Live from the Get In - Ghosts

Hello!  The next show is going to be a cracker, I know, I'm writing it now.  Live from the Get In! will be live streamed in two and a half weeks time, and tickets are on sale now for the live experience.

It'll be like the last show - available to listen below! - but different... as it's all about ghosts... whoo... or possibly scary clowns (there will be no scary clowns)... 

First of all, if you're coming - dress up!  I want to see lots of silly costumes.  Especially as, at only an hour, you can still go out to a good party if you so wish (I know it isn't actually Halloween, but it's the Saturday before, that's as good!)

So, lots of good silliness.  And then ghost comedy.  Because, and I know it's possibly an unpopular view, but ghosts are stupid and deserve to be mocked.  I've been watching lots of supposed ghost shows on television as research (sitting in bed watching daytime tv is research! honest! stop looking at me like that!) and, seriously, they're unspoofable.  Because they are their own spoof.  

But I'm having a go anyway.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
LIVE FROM THE GET IN! 

COMEDY GHOST NIGHT

An hour of radio comedy and sketches with a Halloween Theme

Ghost’s are funny, especially because all they do is play dress up in sheets and creak the odd floorboard. New material, sketches and monologues – it’s an hour of laughter, curated by award-winning writer and performer Robert Crighton and streamed live as a radio show from the auditorium of the Quay Theatre.

Tickets £5

Saturday 29th October at 7.30pm

Box Office: 01787 374 745 

Or book online at www.quaysudbury.com
Live audio streaming on the night can be heard at www.ustream.tv/channel/robert-crighton-storyteller



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.

GhoStoryteller: Full Cast List...

Merry Post Christmas!  I spent Christmas mostly watching the fantastic The Strange World of Gurney Slade on DVD.  Such joy.
Now, it's the question everyone keeps asking me - when is the full special guest list coming out.  Today.  It's an all male first week, which is very usual for Milk Bottle, we are usually lady heavy.  But the second week redresses the balance.  If it helps, think of the show as a phone in reality show, call the box office and vote for your favourite performer by buying a ticket for that night.

Tuesday 27^th December – Robert Crighton (yes, I am my own special guest!)

Wednesday 28^th December –Alexander Gordon-Wood

Thursday 29^th December – Rich Cline

Friday 30^th December –Simon Nader

Tuesday 3^rd January – Denys Gaskill

Wednesday 4^th January – Richard Ward

Thursday 5^th January – Elizabeth Quinn

Friday 6^th January – Jessica Moore

Saturday 7^th January – Elizabeth Nicholson

Sunday 8^th January – Kate Steel

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
GhoStoryteller

Written and Performed by Robert Crighton - plus Special Guests

Tuesday 27^th December 2011 to Friday 30^th December and Tuesday 3^rd to Sunday 8^th January 2012 (No performances 31^st Dec, 1^st or 2^nd Jan)

Two weeks of real ghost stories collected during our autumn tour.  From the ghosts of empty houses, to the personal ghosts we carry around us, this collection is a mixture of the fantastic and the “real”. 

Tickets £12 / £10 concessions

Tuesday to Saturday starts at 7.30pm – doors open 7.15pm.  Sunday at 7pm, doors open 6.45pm.

Box Office: 020 8932 4747

Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14

Nearest Tube:  Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)

GhoStoryteller: Meet the Cast 7

Todays blog is brought to you in association with the letters B, Y, T.  B. stands for BUY.  Y. stands for YOUR and T. stands for TICKETS.  Put together they can be put into such sentences as 'buy your tickets for Trolls, there's only six more performances left'.  
But back to the new show - and todays featured guest artist is Simon Nader, who appeared with us at the New Wimbledon Studio in July and many, many previous shows before.  I've only got him for one night as he keeps flying abroad to appear in big budget TV shows that he's not allowed to talk about.  Boring.  Oh, and he also has another iron in the fire which he does talk about - see below.  He joins us for GhoStoryteller on the 30th December 2011.

Simon Nader

Simon Nader is a core member of Milk Bottle having played Teiresias in BLIND SPOTS, Treplev in THE ALTERNATIVE SEAGULL and several solo pieces including KEYNOTE SPEAKER. He trained at London’s Academy Drama School. Previous stage work includes: Billy, BILLY BLISTER’S CIRCUS (Watford Palace Theatre); George, OF MICE AND MEN (National tour); Colin/Policeman, MAGGIE’S END (Shaw Theatre); All the male roles, THE OTHER SIDE (Gilded Balloon Edinburgh); Otto, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (Union Theatre); Gary, THE REVENGERS (Barons Court Theatre) and many others. Feature Film work includes forthcoming horror THE DEAD INSIDE as Wayne Andrews; Guildenstern in HAMLET (Fodor’s 2006); Horst in FUR MEINEN VATER and as a voice actor on IRONCLAD. He recently played The Journalist in BBC Radio 4’s THE CHESS GIRLS and Claudio in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING for Rooftop Theatre in St Albans.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
GhoStoryteller

Written and Performed by Robert Crighton - plus Special Guests

Tuesday 27^th December 2011 to Friday 30^th December and Tuesday 3^rd to Sunday 8^th January 2012 (No performances 31^st Dec, 1^st or 2^nd Jan)

Two weeks of real ghost stories collected during our autumn tour.  From the ghosts of empty houses, to the personal ghosts we carry around us, this collection is a mixture of the fantastic and the “real”.  Do you have your own ghost stories?  Let us know and we might add it to the show.  Send to contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk 

Tickets £12 / £10 concessions

Tuesday to Saturday starts at 7.30pm – doors open 7.15pm.  Sunday at 7pm, doors open 6.45pm.

Box Office: 020 8932 4747

Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14

Nearest Tube:  Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)

***
And now a word from Simon...

***

Hi there! If you need someone professionally trained and experienced to help you with the presentation of a monologue for an audition; if you are having a crisis of confidence; if you feel that you just need an acting check up: help is at hand!

My students usually contact me because they want help preparing for an audition for drama schools, theatre companies or just to improve their general skills and confidence. Many of my previous students have gone on to train at accredited drama schools including RADA, DSL and BSA amongst many others, or attacked their next audition with a new approach and confidence.

My own acting career has evolved through many years of stage, feature film, television, radio and voice work. As a theatre director, I have worked on many professional productions at venues as diverse as the Southbank Centre and small fringe theatres to foreign tours. I also have many years experience directing and working with young people and consequently hold an advanced CRB certificate.

Rates

I charge very competitive rates with some room for negotiation depending on the number of lessons you would like to have and what you are seeking to accomplish.

Base rate for a one-hour session is £25

A two-hour session is discounted to £40

I can provide a tailored quote according to your needs, please get in touch to discuss.

My new studio is an intimate space on the Old Kent Road near to Elephant & Castle and South Bermondsey which is easily accessible from all parts of London by bus, rail and tube connections.

I look forward to working with you!

Simon Nader

t: 07976 399 825

e: sayhello@simonnader.com

GhoStoryteller: Meet the Cast 6

Todays blog is brought to you in association with the letters B, Y, T.  B. stands for BUY.  Y. stands for YOUR and T. stands for TICKETS.  Put together they can be put into such sentences as 'buy your tickets for Trolls, there's only six more performances left'.  
But back to the new show - and todays featured guest artist is Denys Gaskill, who appeared with us at the New Wimbledon Studio in July.  She joins us for GhoStoryteller on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

Denys Gaskill

Acting credits include: The Handwitch of the Second Stage (Camden Peoples Theatre), Rashmon and Hello Paris (Edinburgh Fringe Festival),  Antigone, A Christmas Carol, Trap for a Lonely Man (all at the Lion and Unicorn), ‘House of Bernarda Alba’ (Pentameters), ‘Macbeth’ (The Scoop), ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Rose Theatre Bankside)

Student films: ‘One Word’’, ‘Paul Thomas’, ‘ Spring Clean’ and ‘Man and Dog’.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
GhoStoryteller

Written and Performed by Robert Crighton - plus Special Guests

Tuesday 27^th December 2011 to Friday 30^th December and Tuesday 3^rd to Sunday 8^th January 2012 (No performances 31^st Dec, 1^st or 2^nd Jan)

Two weeks of real ghost stories collected during our autumn tour.  From the ghosts of empty houses, to the personal ghosts we carry around us, this collection is a mixture of the fantastic and the “real”.  Do you have your own ghost stories?  Let us know and we might add it to the show.  Send to contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk 

Tickets £12 / £10 concessions

Tuesday to Saturday starts at 7.30pm – doors open 7.15pm.  Sunday at 7pm, doors open 6.45pm.

Box Office: 020 8932 4747

Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14

Nearest Tube:  Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)

GhoStoryteller: Meet the Cast 3

And, of course, usual rules apply - still nine performances of the fabulous The Natural History of Trolls - so no excuses not to come down.


Anyway - who is our featured artist today?  Well, it's one Rich Cline - who I met on OnFM a few weeks ago.  He was discussing films, I was discussing orange penguins, it was a normal day, and I decided to invite him to be in the show whilst on air - he has a fabulous voice and I just couldn't resist.  He is appearing on Thursday 29th December.  For more info go to his film blog. http://www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk

Rich Cline

A journalist by training, Rich Cline has been obsessed with cinema since he was about 8 years old. Born in Los Angeles, Rich moved with his family to Quito, Ecuador, at age 12, graduating from an American high school then returning to Southern California for university. He hearned a bachelor of arts in journalism/communication arts. While a student, he started writing film reviews for a local weekly newspaper, but after graduation he had to get a real, paying job.
Shadows on the Wall was first published in Los Angeles in September 1985 for a readership of 120. Even then the readers were located all across North, South and Central America; the Far and Middle East; Africa; Central Asia; and Western and Eastern Europe.  Rich continued publishing Shadows as a newsletter while living in Miami for six years and after he moved to England in May 1992. The Shadows ezine made its debut in March 1995; this website went online in October 1996.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

GhoStoryteller

Written and Performed by Robert Crighton - plus Special Guests

Tuesday 27^th December 2011 to Friday 30^th December and Tuesday 3^rd to Sunday 8^th January 2012 (No performances 31^st Dec, 1^st or 2^nd Jan)

Two weeks of real ghost stories collected during our autumn tour.  From the ghosts of empty houses, to the personal ghosts we carry around us, this collection is a mixture of the fantastic and the “real”.  Do you have your own ghost stories?  Let us know and we might add it to the show.  Send to contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk 

Tickets £12 / £10 concessions

Tuesday to Saturday starts at 7.30pm – doors open 7.15pm.  Sunday at 7pm, doors open 6.45pm.

Box Office: 020 8932 4747

Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14

Nearest Tube:  Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)

 

GhoStoryteller Preview

First thing, just want to get this off my chest.  I can write witty blogs, I can write exciting blogs, I can write controversial blogs - hit rate remains the same for each.  But if I write a blog about a DOG then the hits go through the roof.  Here is a picture of the dog, her name is Tinkerbell.  I am now going to change the name of Milk Bottle Productions to Tinkerbell's Magnificent Ensemble Company of Performing Humans.  Here is a picture of the artistic director of the company. 

The New Artistic Director

Do not feed her after midnight.


Anyway, this post concerns the GhoStoryteller show which starts after Christmas - there are still two and a bit weeks of The Natural History of Trolls, panic ye not - and which I am rehearsing now.  It's a much looser show than Trolls, more relaxed.  It's a few ghost stories tied together with a few thoughts of my own on the nature of ghosts.  It's gone down well in the three tryouts and I've been tweaking the script for the last month.  But now comes the proper rehearsal, which means on top of the four / five hour commute, the three hours at the venue performing, I'm adding another two hours plus of rehearsal a day.  This is fine, at present, as I can learn my lines on the train - in-between reading Great Expectations (which has been rather enjoyable).  I expect by next week this routine will start to pall, but thems the breaks.  Then I get a couple days off for Christmas and straight into the new show.
And it will be a slightly different show each night.  I've got a number of one-off guest performers joining me across the two weeks, and I'll be posting the details of these fine performers on my blog over the next week or so. 
Well, all that remains is to do my preview of the GhoStoryteller show which follows after this announcement from a friend of mine....

***

Hi there! If you need someone professionally trained and experienced to help you with the presentation of a monologue for an audition; if you are having a crisis of confidence; if you feel that you just need an acting check up: help is at hand!

My students usually contact me because they want help preparing for an audition for drama schools, theatre companies or just to improve their general skills and confidence. Many of my previous students have gone on to train at accredited drama schools including RADA, DSL and BSA amongst many others, or attacked their next audition with a new approach and confidence.

My own acting career has evolved through many years of stage, feature film, television, radio and voice work. As a theatre director, I have worked on many professional productions at venues as diverse as the Southbank Centre and small fringe theatres to foreign tours. I also have many years experience directing and working with young people and consequently hold an advanced CRB certificate.

Rates

I charge very competitive rates with some room for negotiation depending on the number of lessons you would like to have and what you are seeking to accomplish.

Base rate for a one-hour session is £25

A two-hour session is discounted to £40

I can provide a tailored quote according to your needs, please get in touch to discuss.

My new studio is an intimate space on the Old Kent Road near to Elephant & Castle and South Bermondsey which is easily accessible from all parts of London by bus, rail and tube connections.

I look forward to working with you!

Simon Nader

t: 07976 399 825

e: sayhello@simonnader.com

***

And now the promised GhoStoryteller Preview:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hope that wasn't too scary for you.

 

I was standing in the bar the other night...

I don't get out much, it must be acknowledged, but the other night I was at a very nice party and taking the opportunity to ask people: "do you know any ghost stories?"  Mostly the answer was a no.  I would then move onto question number two: "do you believe in ghosts?"  One reply was very much to the point.  Upon asking whether they believed in ghosts they said something like this (I had been drinking so I paraphrase what I remember):
"I don't believe in ghosts, but I don't not believe in them."
This I feel covers a fair number of popular beliefs - but covers the supernatural rather well.  People don't really believe in ghosts but they can't deny that some peoples accounts of ghosts can't be explained.  There might be some logical reason behind the noises and the figures and these might not, quite, be nonsense spooky magic stuff.
The more I delve into real genuine peoples accounts of ghosts, the more I hear the don't but do.  Something doesn't make sense, even if we disagree about the limits of that lack of sense.
I was on the phone today with a lovely woman who told me all about a poltergeist that haunted, not so much her house as her family (as poltergeists are supposed to do).  I cannot say what it was happened to her family, (though I am sceptical about some of the theories expounded about it by some of the people who had spoken to her) but I cannot say it didn't happen.  This gap between real accounts and the ghost story is where I think my Ghost Story show will go.  My stories will be made up, but I will bookend them with accounts.  As I said in my last blog, real accounts do not make great entertainment.  Of interest, yes.  Important, yes.  Riveting for 90 minutes... less so.  So the real will be there to add source to the unreal, to lend the seed of doubt into our world of certainties.
And if someone comes up to me in a bar and asks me: "Do you believe in ghosts?" I have a ready made newly stolen reply.  Thank you party.

The Blog I WAS going to write.

Ghosts. 
Woooooo.
There is a mountain of difference between accounts of hauntings and ghost stories.  The first, a haunting, is a questionable account of something going bang in the night which is brief, uninformative and often downright dull.  I'm sure the experience of having a figure in white wander through your three piece suite at three o'clock in the morning is very exciting to the participant, but a great story it does not make.
Ghost stories, on the other hand, are a very different kettle of spectral fish.  They have to develop a narrative, a sense of character, a sense of atmosphere and, most importantly, are largely made up.  An account of a 'real' haunting, depending on your belief in such things, runs the risk of biting you on the bum.  If you talk about a 'real' ghost out of turn and he might start haunting your toilet in revenge, which might be a boon for the terminally constipated.
Account of hauntings are almost always brief.  Something happens.  It's a bit weird.  It happens randomly and sometimes never does it again.  This makes for very dull listening.
"There was the tale of the haunting of an old pub.  Footsteps could be heard in the cellar - where no one was.  The end."  Repeat till audience wants to slit their wrists.
So the professional storyteller does not write about 'real' ghosts.  S/he makes it up.  S/he looks for some other story to tell which the haunting can stir up.  S/he mixes up random effects of hauntings and gives them purpose.  Direction.  Malice.  And then proceeds to attempt to scare the living daylights out of people - or, in my case, leave them with a tantalised thrill of fear, as well as other effects peculiar to my particular style.
There's a strong connection between the problems writing a ghost story and the problems writing soap opera.  The Soap is a flawed and self destructive format - trying to achieve two almost completely incompatible effects at the same time.  1. To reflect real life. 2. To be interesting.  Real life, like accounts of hauntings, tends towards the repetitive, the dull, the tedious - but this has to be simulated in a dramatic format that must grip week in, week out.  So the real life stories get junked and melodrama starts to pile in.  In ghost stories this happens when the hauntings go too far and stop being scary because they've become silly.  Luckily for ghost stories they tend to be short.  Soaps have to have a cull and start again every ten years or so, and even then can't get away from melodrama.  Only The Archers managed, until recently, to balance the dull with the interesting - but radio can get away with such things.
But I digress: though I said I was going to make up my ghost stories, I am out on the hunt for other peoples - your own experiences or a tall tale as told.  I have a few good stories I was told in a pub once; I was assured that they were totally genuine, which means they were made up.  So drop me a line - contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk - and anything interesting will be posted on the blog and may end up in the show, in a suitably altered, but credited, fashion.
I write much of this because of a conversation I had on a bus.  I was telling someone that I was doing ghost stories and that it was going to be a bit of fun.  I then sat back bemused as I was attacked for making light of a real spirit world that exists all around us.  My only response to that is simple - I reserve the right to make fun of anyone or anything, and the spirit world  - real or imaginary - is just as much a target.  We can't have ghosts taking themselves seriously - they might get above themselves.
It's not as if they pay taxes or anything.

Sit down, stand up, repeat

It's been raining a lot round my way.  Rather nice, when one is indoors.  I'd love to say I have been a storm of energy and excitement, that I've been beavering away at the next piece but that would be a lie.  Been reading, tidying and a bit more tidying.  The thing about the build up to a show is that all the little things get neglected.  So I get home and find everything in a pile.  Luckily post-show I'm in an odd state of exhausted restlessness.  Can't settle down but can't do too much.  So tidying occurs.  And I do my tax.  And I transcribe all the changes the script gained during the run to the master copy. 
Mostly with The Natural History of Trolls this involves cuts, minor little edits, the odd punctuation change and occasionally new material.  There is a joke that might get added involving the French Ambassador.  Might not.  I am undecided.  Once these changes are made I will put the script down for a month and come back to it actively looking to rewrite for the December run. 
I have to say that Trolls came out far better than I'd expected.  I didn't tell you, my dear readers from around the globe (Hello Australia!) about my doubts because... well, I didn't want to put you off.  The paranoia of the playwright is intensified with the monologue - you can usually tell if a play works, you can test it, but a monologue needs people, an audience, so you can set yourself up for a real fall. 
The nice thing about the way we staged Trolls was it was an open storyteller format.  The whole cast sat round and watched as well as performed the piece.  So I did get to watch 2/5s of the evening.  And was very pleased with how it went.  So Trolls goes down as a keeper.  That doesn't mean it's perfect.  There are lots of areas that need tightening still, little simplifications.  I know where these bits are because I couldn't remember them very well.  If you dry continually during a section I'm inclined to blame the author.  Talk about setting yourself up for a fall.  Luckily, as I was the author, I could always make something up to get out of it.
Which is cheating.
So next up - well in my still discombobulated state (yes, there is a pun there, sorry) I'm just writing notes for the next story The Ghosts of Lavenham, which will be the keystone to the GhoStoryteller show for October.  I'm generally dancing round the actual writing bit till I'm less exhausted.  This is the time to write notes and plan - so in a day or two I will announce the full schedule for Nov - Jan - all the blurb and dates decided.  I might change some of them, but only if there is a great public outcry.  And you wouldn't do that, I'm sure.