love that. That's awesome. Okay, now we've shaken your tree, hurrah. So now we move away from the tree, but we stay in the clearing which is still in your wonderful place in shoreditch Stroke, the South Bank. We can have both. I know we went to the South Bank and now it's alchemy and gold. Please, when you're at purpose and in flow, ruth Britt, what are you absolutely happiest doing and what you're here to reveal to the world?

Ruth Bratt:

I'm happiest being on stage and and letting stuff happen and being surprised by the stuff that comes out of my mouth as much as the stuff that comes out of someone else's mouth. The joy of the realization of your own brain, I think, is something everyone could do with, because we're very, you know, I don't think it's useful in life to be as quite as open as improvisers often are. Um, you know, sure, there's things you can take from improv that you can use in life, but not with it. Um, but there's something beautiful about the, the freedom of thought, and or no, it's not even thought, but that's a thing that I find interesting. With people like you think, so far it's like no, I'm really not thinking, there's no conscious thought going on with me. Every implies a different mind's, like you know, from synapse to mouth, without me nice expression define your comedy, improvisational technique from side apps to mouth.

Chris Grimes:

And I've got a plank of wood in the background for coming useful at any point. Love that Okay. Now we're going to award you with a cake. Hurrah, I love cake. That's a good answer. What cake would you like? Metaphorically?

Ruth Bratt:

Someday.

Chris Grimes:

I'll get round to actually bothering to send people the cakes they want.

Ruth Bratt:

I'd like a Victoria sponge, please, but to actually bothering to send people the cakes they want. I'd like a Victoria sponge, please, but with real cream not buttercream.

Chris Grimes:

None of that nonsense.

Ruth Bratt:

Real cream in the middle, real cream.

Chris Grimes:

you said there Absolutely. A Victoria sponge metaphorically, and hopefully somebody literally, is yours. Well done. So now you get to put a cherry on the cake, and that's stuff like what's your favourite inspirational quote? Uh, ruth bratt, that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future I have it on the back of my phone uh, you do.

Ruth Bratt:

You've just shown me the phone case yeah, it's from a um, it's from a fortune cookie. And now, now, when I say this, you're gonna go. Really that gives you okay. It makes me laugh so much. And my fortune was if your desires are not too extravagant, they will be granted, which seems stupid, but actually it's a really fascinating thing to think about. Like you'll get what you want if you don't want a lot you don't over wish, if you want a lot.

Ruth Bratt:

What, what else could happen? So I kind of I use it as a. I find it funny in number one and I'm always looking for the funny I always find the funny thing, but I also find it quite inspiring to go. You know what?

Chris Grimes:

maybe there's more of all the cookies you've had, that's the fortune cookie, one that you've kept, or have you? Or is that the only fortune cookie that you've ever opened? I had another one on the fridge, but I think it fell off, so that's now under the fridge that's the one that stayed and just give it to us again, because it does require a little bit more thought than just the face value.

Ruth Bratt:

It's good if your desires are not too extravagant, they will be granted.

Chris Grimes:

It's pretty bleak. It's meant to keep you in your box and don't over-wish.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, yeah, but to me it's like, I think it's kind of it makes me want to be more extravagant.

Chris Grimes:

As in. I want more than that.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah, all right, I might have got that, that wish. But what about the other ones? You know and you might. That's the joy. Like you can try and do this, but you might not get it, but at least try and do it lovely, okay.

Chris Grimes:

Next question is um, with the gift of hindsight, what notes, help or advice might you proffer to a younger version of ruth bratt?

Ruth Bratt:

oh, I couldn't give myself any advice, but just like because if you give yourself advice in hindsight you're missing out on all the bad stuff, right? So it's like you know, I could tell myself not to do certain things, or to do certain things, or but those things that I did or didn't do mean I am where I am now. So my advice would be like on you, go, keep on keeping on, carry on, keep on keeping on. Crack on, mate. I don't, um, yeah, I don't think I'd tell myself to do anything and I love that you're still.

Chris Grimes:

You're still curved over your planet. I love that there's continuous Ruth Black's planet.

Ruth Bratt:

I tell myself to start pottery sooner no, that's great.

Chris Grimes:

Start pottery sooner. The planet of you is very at peace with. Just keep on, keeping on.

Ruth Bratt:

Yeah.

Chris Grimes:

When I was researching you, there was a tweet that came up immediately, or some social media thing, which says geez, filming in a sorry geez filling in a medical form for the DLA is enough to bring on a fooking medical condition. You said so my question to you is is had you just done an application for the DLA before you had your aneurysm, or is that separate?

Ruth Bratt:

no, I've been trying to fill in one because, um, because I'm not allowed to drive, obviously, um, and you have to fill in all these forms, and trying to get through to DVLA is impossible, is impossible, um, and when? So when I first had that, they said don't drive and you have to let them know. And I've been trying for six months to let them know. But I've had a brain hemorrhage so I can't, I can't, like for ages, I couldn't cognitively do it. Then it's so difficult to find any of the information and when you're not 100 there anyway, you're like I can't do it, so I've just sort of been ignoring it and hoping it'll go away.

Ruth Bratt:

And so I finally finally found the form and I was like, right, I'm going to fill in this form and I'm going to. And I literally got halfway through the form and, uh, just started to cry and put the computer away. But it's so complicated and it's and I understand. You know it's an important thing to make sure that people are healthy when they're driving. But there is a big part of me that's like guys, these are people who've had brain hemorrhages you're making it really good for the forms already.

Ruth Bratt:

Yes, and I was like, if I hadn't had one already, I'd be having one now.

Chris Grimes:

Yeah, it was really the sort of dark humor side I saw to the tweet, whatever it was, and you have implied that there was more of a recuperation period than you've let on yeah, so I was.

Ruth Bratt:

You're not allowed to go back to work for uh eight weeks yes.

Ruth Bratt:

And I had. So I had some complications with some of the. Some of the tests that they do actually caused some secondary nightmares. So I had a. You have a tube that goes up through your femoral artery, so up through you know, your thigh, your groin, and it's just supposed to. They put a plug in it and it's just supposed to. It'll be fine, but my plug popped so I had a huge hematoma in my leg. I think that was when I was like I think this might be quite serious. So it meant that I couldn't. I couldn't walk properly for quite a long time because I had like a bruise like you know the size of like my whole thigh was basically a bruise. So, um, yeah, it took. It took quite a long time. So I didn't my first gig back, because actually you can do the stuff. So, like I did a voiceover and that was fine, but then I had three days in bed.

Chris Grimes:

I'm with you, you're so tired your energy was taking a while to resurface.

Ruth Bratt:

Yes, I did my first gig post. What did the guy call it? Brain insult? That was what one of my doctors called it a brain insult. That was what one of my doctors called it a brain insult. I did my first gig post brain insult in december, so august.

Chris Grimes:

So september, october, november and is that that is just his catch-up phrase, or was that um a thing?

Ruth Bratt:

no, he said. He said it's not a brain injury, it's a brain insult. Okay, I'll take it. Yeah, yeah.

Chris Grimes:

So yeah, it's quite a long process um and again, very happy to see you here and the right way up being incredibly sparky, and I know you've just had your inaugural show for the comedy store last sunday as a new official core member yeah, it was lovely.

Ruth Bratt:

I do love them also very much. They're such a brilliant group of people, you know, and they're just so wonderful, you know. And look, there are times like so Josie rings me up to see how I'm doing, and I'm like if I told 14-year-old me that I'd be having a little chat with Josie Lawrence you know a little chat, uh, on the phone every now and then I'd be like no, you're not.

Ruth Bratt:

Uh, you know, she came around for Christmas day, like Christmas day with Josie Lawrence. That's insane, um, you know so. And also like, and Lee Simpson, who has been one of my sorry, my cat's uh, I thought you were a very, a very small version of Lisa.

Ruth Bratt:

No, no, my cat's doing crazy cat things. You know, lee's been one of the people that I've watched on stage and just adored for years. And then to play with him, you know, in the Players, and to do I did an improbable musical with him which was just and Josie and Neil Ashdown and genuinely one of the highlights of my life doing that.

Chris Grimes:

Neil ashdown played me in life game because I've met phelan and I was I was featured in life game many years ago nardi blah. Anyway, we're ramping up now to a bit of shakespeare in a moment, but just before we do, we're going to talk about legacy with shakespeare. Just before we do this is the pass the golden baton moment, please. So who would you most like to pass the golden baton along to, to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going?

Ruth Bratt:

I'd like you to talk to Lucy Trodd.

Chris Grimes:

Lucy. What a great name, Lucy Trodd.

Ruth Bratt:

Lucy Trodd, c-r-o-d-d. She is. She's in Showstopper. She and I are writing partners. We wrote a sketch show and then we had two series on Radio 4. She's one of the delights in life.

Chris Grimes:

What a great way to wrap them up for coming into the clearing. A delight in life I give you Lucy Trodd. She's tremendous, wonderful.

Ruth Bratt:

Bloody love that woman and this is right in her wheelhouse. She'll love this.

Chris Grimes:

Get in, thank you. And now Shakespeare. All the world's a stage and all the bed of women, merely players. So this is now Legacy. How, when all is said and done, ruth Brett, how would you most like to be remembered?

Ruth Bratt:

Kind and fun. Can't ask for anything more than that Kind and fun. There's a. There's some guys I know who wrote a musical and it's about a couple in Hollywood, a gay couple, and when one of them dies and then the other one took his own life afterwards because he couldn't live without him and the note that he left was just it's no fun without you and I would love to be remembered as fun. I don't have any, you know I don't want any, you know fame or fortune.

Chris Grimes:

You don't want a big sort of pottery globe erected on the south bank 100.

Ruth Bratt:

It just says fun on it. Uh, yeah, I think kind and fun would be. And you know what? Like so andy smart died last year and everyone talked about how kind and how fun he was and, and that to me is like the most beautiful thing, and my dad died a few years ago, and the same for him. It's kind and fun and I think if you can be remembered as that, then you've won.

Chris Grimes:

Where can we find out all about Ruth Bratt on the old Hinterweb please?

Ruth Bratt:

Oh, you can follow me on Twitter. All about Ruth Bratt on the old hinterweb, please. Oh, you can follow me on twitter at Ruth Bratt. You can follow me on um instagram at Bratt Bomb, obviously. Uh, you can follow me on tiktok. I'd love to tell you what my handle is on tiktok. Uh, I'm very old and tiktok completely foxes me, so good luck finding me on there. I don't have a website or anything like that, but mostly I think it's more fun to find me on a stage, because I'm way more interesting on stage than I am in person or on social media.

Chris Grimes:

Pish and tosh Wonderful. You're also on the Curtis Brown website as well.

Ruth Bratt:

I am on the Curtis Brown website. There you go. I'm probably on the Say so Voices website as well. My two wonderful agents. If anyone needs their voiceover, please say so. Voiceover If anyone is an actor Curtis.

Chris Grimes:

Brown, and just to your Tottenham woman in the old bread queue oh, I come all the way from Tottenham.

Ruth Bratt:

They didn't have bread and butter pudding there, so I come on the bus. Wonderful, she did get some bread and butter pudding in Dunn's the Baker, I am pleased to report. Lovely. And her favourite meal in the world is steak. I had a long time with her. She was great.

Chris Grimes:

As this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the good, listening to show stories of distinction and genius. Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Ruth Bratt:

ruth bratt oh no, it's just been very lovely. It's a lovely way to spend an afternoon right back at you.

Chris Grimes:

I've enjoyed meeting and talking to you too, thank you so much. So thank you for watching on facebook as well. This has been the lovely ruth bratt, now a core group member of the Comedy Store Players, to be found upon the stage at the Comedy Store. It's every Sunday more or less, isn't it? Yes, it is, yeah, every Sunday. Lovely, it used to be twice a week, but it's once a week now, is that right?

Ruth Bratt:

Yes, every Sunday and we're normally so. I'll be there most Sundays, lovely, but not all, but most lovely Sundays.

Chris Grimes:

Lovely, but not all but most Lovely. So thank you very much indeed. If you'd like to be in the show too, look at thegoodlistening2showcom and tune in next time for more stories from the Clearing. I've been Chris Grimes. That's been Ruth Bradt. Good night. You've been listening to the Good Listening To Show here on UK Health Radio with me, chris Grimes. Oh, it's my son.

Chris Grimes:

If you've enjoyed the show, then please do tune in next week to listen to more stories from the Clearing. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then please do so. There's also a dedicated Facebook group for the show too. You can contact me about the program or if you'd be interested in experiencing some personal impact coaching with me. Care of my Level Up your Impact program. That's chris at secondcurveuk On Twitter and Instagram. It's At that, chris Grimes. So until next time from me, chris Grimes, from UK Health Radio, and from Stan, to your good health. And goodbye, ruth. You've just been given a damn good listening to. If I could just get your immediate feedback on what that was like being in this journey, what was the structure like for you?

Ruth Bratt:

It's great. It's very interesting as someone who doesn't like for you. It's great. It's very interesting as someone who doesn't um, who doesn't really look backwards much, uh, and who doesn't um interrogate myself much. Quite, it's quite a challenging thing. Like you know that that when you sent the things, I was like well, things have shaped me. I don't know everything, isn't it?

Chris Grimes:

I love the fact the first shape was the person that said you will do this, won't you? So that was your first door on a lubricated hinge. Yeah, Because you were very present. That was in the past, but you were very present to the nudge forward. So I like the fact you're very future focused. That was very good, yeah, yeah.

Ruth Bratt:

So it's quite interesting. It's quite. It's an interesting thing to kind of. You know, it's quite nice to think about those things from time to time.

Chris Grimes:

It's a great life philosophy that I find very relatable, because people, you know, we know that the human condition is to worry too much about the past, to worry about the future, too much to be in the here and the now. And then someone challenged me about a week ago in a really good way. They were helping me with what I'm doing and they said so, why are you doing this? Then, and then I gave the patter of well, I'm inviting movers meet, and I gave the patter and they kept going no, no, no, no, why. And I recently realized that it um, for so many people, their stories can stay locked in, untold, unloved. And I've, I think what I'm doing, or I'd like to think what I'm doing.

Ruth Bratt:

If I get people to say it out loud, they're more likely to live it out loud yeah, yeah, and I think it's a really interesting thing because I think when you do improv as much as I do, you get to tell your stories you know, and stories that you didn't even know you had. So I never feel like I'm not being expressed, or yes, although rarely do I feel that I'm not being expressed, so I I wonder whether that, I wonder whether that's the thing, like whether that is you know. I think also, like when I found improv, it was like the first time I did it.

Ruth Bratt:

I did it on a stage and it was like going oh, this is the thing, here's the fit, and I think it just fits me. And how I see stuff or the way I improvise fits me in the way I see stuff.

Chris Grimes:

So I wonder whether all of those things mean, yeah, I don't need to, yeah, because I had to train too, but then I didn't do the sort of that as soon as I discovered comedy improvisation. That was me too, and it still informs how I facilitate, coach and do some keynote speaking. Now it's all about yes and yes and yes, and being in the moment, I don't always talk about yes and yes and, but I know that it informs the level of spontaneity of just being there. Yeah, as a resource to the audience.

Ruth Bratt:

How can I help you, type thing yeah, yeah, and I think you know it helps you, because it's like you just listen all the other stuff, all the other stuff is you know, layers, but the the fundamental core is just listen. If you listen, then you'll know what to say which is acting right there.

Chris Grimes:

That's the best acting technique the.

Ruth Bratt:

That's the best acting technique. Exactly, it's the best act for the listeners and I, you know you're never going to be a worse actor for doing improv, you know yeah.

Chris Grimes:

And indeed, as we know from text study, you say what you say next, because you were flipping listening, or you should have been.

Ruth Bratt:

Exactly, and it changes the way you say it, which is why you know, when people do shows scripted shows, and there's no life in it you can tell. So you're like you're not alive to how that person just said that yeah you're responding to the line as written, not the line as set no, and do you teach, uh, improv and acting as well?

Chris Grimes:

I'm imagining you would I don't actually.

Ruth Bratt:

I I do, I've done a bit. I've done a bit, but it's not my you will do that, won't you? It's not my favourite thing to do, like, I can do it and I'm quite good at it, but I'm also very hard. I'm a very hard teacher because I don't. I don't because I want commitment, you don't because. I want commitment you don't want lazy, and if you're not committed, I can sniff it, I can smell it and.

Ruth Bratt:

I get cross because I'm like it's a waste of everyone's time if you're not going to commit to this. Even if you're doing it as a hobby, I'm still like well, if you're asking people to pay to watch you, commit to it you mentioned Ken Campbell earlier on.

Chris Grimes:

Do you know Josh Dar, because he was. I did too. Yes, because he's. I was at Westfield College with him way back when yeah, he was there at the weekend as well doing the 50 hour improv yeah, so he did. He did the first sort of five hours, I think yes, say hi to him if you see him too, I will.

Ruth Bratt:

I probably won't see him for another year, but I will way, way back when there was Josh Darcy, bill Bailey, me, toby Longworth, people like that all at Westmore College.

Chris Grimes:

Central School of Speech and Drama together. Small world wouldn't want to hoover it anyway. Thank you so much, ruth. A real pleasure. You're so welcome, thank you so much.