I’ve got a little over a week to play around with the text of The Natural History of Trolls – a little under two weeks of space work. I’m about to decide how large a space I’m going to work with – probably about 6 foot square. That is a nice size for one man to bustle in and will fit in most fringe theatre spaces. It can always be enlarged but that will be the minimum size.
The physicality of the text has been brought to my attention this last weekend. For the first time in years I did the full Teaching Gods set – Fantasy Terrorist League, TG and the Alternative Seagull. FTL is a static piece. I am rooted to the spot, totally immobile from the waist down. It focuses the mind and the viewer on the minutiae of performing. Tiny details, movements, gestures are made huge by the static nature of the blocking. TG is completely different. Though a thoroughly controlled piece, blocked to within a gesture of its life, it is expansive, vast, performed for the joy of the audience. Laughter is encouraged, connection employed – it’s a sit back and watch the fireworks kind of piece.
And that is the template for The Natural History of Trolls. I want the piece to be fun, for the fun to be infectious – I want it to be a joy for me to entertain you. This will contrast well with the prologue and interlude stories (performed by the new members of the company, see below) which are more FTL in nature. Contained, unmoving from the waist down, focusing in upon the face, the gestures, the shoulders up acting - a much harder task to pull off.
Hence the online audition approach for the show in July. We were supposed to close the auditions this weekend and we had some lovely auditionees. (I must say I am slightly disappointed that I didn’t get any spoof / obscene video submissions – but we can’t have it all). Sadly however we just didn’t get enough auditionees – some of my notices in the actorly press didn’t go to the right places apparently, so a lot of people didn’t know. So, we’re trying again over the next couple of weeks – want to give it a go? Details in the Auditions blog - or just send me an email on contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk
In fact, since I wrote the above in draft mode this second round of auditions has been much more successful in bringing in applications. The first set was steady, but quiet. This time I'm drowning in CV's - and that tends to make me uncomfortable. Let me not really explain why in anecdote form.
Once Upon A Time I was living with random people in a slightly grubby house in Southgate. The random people decided to go out and rent a couple of videos (that dates things) for the evening. They went out to buy something light and fun. They returned with Cannibal Holocaust and Audition. Not a pair of movies to watch while eating dinner - especially over a cheese board. And in Audition, the audition panel don't come out of the film well. I'd like to keep my feet.
But seriously, what I hate about auditioning is the photos. I hate photos. They make you judge people. Even when you request not to get any you still do, and then my brain starts judging people, even when I tell it not to. Photos never really look like the people who come through the door, they don't tell you anything useful that cannot be gleaned from the CV and they don't walk, talk or take direction. Photos often lie. Hate them.
Especially as, with storytelling, it doesn't matter what you look like, you just need to be a brilliant performer. So that's what I'm looking for - really brilliant people. Everything else is propaganda.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Brain goo
I'm a great believer in multi-tasking - not in the external world - in the mind. I've got four or five projects on the boil at the moment, bubbling away in my brain. I will have to set aside time for each - specific time to make them happen - but they all live happily enough up there. I trust that my brain (my brain and my gut - which is part of the brain) will sort out how these projects will look. I have two more Storyteller shows scheduled for October and November this year - but I'm not doing much on them bar nudging myself occasionally to think about them. They're shaping up well. Haven't written a word yet, but they're coming on well. As is the fourth draft of Trolls, the edit of the second Mystery play and the production design for a show in the summer. I know that when I come to schedule my sitting down to work these projects out in the real world the hard work is already done. I just need to copy the brain goo up. It will change in the process, naturally. It's a bit messy up their, not wholey focused, but ready enough to start.
That's why I know that in a months time I'm going to write a play. Not a story / monologue / one person thing, an honest to god play with people talking to each other. I started it a while ago, left it, and now my brain is saying "WRITE ME SOON! Not now - but soon - about a month - and heaven help you if you don't - for it you don't the play WILL DIE!" Plays do that. They die. I've one or two assorted foetus's lying in drawers at home. There's nothing to be done up with them, bar chopping out any vital organs (good lines / jokes etc) that can be reused elsewhere. And that is enough of that simile - getting a bit morbid.
This is as close as I get to talking about the artistic muse. If forced I can sit down and write a play anytime - but it is deeply inefficient and unsatisfactory. There is a good chance you will come out with rubbish. However, give me notice, give me time to figure out what the play will be like and when I sit down to write it it will be much easier, better and successful.
Except when it isn't. Sometimes plays just die anyway, sodding things. It all starts so well, you get so far and... oh... where did you go? Another one gone. NEXT!
Must dash now to run Teaching Gods again ready for the one off on Sunday. Why do I spend so much time and energy for one night stands? Insert punchline here.
Robx
That's why I know that in a months time I'm going to write a play. Not a story / monologue / one person thing, an honest to god play with people talking to each other. I started it a while ago, left it, and now my brain is saying "WRITE ME SOON! Not now - but soon - about a month - and heaven help you if you don't - for it you don't the play WILL DIE!" Plays do that. They die. I've one or two assorted foetus's lying in drawers at home. There's nothing to be done up with them, bar chopping out any vital organs (good lines / jokes etc) that can be reused elsewhere. And that is enough of that simile - getting a bit morbid.
This is as close as I get to talking about the artistic muse. If forced I can sit down and write a play anytime - but it is deeply inefficient and unsatisfactory. There is a good chance you will come out with rubbish. However, give me notice, give me time to figure out what the play will be like and when I sit down to write it it will be much easier, better and successful.
Except when it isn't. Sometimes plays just die anyway, sodding things. It all starts so well, you get so far and... oh... where did you go? Another one gone. NEXT!
Must dash now to run Teaching Gods again ready for the one off on Sunday. Why do I spend so much time and energy for one night stands? Insert punchline here.
Robx
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
The Rehearsal Phase
I've been a little distracted from Trolls these last few weeks - partly because I'm directing / rehearsing a few too many other projects and partly because I was deliberately stepping back a bit (see last blog).
But now the rewrites and changes are all chiming fairly well. Whereas before I was dragging myself through rehearsals/writes with some depression, feeling that though the story functioned it didn't work, now it is full of potential. What has changed to unleash the potential? Well, to be frank... orange penguins. By picking up an aside and running with it the story now has room to grow in the rehearsal room. I have a text I can perform, rather than a text I can say. I can now try and decide the best way to physicalise a giant orange penguin named Bernard - and the reactions of the people around him. Though the story is serious, in many ways, there is now an element of fun - of play. I have cast off the gloom.
Before I write about how I'm working on this story at the moment I will make everyone a promise. This year, 2011, will be the final year of using amusing animals for comic effect. I've done it in Teaching Gods, The Alternative Seagull, Trolls and soon in a story I'm planning for Christmas. It is fun but I have to confess - I am now running out of comic animals. So I'm going all out for this story and for Christmas, but 2012 onwards I will only do it if circumstances force me to - or if it's really really funny.
Back to Trolls. Now is the time to add layers to the story. The story is cast, the plot is clear, the characters set in stone. Now is the time to make them more - more interesting, more vibrant, more orange. This I am doing in two ways.
1. Firstly (always) in the words. The text isn't packed with much colour, much detail, much life. Now I remove cliche, look for different ways to express things, make up words, arrange juxtapositions and remove all workmanlike dullness and clunky phrasing. This I will mostly do standing up whilst saying said words - then going... "ah... oh... urm... no..." then leaning against a wall/table/someones back to write a scribbled phrase as an alternative.
2. As I stand about doing the above I am physicalising the text - hunting for what doesn't need to be said. The shape of the penguin, the drunken swagger of the central character, the horror of the lost child. It will be now that I will look at props, set and sound - though these tend to fall away across the rehearsals and only one or two elements will get used.
So, now I have some time to myself again, that is what I'm doing.
The other day I was singing. Singing for joy round the house, singing loud and hard and happy for the Teaching Gods CDs had arrived and had WORKED. It's the first time we've done CDs for Milk Bottle and we were very behind schedule so I took a gamble and ordered a batch rather than one test copy. If it hadn't worked I would have been very stuffed.
It'll be on sale at our Teaching Gods one offs this month and the next - but for those around the world you can get them online at lulu.com from May 23rd. [You could then - you can't now - now you can listen on spotify or download from amazon or itunes! Rob 2014]
The next one will be out later in the year - July touch wood. [That so didn't happen. Rob 2014]
Enough for now - I'm choosing music for the Teaching Gods show in London at the moment and having trouble deciding between two tracks.
Think for me Bagpuss - think!
Robx
But now the rewrites and changes are all chiming fairly well. Whereas before I was dragging myself through rehearsals/writes with some depression, feeling that though the story functioned it didn't work, now it is full of potential. What has changed to unleash the potential? Well, to be frank... orange penguins. By picking up an aside and running with it the story now has room to grow in the rehearsal room. I have a text I can perform, rather than a text I can say. I can now try and decide the best way to physicalise a giant orange penguin named Bernard - and the reactions of the people around him. Though the story is serious, in many ways, there is now an element of fun - of play. I have cast off the gloom.
Before I write about how I'm working on this story at the moment I will make everyone a promise. This year, 2011, will be the final year of using amusing animals for comic effect. I've done it in Teaching Gods, The Alternative Seagull, Trolls and soon in a story I'm planning for Christmas. It is fun but I have to confess - I am now running out of comic animals. So I'm going all out for this story and for Christmas, but 2012 onwards I will only do it if circumstances force me to - or if it's really really funny.
Back to Trolls. Now is the time to add layers to the story. The story is cast, the plot is clear, the characters set in stone. Now is the time to make them more - more interesting, more vibrant, more orange. This I am doing in two ways.
1. Firstly (always) in the words. The text isn't packed with much colour, much detail, much life. Now I remove cliche, look for different ways to express things, make up words, arrange juxtapositions and remove all workmanlike dullness and clunky phrasing. This I will mostly do standing up whilst saying said words - then going... "ah... oh... urm... no..." then leaning against a wall/table/someones back to write a scribbled phrase as an alternative.
2. As I stand about doing the above I am physicalising the text - hunting for what doesn't need to be said. The shape of the penguin, the drunken swagger of the central character, the horror of the lost child. It will be now that I will look at props, set and sound - though these tend to fall away across the rehearsals and only one or two elements will get used.
So, now I have some time to myself again, that is what I'm doing.
It'll be on sale at our Teaching Gods one offs this month and the next - but for those around the world you can get them online at lulu.com from May 23rd. [You could then - you can't now - now you can listen on spotify or download from amazon or itunes! Rob 2014]
The next one will be out later in the year - July touch wood. [That so didn't happen. Rob 2014]
Enough for now - I'm choosing music for the Teaching Gods show in London at the moment and having trouble deciding between two tracks.
Think for me Bagpuss - think!
Robx
Monday, 2 May 2011
Hue and Colour...
What colour is a play? It's alright, I'm not going to go off on one about colour in a weird arty way. But the mood of a play, the nature of a play does have an effect... at least on the colour of the cover of the book of the script.
Let me back track a little.
I've just cut a character from The Natural History of Trolls. The demise of Al has been coming some time - I just haven't got around to doing it. Partly because I wasn't quite sure how. I've not made many changes to the text for a month now, letting the show settle down a bit before shaking it up in the air again. We're holding auditions, the first show is in July and so there is little time left for the shaking of bits into the air.
But I knew I needed to cut this character and I just didn't know how. The way to the cut came about randomly - there was a mention of something on the radio and BAM! A complete reshuffle of motivations occured in my head. The events of the story remain the same, the reasons for them all do a little dance and a character becomes unimportant enough to go. Depressingly the thing that made it all click in place was in reference to the royal wedding - so I have to thank Will and Kate for that one.
But why do I mention colour I hear you cry? Well, prior to the rewrite the show was not a little gloomy. A little too gloomy. There wasn't enough joy. So when I came to design the book cover it looked like this.
This is how the show looked to me at the time - cold and clogged with gloom.
It is, I'm sure you'll agree, the product of a diseased mind.
The cover could have still been used even after the rewrite (it does still depict an element of the story - albeit abstractly) if it wasn't that it doesn't feel like the show as it now stands. The show is much more positive - it has a different feel and, most importantly, a different colour.
Orange.
Orange: the colour of this very pleasant Easter we've had in Britain, the colour of my days of working outside in the sun, the colour of... well, I'm sure the new book cover (below - rough) will tell you that.
The show is now much happier - though happiness must battle through patches of cloud cover and occasional showers.
But there is so much more to write about, beyond book covers.
The posters and flyers for the first Storyteller show of the year arrived - I know it's silly to get excited about such things, but it always gives one a happy feeling. And the online auditions have produced some very interesting results. Lots of people applying, lots of good auditions whizzing into my inbox. There's still a few weeks to go so do apply. Full details in the last blog.
We're also a few weeks away from the launch of our first audio book - featuring the stories Bink! and Teaching Gods. I spent the day uploading them and sending out the order (whilst painting the odd orange Penguin) and now cross my fingers they will arrive before the launch show - Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection on Sunday 22nd May at the Barons Court Theatre at 7pm.
I'd be a bit miffed if it got to show night and they hadn't arrived.
I'll try and post again this week, as I haven't been as regular with the postings as I'd like. More soon.
Robx
Let me back track a little.
I've just cut a character from The Natural History of Trolls. The demise of Al has been coming some time - I just haven't got around to doing it. Partly because I wasn't quite sure how. I've not made many changes to the text for a month now, letting the show settle down a bit before shaking it up in the air again. We're holding auditions, the first show is in July and so there is little time left for the shaking of bits into the air.
But I knew I needed to cut this character and I just didn't know how. The way to the cut came about randomly - there was a mention of something on the radio and BAM! A complete reshuffle of motivations occured in my head. The events of the story remain the same, the reasons for them all do a little dance and a character becomes unimportant enough to go. Depressingly the thing that made it all click in place was in reference to the royal wedding - so I have to thank Will and Kate for that one.
But why do I mention colour I hear you cry? Well, prior to the rewrite the show was not a little gloomy. A little too gloomy. There wasn't enough joy. So when I came to design the book cover it looked like this.
It is, I'm sure you'll agree, the product of a diseased mind.
The cover could have still been used even after the rewrite (it does still depict an element of the story - albeit abstractly) if it wasn't that it doesn't feel like the show as it now stands. The show is much more positive - it has a different feel and, most importantly, a different colour.
Orange.
Orange: the colour of this very pleasant Easter we've had in Britain, the colour of my days of working outside in the sun, the colour of... well, I'm sure the new book cover (below - rough) will tell you that.
The show is now much happier - though happiness must battle through patches of cloud cover and occasional showers.
But there is so much more to write about, beyond book covers.
The posters and flyers for the first Storyteller show of the year arrived - I know it's silly to get excited about such things, but it always gives one a happy feeling. And the online auditions have produced some very interesting results. Lots of people applying, lots of good auditions whizzing into my inbox. There's still a few weeks to go so do apply. Full details in the last blog.
We're also a few weeks away from the launch of our first audio book - featuring the stories Bink! and Teaching Gods. I spent the day uploading them and sending out the order (whilst painting the odd orange Penguin) and now cross my fingers they will arrive before the launch show - Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection on Sunday 22nd May at the Barons Court Theatre at 7pm.
I'd be a bit miffed if it got to show night and they hadn't arrived.
I'll try and post again this week, as I haven't been as regular with the postings as I'd like. More soon.
Robx
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Auditions - Storyteller 2011
Auditions – Storyteller 2011
Auditioning Online till 22nd May – London Auditions 21st May
Performing Monday 11th, Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th July 2011
For three nights in July Milk Bottle Productions is coming to the New Wimbledon Studio with our new show Storyteller 2011 – and we’re looking for additional storytellers to join the company.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
This first Storyteller show of the year is called The Natural History of Trolls by Robert Crighton, three stories covering a hundred and fifty years of history, two Queens and their subjects in the fairy kingdom. Midst this epic timeline is the story of an ordinary commute gone wrong, when a troll-like tramp in an Underground carriage turns out to REALLY be a Troll.
For more background to the show do visit the Storyteller vlog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU732VlOF0Q or check out earlier posts on this blog.
ABOUT THE PROCESS:
Each successful auditionee will be given a two / three minute portion of the story to perform for one night only. You would be part of a chain of eight-ten storytellers passing the baton of the story to the next person.
Rehearsals – from 1pm on the day of performance. You’ll work intensively with Robert and his team on your story for that afternoon and then perform it that evening. There is no other rehearsal. Successful auditionees must turn up to rehearse knowing their lines and be ready to work their socks off for the rest of the day. There may also be an improvisational element to the show for some company members.
Fee – profit share. We do not calculate this will be a vast amount, due to the size of the company, but it should cover expenses.
HOW TO AUDITION:
For the next four weeks you can audition online. Record a video of your performance of the sample script – found below on our blog and upload it to a YouTube or other type site and send the link to us at contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk with a copy your CV and any other info you feel might be of use.
Please don’t send video files to us direct – we won't open them.
Whether you upload your video to YouTube or another site, do keep the upload private / unlisted – we don’t intend to have your video’s judged by the mass media marketplace. We will not forward or use these videos unless you give us permission.
For those who are technically ill equipped – or who would like to be seen physically – there will be one audition in London on Saturday 21st May. Just send us a CV to contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk (don’t bother about a picture, it is irrelevant to storytellers) and we’ll let you know the time and place of the audition and pass on other relevant details.
AFTER THE AUDITION:
We’ll be working online – so keep an eye on your inbox for initial confirmation of casting. We’ll send those out on Wednesday 25th May. For those cast there will be follow up material, a contract and the text of your monologue.
The show will be returning to London for a six week run in late November – so there may be follow up casting to this short run later in the year – even if you don’t get cast this time around.
KEY DATES:
23rd April – Online Auditions and Applications Open
21st May – London Auditions (time and place tba)
22nd May – Online Auditions close
25th May onwards – Confirmation emails, general contact
11th July from 1pm – First Team
12th July from 1pm – Second Team
13th July from 1pm – Third Team
AUDITION TEXT: This is still a draft and so may contain material which will change prior to the show. For those auditioning on Saturday 21st May there will be other monologues to play with – if only to stop the audition panel getting very bored with the repetition.
PROLOGUE
Once Upon a Time there was a young Princess
Who encountered a fairy at the bottom of her garden.
Now, being a Princess, this was one BIG garden
And one had to go a long way to find anything living there -
Let alone a fairy.
This fairy didn’t talk, but it could dance in the air
And, most thrillingly, turn itself into ANYTHING
The Princess happened to think of.
The Princess first discovered this little creature
When she had briefly escaped her governess
And gone for a walk in the grounds to think.
It was thinking about stuff that got her highness
And a lot of other people, into a lot of trouble.
The Princess was thinking about a story
She had been reading in a book all week.
As she ran the improbabilities of the story through her mind
She thought she would hear a rustling amongst the trees.
Slowly, carefully a tiny fairy, exactly like in the book, appeared.
She held out her hand and onto it the fairy
Sat, looking at the princess with its miniscule eyes.
But there was something wrong with its form.
The fairy in the book had dark hair, not light brown...
And as she thought it, the hair changed colour.
A lesser child would have dropped the creature
But she had been brought up well and wasn’t fazed.
The Princess simply stared and thought – thought
Really hard
That the fairy should have a beard!
And at the Royal command – the fairy grew a long beard.
The experiment was clear, the creature could change shape.
So the Princess cupped her hands round the fairy
And took it back with her into the house.
From that day till she turned eleven, the fairy
Was a prized companion to her in her loneliness.
The Princess was an important person, she knew that,
There were future duties which scared her family
And that was why her life was very dull indeed.
But in the snatched moments alone with her fairy
She could play and mould its shape and form
Into her hearts contents.
When the Princess was eleven she discovered
That there had been a death in her family.
She wasn’t all that worried about the person who died
More that it meant that she was now an
Even more important person.
She wasn’t just any Princess now – one day she
And she alone would be Queen.
The future Queen sat thinking about this when
Her fairy appeared beside her.
As she thought about this life changing step
The fairy started to change. Grow.
It grew to man size – no, her size...
Her shape.
The fairy was a mirror image of herself – the face reversed
As in a real mirror.
Only it wasn’t exactly the same as the Princess.
It wore a crown and fine jewels and held a sceptre
And a ball and there were voices
Chants and prayers
And ceremonies and
It was all too
Much.
The young Princess didn’t lash out as such,
She was too well brought up for that. She didn’t
Scream or shout or attack the fairy, physically or verbally.
But she did think of a rejection – she did think
With all the passion of a child – that the fairy
Was a horrible, evil, terrible creature and must
GO!
And the nasty fairy, silent and obedient to the last,
Just faded away...
AND WHILE YOU'RE HERE - JUST THOUGHT WE'D MENTION....
Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection
Written and Performed by Robert Crighton
With Special Guests – Catherine Eccles and Simon Nader
For over two years Milk Bottle has been touring the multi-award winning Teaching Gods storytelling show – but all good things must come to an end. Prior to the launch of a new show in the autumn Milk Bottle presents the very best stories from Teaching Gods for the last time. Including the hilarious tale of The Alternative Seagull, the charming children’s story (not for children) Bink! and the madcap title story Teaching Gods itself. ABSOLUTELY THE LAST CHANCE TO SEE!
Tickets £10 / £8 concessions
Special Ticket Prices for attendees of The Revengers – See details below.
Show starts at 7pm – doors open 6.45pm.
Sunday 22nd May at the Barons Court Theatre
Box Office: 020 8932 4747
Baron’s Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14
Nearest Tube: Baron’s Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)
The Cast:
Robert Crighton
Robert is the author of all the monologues and performs the award-winning Teaching Gods. He is only entrant in the 25 year history of the Lost One-Act Festival to win three awards in successive years. A major new talent, Robert is returning to London with his touring production of the best of his stories. With Milk Bottle he has produced a mix of work, from classical drama to new plays, but returns to a favoured format, the monologue. His last show was the tour-de-force The Complete Sherlock Holmes, in which he performed every single story over 32 performances.
"… you'd better be quick to catch Robert Crighton enthrall you..." Remotegoat 2011
Catherine Eccles
Catherine’s theatre credits include A Servant of Two Masters, 21st Century Faust and Crave. She has recently finished filming in Ben Fellows’ latest feature film, Greenwich Village Massacre and plays the role of Witch Guinevere Westmorland in Children’s TV series, Spooked. She’s a regular performer with The Kitten Club as self devised comedy burlesque character and compere ‘Vixen DeVille’.
Simon Nader
Simon Nader trained at The Academy Drama School as The Stage Scholarship winner. Collaborations with Robert include the previous London runs of Teaching Gods, and Teiresias in BLIND SPOTS (2010). Other credits include BILLY BLISTER’S CIRCUS (Watford Palace Theatre), MAGGIE’S END (Shaw), OF MICE AND MEN (National Tour), THE OTHER SIDE (Gilded Balloon Edinburgh), CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (Union Theatre) and most recently THE REVENGERS (Barons Court). Feature films include: IRONCLAD , Fodor’s HAMLET, FUR MEINEN VATER and THE DEAD INSIDE. TV incl. URBAN LEGENDS (Channel Five) and a daily show on ITV’s Men and Motors Channel as a presenter: CASH LOUNGE.
SPECIAL TICKET OFFER
In association with THE REVENGERS!
* If you buy your ticket for THE REVENGERS and at the same time purchase your ticket in advance for "TEACHING GODS and other stories: The ULTIMATE selection!" which will be at Barons Court at 7pm on Sunday May 22nd, you will get both tickets at the concession rate saving a whopping £4.50! Lovely job? For more info see: www.milkbottleproductions.co.uk *
Orange Grille Productions presents:
THE REVENGERS!
“Following their hit play Maggie’s End, Tyneside-based writers Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood, are returning to London with their dark comedy: “THE REVENGERS!” Katy Dream is a sex-symbol; a kick-ass kung-fu queen who, as Gemma Peel in hit TV show “The Revengers” once killed a man with her tongue… Twenty-five years later she’s plain old Katy West, caring for her wheelchair bound, Castro-obsessed Marxist husband Jimmy. Enter charming but sinister loan-shark Gary to bring more than a touch of drama back into Katy’s world… “An extraordinary dramatic comedy – a shining example of great theatre which should not be missed” Tribune”
May 10th-15th and 17th–21st 7:45pm/Sat mats 2pm £12.50/£10.00
Monday, 18 April 2011
Trolling along on the crest of a wave...
I've been a little quiet in blogging terms for the Storytelling show - but that's partly because for the last week or so things have been picking up speed. I've been assist directing The Revengers (running at Barons Court in three weeks or so), rehearsing Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection, directing Dancing at Lughnasa and generally feeling the get up and go.
Most importantly the final work on the first Storyteller show is reaching its conclusion - partly because it just is, partly because some of it has to be ready in a few days.
Two points follow from those statements - first point: the first Storyteller show?
Well, Storyteller is the blanket title for any storytelling show I'll do this year, but there will be more than one of these. The aim is that when I get to the London run over Christmas I'll have two or three different shows which will change every few weeks a. to stop myself getting bored and b. to fit the changing season (something Christmasy, something New Yeary).
Second point: ready in a few days?
Very soon I'm going to open auditions for storytellers and performers for the New Wimbledon run in July. The first set of auditions will be online and then there will be a physical audition for those who aren't technically minded on Saturday 21st May. Which means I need to have a section of text performable for auditions.
The main body of the show The Natural History of Trolls is written and bedding in. It'll change over the next couple of months in little ways - little cuts, rewrites, new words - but nothing needs obvious rewriting. As followers of this blog will know it's the other sections, the subplots, which are still is disarray - which is unfortunate, as these are the sections the rest of the company will perform.
I say are in disarray, that's no longer true - they are almost complete. But there's still a lot of work to do.
Trolls is now structured like this:
Prologue - consisting of four short monologues, with some of the backstory, set in the distant past.
Trolls, Part One - the main bulk of the story, set in the present.
Interlude - consisting of four short monologues, with more backstory, set in the less distant past.
Trolls, Part Two - the conclusion of part one.
I've also created two different openings to the show - neither of which has won me over yet.
So, it'll be a matter of honing down the Prologue and the Interlude, ready for the auditions to start.
That's where it's at.
Next blog - audition info.
Robx
Most importantly the final work on the first Storyteller show is reaching its conclusion - partly because it just is, partly because some of it has to be ready in a few days.
Two points follow from those statements - first point: the first Storyteller show?
Well, Storyteller is the blanket title for any storytelling show I'll do this year, but there will be more than one of these. The aim is that when I get to the London run over Christmas I'll have two or three different shows which will change every few weeks a. to stop myself getting bored and b. to fit the changing season (something Christmasy, something New Yeary).
Second point: ready in a few days?
Very soon I'm going to open auditions for storytellers and performers for the New Wimbledon run in July. The first set of auditions will be online and then there will be a physical audition for those who aren't technically minded on Saturday 21st May. Which means I need to have a section of text performable for auditions.
The main body of the show The Natural History of Trolls is written and bedding in. It'll change over the next couple of months in little ways - little cuts, rewrites, new words - but nothing needs obvious rewriting. As followers of this blog will know it's the other sections, the subplots, which are still is disarray - which is unfortunate, as these are the sections the rest of the company will perform.
I say are in disarray, that's no longer true - they are almost complete. But there's still a lot of work to do.
Trolls is now structured like this:
Prologue - consisting of four short monologues, with some of the backstory, set in the distant past.
Trolls, Part One - the main bulk of the story, set in the present.
Interlude - consisting of four short monologues, with more backstory, set in the less distant past.
Trolls, Part Two - the conclusion of part one.
I've also created two different openings to the show - neither of which has won me over yet.
So, it'll be a matter of honing down the Prologue and the Interlude, ready for the auditions to start.
That's where it's at.
Next blog - audition info.
Robx
Friday, 8 April 2011
Reconnecting...
Fabulous news - I haven't been able to mention it as the contracts hadn't been signed, but Storyteller will be coming to London four months early, this July - but only for three nights and - most important - there is no guarantee that when it comes back in November the story/ies will be the same. We'll be at the New Wimbledon Studio and I can't wait - especially as I'm hoping to work with lots of other people on this project. I got very tired of being alone for the last show. But these things are not what this blog are about. This is to chart the progress of the show - Storyteller - as I write it. And I'm a little late with my blog this week. For this stuff got to the vblog http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRobertCrighton?feature=mhum
I've been at something of a disconnect for the last two weeks or so. That isn't to say I haven't been active, but I haven't quite been in the room. In the next week or so I'll be gearing up to Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection, putting the finishing touches to the first Storyteller show and countless other acts (creative and often not) and so, feeling myself drift, I didn't fight it. This week I can afford it, next week I cannot.
Sometimes we are not inspired, but as professional creatives we carry on regardless. And sometimes you are feeling inspired and the world knocks you off your perch and you lose the moment. Any strong emotion will tend to bend your will away from the task in hand. For example, being in love - impossible to work effectively whilst in the first throws. Deep flaw in the plot of Shakespeare in Love.
Not that I'm in love or anything - just angry. It was watching the rolling coverage online of the arts cuts last week that threw me completely off any real progress. The more I looked, the angrier I got. I'm not going to get political about this beyond IT'S ALL COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY - WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE - AGGGGGHHHHH!
And then I'd make another cup of tea, sit in front of my laptop in the garage and try to make a passage in Storyteller work better. The problem looks something like this - you sit down and write a story called The Natural History of Trolls. You pull this story apart, put it back together and finally rewrite it totally.
Then you have an idea for all the material you ripped out - rework it as a prologue to the main story. Marvellous. Should work. You've got the bones of the story there - cut and paste - brilliant.
Now make it good.
Whilst really angry.
So I did some admin instead - designed a poster - direct a rehearsal for Dancing at Lughnasa - printed off the contract for the New Wimbledon Studio - sent some emails - watch almost every documentary Adam Curtis ever produced - direct another rehearsal for Dancing at Lughnasa - look at a stove - buy a book of stamps - post contract - shoot a lot of penguins late at night when you can't sleep - cut 12 thousand words from The Rivals for a youth theatre production - listen to the rushes for Bink! CD release - re-edit an opening for Teaching Gods - direct another rehearsal for DaL - walk the dog - drink a lot of tea - go to various meetings - notice that it's a lovely day.
Ah.... that's better. The words move again, progressing on that expressway out of mediocrity and into the city of words that sing. Well - that'll be for the audience to decide. I could have set my sat nav incorrectly.
Rxx
I've been at something of a disconnect for the last two weeks or so. That isn't to say I haven't been active, but I haven't quite been in the room. In the next week or so I'll be gearing up to Teaching Gods: The Ultimate Selection, putting the finishing touches to the first Storyteller show and countless other acts (creative and often not) and so, feeling myself drift, I didn't fight it. This week I can afford it, next week I cannot.
Sometimes we are not inspired, but as professional creatives we carry on regardless. And sometimes you are feeling inspired and the world knocks you off your perch and you lose the moment. Any strong emotion will tend to bend your will away from the task in hand. For example, being in love - impossible to work effectively whilst in the first throws. Deep flaw in the plot of Shakespeare in Love.
Not that I'm in love or anything - just angry. It was watching the rolling coverage online of the arts cuts last week that threw me completely off any real progress. The more I looked, the angrier I got. I'm not going to get political about this beyond IT'S ALL COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY - WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE - AGGGGGHHHHH!
And then I'd make another cup of tea, sit in front of my laptop in the garage and try to make a passage in Storyteller work better. The problem looks something like this - you sit down and write a story called The Natural History of Trolls. You pull this story apart, put it back together and finally rewrite it totally.
Then you have an idea for all the material you ripped out - rework it as a prologue to the main story. Marvellous. Should work. You've got the bones of the story there - cut and paste - brilliant.
Now make it good.
Whilst really angry.
So I did some admin instead - designed a poster - direct a rehearsal for Dancing at Lughnasa - printed off the contract for the New Wimbledon Studio - sent some emails - watch almost every documentary Adam Curtis ever produced - direct another rehearsal for Dancing at Lughnasa - look at a stove - buy a book of stamps - post contract - shoot a lot of penguins late at night when you can't sleep - cut 12 thousand words from The Rivals for a youth theatre production - listen to the rushes for Bink! CD release - re-edit an opening for Teaching Gods - direct another rehearsal for DaL - walk the dog - drink a lot of tea - go to various meetings - notice that it's a lovely day.
Ah.... that's better. The words move again, progressing on that expressway out of mediocrity and into the city of words that sing. Well - that'll be for the audience to decide. I could have set my sat nav incorrectly.
Rxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)