Archive for the 'Theatre' Category
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
Beyond the Front Line at The Lowry.
Slung Low Theatre Co’s Beyond the Front Line is on at the Lowry now. Buy tickets. Now! Sorry…got a bit miltaristic there. I went to see the show’s preview on Monday and the effect still hasn’t worn off. But, in all seriousness, the show definitely leaves it mark on you.
If you’ve somehow managed to avoid me blabbing on about it in recent blog posts, tweets and facebook statuses there’s an in-depth interview with artistic director Alan Lane here as well as an interview with Dave Toole, one of the central performers, here.
Monday was also the first time I saw the chapter I wrote brought to life. As this is my theatrical writing debut, I really couldn’t be happier as the amazingly talented Dom Finch (above) and director Alan have created an amazing sequence that really delivers a powerful, emotional punch.
As the audience you will follow one of four different paths providing different experiences (so there’s a 75% chance you’ll steer clear of my writing altogether 
) so I was very pleased to see the other three paths by the other three brilliant writers - Matthew Scott, Joel Horwood and Chris Thorpe - on Monday as well. Considering we all had the same brief, it’s amazing how different yet equally engrossing each story has turned out.
I’ve learned a great deal contributing to this show, not only from working with Slung Low on something so original but researching the subject matter and trying to do it justice. So if you are able to get to Salford and see a performance, I would strongly recommend you ready yourself with a steady mindset and sensible footwear. It’s a show unlike any I’ve seen before.
It’s also Press Night tonight so I want to wish the entire cast and crew all the very best for another powerful performance!
Monday, September 21st, 2009
Beyond the Front Lines of Dialogue.
Now the vampire fun of ‘They Only Come at Night: Resurrection‘ at the Lowry is all over, we are only a few weeks away from Slung Low’s next extravaganza ‘Beyond the Front Line’.
Not only am I looking forward to seeing the show in all it’s military splendour but I am becoming increasingly excited/petrified as the show will contain my first proper stab at writing for the stage. Luckily for me (and maybe for you) I’m not the only writer on board. The uber-talented Matthew Scott, Joel Horwood and Chris Thorpe are also writing chapters of the production as well as the Slung Low team providing their spectacular blend of sound and vision to the show.
I know that it’s all coming together over in Salford from the teasing tweets of gentleman director Alan and technical wizard Matt but I was very happy when the splendid Sally Proctor (on the right) came over last night to record an audio role with the lovely Heather for the bit I wrote:
But you should be warned my own voice makes a brief appearance as someone who ’sounds a bit like Frasier’. This is, of course, a voice I can put on what with being v vocally talented etc and not at all what I sound like in real life …sigh…
Turns out that all my higgeldy-piggeldy piles of comics, books and other nerdy crap that line every wall in our bedroom make for an ideal, dry recording environment. That’s my excuse anyway 
Am looking forward to this! Join Slung Low’s facebook group here to keep up to date and maybe see some of you there?
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Vampires on a Bloody Sunday
Well, a cloudy Sunday anyway. I’m spending the day polishing the monologues for the Barbican show of They Only Come at Night: Visions for the end of October. But in the meantime, here’s a sneak preview from the Salford show starting next week.
Slung Low are busy assembling the set at the Lowry as I type and I really can’t wait to see the finished show. If you’re planning to go (and I hope you are) please book your tickets fast as several nights are close to selling out.
Hopefully see you there and hope the appearance of my monotone excuse for a voice in the soundtrack doesn’t ruin the experience for you
. . . . .
And just to prove that I do occasionally do something other than fret about writing, blog about it and then fret about blogging, me and the lovely Heather went out for a belated birthday dinner for our friends Rob and Vanessa last night (Rob produced my horror short ‘The Emaciated Man’) at a Mexican restaurant (where I ended up ordering a pizza 
)
As we were the first to arrive, here’s a rather cruel shot of Heather all on her lonely own.
Heh heh heh
Monday, August 10th, 2009
Everyone loves Nosferatu
What’s that? TOCANLive, the new online narrative puzzle by Slung Low goes LIVE today? To promote and expand their THEY ONLY COME AT NIGHT series of vampire themed shows? Well, it’s a good job you told me! I hear you can follow cryptic clues all week that mean you can win free vampire comics or tickets to a live show at the Lowry if you piece it all together. Word is there’s more information here as well!
Yeah, I’d be a terrible salesman
But it seems that vampires sell themselves these days, judging by the influx of vampircal properties hitting TV and cinema (I’d like to quickly point out that Slung Low’s first vampire show happened back in 2007 - long before most of us had even heard of Twilight or True Blood )
Is post-millennial let down steering us audiences into a new acceptance and understanding of horror in which we cathartically exorcise our everyday anxieties into anthropomorphic monsters who dispose of those who break the rules while leaving the indentifiably chaste heroine to fight another day? Frankly, no. The cinema listings suggest the same old machete-wielders still dominate the big screen (literally with Leatherface, Freddy Krueger and Jason all being constantly remade - but that’s another blog post).
So what is it? In my opinion, it’s not the horror genre that’s expanding, it’s the tropes of horror sneaking off into other genres. It sounds pretty stupid but in terms of emotional journey, there’re a lot of similarities between Let the Right One In and Son of Rambow, regardless of what you think of either film.
Vampires as iconic pop-cultural figures are becoming much more archetypal: Despite looking like us, they’re probably much older than us, they live by their own rules or moral code (whether they’re good, bad, seeking redemption or somewhere in between) plus, due to expanded ‘lifetimes’, they are much more likely to have gained enemies or something in their past that haunts them. Humphrey Bogart would’ve been an ace vampire!
Case in point, I imagine that most of you reading this quite liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer - yet in 144 episodes (nerd alert ) I’d say that we could probably agree on the same half-dozen episodes that were actually intended to be properly scary. Why did you enjoy Buffy? Vote on as many options as you like…
Loading ...But I’m not sure that this is anything particularly new. More that vampires themselves are being used more as darker protagonists rather than antagonists or just shadow-dwelling nightmares. Which means they are not being used as much for horror - they’re being used for character.
So what do you think of vampires in storytelling? Are they good for human metaphors? Are they sexy bad boys and girls? They’re just cool because they look like people but can do more? (except sunbathe) How long will it be before the current vampire archetype becomes cliche and has to be re-invented again?
. . . . .
PS - Big thanks to my best bud Tom for the vampire painting above as featured in TOCANLive. Check out Tom’s amazing daily art blog here.
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
New Online Project: TOCANLIVE goes LIVE!
Finally. I can unveil www.tocanlive.com
For months I’ve been hinting and alluding to it. And for months, I’ve been staring at wordpress trying to plot the thing. But it’s finished and ready to go. From next Monday, The hunt goes live online!
www.tocanlive.com is designed as an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) to expand the world of Slung Low Theatre Company’s ‘THEY ONLY COME AT NIGHT’ series of vampiric theatrical extravaganzas. With live shows coming up at the Lowry in September with TOCAN: Resurrection and at the Barbican in November with TOCAN: Visons, www.tocanlive.com allows the opportunity to present the world of the story to an audience who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend (I’m looking at you, international vampire fans!)
From our facebook group:
Updated daily from August 10th-14th, join an anxious scientist’s online journal from the comfort of your own computer as she stumbles into the world of the undead and needs your help to find answers.
Follow a series of cryptic puzzles and interact with the characters to help the scientist find three answers that make up a hidden email address. When emailed, the hidden email offers the chance to win tickets for the live Salford show at The Lowry (Sept 2nd-12th) or copies of the graphic novel that may have incurred the vampires’ wrath to begin with (which can be sent by post to wherever you are)
Monday’s posts give you the chance to read back through our intrepid scientist’s journal since making the strange discovery that persuaded her to start blogging. Each subsequent daily entry will then offer a coffee-break sized puzzle to piece together into the elusive e-mail address.
If you belong to facebook, please please please join the facebook event and then click through to become a fan so you can see what’s happening in your facebook stream. Otherwise, keep checking back here and bookmark www.tocanlive.com to keep up to date.
This has been a lot more challenging than The End is Nigel with a lot of the focus on making it more of a game rather than an online narrative. It’s been really fun to write and a real challenge to plot so I would really appreciate any questions or feedback.
I hope you can join us next week and play along. Fingers crossed this works!
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
POLL: How would you like your online story?
Would really appreciate your help on this. As I mentioned in this blog post, I am writing an online narrative for the Slung Low Theatre Company’s new vampiric theatre spectacular, ‘They Only Come at Night: Resurrection’ at the Lowry in Salford. (click the lovely spooky picture below to watch the kick-ass trailer and find out more)
My brief is to not only provide a good build up to the show in September but also provide a fun story for those who can’t make it or who aren’t even in the same country. Something for everyone!
And, as it is intended for everyone, I wanted you to have your say. My current idea is to run the narrative intensively (and interactively) over one week with two or more brief updates a day (as well as the fictional characters responding and interacting with the audience). This way the audience can drop by when they like and the narrative does not become drawn out. There are also puzzles to solve and the chance to win tickets to the show as well as copies of the fantastic spin-off graphic novel that proves integral to the plot of the play.
But, plagued by my usual neuroses, I’d like your opinion on my plan. So please vote below and leave any comments on my ideas for the format. And thank you in advance!
Loading ...Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
COMING SOON: Vampires + more Sandwich-Boards
Following Monday’s post about Choosing Your Battles, I now somehow seem to have the rest of the year’s work fully lined up. Writing-wise anyway. With my actual scriptreading work seemingly drying up and unfortunately not getting the librarian job I was hoping for, I will be going back to being an office temp for a while. But at least I’ve got these fun things to be thinking about by night.
And speaking of things by night, please check out the promo video for ‘They Ony Come at Night: Resurrection‘ - the vampire themed show by Slung Low playing at the Lowry in Salford from September 2nd - 12th.
They Only Come at Night: Resurrection from Slung Low on Vimeo.
I’m not actually working on the show directly (although it will feature spectacular music and sound design by the lovely Heather) but have been working on an accompanying online narrative intended to bring the world of the story to audiences who aren’t able to attend the Salford show or its London sequel/counterpart ‘They Only Come at Night: Visions’ performing at the Barbican in November. I’ve really enjoyed contributing to these shows but also can’t wait to see them
This week I also found out that a project of mine was selected to be guinea-pigged by those training for the professional diploma in script development at the Scriptfactory. A friend of mine did the diploma a few years ago and is one of the two sharpest minds I’ve met when it comes to drama development so, while my project will act as someone’s ‘practical exam’, I’m really looking forward to collaborating on a project solidly for five months.
I hope you’ll understand if I don’t say too much about the project at this stage, but I will say that it is an apocalyptic comedy and features that familiar trope of mine - the sandwich-board man I know…what’s wrong with me! The sample script I’d already written featuring the two characters above was genuinely the most fun I’d ever had writing. There’s lots of work still to be done but I’m really looking forward to it and really pleased I decided at the last minute not to submit the bleak Brit-thriller idea!
Anyway, I’ll update as and when for either project and I am really looking forward to launching the online stuff. In the meantime, I am now vanishing as me and that lovely Heather have finally managed to arrange a proper summer holiday for the first time in years. See you in a week… Barcelona here we come!!
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Slung Low’s ‘Beyond the Front Line’
I’m planning on writing a Blog-a-day for all of April so wanted to start with the project I will be working on most this month for the excellent Slung Low Theatre Company. (‘theatre innovators’ The Guardian.)
‘Beyond the Front Line’, as you can probably tell by the title is a war-themed experience which will be based at the Lowry Theatre, Salford (quite possibly one of my favourite buildings ever. You can really see them filming some Doctor Who here)
The show is planned for October 2009 and is shaping up to be an unforgettably epic theatrical experience with performance, movement, lights, sound, video projection and pyrotechnics. While writers Matthew David Scott, Joel Horwood, Chris Thorpe and myself are all still writing and re-writing different sections of the project, the Slung Low team have already created this nifty promotional trailer which I think sets the scene for the project:
Following a great deal of research, this project has made me really want to push myself, making sure I don’t just staple together my usual blend of cheap gags, pastiches and nods to geeky culture and call it a script :D But also, Slung Low’s director and the rest of the team have given me a great deal of encouragement and freedom to explore the subject in my own way and think we’ve all found unique perspectives that’ll make this so much more than ‘Eastenders with war jargon’. The fact this is a Slung Low show also means that this production will be something special. While it’s no lie that I do co-habit with Slung Low’s chief composer and sound designer and I pinched one Slung Low’s central performers to star as Verity in ‘The End is Nigel’, it’s also true that I am, simply put, a big fan!
Below is a video overview of the last show I saw of theirs; ‘Helium’ which played a sold-out run at the Barbican Theatre at the end of last year (and yes that is the voice of Patrick Stewart).
I hope you can see why I’m looking forward to working with them so much and look forward to telling you more about this project and others as they develop.
