The Special Relationship III @ The Invisible Dot

Just time for a few words on another night at The Invisible Dot; another little bit of low-fi magic sprinkled in the north Camden area. 'The Special Relationship' is hosted by Tom Basden, and it's rather really lovely to see him centre of attention at the Dot, seeing as though he plays such a downtrodden, low-status character as part of his double act with Tim Key, Freeze. Also integral in the night's success are The American Twins, AKA purveyors of the finest short stories, Jarred McGinnis and Sam Taradash, and together the three presented a transatlantic mix of music, stand-up, story-telling, short films and poetry.

Matthew Robins and his beautiful combination of shadow puppetry and harmonium - truly lovely and inventive - kicked things off, and then there was poetry from Melissa Mann, short stories from the American Twins (both really impressive) a great little play written by Tim Key and performed with Isy Suttie, and the most atmospheric short film I have ever seen: Off Season, by Jonathan van Tulleken. To even tell you its genre is probably to give too much away, but I think it's still doing the rounds at film festivals so if you get the chance to see it - go. Highlight of the evening: extracts from Tom Basden's intentionally confused and over-explained novel 'Hot Moon' (there's a brilliant chapter here). It takes someone with truly fine writing skills to craft something that wonderfully ridiculous and funny - genuinely excellent.

I haven't made it to the two previous 'Special Relationship' nights, but I'll certainly be clearing a space for it in my diary (ok, Google Calendar) from here on in. Next one is 27th October.