Everyman - One Week To Go

Well, got to the end of the play properly, at last.  Finally, Everyman has crawled to his inevitable death.  I'm now in the delightful position of going over the play, in detail, rather than forcing words into my head.
As regulars to this blog will know, Everyman has just been offered a "garment of sorrow".  Now he's introduced to three new friends (on his way to his inevitable death): Strength, Five-Wits (his five senses) and Beauty.  There was a fourth, Discretion, but frankly I couldn't see precisely what it represented - considerably more abstract than the other three - so I cut him.  Together they go towards Everyman's inevitable death, with his Good-Deeds and his Knowledge, of course.  The text refers to them taking hold of a "rood" (which presumably is supposed to be a cross, but I have changed it to "rod") with which he guides them, so I've used a walking stick, so that when Everyman reaches his death he is literally in old age and leaning on his stick.
Those who know the text will be wondering where the priest has gone.  I've cut the section where Everyman goes to a priest and essentially has his last rites, for two reasons. 1. It's incredibly difficult to stage and 2. it's a step too far in away from a generalised moral theme and direct religious propaganda.  At no point towards the end of the play can the audience miss the Christian message, but like political drama, there comes a point where having it rammed down your throat, jars - even for believers.  (It was also a bit dull.)
So, at the cusp of his inevitable death, Everyman's Strength, Beauty and Five-Wits - and at the very last moment, Knowledge - all forsake him.  He's left to crawl into his grave with just his Good-Deeds.  And thus he dies a good person.
Not only have I now crossed the barrier of pain when I comes to learning the lines - specifically the end of the play - I have also finally decided how to open it.  But that is my little secret.
One week... lot's of work to do... but I am only able to do so much.  Because this is an interactive show, because I'm asking audience members to join me onstage to represent the characters of the story, I can't quite rehearse how the show will be.  I genuinely don't know whether it will work.  I don't even know if this way of telling a story has been done before.  It almost certainly has, (I'm against theatre companies saying they're groundbreaking when they so aren't) but I haven't actually come across it anywhere.  So, for me at least, this is an adventure.
And there are very few tickets available - so book now!

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - Good and Bad Deeds

Been playing around with a new microphone and have produced this little recording of the opening speech from Everyman.  A little taster, as it were.  Have a listen to the opening speech from Everyman here.

BEWARE SPOILERS, IF YOU ARE COMING TO THE SHOW, (BOOK TICKETS HERE) THEN STOP READING.  Well, it's two weeks to go, and rehearsals are hotting up... or they would if it would stop snowing.  My rehearsal space has primitive heating and I think bits of me may drop off if the temperature doesn't increase soon.  (No, not that bit... it's not that kind of show!)
I am now working heavily on the middle to end sections of the play.  For those following the blog, I've discussed the events of the play up to the rejection of Everyman by his Goods - or rather his final realisation that he can't take anything from his life with him.  (Or rather he thinks it's his final realisation, he's got another few to go.)
Having given up on the worldly for help, he goes to the more abstract Good Deeds.  Unfortunately for Everyman his Good Deeds are so few that they're weak and practically dead.  The play has Good Deeds "cold in the ground" - but for my version she (and she is referred to as female - a whole other blog there) is in a wheelchair.  Good Deeds introduces Everyman to Knowledge - and I've assumed that this is religious understanding, rather than the Encyclopedia Britannica.  In the original this was another character, but I've made Knowledge into an object, a small copy of the New Testament, which Everyman now carries.  He is then introduced to Confession who instructs Everyman to scourge himself.
Now, this is the part where the religious propaganda element comes on a bit strong.  Whereas before the text could be said to be universal, now the text is very specific.  That said, these days I don't think even the Catholic church goes in for scourging, so I wanted to find something a bit different.  Spoiler alert, by the way.  As Everyman prepares to scourge himself he makes a long speech, during which I'm going to collect good deeds from the audience.  Everyman has a book of reckoning, in which his good and bad deeds in his life are collected.  The book is blank, there are no good deeds in it, that's why the character Good Deeds is so weak.  So, as the audience comes in at the top of the show, they are given post-it notes to write a good deed on.  As Everyman makes his speech, he collects them in and puts them in the book of reckoning.  Also, as the audience comes in, they are asked to write bad deeds onto a t-shirt, anything they like, and it is this that Everyman wears for the first half of the show.  When he has collected in the good deeds he strips off the bad deeds - the t-shirt - and beats, not himself, but the floor, making the act of scourging more symbolic and less creepy.  This done, Good Deeds is strong enough to get out of her wheelchair.
Neat, huh?
Not only that, Good Deeds then offers Everyman (this is in the text, not added by me) "a garment of sorrow... Contrition it is" which Everyman now wears for the rest of the show.
Even neater.
Now, just got to make it work.  Because none of that is as easy to actually do as it sounds - if nothing else, because Good-Deeds is a member of the audience and will need to be lead through any actions required.
And I need to decide - what am I wearing underneath the t-shirt?

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - Opening Speech

Been playing around with a new microphone and have produced this little recording of the opening speech from Everyman.  A little taster, as it were.

listen to ‘The Summoning of Everyman - Messenger’ on Audioboo

BEWARE SPOILERS, IF YOU ARE COMING TO THE SHOW, (BOOK TICKETS HERE) THEN STOP READING.  Well, it's two weeks to go, and rehearsals are hotting up... or they would if it would stop snowing.  My rehearsal space has primitive heating and I think bits of me may drop off if the temperature doesn't increase soon.  (No, not that bit... it's not that kind of show!)
I am now working heavily on the middle to end sections of the play.  For those following the blog, I've discussed the events of the play up to the rejection of Everyman by his Goods - or rather his final realisation that he can't take anything from his life with him.  (Or rather he thinks it's his final realisation, he's got another few to go.)
Having given up on the worldly for help, he goes to the more abstract Good Deeds.  Unfortunately for Everyman his Good Deeds are so few that they're weak and practically dead.  The play has Good Deeds "cold in the ground" - but for my version she (and she is referred to as female - a whole other blog there) is in a wheelchair.  Good Deeds introduces Everyman to Knowledge - and I've assumed that this is religious understanding, rather than the Encyclopedia Britannica.  In the original this was another character, but I've made Knowledge into an object, a small copy of the New Testament, which Everyman now carries.  He is then introduced to Confession who instructs Everyman to scourge himself.
Now, this is the part where the religious propaganda element comes on a bit strong.  Whereas before the text could be said to be universal, now the text is very specific.  That said, these days I don't think even the Catholic church goes in for scourging, so I wanted to find something a bit different.  Spoiler alert, by the way.  As Everyman prepares to scourge himself he makes a long speech, during which I'm going to collect good deeds from the audience.  Everyman has a book of reckoning, in which his good and bad deeds in his life are collected.  The book is blank, there are no good deeds in it, that's why the character Good Deeds is so weak.  So, as the audience comes in at the top of the show, they are given post-it notes to write a good deed on.  As Everyman makes his speech, he collects them in and puts them in the book of reckoning.  Also, as the audience comes in, they are asked to write bad deeds onto a t-shirt, anything they like, and it is this that Everyman wears for the first half of the show.  When he has collected in the good deeds he strips off the bad deeds - the t-shirt - and beats, not himself, but the floor, making the act of scourging more symbolic and less creepy.  This done, Good Deeds is strong enough to get out of her wheelchair.
Neat, huh?
Not only that, Good Deeds then offers Everyman (this is in the text, not added by me) "a garment of sorrow... Contrition it is" which Everyman now wears for the rest of the show.
Even neater.
Now, just got to make it work.  Because none of that is as easy to actually do as it sounds - if nothing else, because Good-Deeds is a member of the audience and will need to be lead through any actions required.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - The Yawn of Bagpuss

Sadly I will not be writing about Zebras today.  Future Robert will deal with this.
So, back to The Summoning of Everyman.  I've touched on the opening of the play, the arrival of God - now to Death and some of the other 'characters'.  Because, as this is a morality play, the characters are allegorical.  They represent different elements of man's character, his life, of humanity itself.  So Everyman represents Every Man - or person, as we would say today - rather than an individual.  'He' meets the embodiment of Fellowship - all his friends - and Kinship - all his relations - and even of his Goods - the wealth and possessions he owns.  All these 'people' he asks to come with him as he makes his journey towards death, all forsake him.  You can't take it all with you.  Thus appeareth the moral.
Which makes it all sound terribly dull - but it isn't.  Each character has... character.  So, first off, Everyman meets Death.
Such fun.  Death is great.  He turns up at God's command and generally puts the fear of... well... death... into Everyman.  I've been playing around with how to perform Death, and at first decided that he will be a voice, a disembodied voice that Everyman hears.  So, I've been playing around with microphones, loud hailers and even voice transformers to see what effects work best.  Though I like the slight amplification, I am unsure about changing the pitch of the voice - it's currently sounding more demonic than Deathly.  So, I continue to see what else might work.  Physically he is distorted, spiky - the emphasis is on the bone structure.  And Death smiles.  He smiles a big rictus grin.  Because he doesn't have any flesh, and skulls always grin.
Again, such fun.  And I'm finally books down on Death (I would just like to mention, again, how much I HATE learning lines.  I hate it.  Even when it's Death.) so I'm really getting to play around with my favourite character in the universe.  Because Death always wins.
Having met Death, Everyman is scared witless.  The speech he makes after Death disappears is heartrending.  He despairs.  It is a very similar speech to that of Doctor Faustus, in the play of the same name, by Christopher Marlowe, and I am convinced Kit must have been influenced by Everyman.  There are references to time passing, very similar phrasing - I've wanted to do the two plays back to back for ages.  In fact, we can add this to the list of Seldom Plans, I might actually look to do it, sometime in the future.
Everyman pulls himself back from the brink by remembering his friends - Fellowship - who he's gone out and had fun with throughout his life.  Perhaps they'll go with him?  Fellowship is all hail and hearty, (I've given him a tankard of beer to drink) and would love to help Everyman.  Until he finds out where he's going, at which point he starts using the word 'But' quite a lot.  I'm stretching that 'But', "I'd love to help buuuuu-t", in the way we all are capable of when we try to worm our way out of things.
Next Everyman things to drag a relative along.  Kindred/Cousin are two parts in the original play, but they say similar things so they are but one in mine.  They are really cheerful, really happy people, especially when sending Everyman off to go to his death alone.  It is cheerful betrayal.
Finally, for the first half of the play, Everyman talks with his Goods, his riches, asking if they will go with him.  They will not, if for no other reason, but that his greed in hording his wealth will damn him.  Goods is the embodiment of both greed and sloth.  He is indolent, never moves, doesn't get up.  I've decided that Goods is an evil Bagpuss, mostly yawning as he sits and laughs at Everyman and his problem.  I know, Bagpuss and I have history (see earlier blog), so that is a bit of a joke.  Don't take that too literally.  I won't dress up as Bagpuss or anything.  But the yawn will be there.  The yawn will probably be pure Bagpuss.
Only five weeks or so to go - book those tickets now.  And remember, it is a show where I want you to get involved - nothing scary, just to hold things and maybe move about.  Like in a promenade play, just you get to sit most the time.  Get in touch if you're interest, details below.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and thought provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Everyman - Playing God

Rehearsals for Everyman are now getting serious.  It's less, let's throw exciting ideas around, more - LEARN YOUR LINES!  I hate learning lines, but you just can't make this stuff up as you go along.  It's in verse and there are rhymes, you'd notice.  So, I'm just going over the words at the moment, as well as doing all that staging stuff.  I had a nice trip to the venue - the delightful Lavenham Guildhall - to see how well my traverse staging will work.  Rather well, I think.  And, despite what I said last week, actually the number of tickets available will not be quite so small.  We can comfortably fit 45 people a night.  That said, tickets have started to sell, so don't hang around.
So, learning lines.  First learnt was the prologue.  That was easy.  It's direct, told to the audience.  In this performance it will follow an opening section that will involve dancing.  Yup.  Me... dancing.  And six t-shirts.  And dodgy disco lighting.  But more on that for a later blog - one all about transitions.
But this week I've just finished learning God and in the next few days will move onto Death.  It's got all the best people in it, Everyman.  Honestly, Death is pretty easy to do, but God is a challenge, how do you present God on stage?
Firstly, the text for God is quite interesting - because though the character is labelled as God, he refers to experiences had by Jesus.  This is the kind of mash up that the late medieval drama did - there is a similar confusion / cross over in Last Judgement Corpus Christi plays - God appears and then hands over to Jesus, but both are referred to as God.  Or Deus.  He is both God and the son of God.  I'm not going to go into the nature of the Trinity, such matters are beyond me, but having a figure on stage who refers to himself as both God ("...they know me not for their God.") and by implication Jesus ("... with thorns hurt my head.") is problematic for a performer.  God looks over all, his viewpoint is more general; Jesus has the added mix of humanity.  So whilst God may look on mankind as a disappointment, be angry at their turning on his laws, Jesus feels the betrayal, felt the pain of death.  One is distant, one is close.
God's speech in the play is rather brilliant, because it can go both ways.  It has a slightly petulant quality of the creator who has been turned against, the law maker who sees his laws ignored, but also a visceral sense of the pain of betrayal.  "I could do no more than I did, truly."  He tried so hard to make mankind good, truly.  Really.  When I first ran this speech I found tears came, that sense of betrayal and disappointment very powerful.
But then at other times I felt more distant - the omnipotent angry God came out instead.  Mankind is only interested in sin, God must interfere because they are becoming nothing more than "beasts".  It's harsh stuff.
So, how to perform it?  Which way will I jump?  I don't know, yet.  I know it won't be a flamboyant performance.  He won't be performed, as probably was in the original, in flowing robes and golden mask or crown or similar.  There maybe no essential costume change at all.  He will be essentially static, probably performed standing high on a box, at one end of the space.  After the busyness of the opening of the show I think he needs to be staged simply, just letting the words speak.  And those words call forth Death, and Death, well he's a very different kind of character.
But more on him next time.

Everyman - Beware Spoilers

Everyman, Everyman - you are a foxy little minx of a play.  Odd words to begin a piece about what is usually described as a somber play, a solemn play, a play that is - basically - about death.  But to me, as performer of the text, it is a foxy little minx, because it is teasing me with possibilities.
Now, before I go on let me just warn you about spoilers.  I know, this isn't the latest series of Homeland or something similar, this is a five hundred year old play, but the staging of it will be revealed in some detail throughout the next couple of months.  Or the possible staging - some of the ideas mooted here will be dropped or changed, but probably not all that many.  So, if you want to be surprised, stop reading now.
Also, if you want to see the show, book now.  I don't mean this in the usual "please book tickets to validate my life/cover my expenses" way, but in the "I've had to reduce the number of seats available and the show will probably sell out" kind of way.  At present my artistic side is doing battle with my business side, and the art is winning.  I have yet to measure precisely how many seats I will be able to sell, but it isn't going to be many.  If you listen carefully, you can hear my wallet screaming.

So, onto the play.  The Summoning of Everyman has been on the to do list for years.  It has everything I love about an old play - it's simple, it has few characters, it's short.  And it has a cameo appearance for Death, always welcome in any play.  You just can't fail with Death, the dialogue is always cracking - just ask Terry Pratchett.  But it also is a trixy play.  It looks like it is simple, but actually it gets a bit complicated towards the end, all these extra characters appear, and how do you make it connect to people today?  Sure, death is a universal theme, but the play is explicitly Catholic in doctrine, medieval Catholicism to be precise - so there are elements of the play that are alien to us today, even to Catholics.  (Everyman does scourge himself at one point, it's the kind of thing most churches have quietly dropped.)
I've spent years trying to find a route into the text, a way of performing it.  And last year, I found it.  I was in the middle of rehearsing Ghost Storyteller and I wanted a break.  I needed to do text work, but needed to get away from that text.  So, I picked up Everyman and started to read it aloud.  It is a brilliant text, it almost works as an epic poem, if it wasn't for some of the more fiddly bits.  But as I read it, I imagined what it would be like if I was performing it, not just to an audience of many, but to an individual.  If I took someone by the hand and said, they were the character Fellowship, say.  That I talked to them as Everyman, and spoke out as Fellowship to a bigger audience.  That way I could not only make it clear to the audience who all the characters were - there would physically be a person there - but also keep the humanity of it by talking to someone; that this connection would not just be a way of performing a multi-person play as a one person play, but be something that took the play further; that made the play moving and direct in a way that a normal production could not.  I had my hook - this is to be an immersive piece of theatre, interactive.
There will be four layers to the interactivity... as it were.
Firstly, the space will be arranged in traverse, that is the audience will be on two sides facing each other.  The performance area will be a thin catwalk between them.  At no point will the audience be able to escape the reality of the rest of the audience.
Secondly, I will ask the audience to help with something simple, something they can do as they enter the space, something that doesn't worry them.  I'm not sure what this is yet, but it won't be complicated or performed as theatre, it will be something personal.  I don't want this act make people afraid to come, if you just want to sit and watch that will be fine, but it would be nice to find something non-invasive that everyone can do.
Thirdly, I will invite a few people (volunteers) to stand and be acknowledged by the room to be a character in the play.  Literally all they will be asked to do is stand, when asked to, and I will talk to them.  And then sit down again.  This is for the less faint of heart.
Fourthly, I will invite a few people (again volunteers) to be guided by me, to be moved through the space, to sit and even (in one case) lie down on some cushions.  This will be for the enthusiastic and bendable members of the audience.
There is always a slight risk that no one will agree to do the third or fourth actions.  This would be a shame, but I have got a plan B.  But if you come to the show and are willing to give to it, then it will be ten times the show it would be if you didn't. As it were.
So, Everyman, you foxy little minx, what else have you got for me?

NEXT BLOG:  Introductions, Dancing and the performance of God in the play.

The Obligatory New Year Message 2013

A belated Happy New Year!  I've been quiet for a while, after a short dose of unwellness over Christmas I'm back with a normal dose of busyness.  So, what's new for 2013, what am I going to cook up for you next?  Regular readers of my blog will know that this time of year is full of promises from me that end up as fodder for my Seldom Plan - see earlier blog here.  However, that doesn't mean that it all disappears, that it all is a lie.  I wouldn't lie to you dear reader, it's just the universe moves on.  So, here are a few plans for the year ahead.

The Summoning of Everyman.  This is a beautiful medieval morality play which I'm hoping to tour in churches round the country sometime towards the end of the year.  I'm trying out the staging for two nights at the Lavenham Guildhall on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th March and I'm really excited about it.  It will be simple but hopefully deeply moving, an a little bit different to a normal staging of the play.  It'll be an interactive performance, which means I'll be working directly with the audience to bring them closer to the story.  Full details below - do get in touch if you'd like to be part of the story.


The Shakespeare Delusion.  I'm primarily planning to tour this play next year, though I will look for a few try outs towards the autumn,  Whenever and wherever it will end up, I'll be working on in on and off from now.  A whole years worth of development, which is rather exciting.  Unlike the tryout version in Lavenham last year, I intend this production to have a full sound design, set and projection work to make it into something altogether more exciting.

Writing.  I know, it's an exciting boast, a writer is going to do some writing.  For the next six months or so I will be mostly writing and planning more writing.  Don't ask me what - I've so many ideas that are fighting for inclusion - but I want to have written something new by the summer, either monologue for full play.

Other things... yes, a bit vague, but I do have one other exciting project up my sleeve, but it's super top secret for the moment.

That's all for now - full details of Everyman below - enjoy.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

The Summoning of Everyman

Adapted and performed by Robert Crighton

The Summoning of Everyman is a powerful morality tale, written in the late medieval period, telling of the struggles for one man, for everyman, to let go of his life.  This interactive performance brings this struggle directly to the audience, asking them to become part of the story, asking them to stand in the footsteps of Fellowship, Good Deeds and even Death himself.  It’s a question that each generation has to answer: can you really take anything with you after death?  Moving, beautiful and though provoking – ultimately the Summoning comes to Everyone.

Get Involved: we’re looking for a number of audience members to be part of the show – don’t worry this isn’t Pantomime, there are no songs or catchphrases.  Volunteers would be brought on stage and moved by Robert as characters in the story – you get the best seats in the house and a performance that is personally addressed to you.  No acting skills required, just to stand, sit and be yourself, guided by Robert through the story.

If you’re interested then buy your ticket via Ticket Source, then send an email to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk – or call 07704 704 469 for more information.

Performing Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th March 2013

Show starts 7.30pm, doors open 7pm - Tickets £8, includes refreshment

The Lavenham Guildhall, The Market Square, Lavenham

Box Office: 0844 8700 887 or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/31683

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays

(excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

Box Office Number for bookings only, any general enquiries please call

07704 704 469 or email: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk

Website:  www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk