Metal Harvest - Script Available Now!

Now in paper form!

Metal Harvest - a storytelling music drama essay show - seriously, I don't know precisely where to place it. But it is, in my humble opinion, rather good. The audio version is available to listen to now - for free - but there is now a script version, should you wish to produce it yourself. Or would like to read the marvellous words. All the proceeds from sales go directly to my producing... more work.

To buy Metal Harvest, just click here. And then do all the other stuff. Like pay.
Metal Harvest

Written & performed by Robert Crighton

With Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett.

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - there are bonuses and you can get to listen to my new work before anyone else.
Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

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Metal Harvest - New Audio Drops Today!

“This is the story of a shell...” 
The wait is over, one of my favourite works has now landed and everyone can listen.  Enjoy!
Next week: Martin Hewitt, Investigator by Arthur Morrison - the first of seven Victorian detective stories (complete release schedule tba).


Metal Harvest

Written & performed by Robert Crighton

With Music by Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett.

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - you get to listen to my new work before anyone else.
Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to my mailing list

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The Wheel of Shame - Available Now!

The Wheel of Shame has dropped this morning - listen to it now for free in the player below. Enjoy!

Of course my patrons have had it for a week now, and as a download that can be kept.
Which is another way of saying, become a patron - it's great.  For only $1 a month (and that's my ideal, preferred amount) you'll get a new audio every week, to download and keep, before everyone else - and there will be special bonus audio drops every month or so.  If I didn't have the support of my patrons, visible and invisible (i.e. those who use the patreon site and those who don't - I don't mean magical creatures), then I wouldn't be able to share my work with the rest of the world.  Do give it a look.

This week: The Wheel of Shame or, The Noises of the Hamster in the Night-time
Classic comic ghost story for everyone who's ever brutally murdered their hamster as a child.  Out now.  For those who listen to audio via a video platform, here's the same on YouTube.


Next week (or tomorrow, if you're a patron!):  Metal Harvest - a reimagined version of the stage show, mixing live and studio recordings for the podcast.

Metal Harvest

Written & performed by Robert Crighton

With Music by Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett.  

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - you get to listen to my new work before anyone else.
Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to my mailing list

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Metal Harvest in the Edit

This weekend has been all about the edit of Metal Harvest.  That isn't quite true, I've done some other stuff - recorded some audio for the Martin Hewitt, Investigator releases/watched season two of The Expanse/drank some coffee/wrote an outline for a new possible sci-fi show - but Metal Harvest is the main thing.  I've got audio from the live show, I've got a studio record and a mix for the music.  I've so far done a rough cut of the first third of the show.  By the time the day is over the rough edit should be done, the foley and re-records (for some reason I said entirely the wrong word in the first record - doh!) will be in the can, and tomorrow I can do the finishing touches and the mix.
Metal Harvest isn't perfect as audio - I have got video recordings of the show, but that edit will be a long time in coming - but it should still be rather good.  It lived naturally on stage, but there is a lot of cross over.  It was originally slated for production in 2014, when I pitched the idea to a musician friend Richard Fawcett.  In the end we had a good six months to work on it on and off, premiering it in 2015 - and I have to say it came out well.  Well enough to take it out again in 2016, which is when we recorded the live show.
This version will mix the best of the live show, with the moments that are best from the studio.  It'll be out to my patrons via patreon on Tuesday, will get a lo-fi stream on Saturday, and be released generally a week Wednesday.  To get the download and keep version, become a patron - it's easy to do and really makes a difference.  I can't create this work without your support - and every little helps.

Richard Fawcett & me, during my favourite part of the show

Metal Harvest

Written & performed by Robert Crighton

With Music by Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett.

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - you get to listen to my new work before anyone else.
Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to my mailing list

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The Wheel of Shame - Patron drop

This week the new audio is The Wheel of Shame, a story I created about six years ago.  It premiered during an evening of comic ghost stories and it has done good serve as a live event.  It now lives on in audio and can be listened to, downloaded and kept, by my patrons, now.  One day early too!  But for everyone else, you'll have to wait until the end of the week, and then only to stream.
Which is another way of saying, become a patron - it's great.  For only $1 a month (and that's my ideal, preferred amount) you'll get a new audio every week, to download and keep, before everyone else.  If I didn't have the support of my patrons, visible and invisible (i.e. those who use the patreon site and those who don't - I don't mean magical creatures), then I wouldn't be able to share my work with the rest of the world.  Do give it a look.
This week: The Wheel of Shame or, The Noises of the Hamster in the Night-time
Classic comic ghost story for everyone who's ever brutally murdered their hamster as a child.  Out now.

Next week:  Metal Harvest - a reimagined version of the stage show, mixing live and studio recordings for the podcast.

Metal Harvest

Written & performed by Robert Crighton

With Music by Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett.  

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - you get to listen to my new work before anyone else.
Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to my mailing list

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Problem Tree is Out Now!

And finally, Problem Tree is released to everyone. Special thanks to all my patrons for making this audio happen.

Problem Tree

Written & Performed by Robert Crighton

Problem Tree is the impossible story of one man’s father and a tree that can’t exist. A story of the First World War, of running away from your past and hiding in the future. 

First performed in 2009, this story has undergone many changes and minor rewrites, but it's now time for it to come out on audio.

Watch on YouTube here
Or listen now on this player.

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help - you get to listen to my new work before anyone else.

Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

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You Can't Trust Trees

Testing set up for Problem Tree (2013)

I've written about Problem Tree before, I'm sure.  It's been in the repertoire since 2009 when I wrote the first version for a random storytelling event.  It's a story within a story, a format that I'm very fond of, where the storyteller and the story they tell feed off each other.

The most satisfying version of the story (so far) was a one-to-one version I did in 2013.  I built a little room within a room, a little newspaper cave (the early test design you can see half built in the pictures), and connected the audient with headphones, so that, whilst we were but a couple of feet away from each other, the story was related via a microphone, with additional sound effects.

Let me tell you a story...

I really loved the contradiction of it - that we were so close and yet also quite far removed from each other - separated and intimately joined together by technology.  The audients really enjoyed the story and I think it also brought out the best in it.  Before 2013 the story was told in a conversational but quite an open way, this was more intimate and warm.

In recording it for audio I tried to make it intimate, as if I'm talking only to you, as though it's a secret that I'm only telling one person.
And if you're one of my patrons you can hear it now!  My patrons help make all my work possible, so they get first dibs in new audio work as it comes out.  If you want to help me make new stuff then join up below.  And if you want to find out some of the other audios currently planned, go to this blog post.

Problem Tree

Written & Performed by Robert Crighton

Problem Tree is the impossible story of one man’s father and a tree that can’t exist. A story of the First World War, of running away from your past and hiding in the future. 

First performed in 2009, this story has undergone many changes and minor rewrites, but it's now time for it to come out on audio.  

Release Date: Wednesday 18th January for my patrons 

My work couldn't happen without the support of my patrons - if you think you could contribute to the work I create, go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and see if you can help.

Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

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Complete Wartime Memories

For those just in, here's a player for all five episodes of Wartime Memories - each episode is around 10 minutes long, so about fifty minutes as a single listen.

Wartime Memories: First Hand Recollections of the Great War by William Coleman
In the early 1980's, William Henry Coleman, a veteran of the First World War, was persuaded to talk about his experiences. What he didn't realise was that he was secretly being recorded.  This is a series of restorations of that footage, released for the first time, with a specially recorded interview with his grandson, Alan Scott.

NB: Due to the archive nature of the recording and the context of its creation, the audio quality is extremely variable - if the stories told do not always yield to a first listen, hang in there, it's worth it.
The voices you will hear are: William Coleman on the archive recording, Alan Scott in present day interview and the producer Robert Crighton in the background.


This series is supported by Patreon - to support more work like this from Robert Crighton go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton

Last Episode of Wartime Memories

Episode Five is the last episode of Wartime Memories - in so much as it contains the last of the material.  Alan and I are working on a re-edit, a long single episode sort of omnibus, with more background and only the really clear material.  Till then, here's the final episode, about going home and other random moments.


If you can help support my work, do go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and pledge something.  Even $1 makes a massive difference.

Wartime Memories: Episode Four

Continuing the story of the First World War via the recollections of William Coleman, this episode is all about food - and an alternative use put to the ration cart.



If you can help support my work, do go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and pledge something.  Even $1 makes a massive difference.

Wartime Memories: Making Things, Finding Things

The third episode of Wartime Memories is now online and it's been a tricky one.
William is talking about the market of services that existed within the army.  This seems largely to have involved the officers paying the ordinary soldiers to do odd jobs and make things for them.  Whilst this could be seen as class exploitation, I wonder who's exploiting who?  Yes, the working class are generally doing the work for the upper class, but in the great leveller of the war, they're commanding extremely high prices.  The skilled worker has control of the market.  Of course, William may have remembered these details incorrectly, but I suspect not by much.  If the officers wanted the work done, they were going to pay.
The high prices are as much about the control of labour as well as a perceived pointlessness to money.  As William said in the previous episode, (I paraphrase) there isn't much point in a thousand pounds if you're dead.  So, it seems that those with money threw it around like water and those without either looked for work to get it or stood next to the person who did.  In the opening clip he speaks of the great kindness of helping someone spend his money.  It seems that William sent a lot of his money home to his mother - again, presumably on the principle that they needed it more than him.
A similar attitude went with the appropriation of property.  William, and everyone else, took what they needed and sometimes what they wanted - because no one else would need them and they might be dead themselves tomorrow.  A few items from a burnt out building, the map case of a dead soldier.  And the odd piano.
As these accounts move on, though there is laughter in the room and a lightness to his telling, there are glimpses of the darkness that a soldier would have faced coming through.  The next episode confronts death and survival in various ways.


Wartime Memories and my other audio projects couldn't happen without the support of my patrons. I become a patron go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and make a pledge.

Wartime with the Horses

Obviously, War Horse got in first, but I couldn't not do at least one episode of Wartime Memories about William's experiences with horses.  He was a saddler.
The episode covers a range of experiences - from an Irish Major (who probably returned home very poor), to the different approaches to shoeing horses (the French didn't half make life hard work for themselves) and the quality of horse flesh available.  William sums up the use of horses in the war rather well saying that the lorry drivers didn't have "half the fun we did".
The episode ends with a particularly disastrous use of cavalry during one battle.


Wartime Memories, like all my audio work, is supported by my patrons - becoming a patron is easy, just go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and make a pledge.

Wartime Memories

The creation of Metal Harvest last year produced a lot of interesting responses - and has sent me in a couple of surprising directions.  This is one of them.
Alan Scott, who has performed with me for readings and the installation piece You Have Been Watching in 2014, mentioned to me in the bar one night that he had a tape recording of his grandfather talking about his experiences in the First World War.  Now, Metal Harvest was mostly written at this point and though there was more material to shape I didn't need anything new, but it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass.  If nothing else, it would be interesting and I could transfer the recording onto a CD for him.
I sat down to transfer the tape.  It wasn't good.  There was a phenomenal amount of hiss and little dynamic to the sound.  The recording was of a family gathering, after a meal or similar event, where everyone was trying to prompt this veteran into talking about the Great War.  The tape recorder was hidden, so that he didn't notice.  There's a lot of background noise of clearing plates and general chatter.  I struggled along and hoped for the best.
In the 55 minutes of recording the conversation, occasionally obscured, danced around making things with used shell casing and leather off cuts; surviving off the land (stealing the odd chicken); looking after the horses; taking the dead from the front line; joining up and being demobbed.  I did a quick de-hiss to see how much clarity could be got out of the recording and emailed Alan back with a suggestion - to release the material online.  People should hear this first hand account.
So, Alan came over and recorded some background, listened to the recording and commented on it.  We think that with some work we could get between twenty and thirty minutes of good audio that I plan to release in a couple of weeks.  The current plan is to release it in themed chunks, of five to ten minutes each, over a month or so, and then release the full recording for those who want to work out the less clear sections.

Wartime Memories - First Hand Recollections of the Great War by William Coleman
First Part has been released - you can support this work at www.patreon.com/robertcrighton

Alan Scott, with the recording on screen.

Alan Scott:  "The recording is of William Henry Coleman, born 14th August 1897 in Lambeth.

His father was a saddler working for the Southern Railway in the Battersea area.  It is difficult to piece together a full service history as his service records are not available – probably lost in the 1940 fire - but from the tape I believe he was in the Army Service Corps, which became the Royal Army Service Corps in 1918 and is now the Royal Logistics Corps.

The tape was recorded at my parents house in Colchester following a family lunch and was done without him being aware of the recording.  I think this was to celebrate the Diamond Wedding anniversary of William and his wife Elsie and would therefore have been in September 1981.

He mentions being at Arras when the victory parade for Cambrai was staged – this would be mid-December 1917.  He was at Mons at or immediately after the Armistice and relates how they had to march to Dieppe to return to the UK. This is approximately 150 miles so would probably have taken a week or so.  I believe he was demobbed at Purfleet in December 1918.

After the war he returned to London and worked as a vehicle trimmer, having his own business for a while which failed during the Depression, and latterly working for a firm in Colchester as a vehicle trimmer until the 1970’s.  He served in the Home Guard in Colchester in 1939-45 – after failing to convince the recruiters to let him join up as a regular at the outset of World War Two.

William died in Colchester on 22nd April 1982."

William and Elsie in 1981 on the day of the recording.

Metal Harvest Programme

Last week was quite a week - I picked a terrible week to take on additional work, as I only had the world premiere of Metal Harvest going on.  Eek!  With so much going on I failed to create a programme - not even an info sheet.  So... here we go - have an online version - with photos from the tech at the bottom!

FIRST HALF:

Metal Harvest

By Robert Crighton and Richard Fawcett

Principle dialogue by Robert Crighton
Music and German translation by Richard Fawcett

Metal Harvest was originally commissioned as part of Project 10/52 - ten shows in fifty-two weeks - in 2014.  It only took two years to finally get it to the stage.

With Thanks to:
Sonia & Jonathan Lindsey-Scripps for lending the shell casing; Gary Plumb for creating the shrapnel; Alan Scott and Sue Clark for archive material (even though we didn't use it in the end!)
John Bethell for rehearsal photography.
And Everyone at the Quay - Joe, Simon and Sharon.
I've probably missed someone out - sorry!

SECOND HALF:

The Fantasy Terrorist Variations

In 2005 I wrote a monologue about reactions to the war on terror - Fantasy Terrorist League - which sank like a stone at the Edinburgh Fringe.  In 2006 it won the award for Best New Writing at the LOST One-Act Festival and since then expanded into a number of related variations on a theme.  Whilst I had planned to do a second half based on stories uncovered during the research for Metal Harvest on other themes of WW1, these didn't quite get to the level I wanted; so instead I decided to move forward the new variations for FTV I've been writing.  Variation 6, still a work in progress, fitted the previously staged Variation 3 so well I had to show them together.  Further variations will premiere online shortly.

Variation Six: (Untitled) A Work in Progress

Written and Performed by Robert Crighton

Variation Three: The Project After by Robert Crighton

Robert Crighton as Mark

Simon Nader as Art

The Project After has also been recorded by Frequency Theatre - you can listen to the recording here!

Technical Photos:

These photographs were taken for Metal Harvest, during a very speedy tech, by the marvellous John Bethell.  The stage isn't fully set, my hair isn't slicked back and we're not properly in costume.  But we got something recorded, which is nice.  The photos haven't been fully adjusted yet - there's some cropping and colour adjustments I would normally do, but I wanted to get this post out today and so... hey.

Richard Fawcett, getting the fiddle warmed up...

In the lighting box, going over the cues.

The desk, which I didn't appreciate was so wonky...

Is the back light on... oh yes, there it is.

Still on... good.

Sitting down. In performance I am sans glasses, waistcoat and the hair...

The one real(ish) statistic used in the show.

No idea where the cat impression comes in. That's another show.

On my Fisher Price telephone.

"WHERE'S MY COFFEE!"

And now the German section - which Richard and I did in unison. A surprise hit during the show. 

"Richard, what's my next line?"

Complexity v Simplicity

Metal Harvest could be the most complex show I've ever done.  It could be one of the simplest*.  It's undecided.  It could go either way at this stage.
The script - or my spoken script anyway - barring some shifting here and there, is set and I'm running the text (verbal and physical) each day looking for detail.  Looking for new ways in.  But then there's the other elements.  Sound, projection, light.  And they're all completely up for grabs.  I've started sketching out a rough storyboard for the projection - most of it would be very simple - textures, a few pictures, text.  But it might be too much.  I might cut it all on the tech run.  Sound should decide itself very soon.
I've just finished recording a section of text with Richard Fawcett, who's performing the music and doing some acting in the piece.  This, Richard and Google translate assure me, is a section in German, which I simultaneously translate into English. Except we might also have the text projected and the words spoken recorded and played separately at the same time.  Getting the balance between the different sources is going to be tricky to get right.
Or I could strip it back and do much less.  It's a difficult call at the moment.
The other problem I face is technical - getting the imagery to do what I want it to do, when time starts getting tight.  It's a little over a month to go and I'm very unsure which delivery system is the best to use.
And don't get me started on the set...
These open source paranoid musings are, I should add, a fairly traditional part of creating a show.  With a month to go, it's going well.  I just want the show to be amazing.  And we will get only ONE chance to get it right.

*To be fair, I doubt I'm going to get any simpler than Fantasy Terrorist League (2005) where I stood still for 40 minutes before doing two actions.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

Metal Harvest

Written and performed by Robert Crighton and Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett. 

Performing on Thursday 29^th October at 7.30pm

Tickets: £9 (Friends £8)

The Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Box Office: 01787 374 745
Book Online: www.quaytheatre.org.uk

Shall I Be Mother?

I was asked in the bar the other month: "Would Metal Harvest be suitable for my mother?"
I couldn't answer the question.  I said the reason was, I won't know until I do a run on Sunday.  That wasn't untrue, but it was a bit disingenuous.  We had a good run of the show on Sunday afternoon, the first proper run of the first half with something like the final script and music cues, it answered questions about the show I hadn't had a chance to when running it by myself.  It didn't answer the question: "Would Metal Harvest be suitable for my mother?"
There are some clear indicators about suitability of shows for mothers.  Language is one - and at this point in terms of explicit language of the rude four or so letter variety the frequency is low and probably getting lower.  So, borderline.  But I don't like / am formally opposed to putting up warnings on things saying: "BE WARNED: this show contains three uses of the word BELGIUM!" - "This show Contains Mild Peril and three references to incontinent border collies - partly because people tend to sit there with a mental scorecard waiting for the chance to shout HOUSE! but mostly because there is something dangerously reductive in protecting people from things.  If the show is good it will be because the use of a swear word or similarly provocative language/image will have an effect - if the audience is waiting for that effect, having been pre-warned precisely what to expect, then frankly, fuck this for a game of soldiers.  I don't believe in mollycoddling children, so adults really have no excuse.
I think my problem is what we're talking about here isn't about suitability, or whether it's right for someone, etc. - it's that we treat culture as a product.  We buy into it.  We look at the labels, see if we think it fits us and we spend our money accordingly.  The question isn't - is this suitable for someone's mother - the question is, is this marketed for someone's mother.  Because, perhaps the best people to see a show like this are the people who wouldn't think they should.  Because that is far more interesting and far more valuable.  If we only consume entertainment based on what we like then we will never see things that might challenge us.
This raises the question - should we lie to audiences about the content of our shows?  I have form, or sort of.  I didn't set out consciously to lie about a play, but I suspect my subconscious did.  It is a painful process, but can be remarkably effective.  I've never seen a post show bar so humming with discourse after a show as when the audience thought they were coming to a harmless comedy.  The fatal flaw there was that I mislead the cast as well, and that didn't end well.
Not that Metal Harvest works on this principle.  It's a pre-paid ticketed event and so I feel some obligation to the consumer not to break the pact.  But, whether it's suitable for your mother?  Who can say?  Even if you aren't someone's mother and wish to book, ticket information is below.

In other news, I've just finished recording a second series of our audio comedy The Museum of Tat with my good friend Michael Fouldes - there'll be five episodes released daily from 5th to the 9th October from midday.  Here's the very silly, completely unhelpful teaser trailer.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

Metal Harvest

Written and performed by Robert Crighton and Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett. 

Performing on Thursday 29^th October at 7.30pm

Tickets: £9 (Friends £8)

The Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Box Office: 01787 374 745
Book Online: www.quaytheatre.org.uk

Metal Harvest

My next project is a show called Metal Harvest.  I've been working on it for over eighteen months on and off and it's starting to get there.  It was supposed to have premiered exactly a year ago, (as part of my artist residency at the Quay) on the anniversary of the entry of Britain into the First World War - but a series of complications got in the way of that.  However, the delay has not been without its advantages, it's a more developed piece than it would have been and, I suspect, a better one.
It's the story of a shell - one shell - and the effect it has on the lives it touches.  It's also about cliché and the dangers of stereotypes and the tropes that amass around something as big as the Great War.  It's very easy for a show to fall into familiar patterns, to reaffirm easy assumptions about what four years of history is.  So far I've created the first half, which is all storytelling, music and images.  The second half is going to be something quite different, but will be a secret for the time being.  To myself chiefly.
I'm working once again with Richard Fawcett who's creating and performing the music, as he has for a couple of my shows in the past.  He's being terribly patient with me, as I've delayed any kind of a detailed script for many, many months as other projects have got very much in the way.
I'm hoping that the performance at the Quay Theatre will be filmed, so that I can post it online - so even those who can't make the show (isn't solid state geography a bugger) will be able to catch something of it. Those who can catch it - booking is now open, details below.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

Metal Harvest

Written and performed by Robert Crighton and Richard Fawcett

“This is the story of a shell...” Throughout the First World War the armaments created passed through many hands – from those in the mines and factories who made them, to those who transported the boxes and those who fired the guns.  This is the story of one shell, the story of those who touched it and whose lives were changed by it.  Told in words, music, image and song, Metal Harvest is the latest work from award-winning theatre producer Robert Crighton, made in collaboration with musician Richard Fawcett. 

Performing on Thursday 29^th October at 7.30pm

Tickets: £9 (Friends £8)

The Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Box Office: 01787 374 745
Book Online: www.quaytheatre.org.uk

Realising a Metal Harvest

Concept artwork for the original,
unrealised production

After the chaos of so many shows last year, this year has so far been quite straightforward.  A few productions, one a revival, and mostly I'm editing and shaping work, not actively writing.  But even so, I'm mostly reacting to events, putting shows together at the last minute (i.e. with a few months notice) rather than properly planning ahead.  There was a time when I planned 18 months ahead (even if not everything happened as planned - see the Seldom plan in posts ad passum) and could get my ducks properly in a row.  Here starts the planning.

One of the shows I didn't do last year was titled Metal Harvest and I was gutted that it fell by the wayside - it's a simple show in many ways, but it's a bitch to get right.  It's a storytelling/character/music piece about the life cycle of a shell from the First World War.  I was going to be performing it on the 100th anniversary of Britain entering the war, but it makes more sense to be doing it a hundred years after 1915 - an hundred years after the shell crisis and big changes to how munitions were created.  All sounds a bit dry, but the shell is a pretext to tell the stories of those who handle it.
And then there's the music.  On Wednesday I had a meeting with Richard Fawcett, who's composing and arranging the score (as well as playing a mean fiddle), and I'm glad to report the show is on - and it's already sounding really, really good.  We've worked together on music for a couple of shows now - the last being for The Passion which would have been a completely different show without the musical interplay.  We've been talking about this show for almost eighteen months now and for the first time I've been able to present him with an outline text, so that his musically ideas can now fill gaps between scenes, create physical sections, create atmospheres and push me to create new words.  To say I left feeling fairly buzzed would be an understatement.
I then walked down the road to the Quay Theatre and pitched the show to the coordinator and we have a date for a first performance penciled in (subject to fate etc.)  I'm hoping to run a limited tour after this first show, taking in some of the venues I've toured with Everyman, as well as any other places that come our way.  I'd also like to fully document the show, video and audio, so that it has more of an afterlife.

At the same time as rehearsing this show, I'll be finishing off work on the Chester Mystery Plays for my Before Shakespeare project - and hopefully doing some writing.  I've also got some work for another company, but that's not creative per se, so doesn't eat into my time in the same way.

That covers 2015 - now to sort out 2016 - but I can't do that till I see how well the Everyman tour goes.

The Storyteller Will See You Now

Coming up as part of my Artist in Residency...

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Storyteller Will See You Now

One-to-One Storytelling in the Quay Theatre Bar

PROBLEM TREE

Written and Performed by Award-Winning Storyteller Robert Crighton

Artist in Residence at the Quay Theatre

“My father was a lovely, kind, reserved...

Nut job.  I say this in the nicest possible way.

When he died he believed that he was both fifty

and a hundred at the same time...”

Problem Tree is the impossible story of one man’s father and a tree that can’t exist.  A story of the First World War, of running away from your past and hiding in the future.  Let storyteller Robert Crighton guide you through his alternative vision of the world in the genial environs of the Quay Theatre Bar – one-to-one storytelling, just for you.  Get yourself a drink and perhaps a bite to eat, sit back and relax for twenty minutes of you time.

What the Audience Said: Saturday 12th October 2013

“How fabulous!  Thank you Robert.  I will keep thinking about aspects of that story or two stories!  Truly wonderful!”  

Jacqueline Cooper Clarke

“Absolutely brilliant!!  Light and airy, dark, happy, sad, perfectly crafted and enjoyed every minute.  Bravo!” 

Peter Day

“Funny, weird, intriguing, enthralling.  That’s the story.  The storyteller, knockout.  Beautifully delivered.  A thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

Kevin Roychowdhury

“Totally brilliant!  Mesmerising, intriguing, I could have sat for another 20 minutes!  Thank you! J” 

Marion Tuke

All Performances Pay-What-You-Want

Performing Saturday 12th & 19th October 2013

at twenty minute intervals between 12.20 and 2.40pm

The Quay Theatre Bar, Quay Theatre, Quay Lane, Sudbury, CO10 2AN

Book your one-to-one encounter by calling 07704 704 469

or email contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Available Slots

(NB: This list is updated as bookings come in, though it is possible we'll get behind and some listed slots may have been taken)

SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER
12.20	BOOKED
12.40	AVAILABLE
1.00	BOOKED
1.20	BOOKED
1.40	AVAILABLE
2.00	BOOKED
2.20	AVAILABLE
2.40	AVAILABLE