Coming Soon to a Bar Near Me

Well, we're reaching the end of my Artist Residency at the Quay.  [Oh no he isn't, OH YES HE IS! - sorry directing a panto at the moment]  I've got two big things left to complete, but otherwise we're nearly at the end.  One is the last part of The Trolls Trilogy which has been brutally delayed - sorry everyone! - but I wasn't happy writing it in short chunks, it was doing something to the flow I didn't like by the end of Lost Tribe - so it'll be released in longer chunks in the last few weeks of the year. *  So far Paper Moon Trolls (an unfortunate acronym) is coming along nicely, so I think I made the right decision.
The end point for Trolls will be the promised live performance.  But this isn't going to be a big show and it won't be quite the same as the full length online story.  It'll be shorter, tighter and secret.  It'll be a pop up show for my funders and loyal supporters only - though I might squeeze you in if you ask nicely.
But before I finally reveal the final show of the year, let's give you a run down of events so far!
1.  The Trolls Trilogy - under construction.  Well received so far online, over a thousand people have listened so far...
2.  You Have Been Watching - 'sold' out installation.  Surprisingly good response.
3.  Hang - radio play almost universally loved by all.  Available as an audio download and script.
4.  The Juliet Inquiry - a public inquiry version of the Shakespeare play.  We got such a good reaction to the play that it was revived in October and I've future plans for it either next year or for the 2016 Shakespeare death anniversary. So far only available in script form.
5.  The Shakespeare Delusion - the second (or first, depending on your point of view) play of my little Shakespeare trilogy.  Again very well received - streamed live online as well as London revivals at the LOST Theatre.
6.  Complicated Pleasures - the big misstep of a project.  Liked by many, loved by many, hated by many.  A long post about this is long overdue, I just haven't had the strength to write it.
7.  Attack of the Christmas Squirrels - was this number 7?  I forget.  The projects have changed over the year and this was, ironically, the second show to be completed.  This is a home storytelling show open to anyone who wants to see it.  Just get in touch, it won't go away.  Well received at the premiere.
8.  Historic Crimes - another radio play, live streamed and with a great critical response.  The final play in my Shakespeare Trilogy, making that a nice little hat trick.  Soon to be available as an audio download and script.
9.  The Museum of Tat - audio comedy series with my good friend Michael Fouldes.  Still available to listen to now.  Generally well received, but not enough feedback yet. Listen again here.
10.  THE END OF THE ROAD SHOW!  This will feature as it's centrepiece Beware of the Blob - a very silly story about my love of B-Movies and featuring a lot of balloons.  There will be singing, dancing and a bar.  A great way to end my residency and good fun for all.  I would live stream it, but who'd be listening?  It's New Year's Eve!

Also I did a bit of audio work, trying a radio show, which didn't really work as no one listened.  Except for one person who did and was really hurt that I didn't tell anyone when I stopped doing them.  Sorry.  I've also added a few recordings to the Before Shakespeare project, wrote a short monologue about political opportunism and backed up a lot of data.  On top of acting in three plays for other people (She Stoops to Conquer, The Importance of Being Earnest and Waiting for Godot) and directing a Pantomime.

*I wrote at the time, in earlier blogs, that the structure was working - but I was so wrong.  Sometimes you can delude yourself into thinking things that so not true.

"Get a handle on the dialogue...

... it's a one man show, it's a monologue..." as a wise woman once said.

I do a lot of monologing, as anyone who's ever attempted to have a conversation with me will tell you.  It's a frustrating process, because you're largely dependent on yourself.  You may have a team around you, people to help with lines, directors, crew etc. but basically you need a brain to hold all those words and actions together.  And so you sit and you fuss and rehearse and go over lines and tweak, and rewrite the lines, because you suddenly hate them, and that bit never flowed, why didn't you change that weeks ago, shit there's only two weeks to go, you should be running it by now, agggghhhhh! 

Because, unlike a play, it seems to take ten times more work to get the damn text to flow right.  You're faffing with tenses and clauses and stuff that my education has wholly failed to prepare me for.  And the closer the deadline gets the more you suddenly want to change, but then there isn't time to learn those changes.

Of course, it's different if it's someone else who's performing the text, or if you're performing another persons play, but when you're doing all the creating it drives you a bit loopy.  And I know, I just have to lock myself away for a few weeks and it'll be fine.  And it all will be fine.  All will be well, all manner of things will be well.  Or something similar.

Basically, what I'm writing here, isn't an attempt to tell you want it's like rehearsing The Shakespeare Delusion or other of my monologues.  It's an attempt not to rehearse yet, because I'm writing a blog post.  Don't make me do it AGAIN!  

Oh, all right, if you insist.

Or I could prepare my Radio show for tomorrow.  Yes, I need to do that now.

No I don't, that's for after rehearsal tonight.  

And so this displacement activity ends.

I believe you're supposed to write lol or something similar at this point.

The Milk Bottle Spring Newsletter 2013

The first official newsletter for a while, though we've not been unbusy.  Though we have few positive dates for your diaries at present, there are lots of projects in the offing, which you can view, assist, even - dare we suggest - purchase, from the comfort of your homes.

The Summoning of Everyman
For the first time since 2004 (not including rehearsed readings) Milk Bottle produced a revival of a classic play.  The tryouts for the show were performed just prior to Good Friday (appropriate for a morality drama) and had some excellent feedback.  We're now looking for small non-theatre venues, religious or secular, for additional performances of this beautiful play, later in the year.  We're open to invites - suggestions for locations on a postcard to us here - the space needs to comfortably hold about thirty in two rows of seating, in an end on configuration.

The Milk Bottle Irregulars
Continuing to break the trend of the last decade, Milk Bottle is looking to produce more classic plays with our Irregulars.  The Milk Bottle Irregulars is a new venture, an experiment to create a pop-up theatre company that uses technology to make the creation of theatre easier; to use technology to reduce the time it takes to create a new show; to use technology to share Shakespeare (and other dramatists, but mostly Shakespeare) with as many people as possible, and not just one play every-so-often but many and frequently.  But the aim is the technology will be as hidden as possible.  We’ll use technology to give us an edge - to cheat, in other words.

We’re testing this out at the end of April with scenes from The Tempest on Monday 22^nd April at 8.30pm at the Quay Theatre.  The show should last about an hour and entrance is completely free, just email contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk for your name to be put on the guest list – or call 07704 704 469 and leave your name and number of tickets requested on the answer phone.

Publication of AMLETH

It's been a while since the first read through and general testing of the material, but Amleth is (at last) available to purchase in book form - just click here to order your copy.  It's not a short play - as it is in two parts - and runs at over five hours of drama, not to be missed.  An ebook version will follow shortly.

AMLETH - Parts 1 & 2

By Robert Crighton

"I’m not mad, I’m the only sane one here."

Hamlet, as you've never seen him before.  Before there was Hamlet, there was Amleth - a lying, cheating, mass murdering Dane - who doesn't die as he avenges the death of his father, but who lives on to conquer Briton, commit bigamy and fight great battles.  Funny and cruel, dark and light, award-winning playwright Robert Crighton captures an earlier version of this iconic character in the epic two part play, Amleth.

Viva Espana

No news at present on the upcoming Spanish production of Teaching Gods, which has been delayed due to illness.  A scratch performance of The Alternative Seagull and Sleep Inc. last year went well, so we're all hoping for new production dates soon.

Sleep Inc.

And for those in London, Sleep Inc. will make its in town premiere this July as part of this years Face to Face festival at the LOST Theatre, performed by Robert.  Performance date to follow.

Audiobooks

We've been dragging our feet a bit over audiobook versions of our back catalogue of monologues.  But have no fear - we're planning to start releasing downloadable versions very soon, starting with our first CD release, Teaching Gods & Bink!  Details will follow soon.

As ever, word of mouth / of electronic meme, is very important to us.  If you don't already, do follow Milk Bottle Productions or Robert Crighton: Storyteller on facebook.  On Twitter we're just @RobertCrighton.  It was RobertCrighton:Storyteller, but Twitter stole the Storyteller from us.  No idea why... they didn't even tell us they were doing it.

Coming Soon - The Natural History of Trolls as an Audiobook

listen to ‘The Natural History of Trolls - Trailer’ on Audioboo

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

Behind Ghost Storyteller

Ghosts.  Let's just point out now - I don't believe in ghosts.  It's nonsense.  Sorry.  This is an opinion - based on factual evidence - that upsets people bizarrely.  I don't believe in unsubstantiated stories that smack of bollocks.  I really just can't.
There are lots of reasons why ghosts don't exist - they're mostly to do with how we're really credulous animals.  We'll believe anything and once we start believing in something we then start seeing it too.  We love creating patterns out of the world, even when they aren't there.  So, there are no ghosts, we're just seeing stuff because we've convinced ourselves that there's something spooky about the room we're in.
To put it another way - I believe in people getting spooked, not in actual spooks.
For those interested in a more detailed look at why the supernatural doesn't exist have a read of Paranormality by Professor Richard Wiseman.  This isn't necessarily the best book on the subject, but it is freely available (I saw a copy in WHSmiths the other day) so it is the easiest by far and a fairly easy read.
I've written before about how people have been a little angry at the absence of 'real' ghosts in the show, about my heckler.  But most people come out very happy - because they really come for the storytelling element - which I hope I don't disappoint on.  It's a bit like a wedding: are you there for the bride or the groom?  Are you there for the ghosts or the storytelling?  Most people, in a quick survey of the audiences this year - the fabulous Swindon audience and the ever dependable people of Sudbury - have come for the storytelling.  Ghosts do not figure largely in their lives, probably because they don't exist.
My work has a thread of darkness running through the centre of it.  Squeeze my plays and stories and there is a puckish instinct for naughtiness that seeps out.  Even when I'm writing an, essentially, harmless story for the Ghost Storyteller show, I can't help but stick the knife in, just a little bit.  However, I am always careful to draw it out again and reassure the audience that I didn't really mean it, just in time.  This comes as a real problem when people ask me, as they did in Swindon, is this show suitable for children?  At which I ask, how old?  Then get myself tangled in knots.
Children get taken to storytellers because parents think that's what they are for.  Unless you put a big 18 certificate on the poster it is impossible to stop them, and often unsuccessful even if you do.  At both tryouts for Ghost Storyteller there were children, aged around 11 years, some possibly younger.  Now, the piece (luckily) does not feature any swearing at all.  How this happened, fuck knows.  The piece is dense enough textually to make people work, but simple enough to stop people getting lost, so - whilst the young ones might get bored (and actually I'm never noticed a great deal of the poor attention span people speak so often of.  Nothing like being surrounded by attentive adults to make the little buggers pay attention.) the real fear is the content.  There are, carefully de-sexed sex scenes (featuring a few euphemisms and coy, coy mistresses) and also references to eating disorders and self harming.
Yoiks, I hear you cry.  But so far, not a complaint.  Possibly this is because they think these references whooshed over the heads of their little darlings like a deadline passing the late Douglas Adams, or because I made (for my sins, I'll go to Hell, if I believed for a second it existed) eating disorders into the centre joke in a ten minute section.  Just because something is serious, doesn't mean it shouldn't be lampooned.
The problem (and it isn't a problem, so far) is that I don't like to self censor.  I follow the logic of the story and the story sent me in that direction.  And it works - it gets a laugh every time.  So, am I sick, or is it the heartless bastards in the audience?
Speaking of audiences - both tryouts were very responsive.  Swindon laughed judiciously - I never felt that they needed calming down, just a good number of regulation titters.  The Sudbury audience were a little too enthusiastic in places, especially when I was trying to turn the mood to serious for a moment.  I did feel the sense of turning a corner just that little too fast, really holding that steering wheel hard and hoping for the best.  Seemed to work.
This is all a roundabout way of saying - buy tickets for Ghost Storyteller - it's rather good, if I say so myself.
And do bring children, so long as you don't mind my playing with their tiny little minds.
(Actually don't, really can't be bothered with children.  Young adults, that's okay, but they really need to have developed genuine people personalities and mastered toilet training.)
TICKETS ON SALE BELOW!

He looks a handsome devil...

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

Ghost Storyteller

Comic Ghost Stories Written and Performed by Robert Crighton

Returning this Autumn / Winter following the success of the run last year!  Ghost Storyteller is a lightly comic selection of ghost stories written and performed by award-winning writer and performer Robert Crighton. 

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”: including the tale of a poltergeist hamster and the pub that cried ghost.

Running Tuesday to Sunday from 27^th November 2012 to 6^th January 2013

Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm – Doors Open at 7.15pm

Sundays at 6pm – Doors Open at 5.45pm

No performances on Mondays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Years Day

Tickets: £12 / £10 concessions

Barons Court Theatre, “The Curtain’s Up”, 28A Comeragh Road W14 9HR

Nearest Tube:  Barons Court (Piccadilly/District Lines)

Box Office:  0844 8700 887

Or book online:  www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/26431

(Telephone box office hours 9.00am – 7.00pm Mondays –Fridays (excluding Bank Holidays) and 9.00am – 5.00pm on Saturdays.)

New Year, New Storyteller

So, it's been over a week since Storyteller 2011 ended.  I normally finish a run very tired and irritable, unable to quite get into any structured activity, stumbling from one futile task to another.  I tend to focus on tidying, doing the accounts, things that require no use of my higher functions.  I can't say I have got a lot done since the run finished as I have had something of a day job this week, but I have tidied, I have gone to meetings and I have planned what I'd like to do for the rest of 2012.  Some of this is sorted - green lit and agreed - some of this is purely speculative.  But, broadly, I know what I'm doing for the next 12 months with Storyteller 2012.
This isn't far off how I spent this week last January - planning the year, making lists - but unlike last year I am infinitely less tired, depressed and generally low.  Last Christmas was terrible for me, this Christmas has left me with options.  I know I'm going to tour the GhoStoryteller show - or try to (have to get the bookings) - and I will be doing another six weeks at Barons Court at the end of the year.  I know what I plan to schedule into those six weeks - but plans from this distance have a tendency to change. 
I've just been watching the vlogs I made charting the progress of 2011.  I can see where various plans came to nothing - there were going to be a whole selection of stories for Storyteller that just went out the window - and where many little projects were left alone after a few months.
One of the stories I was going to stage for 2011 was the new version of The Examiner of Small Ailments - currently retitled as The Examiner of Beauty.  This is definitely something I'll be working on 2012 for Barons Court.  I have really exciting ideas about how I want it both to look and, more importantly, sound.  It's going to be crazy - I think.  That's the Trolls type show for 2012 - the show with more production values, less just someone telling a story, more theatre.
I have ideas for two more stories to have ready for Barons Court - the oft mentioned Attack of the Christmas Squirrels (abandoned because I couldn't think of a complete plot) which is shaping up nicely in my mind as a complete piece, and a spoof lecture on the life of William Shakespeare, which I've got some great material on.  The difficulty with Shakespeare is making up something that is stupider than some people actually believe in.  And I'm also planning to do some readings of The Pickwick Papers - edited and a complete version - like I did with the Sherlock Holmes readings of 2010/11.
So, including GhoStoryteller, that's five different shows to have ready for autumn.  Nothing much.  One thing I do intend to do this year is share more of the process of creation.  I didn't share much of the last years material because a lot of it worked because you didn't know where it was going.  The Examiner of Beauty is based on already published material, so there's little to hide.  I will share.
All this and more burbling can be found on this week's vlog - the first proper vlog I've done for a while.



And there's also my compilation blog of 2011 - all the silly bits edited together. 

Till next time... Robx

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.

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.

After the Vault was Opened...

To say that the last three days have been incredible would be a massive understatement.  I have been blessed with a great cast and we pulled together (though I am biased) a great show.
That isn't to say this week has been easy.  Monday practically killed me before we'd even done the technical - it's a long story involving a broken handle on my suitcase and the heel of my shoe.  Needless to say, anyone looking closely during the show would have seen my right shoe was a little bit held together with gaffer tape.
The first day was the biggest day for me - because I had no idea whether the show was going to work.  For those who haven't been following the blog, the show is made of four main sections, two I do myself and two which are chopped up into five chunks each (plus an epilogue).  These chunks are played by the rest of the cast (numbered 1 to 11) six of which were different people each day.  The remaining five (the core company) stay for the week.  Everyone rehearsed on the day from 1pm till show up without any additional rehearsal - they just turned up knowing their lines and we went from there.
But on Monday the rehearsal task was greatest because everyone needed to be rehearsed, everyone was new to the show (even the core company) and we didn't know if the audience would like it.  It was also incredibly hot and so everything seemed very intense.
But as the company arrived and I did the health and safety talk it became clear this show was going to work.  Everyone was asked to bring cushions and nice cups and saucers, creating a nice tea party oasis on the stage.  Sitting around the performance space everyone sat, getting up for their bit, sitting and watching the show with the audience.  This was particularly effective as for the last quarter of the show no one, bar Richard Ward (who was the epilogue of the story) knew how it ended - so the cast was a geniune part of the audience for the end.
The Monday was the scariest of the days, but the Tuesday and Wednesday threw up surprises of their own.  Because each day the cast changed, we got completely different versions of the story.  On Monday Number 4, Simon Nader, brought placards for his section whereas on Wednesday Gillian Horgan and the company created the insides of an asylum through the medium of silly noises. 
The audience feedback was entirely positive (our mailing list has swelled some what) and people went home happy.  And I went home generally exhausted but with a lot more friends.
There is some footage of the rehearsals and blogs from the week, so I'll edit that up for people over the next few days.
Till next time,
Robx

Last Post Before the Vault Opens

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

STORYTELLER:

The Natural History of Trolls

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.  Yup.  That is a definite.  Travelling down to London first thing - lots of stuff to transport - then tech... then the cast arrive... then we rehearse all afternoon... then we do a show.  And that's the interesting bit.  That's the bit where I get to meet some of you.  Tickets are still available for each night and each night will be a very different beast, different casts, different audience.
So what can you expect from The Natural History of Trolls?  It is a series of stories following several overlapping characters.  You'll meet a Princess, William, Bertie, Robert, Vicki, Bernard and the Angry Young Man.  You'll be transported from Royal Palaces to dark tunnels, from the English countryside to the war torn fields of France.  You'll also be in a small studio theatre listening to twelve different voices guiding you through these events.  Perhaps with a drink in your hand?  Perhaps savouring the taste of a rather nice dry white wine you've just sipped?  Perhaps you'll suddenly remember something that's been annoying you all day, only for a rather silly joke to distract you from the real world?
I've never been that keen on the real world.  Hence the Trolls and the travelling and the rehearsal and the show.
I look forward to meeting you - when we open the Vault.
Robx
P.S. Tickets, as ever, available now - Go on, you know you want to...

The Imaginary Duck

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

STORYTELLER:

The Natural History of Trolls

Right, first a bit of business - here is the full cast list again, with the various changes made.  These are the wonderful people of the cast.

The cast - check earlier blogs for names...

THREE DAY EVENTERS:

(On for all three performances)

Robert Crighton

Georgina Blackledge

Jessica Moore

Sophie Morris-Sheppard
Pamela Flanagan

Richard Ward

ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS:

MONDAY
Charlotte Hunter

Philippa Tatham

Simon Nader

Emma Burn

Sally Gilfillan

Ailsa Ilott

TUESDAY

Sophie Carmichael

Denys Gaskill

Jessica Tobert

Josie Bloom

Kate Steel

Matthew Harrison-James

WEDNESDAY

Elizabeth Jee

Jamie Addlet  

Gillian Horgan

Elizabeth Quinn

Elizabeth Nicholson

Colin Emerson

They should all be found in the previous six or so blogs with details about their wonderful selves.  

Now, there is one member of the cast we haven't talked about yet.  He is the most important part of any Milk Bottle show living as he does in our hearts.  I speak of the Imaginary Duck of whom I am protector.
Let me tell you of the Imaginary Duck.  He is a calm beast to the eye of the spectator - floating along on the surface of the waters of the drama.  No discernable effort is displayed by the Imaginary Duck.  But underneath the surface of the waters the feet of the Imaginary Duck paddle at a terrific rate, churning up the liquid of tragedy, pushing against the fluid of comedy, forcing the evident body of the duck towards its ultimate aim - the shores of total satisfaction that all audiences crave.
The cast and I live through the spirit of the Imaginary Duck, we work hard to reach our destination - your contentment - but do all that is in our power to ensure that you do not see our little feet work.
All hail the power of the Imaginary Duck.
Quack!

You can tell I really haven't got anything serious to write about today.  Rehearsing stories and monologues is incredibly dull I can tell you, it's the performing part that's fun, so forgive me if I take a little time off to write nonsense.  
The Imaginary Duck is actually a company in joke, after someone mistranslated the title of a Moliere play during a rehearsal.  Le Malade Imaginaire.  Of course we should call it the Imaginary Mallard, but Duck flowed better.
As I wrote this I thought I'd put Imaginary Duck into a search engine and see what came up.  I found this Could-becoming-an-imaginary-duck-change-your-life?  It's a strange universe.
Anyway, that's just one of many pointless things we do at Milk Bottle.
Till tomorrow, when there's something with a little more weight.
Robx

Meet the Cast - The Penultimate Part

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

STORYTELLER:

The Natural History of Trolls

This is the second to last selection of the company, final people next week.  And the week after that you can see them in the flesh, if you buy a ticket.

Jessica Moore

Jessica Moore is an established actress who trained at East 15. She recently performed in Loves Labours Lost as The Princess and Henry V as Mistress Quickly and Alice for the CSF, Top Cat and Alice in 'Dick Whittington meets Top Cat', Polina in 'The Seagull' at Barons Court and  Kim in 'The Waiting Game' at the Unicorn Theatre. Other credits include Emma Darwin in 'When Poets Meet Scientist's' and various Voice over projects including Sony Playstation in various roles and more recently narrator for Revealed on CNN; credits include Sylvio Berlosconi John Malkovitch and Mark Ronson.

Sally Gilfillan

Sally trained at ArtsEd, London. Theatre roles include: Katy in The Revengers, Barons Court Theatre, Maggie in With Feathers, The Pleasance, Islington; Paulina in A Winters Tale, Maria in Twelfth Night, Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, Maria in Love’s Labours Lost all for Rooftop Theatre Company, Veralanium Park, St Albans; Beatrice in Much ado about Nothing (UK tour) Pauline in A Kind of Alaska, The Pleasance and Barons Court, Gila, One for the Road Barons Court; Susan in Tiresias part of an evening of monologues at The Crown Pub, New Oxford Street. Films include Dirty Turkey, The Brotherhood, The Kiss. Commercials: Sainsburys Jamie Oliver Campaign.

 Richard Ward

Richard Ward trained at Drama Studio London and has appeared in several one act festival plays at the Lost One Act Festival and elsewhere.  Other theatre includes "We The People" (Shakespeare's Globe) and "Twelfth Night" (Saviour Theatre).  Film and tv includes "Midsomer Murders", "Blue Peter" and "Tortoise In Love".  Richard specialises in audio books and role play and is absolutely delighted to be making his first appearance with Milk Bottle Productions.  Spotlight  9376-9059-3054.

[Blogger Note:  The show is a surprise to most of the cast.  Most of the company only have two thirds of the story - they don't know how it ends.  Except for myself and Richard - who performs as part of the Epilogue.  I didn't feel it was fair for him to not know what most of his text refered to, so I did send him an early draft.  Early mind.  Even Richard doesn't know it all.]

Jamie Addlet

Theatre credits include Quincey Morris in Dracula, Badger in Toad of Toad Hall, George in Don’t Dress for Dinner and Ernest Foster in Suddenly At Home. Screen credits include Larry in Eye Level, Barry in Best Man (a film that was nominated in the 2010 British Horror awards and then banned from being shown at the ceremony for being too graphic) and an Ident for EDF Energy.