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 29th October at 7.30pm
Tickets: £9 (Friends £8)
The Quay Theatre, Sudbury
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