January Round Up

January is a slow month - it's after Christmas (eat/sleep/repeat) and there were various delays due to dying computers and internet issues.  January featured guest performer Professor Kaos - this wasn't planned, it's just how the month came out in the edit.  So you got... two episodes of The Museum of Tat and a random thing that grew out from the corner of the recording session and which I couldn't kill.  Enjoy if you haven't already - it's all comedy, and we could all do with a laugh.
February will be more story based, with some episodes of Short Shorts, The Other Day... and some other stuff my brain will create given time.  You can always help support my work by becoming a patron - go to www.patreon.com/robertcrighton and pledge from as little as a $1 a month.  Or if you don't want to get tied down, why not buy some one off merchandise in my terrifying shop of random.  Have a good one!

Museum of Tat: Plastic Rubber Duck Special


Say Cheese: A Conversation about Cheese



Museum of Tat: Guess Our Tat!

The Obligatory New Year Round Up 2017

It's been an odd year - despite the high work load (as per) I don't feel as though I really got anything done in 2017.  I wrote two plays - one adaptation of The Time Machine which was staged mostly to my satisfaction (the projections had to be abandoned) and another which has been sent into the ether.  If it doesn't get picked up anywhere in the next few months I will produce an audio version and share it with the world.

I've produced a fair old amount of audio this year, though a lot of this has been audio versions of older work - I've just about got on top of archiving what I can of my old plays and stories, though there are still a few which are stuck because I don't quite have the budget to make them happen.
Minor successes for me have been The Other Day stories, which I've enjoyed creating, though I suspect there are not many more in the tank before I run out of genuinely interesting ways to be killed.


I did a little bit of work on the early drama side of things - the production of Duke Moraud being a surprise success.  It was only a short run and not many people saw it, but it was genuinely funny and not horribly self indulgent, which it could have easily been.  Audio material is archived below.



2018 is sort of planned out - though how things will fit together I cannot say.  Simon Nader and myself are producing a comedy show, with hopefully a roster of special guests, which we want to tour and generally have fun with throughout the year.  It's The Tat Roadshow, based loosely on the podcast series, The Museum of Tat.  More on that soon.  I'm also planning on producing a one off follow up to Metal Harvest, about maps in the First World War.  This will be a live show, probably appearing at the end of the year... somewhere.
In terms of new writing and audio, I'm not going to say more.  I will write at least one new play to go out to the usual suspects, and will write lots of short pieces for audio.  I'm producing at least one new thing to go out each week, so there's a steady workload of storytelling going on.  Please support this work - it really does make a difference.  Everything that I've created so far thanks to patreon can be heard below.  This wouldn't have happened without my patrons on and off patreon. Thank you.


Finally, I want to write a 'radio' serial.  I've mentioned this before, and I will do it eventually.  In an ideal world I'd have more time and money and get it produced asap.  The more patrons I get, the more likely this is to happen.  (Hint, hint.)
Happy New Year!

Advent Calendar Day 22

After a torrid production process the Museum of Tat 2017 Christmas Special is finally done. The principle recording was delayed by a week and then the moment it was done I fell ill and had to battle through to get it done just fortnight later than originally planned.

But here it finally is, and there's some good stuff in there from Colin - aka Michael Fouldes.

Special thanks to the extra voice contributors who were randomly grabbed from the bar at the Quay Theatre to sing the worst carol ever.
I should also mention, there will be more new audio from the Museum of Tat next year.  And some of it is beautifully wrong.

Anyway, open today's door - the Museum is open once again!
Merry Christmas to everyone at home.

Advent Calendar Day 9

You open the door and it's a Christmas episode of The Other Day!
Christmas of DOOM
Enjoy.

And here's a round up of the Advent Calendar so far...

Day 1 was the official opening of The Museum of Tat virtual gift shop.

HORRID MUGS?  We've got three designs! (Well, two really - a general mug design, and there are specific left and right handed versions of the second.)

NEVER WANTED A MUSEUM OF TAT DUVET COVER?  We've got your nightmares sorted!

WANT TO SMOTHER SOMEONE IN TAT? We've got a pillow for that!

I'm not joking - this pointless tat is now available online NOW!

Day 2 was a new episode of The Other Day - Phone of Sacrifice, recorded live before a mute studio audience. LISTEN HERE!

Day 3 was a repeat of an old fake Christmas appeal - but I did do a new graphic for it. (My computer was dying, be glad I did something you ungrateful bastards. P.S. I love you all.) LISTEN HERE!

Day 4 was the Museum of Tat Christmas Appeal 2017

Days 5 to 8 were the first four episodes of

Attack of the Christmas Squirrels!

The story of what happens when one man's hatred of early Christmas advertising meets his secret squirrel training project.

All episodes have been released on my patron page - but because it is Christmas you'll be able to listen without pledging anything.  Though while you're there...

Go back to Episode One HERE and Episode Two HERE and Episode Three HERE and Episode Four HERE!

Advent Calendar Day 4

Hello!

Today's door on the Advent Calendar is another very urgent and important Christmas Appeal.

Can you help poor Simon with a disease that is ruining lives this Christmas season? 

Of course you can't, he is doomed.

Merry Christmas!

Advent Calendar Day 2

And inside today's Advent calendar door is...

New audio from The Other Day!  Huzzah.  

Merry Christmas!

This was originally recorded in March as part of the now 'missing' episode of Live from the Get In!  It's primarily missing because the first forty-five minutes were a bit pants - though I have plans to re-edit it into something interesting one day.  This bit was quite good, but by then the audience had lost the will to laugh/live, so you can't really hear them. 

Advent Calendar Day 1

Merry Christmas and welcome to my daily Advent calendar.
Don't say I never give you anything.
There's going to be a new(ish) thing available everyday till Christmas.

Today it's TAT!

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me - a whole heap of shitty things from The Museum of Tat virtual gift shop.

HORRID MUGS?
We've got three designs! (Well, two really - a general mug design, and there are specific left and right handed versions of the second.)

NEVER WANTED A MUSEUM OF TAT DUVET COVER?
We've got your nightmares sorted!

WANT TO SMOTHER SOMEONE IN TAT?
We've got a pillow for that!

I'm not joking - this pointless tat is now available online NOW!

Merry Christmas from the Museum of Tat.

When is a joke not a joke?

When is a joke not a joke?
When it's from a Christmas cracker.
For our Christmas Special of The Museum of Tat we reviewed some Christmas crackers - if you haven't listened yet, skip below and listen before you read the following...

***

The Remains of the Day...

So, the crackers held four jokes in all - and they were not only not very good, some of them weren't really jokes.
Here's the first joke:
What do you get if you cross Father Christmas with a detective?  Santa Clues!

Right... it looks like a joke, it's structured like a joke, and if you don't hang around you might not notice that it isn't.
So, the joke looks like it's a simple bit of wordplay - it should end on a pun...

What do you get if you cross Father Christmas with a detective?  Santa [Insert Pun Here]
Unfortunately, Clues doesn't rhyme with Claus.  I don't think alliteration is enough to provoke a laugh response.  It's a half joke, it's got the right idea, but doesn't actually deliver.

Next joke from the cracker:
What do you call a man who claps at Christmas? Santapplause!

Where to start... well, on the surface this looks like a better joke than the last, because it does contain a functioning pun, justifying the term joke when describing it.
However, dig just a little deeper and you immediately see the joke doesn't function properly.  You see it now?  Of course you do.  The joke is only funny if the man referred to in the joke is Santa, but the set up doesn't really push you in that direction.  Statistically speaking, a man clapping at Christmas is almost certainly not Santa for two reasons.
1. The population of the world is approximately 7.4 billion and the odds that one of those 7.4 billion, who identifies as 'a man', is going to be a specific person (Santa) is so improbable as to be practically impossible.
2.  Santa doesn't exist.
Beyond setting up the approximate timing of the event in question - clapping at Christmas time (somewhere between early December and early January potentially) - the joke doesn't give any clue, even half hidden, that the identified man would be so improbable (nay imaginary) a figure as Father Christmas.  It just refers to him as a man.  So when the punchline turns out to be a pun on Santa Claus, it delivers no punch, no satisfactory payoff.
Additionally, the answer makes no sense.  If you saw Santa Claus clapping, you'd be receiving Santapplause, but you wouldn't call him that.  So, perhaps it should read.

What do you get if Father Christmas is particularly pleased with you? Santapplause.
Not perfect, some additional context, say that you're an Elf in Santa's seasonal Pantomime at the North Pole, might help make the joke function better.
Though, it still isn't really very funny as it's just a basic pun.  There's only so much of a laugh response to be expected from basic joke structures.

Next cracker, next joke:
What do the reindeer sing to Father Christmas on his birthday?  Freeze a jolly good fellow!

This joke is the only one we recognised from a previous Christmas/Life and were happy to move on.  Yes, the manufactor lost points for so unoriginal a joke, at least it functioned, which was something of a relief.  Beyond the improbability of reindeer singing, especially when there are plenty of Elves available, it works well.

We therefore come to the issue of the final joke of the Christmas Cracker set.  Two jokes per cracker, unfortunately the same two joke slips were replicated throughout the set.  Epic fail.

Father Christmas wins a saucepan in a competition.  Now that's what you call pot luck!
The problem with the joke is simple - whilst it does work as a play on words [saucepan - pot luck etc] the connection to Christmas is tenuous in the extreme.  This is an example of a cut and shut joke.  As with cut and shut cars, where the front end of one car is welded to another, this joke has been bodged together by some cracker cowboys.  Who the original joke referred to we may never know, but it almost certainly wasn't Father Christmas.  As my colleague Mr Fouldes said on the show, in the character of Colin, it feels like something from a stand up comic's set performed in a working mans club in the 1970's.  The Mother-in-law won a saucepan in a competition the other day... [pause] Now, that's what I call pot luck.  Which reminds me, I'm next on the snooker table... 
Whilst I'm all for the occasional resurrection of an old joke, this bodged restoration of a not so classic gag has left me flat.
On top of all the other problems with the crackers in question, these jokes really were insult after injury.

The Museum of Tat Christmas Special can be heard below... Enjoy.


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.

Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

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The Museum of Tat Christmas Special

The Museum of Tat Christmas Special has gone online - enjoy!


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.

Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to our mailing list

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Editing the Museum

Myself and Michael Fouldes...

I'm currently buried deep in the edit of The Museum of Tat Christmas Special.  We had lots of fun recording it, producing seventy minutes of content.
Those are always worrying words - "we had lots of fun" - usually the death of comedy.  Never trust any production where the cast had too much fun.
But why am I doing down my next show - well I'm not really.  The point is The Museum of Tat has always been a very wasteful process and a lot of the show comes out in the edit.  Seventy minutes of incredibly self indulgent wittering by Michael Fouldes and myself, will amount to about twenty minutes of comedy.  I'm currently on the second wave of the edit - the first wave I go through the material fairly quickly, cutting out the big chunks of unfunny/slanderous/sick material and maybe trimming the odd bit of breathing/coughing/urming as I go.  After that first wave I've got about thirty minutes of material.  It was easy to do.
Now I've got to get tough.  There are funny sections that will now get cut, because I'm shaping a show and some bits, funny in themselves, which no longer fit the grand scheme.  Then there are the structurally important bits that I can't cut but which might not be very funny in of themselves.  I have ways of inserting material into these sections for cheap laughs, but it's going to take hours to get a one or two minute section to be moderately amusing.
Unlike the Live from the Get In! shows, The Museum of Tat isn't scripted - it's almost entirely improvised and that creates a messiness to the recording that is also a bitch to cut up.  But it's worth it.  I'm really very fond of MoT, and I'm looking forward to creating a touring version next year.  That said, there is also a sense that there is also a limit now to how many more shows we can create.  We're moving from radio to live shows to shake it up and because in a different medium the jokes work differently, but the format has a limit and after two seasons and few one offs, we know the radio version has only a few more shows before we start repeating ourselves.
So 2017 maybe the last year for the Museum.  But there are always more adventures to come.

The complete series one and two of The Museum of Tat can be heard, for free, here.
Episodes of Live from the Get In! (featuring special live episodes of The Museum of Tat) can be heard, for free, here.

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.

Also, as there's a lot being planned at the moment, if you want to keep up to speed, why not join my mailing list.  I know, so last century. 

Subscribe to our mailing list

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Email Address *

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In the Darkness... Waiting

As the darkness creeps ever more over the Northern Hemisphere, I retreat further under the duvet.  It's not a depressed thing, it's a planning thing.  Most of my projects are now done for this year.  They're edited, or soon to be, they just need to be released.  Coming up over the next few weeks are...

Hang - the radio comedy that started it all, the story of an ordinary man who wants to be a zebra. Released to none patrons next week.

The Museum of Tat Christmas Special - because you deserve to know what horrors await you.

And perhaps a few surprises...

But mostly I'm planning.  I'm planning a production of The Time Machine for next April; I'm planning a production of As You Like It for July; I'm planning the next two Live from the Get In!s; I'm planning and writing and typing up notes on dozens of audio projects for next year and beyond; and I'm planning a mini tour of The Tat Roadshow, the live version of our radio show.

And I'm planning something else.  Something a bit different.  Something I will need collaborators for.  

Next year I need comics, storytellers and blessed lunatics for shows - all need, ideally, to be based in Suffolk/Essex, for a paying job or eight.  If you've got a project that you're interested in pursuing, be it comedy, drama, storytelling - then I'm looking to produce it.  

Get in touch by email and we'll talk: contact@milkbottleproductions.co.uk 

In the meantime - here's some draft artwork for the next Live from the Get In! Tickets are on sale for the next show - 4th March - at www.quaysudbury.com

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.

Live from the Get In

Next week, I'm launching the first of (hopefully) a regular series of comedy nights from the Quay Theatre in Sudbury - live streamed on the internet.
LIVE FROM THE GET IN!  THE IMAGINATIVELY TITLED FIRST SHOW
is over an hour of radio comedy and sketches – live from in front of the set of whichever show is getting in the following week at the Quay Theatre with a wonderful cast.  New material, sketches and monologues – it’s an hour of laughter, curated by me and streamed live online.
Tickets are available for the live show at www.quaysudbury.com
And the live stream can be heard on the night here -
www.ustream.tv/channel/robert-crighton-storyteller
Saturday 3^rd September at 7.30pm GMT  

This show 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.

What is the show going to be?  Well, it's a comedy show - so I'm aiming for it to be funny.  The last couple of days a theme has emerged - so the sketches are mostly about what our world is really like.  There's a return of the Museum of Tat, as a live event, the latest news from a very odd committee meeting and the future of health in a privatised world.  I don't want to say more, because then I kill the comedy.  There are also at least three incredibly bad jokes.  Fully awful jokes.

Even though I've had several rehearsals, I keep forgetting to take any photos - so here's the fantastic cast for the show mostly in words...

Abbie Broom -
Abbie is talented local performer, who I have regularly planned world domination with.  So, she's joining us in a sketch about a village hall committee meeting.

Heidi Bernhard-Bubb -
Heidi recently played the prospective father in law of my daughter in The Tempest.  Heidi is playing Professor Fidelis Graeber, our guest speaker for the first live performance of The Museum of Tat.

Gillian Horgan -
Gillian has returned to Milk Bottle after appearing as a duck and other animals in the last comedy show, Hang. She is performing various parts for the show, including the internationally performed monologue Sleep Inc. 
Gillian is from Cork, and trained at Drama Studio London.
Theatre credits include: the one-woman show #nofilter at The Bread & Roses Theatre, The Conservatory at The Bread & Roses Theatre, Storyteller: The Natural History of Trolls at The New Wimbledon Studio, No Dogs at The White Bear, Susanna at Theatro Technis, Tilt at The Cockpit Theatre, Famine at The Old Red Lion Theatre, and Monsieur Venus at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Screen credits include: The Wives Did It, Persona Non Grata, The Inner Life of Veronica, Wounded, Three, Forget-Me-Not, Camden Calling, Verge, and Black Coffee. Radio credits include: Hang.

Sîan Notley -
Sîan has performed in countless shows (not actually countless, I just will never count them) including a number of readings of early English drama I've produced over the years.  So, I've cast her as pie maker extraordinary Tyb.  Her husband in the scene is played by...

Mark Jenner -
An actor who has also appeared in many shows, possibly also countless.  I've directed them a few times as well, together or separately.  Mark is playing John and spends a lot of time playing with candles in a suggestive way - which will work brilliantly on radio.

Michael Fouldes -
Michael isn't in the show because of a prior commitment that he'd forgotten about.  But as he's part of the double act that is The Museum of Tat, I thought you should see a photo the meeting we had about the show before his wife pointed out he was doing something else that night. He's almost apologetic in the photo, before the fact.  He will be performing in the next live show.

What Patreon?

Hang, one of the releases coming soon thanks to Patreon

So, you've read the earlier posts, you know I want your pledges in return for audio... but what audio?
Well, I'm glad you asked that question.

I don't want to post a SCHEDULE.  Partly because I always miss the deadline by a day or two, or rush, or generally demoralise myself looking at one.  Also, it's an open ended thing, so how far ahead should I go?  How much you'll get each month will vary, some months might be a bit quiet, some you'll get something almost every DAY, but what I can promise you will get is randomness.  No two things will be the same.  So, here's a list of the kind of month you MIGHT see.

Firstly, each week you might get some shorts - something along the lines of Hear If be Knews, which spoofs headlines of the day/any day.  These might come almost daily if I'm in the mood.

Then, you might get once a month a random audio essay.  It might be cheeky, rude, and discuss very seriously a very unimportant subject.  See my essay on the word Muff.

If we call the above the bread and butter stuff, now the meat and two veg.  This might come in the shape of a radio play like Historic Crimes, which is a full length cast play.  Or it might be a short radio series, like The Museum of Tat, which is episodically short, but as a series lasts over an hour.
Or, final option, there might be an audiobook/performance of some of my back catalogue of stories, like The Natural History of Trolls (which I'm going to re-record and upgrade at some point!)
Among all this content there will be the odd bit of medieval drama as part of the Before Shakespeare project.

For this first month you're getting my first ever documentary, Wartime Memories, which follows reminiscences, recently discovered, of a veteran of the First World War - see below - and sometime in April I will release a re-edit of the hugely popular comedy, Hang, which we recorded in front of a live studio audience in 2014.

So, please, this weekend, pledge something to my Patreon launch, from only $1 or more... (the interface is American, so it's all dollars, but I'm sure the pledge will come out in pounds... unless you're American... I'll stop now.)

Shall I Be Mother?

I was asked in the bar the other month: "Would Metal Harvest be suitable for my mother?"
I couldn't answer the question.  I said the reason was, I won't know until I do a run on Sunday.  That wasn't untrue, but it was a bit disingenuous.  We had a good run of the show on Sunday afternoon, the first proper run of the first half with something like the final script and music cues, it answered questions about the show I hadn't had a chance to when running it by myself.  It didn't answer the question: "Would Metal Harvest be suitable for my mother?"
There are some clear indicators about suitability of shows for mothers.  Language is one - and at this point in terms of explicit language of the rude four or so letter variety the frequency is low and probably getting lower.  So, borderline.  But I don't like / am formally opposed to putting up warnings on things saying: "BE WARNED: this show contains three uses of the word BELGIUM!" - "This show Contains Mild Peril and three references to incontinent border collies - partly because people tend to sit there with a mental scorecard waiting for the chance to shout HOUSE! but mostly because there is something dangerously reductive in protecting people from things.  If the show is good it will be because the use of a swear word or similarly provocative language/image will have an effect - if the audience is waiting for that effect, having been pre-warned precisely what to expect, then frankly, fuck this for a game of soldiers.  I don't believe in mollycoddling children, so adults really have no excuse.
I think my problem is what we're talking about here isn't about suitability, or whether it's right for someone, etc. - it's that we treat culture as a product.  We buy into it.  We look at the labels, see if we think it fits us and we spend our money accordingly.  The question isn't - is this suitable for someone's mother - the question is, is this marketed for someone's mother.  Because, perhaps the best people to see a show like this are the people who wouldn't think they should.  Because that is far more interesting and far more valuable.  If we only consume entertainment based on what we like then we will never see things that might challenge us.
This raises the question - should we lie to audiences about the content of our shows?  I have form, or sort of.  I didn't set out consciously to lie about a play, but I suspect my subconscious did.  It is a painful process, but can be remarkably effective.  I've never seen a post show bar so humming with discourse after a show as when the audience thought they were coming to a harmless comedy.  The fatal flaw there was that I mislead the cast as well, and that didn't end well.
Not that Metal Harvest works on this principle.  It's a pre-paid ticketed event and so I feel some obligation to the consumer not to break the pact.  But, whether it's suitable for your mother?  Who can say?  Even if you aren't someone's mother and wish to book, ticket information is below.

In other news, I've just finished recording a second series of our audio comedy The Museum of Tat with my good friend Michael Fouldes - there'll be five episodes released daily from 5th to the 9th October from midday.  Here's the very silly, completely unhelpful teaser trailer.

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 29^th October at 7.30pm

Tickets: £9 (Friends £8)

The Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Box Office: 01787 374 745
Book Online: www.quaytheatre.org.uk

Milk Bottle Autumn Newsletter 2014

It's a busy couple of months for Milk Bottle - with several projects happening at once.  Robert is down to his last three projects of Project 10/52, with two being ticked off by October - the new audio comedy series, The Museum of Tat and a new play Historic Crimes which will be live streamed online as part of the first performance.  There's also a revival of a favourite project from earlier in the year The Juliet Inquiry which was hugely successful.  Book now, listen now, get involved.

Milk Bottle Audio Presents...
The Museum of Tat
Devised by Robert Crighton with Michael Fouldes
The Museum of Tat is the repository of all things tat. New tat, old tat, the useless, the cheap and the ugly. The first episode of this six part audio comedy is available to listen now. Just click here!You can even get involved as photo submissions to the museum are welcome. Post them on our twitter feed @MuseumofTat or facebook page The Museum of Tat. Guidelines for submission can be found here.

Milk Bottle Productions Presents...
THE JULIET INQUIRY
By Robert Crighton
Based on the story of Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare 
Specially commissioned to celebrate Shakespeare's 450th Birthday

A complete re-imagining of the play where the story of Romeo and Juliet is told as a modern day public inquiry.  In this version the Montagues and the Capulets were once close families - until their children fell in love. This is the story of how love can tear apart, as well as heal, and how that love can seem when put under the public gaze.

Performing on Friday 3rd October at 7.30pm at the Lavenham Village Hall 

Performing on Saturday 4th October at 7.30pm at the Offton Village Hall

Milk Bottle Audio Presents...

Historic Crimes

World Premiere By Robert Crighton – the Quay’s Artist in Residence

What would you want to see if you could look back in time and watch famous events in history?  And what would you do if they greatly disappointed you?  Or you discovered a hidden crime?  Would you tell the world if you discovered that Shakespeare no less was guilty of the worst of crimes?  Could you ever read his plays again?  Or allow them to be staged?  World premiere of a modern morality tale about Bardolatry, sex and lies – staged as a live radio broadcast and streaming live online at www.ustream.tv/channel/robert-crighton-storyteller

Performing on Monday 13^th October at 7.30pm at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Tickets Pay-What-You-Want - can be reserved via the Quay Theatre Box Office

Telephone: 01787 374745 or online at www.quaytheatre.org.uk

Opening the Doors

Later today I'm going to be doing a bit of recording. The first installment of a new audio series to accompany one of my projects for the year - The Museum of Tat.  We're going to be improvising the text and, though I have some idea where I want to go, it could move in almost any direction.  Most of the material for this project will go on the sister blog - Museum of Tat - but I will talk about how the production side of things happen here.
What is the The Museum of Tat going to be about?  Well, it's about our culture, it's about how we cherish somethings and hate other - by using the word tat, we make a value judgement.  But is what we call tat something really worthless?  Some people love their tat.  They can't get enough of it.
And then there's the question - how do we define tat?  As opposed to, say, kitsch.  Where do the boundaries lie?
And then there's the other question - what is the price of tat?  Because, to give us our tat, resources are spent, workers exploited, people - literally - die to give us it.
And then there's the straightforward fun in wandering round charity shops looking for tat and just wondering - what the hell were they thinking?
So, lots of angles.  We'll see where we go.
More soon...

The Kraken Turns Off the Snooze Alarm

And I'm back in the room.  It's been a while and I can tell you've missed me.  Well, from Wednesday I will be six and a half projects down out of the ten of the year.  That will see the last episode of Lost Tribe of the Trolls release and the writing of recording of the final story of The Trolls Trilogy for release over the next few months.  That leaves three projects.  But what are they going to be?

Well, here the Seldom Plan hits again (see past posts ad nausem) - there be changes afoot.  I'm still going to be presenting the oft mentioned Historic Crimes in October - this will be a live streamed radio drama, tickets for the recording will be available from the Quay Theatre box office.

Otherwise, the last two projects are going to be more internet based and have no specific timetable.  I have already started one.  It is called The Museum of Tat - and it has a blog all of its very own.
http://themuseumoftat.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/welcome-to-museum-of-tat.html
This will be an evolving project, but in the short term it will mostly be made of photography and video pieces - which will be published online.

Then there is another work in progress I'm calling Just Say Yes (no affiliation to a rather dull Snow Patrol song, youth empowerment companies or fascist organisations etc)- which will be created at the Quay Theatre (probably) on the fifteenth of September.  Or not.  It will be a one-to-one piece, but later a video work.  Or not.  More later.

Otherwise, two of my other projects are still alive and well.  The Shakespeare Delusion is performing again in London in October, as will the very popular The Juliet Inquiry, which I might be able to stream live (details to follow.)  So, this is very much the year of my Shakespeare Trilogy - which Historic Crimes will complete - all three pieces performing in close succession.