30 Welcome To The Clearing: Mike Akers - Writer, Dramaturg, Fellow Comedy Improviser - Lovely Man & Music Legend as "Rev Lemon!"

Welcome to a very special Episode of "The Good Listening To" Podcast with me Chris Grimes!

And I'm very happy to be in "GLT Clearing" today with a lovely man - a really good friend - and  fellow Comedy Improvisation performer, Mike Akers - also known as the legend that IS "Reverend Lemon!"

I have had the great joy of standing alongside Mike many times - helping many an audience to laugh over many years together - appearing in my Comedy Improvisation Company and ongoing 'passion project' which is INSTANT WIT.  

We also have the great delight of co-facilitating a Comedy Improvisation Event with other members of INSTANT WIT once a year (the "Zombie Apocalypse" notwithstanding!) at one of the most beautiful places on the planet - in SW  France - surrounded on 3 sides by Sunflowers! 

It's at www.lessoeursanglaises.com - a majestic space and venue curated by the very lovely Katie Elliott Armitage, who I have also had in "The Clearing" in another Episode.

The Workshop that we run  is called "INSTANT WIT Laughter Lab" where we invite (what always turns out to be a lovely Group  each year) to  join us in exploring the wonderfully liberating Comedy Improvisational mindset of "yes and..." 

Each year it's one of my very very favourite things to do!

Mike is also (he won't mind my saying - because it's also true!) my Table Tennis bitch!

In Mike's own words:

Writer, Theatre Maker, Early Years Specialist

"Hi, I’m Mike. Thanks for stopping by. I work in theatre because I love telling stories. Whether I’m at home in my shed struggling with the first draft of a new play, working in a rehearsal room with a company of actors or listening to a three-year old in a nursery setting tell me a tale they have just invented, story is the common thread that unites all the strands of my work. If you’re interested in what I do or in working with me then please get in touch".

Mike also talks in the Podcast about a lovely writer's exercise called "The Mysterious Well" .

So - thanks for listening to another episode of a "GLT with me CG!"

The Podcast series that features "The Clearing":  Where all good questions come to be asked and all good stories come to be told!

With some lovely juicy storytelling metaphors to also enjoy along the way:

The Clearing itself - A Tree (where we get to "shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out, in the form of a lovely storytelling exercise called "5-4-3-2-1") - some Alchemy - some Gold - and finally a Cake with a Cherry on Top!

Think "Desert Island Discs" but in a Clearing! 

Also think about William Shakespeare:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in

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.

• Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com
• You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk
• Twitter thatchrisgrimes
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Thanks for listening!

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:53 Meeting Mike
• 22:03 The Clearing
• 24:52 Shaking the Tree
• 26:34 "The Mysterious Well" - Where Our Ideas Come From
• 51:10 Alchemy and Gold
• 55:32 Cherry on the Cake
• 1:00:55 Outro