Tag: theatre

Posted on

Blocked

Ray Shell directs Gilgamesh (Luke Trebilcock) and Enkidu (Toby Wynn-Davies) as they enter the Forest of Cedar in search of the demon Humbaba…

Three weeks isn’t a long rehearsal period by any stretch of the imagination, so we’re being very disciplined about it.

The first week was for blocking – letting the actors know where and when they need to be on our stage. Then once they’ve got the mechanical aspects down, they can bring all their skill to the acting part of their role.

Which is what this week is for, as we run each scene again and again, and look at the show as a whole. This is where the actors find their characters and bring them into the world.

It’s an absolute treat watching the show come together. You can have a read about just how proud I am at in this interview with The New Current.

We’re going to take you on a journey into the secret tales of the world of 4,000 years ago, with sex, death, love, danger, and mystery. Tales of Gods and Men, of the sacred harlot and the beast-man, of the King who raised and almost destroyed a city, and the man that he fell in love with – and lost.

You can buy tickets online or by calling 033 3012 4963.

 

 

Posted on

Mastermind

Helen Oakleigh as Liz Lassiter

I’m immensely happy to be able to announce that I’ll be directing a play at this year’s World Science Fiction Convention in London.

It’s called Mastermind.

The masked villain known only as Mastermind has hidden a bomb somewhere in the city. When it goes off, it will kill hundreds of innocent people.

It’s going to explode within the next hour.

Reporter Liz Lassiter knows how dangerous Mastermind is. What she doesn’t know is if she and her boyfriend J.D. can escape the city in time.

But that might not matter any more either. Because J.D. thinks that he might know the location of the bomb, and how to defuse it.

Because J.D. thinks that he used to be Mastermind.

Rhys Lawton as J.D.

The play is written by Michael Patrick Sullivan, and as soon as I read it I knew it was something that I wanted to direct. Claire Childs will be in charge of the Lighting Design, and my wonderful cast includes Helen Oakleigh as Liz Lassiter, Rhys Lawton as J.D., and introducing as Mastermind…

Well. That would be telling.

If you’re planning to attend Worldcon, I hope you’ll come along and see it.

3:30pm, Friday 15 August.

 

Posted on

A Dickens of a Christmas

I’m pleased to be able to say that my adaptation of A Christmas Carol will be on again this year, this time in a production by the City Lit Rep Company.

This is the third production of A Christmas Carol in four years, so I must’ve done something right. Oh, and you can buy the script from the sidebar to the right, should you be so inclined.

There are four performances – three evening shows on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd December 2011 at 7:30pm, together with a 2:30pm matinee on December 3rd – and tickets cost £8, a pound of which goes towards the student scholarship fund.

Book tickets here.

Posted on

The Just So Stories

That’s Pau Amma, The Crab That Played With The Sea, as drawn for us by Hannah Broadway. If you look closely, you can see that he is taller than the smoke of three volcanoes!

Tickets are now on sale for The Just So Stories at the King’s Head Theatre from December 15 2010 through to January 3 2011.

I’m producing the play, and my brother Rafe is directing – the first production from our new theatre company, Red Table.

£10 for adults, £6 for concessions.

Buy your tickets here. The power of Giant Happy Crab compels you!

Posted on

Red Table

So I’ve set up a theatre company.

This has been rumbling on for a while now. M’brother Rafe and myself have had several successful productions already individually – Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol for me, Dark Tales, Kitty and Damnation, and The Duchess of Padua for him – and we wanted to do some work together.

So together we’ve founded Red Table, a company dedicated to bringing outstanding fringe theatre to London.

I’m also pleased to be able to announce that our first production will be an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Just So Stories at The King’s Head Theatre in Islington this Christmas, from the 15 December through to the 3 January. Rafe is directing the show, while I’m producing.

Rehearsals started on Monday with a – frankly – magnificent cast and tickets will be on sale shortly.

You can find out more about the company, the production, and the cast by visiting the Red Table website.

Posted on

Revivalism

My stage version of A Christmas Carol is being revived this year by Giant Olive at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

It opens on the 7th December 2010 and runs through to the 15th January 2011.

They’re already taking advance bookings, and you can get your tickets here. You might want to book sooner rather than later, as the show sold out on several occasions last time.

The script is also available for your reading pleasure – you can order it via the button on the right of the blog.

More theatre news to come shortly!

(Oh, I’m such a tease…)