February in Performance

From Orson Welles rehearsals...

It's been quite a random month - juggling lots of random shows, in a way that I probably won't do again for a while.
At the top of the month I had the return of my Summoning of Everyman show for students of the University of Essex.  It's become a regular little gig, returning to this text is always interesting.  I found, for example, that I'd been saying one line completely incorrectly for about three years.  Oh well, corrected now.  I got to do the show in the theatre on campus, which was both brilliant and a bit weird - the show is designed for non theatre spaces, I bring lights and improvise with what I've got.  I got a chap throwing up light and normal theatre seats - it was lovely, but very different.  As per usual I got the audience/performers to write their good and bad deeds down - some below.

Upgrading the recording studio...

That night I was into the get in for Orson Welles: The Night We Scared America which is a show I directed for Out of Kontrol Productions.  It was a long night/following day, as there was a lot to get done in a very short period of time, but the cast were really sharp and we pulled off a small triumph, much to my delight.  The house was near as damn it sold out and the bar hummed afterwards, always a good sign that a show has gone well!  With a good tail wind the show will be touring and appearing somewhere later in the year and the next...
Then I launched my Patreon page and harangued the universe and his dog to sign up and pledge me something - this is still going on, feel free to pledge if you want here - www.patreon.com/robertcrighton

Rehearsing stuff... honest.

The point of the Patreon page is to help pay for my audio work, which I've been editing like crazy - including this new thing, Wartime Memories, based on newly discovered archive footage of recollections of a veteran of the First World War.  Episode Two will follow next week, and hopefully some other random stuff.
And finally, the first public performance of the year, and the first of my Undead Bard season of shows, at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft.  They were such great people, backstage, FOH and the audience, and I'm looking forward to performing my new stuff there in May!
Right, that's it, that's my little round up - I'm off to talk website...

Patreon Projects - Videos

To help you see the kind of work you're going to get - here's a selection (it will build over the day) of videos telling you all about some of the stuff I want to make for you.
You can help by pledging support on: www.patreon.com/robertcrighton
There's the introduction video, a troubleshooting guide and guides to each new thing planned at this time - or will be, by the end of the weekend!

Why Patreon?

So, people ask me, why Patreon?  You make theatre, they say, why ask for funding for audio projects?
Well, there are a number of factors.
Firstly, I already do a lot of online audio content in association with my theatre work, I just don't get directly paid for it (or next to nothing - I think I took 3p last year, and 2p of that went out as royalties).
Secondly, I already have an informal Patreon arrangement with some of my audience who kindly pay me to make work (and it has made such a difference - last years Metal Harvest would not have happened without that support), so it makes sense to get a bit more organised.
Thirdly, whilst I love making theatre, the physical strain - or more importantly, the stress - of producing the work I do isn't sustainable anymore.  I have to reduce the number of different live shows I do each year, but I know I won't stop producing a similar amount of - for want of a better word - content.  I still create, I still write and at present haven't the resources to get that material out there, except as audio or text.  It makes sense to try and make the audio realm my new base, take the opportunities that the internet offers - and avoid hospitalising myself.
That said, I still produce live shows - part of the deal for my Patreons are offers on tickets, associated merchandise, and home shows - I just won't produce as many different shows.  This year, for example, I am currently writing two new forty-fifty minute pieces for live performance, with the expectation that I will write maybe an additional full length piece.  Normally I produce half a dozen or so.  And I still will - but they'll be online instead.  And they'll be fantastic (he said, hopefully).

So, on Friday (or whenever onwards) come to my Twitter feed or here and have a look at my Patreon page, and contribute if you can.  Or just share.  Sharing is good.

I'll leave you with this radio play I produced in 2014, Historic Crimes - a play about what might happen if you discovered that Shakespeare was a criminal.  I have shared this before, but I was forced to compress the audio to an unacceptable level - this is the listenable version!

The Writing Before the Big Thing

There's a Big Thing coming.  A big thing that involves lots of small things, working in concert.  When the Big Thing comes then there will be no time for other things.  So I've got a few weeks left to finish the play I've been toying with this year - still without a proper title.  It's working title is still Portrait of a Singer which is dull and really doesn't get to the heart of the show.  I posted earlier in the year that I'd organise a read through for it, to force me to finish it in time for a competition.  But I was ill and no read through or finish of writing happened.  So, with time again against me, I'm determined to finish the play.  It's currently 14,534 words long (which is almost the minimum for a play to be no longer a one act and a full length beast) and I'm still transferring notes into the text - I'm in the middle of doing Act One, Scene Four, so there's still another six, seven scenes to do.  By the time I've done that lot, the play should be to length and ready to enter the first draft / read through stage.  So, I'll be advertising for readers very soon.  Probably a little before the Big Thing starts.
The difficulty I'm facing with the first act is the temptation to do really horrible things.  The reason the temptation exists is that, unusually, there are no consequences to actions from the first half in the second.  I could kill half the cast and it wouldn't matter.  So, my usual dictum, 'make things worse' is in danger of becoming an all consuming monster.  How to balance the needs of the moment, the excitement of dramatic action, with the integrity of the play overall.  Let's hope I sort it out before the Big Thing gets in the way.
But more on the Big Thing later.

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 End is Nigh!

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...

STORYTELLER:

The Natural History of Trolls

This is the last selection of the company - bar one very special person, who I'll introduce you to on Thursday. Eagle eyed readers and those with a badge for mathematical excellence will realise that the names and numbers of cast presented in this blog have not remained consistent - there have been a couple of changes due to various dull clashing work commitment things.  The revised cast and day of performance list follows tomorrow - tickets, as ever, available now - Go on, you know you want to...

Charlotte Hunter

Charlotte Hunter graduated from The Oxford School of Drama in 2009.  She performed the roles of Ophelia from Hamlet and Twelfth Night's Olivia to much acclaim at The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival last year and has since played two roles, one of which required the motion capture for an undead child, in the movie 'Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness' which was completed in March this year and is due for release in 2012.  Charlotte will be on our screens come September, appearing in the BBC's hospital drama, Doctors. She is very happy to be reunited on stage with Robert Crighton following her stage debut as Nora from A Dolls House alongside Robert as Krugstad.

Josie Bloom

Josie Bloom is an actress, singer and storyteller. She graduates from ALRA in July 2011 and is delighted to be making her professional debut with Milk Bottle Productions.

She is also due to appear at the Camden Festival in Peter at The Shaw Theatre in August 2011. Previous credits include: Underground (Dream Think Speak) and A Storyteller in Search of an Audience (Vayu Naidu Company).

Sophie Morris-Sheppard

Sophie has recently finished filming a short film.  She has made many appearances as part of the Play to Stage new writing initiative at The Jackson Lane Theatre which is where she originally met Robert Crighton - and subsequently became involved in this Milk Bottle Productions.

Sophie originally attended the Oxford School of Drama. Her first job was as an ASM at Southwold Summer Theatre for Jill Freud.  She went from here to work on several productions at the Kings Head, the Old Fire Station, Oxford, The Wolsey, Ipswich, The Duke of York’s Theatre and The Haymarket Theatre, London. 

She has had a variety of supporting roles on both TV and film and has appeared in many commercials, as well as doing intermittent voiceover work. Stints as a milliner and assisting making theatrical costumes, amongst many other things, have kept her busy in between acting.  

www.sophiemorrissheppard.com