Otherwise I've been spending some of my out of hours moments doing a bit of arts and crafts for a photoshoot the end of the week. I know, I said in my last vlog it should have happened by now, but I got my dates messed up and it's the end of this week. Anyway, at present I'm constructing a troll. And there will be video evidence of this later in the run up to BARONS COURT. Yes, though there are lots of try out shows between now and then, BARONS COURT is the primary thrust of my thoughts at present.
So what changes will have been made to The Natural History of Trolls between the New Wimbledon run and BARONS COURT? Well, it's going to have a smaller cast and a much more involved staging. I've lots of little ideas I want to overlap onto the text - the physical score, if you will - but I don't want to over egg this. I don't want to enact every moment of the story in ever increasing cycles of manic physical theatre balls crap. I want to suggest elements, little light touches of sound and movement, just sprinkle a little fairy dust over it all. I'd like there to be a little more magic.
Which brings me to announce - there's AN EXTRA SCENE! A whole NEW SCENE! Yes, exciting, I know. Those who saw it at the New Wimbledon will have to watch it again, if only to see the new scene. It's like when they release an extended special edition of a CD eight months after the first version just to really annoy everyone who bought it the first time around.
That isn't the reason I added a scene - well section - to the story. I've never been completely happy with the last quarter of the show. Actually, I'm never completely happy with my shows, ever, but on this occasion there was a real, practical flaw in the text. It's a bit rushed in places, some of the text was a bit phoned in, so I've been generally tweaking and adjusting the end and also adding in a short sequence about cakes and a new line to help end the epilogue.
This new section isn't entirely new; it's left over from an early draft. In an early version there was a whole subplot to do with baking. Yes, baking. That's how we roll at Milk Bottle. Trolls are master bakers. This survived into the New Wimbledon show as a two line throw away, a reference which was little more than a bad pun. This section - much longer in the original (about ten minutes rather than the current two) was too big for the show. It didn't add anything to the plot beyond a bit of whimsy. I couldn't see how I could justify going off on a tangant about baking, however nice the sequence was.
Then I came up with an idea of how to tie the baking into the structure of the story and move the character of Vicki forward more. It's the story of her first experience of a Troll feast. Spoiler: she gets to decorate the cake. This doesn't sound like much, but that's because I haven't told you what it means, you'll have to watch to find out. The baking of Trolls is life affirming and, if it comes out right, it should break some hearts.
Here's the first Un-Trailer for The Natural History of Trolls. A trailer and various other Un-Trailers will follow soon.
Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
Robert Crighton:
STORYTELLER
Written and Performed by Robert Crighton
Plus Special Guests: Georgina Blackledge, Pamela Flanagan, Jessica Moore & Sophie Morris-Sheppard
SUFFOLK TRYOUT - Sunday 20th November at 7.30pm
Tickets £7 / £6 Friends of the Quay - The Quay Theatre, Quay Lane, Sudbury
Box Office: 01787 374 745
LONDON RUN - Tuesday 29th November to Friday 23rd December 2011
Tickets £12 / £10 Concession
Tuesday to Saturday starts at 7.30pm – doors open 7.15pm. Sunday at 7pm, doors open 6.45pm.
Box Office: 020 8932 4747
Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14
Nearest Tube: Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)
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