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| Undead Bard - lots of them! |
The title for the Shakespeare show was long in the debating. It was going to be The Shakespeare Delusion, then Shakespeare Undead, then - oh, there was a long discussion in a coffee shop with Chris,* let's cut to the chase - Undead Bard.
Now, and this is a simple bit of wisdom I pass onto all creators of books/films/theatre/etc., the first thing to do after deciding a title is to GOOGLE IT! Because however good your title is, if someone got there first, you're stuffed. So, I Googled it - and even Binged it (other search engines are available) - and nothing major came up. Most other options have been used - Shakespeare Undead, for example, is the subtitle of a genre mashup series of books I think.
But, now the show is nearly upon us and it behooves me to check how well the title is searching - if someone types the title in, does a relevant tickets available here type page appear. And we're doing alright. We do appear a couple of times on the first page - so anyone looking for the show, but forgetful of the details, will find it.
But they'll also find a lot of beastlords. Which is nice.
The first thing that comes up is a role playing site Ever Quest and a thread featuring an undead Bard. The search engine jumped on the phrase:
"An Undead Bard says 'Give me the Mystical Lute Body you have."
Which I'm now determined to get into the show. I mean, who wouldn't want a Mystical Lute Body? I want a Mystical Lute Body. I want one NOW!
Similar finds on the same thread include: "Kill the An Undead Bard, upon death he spawns Trakanon, kill Trakanon ..." Which sounds like an analogue for a night out clubbing.
So, bring on the hordes of the undead - maybe we'll get some crossover.
* or maybe it wasn't long, maybe I'm making that up - actually I think we hit on our answer in ten minutes... and I think it was Chris, my publicist, who came up with it. It was ages ago, I can't remember these things like I used to.
Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
UNDEAD BARD
By multi award-winning writer and performer Robert Crighton
Shakespeare is dead, but he just won’t stop talking. His words are immortal, but they keep changing. Award-winning writer and performer Robert Crighton explores the current boom in Shakespeare and how everything is now devoted to his holy name. Undead Bard is an unholy smorgasbord of play, comedy, and music, pulling apart Shakespeare, Bardolatry, and the modern world, for your pleasure.
Audience Comments for earlier ‘Undead Bard’ show ‘The Shakespeare Delusion’ (2014): “Fabulous production... Just recovering from high octane performance of @RobertCrighton The Shakespeare Delusion #immense... I SO knew where The Shakespeare Delusion was going - & I was SO wrong!!! Chekhov meets Berkoff as performed by Stephen Fry.”
Performing at Theatre N16
Sunday 2nd October to Thursday 13th October at 7.30pm
Matinee Saturday 8th October at 3pm
Theatre N16, The Bedford, 77 Bedford Hill, SW12 9HD - www.theatren16.co.uk
All this work is supported by Patreon - without the support of my patrons I could not do shows like this. To support more work like this go to
www.patreon.com/robertcrighton
