Happy New Year!

Back to the daily slog of coming in to Cambridge although once I'm here it is just a delight! My new office (aka Starbucks and the Central Library) provide me with a very nice working environment.  And the rich array of eccentric people really add something.  


Unfortunately, the new year has bought a nasty surprise with it. Some of our loyal theatres that have booked our shows for over 10 years no longer want our work unless it is new! I had hoped that Andy would get a break from building shows but that is obviously not going to happen. I sometimes worry that I'm doing something wrong in my management. We never get a run of more than 4 shows and yet theatres won't have an older show back even after a gap of three years. When it takes Andy over 3 months to build a show then it doesn't make sense if a theatre will only put it on once. I wonder if it is time for Widdershins to ditch the big sets and lavish puppets and go minimalist.  I want children to experience beautiful theatre not only in perfomance but in production.  We are so proud of our shows and everyone seems to love looking at everything after the show but if theatre programmers only want new then this will have to stop.


If anyone out there lives near Norden Farm, Maidenhead or The Junction, Cambridge then perhaps you wouldn't mind sending their programmers a friendly email telling them that you would like to see 'Rapunzel & The Tower of Doom' at their theatre?

The Elves & The Shoemaker - sell out tour!

The Elves & The Shoemaker is selling out everywhere it goes - it's amazing!  But it sends us a strong message that we need to stick to the popular traditional tales if we want to appeal to family audiences.  We loved 'The King's Got Donkey's Ears!' but it's uknown title meant that audiences tended to be small and this has a knock on effect of putting the theatres off from booking us again.  So it looks like the next show that we build will have to be another well known tale:  Hansel & Gretel?  Sleeping Beauty?  Little Red Riding Hood?  

We're very much enjoying performing this one at the moment and haven't even started to plan the next.... unlike Andy!

Home again... and admin again!

So we're back home and there's plenty of admin needs doing.  I finally summoned up the energy to tackle 4 contracts that have been looking at me for a week.  They are probably the dullest part of my job - no offense to the theatres that issue them.

This weekend I'm taking part in the Cycletta event at Whipsnade.  I've only been out on my bike once so not what you call serious training.  I'll just be pleased to get round in my allotted two hours.  Hope I don't get a puncture as I'm terrible at changing inner tubes.

Fringe Review - 4 stars

Fringe Review

Edinburgh Fringe 2011

 

The King's Got Donkey's Ears 

Genre: Storytelling

****

Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre

Low Down

Inventive puppet theatre created by “Theatre of Widdershins” in this original tale of a king cursed with donkey’s ears. Colourful characters, excellent props and a pertinent moral to the story make this show a winner.

Review

This is an excellent puppet theatre storytelling exercise in which a king is asked to judge a musical battle between Apollo and Pan. For his efforts he is cursed by the loser in the form of having donkey’s ears where his human ears used to be. Unable to face the world he locks himself away and wears a hat at all times, even in the bath. However, when his head starts itching he is forced to enlist the help of Luigi, the royal barber, who sees to his hair-clipping needs every two weeks. Sworn to secrecy and in danger of being beheaded if he tells, Luigi becomes ill and depressed, weighed down by the burden of this increasingly heavy secret.

This piece is full of lovely characters and well crafted puppets, with colourful costumes and well chiselled personalities. Set obviously in ‘olden times’, Luigi the Italian barber could well be working in a high street barber shop in modern times, which works for the language of this production too. Apollo loves himself and says he’s “sexy” and the fairy “will surely fancy him”.

The set changes ingeniously from green forest to stone castle in the blink of an eye. Made of fabric, they turn inside out as easily as a jumper. There is a lovely section when the barber’s secret descends down into the ground and a part of the set unfolds showing the geology of the earth, and as we follow the secret down we also uncover the secrets of the earth - a nice touch. Lovely renaissance recorder music provides a fitting accompaniment to the lively action.

The story is well delivered by Andy Lawrence, who is also the creator of the piece. Often he is in the audience in the front row cajoling and creating an intimacy through his narrative in which laughter is an integral tool.

A nice touch were the program notes too, in which the puppet characters are given biographies as if they were real actors. Thus the character of a flute-playing minstrel is “La Fawndah Wheelie-toes”, so called as she rides a unicycle. Luigi, we read, as well as adding “continental flavour to the show” is also the driver and carpenter for the production. It’s an excellent idea as it allows the parents to continue and keep the story of the show alive after it has finished, and there is also a spot the difference exercise on the rear to further engage the child. Rather than a ‘throw-away toy’ this show has longevity and I’m sure the young audience will be thinking about it well after the show has finished.

Like all good stories it has several levels and can be experience as a damn good yarn on the one hand and a mythic and universal tale of what can happen when something wins over its opposite on the other. This is a very thorough production and strikes a balance between laughter and crafted storytelling, with the tale leading way.

Reviewed by Darran Laine 17th August, 2011

Website :

Theatre of Widdershins

 

Broadway baby review - 4 stars (Ian Billings)

Lend me your (Donkey) ears

In the perfect setting of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, sixty or so children of varying ages and sizes sat enraptured by the accomplished storytelling and puppetry of the Theatre of Widdershins. Not only funny, not only highly inventive, not only a bright and original story - one with which I was unfamiliar - but by far the most imaginative, creative use of staging in Edinburgh. Amazed little faces watched enthralled as each scene brilliantly and cleverly transformed into another. Though complex and detailed, the plot is delivered with clarity and care by a performer who clearly knows how to work his audience - starting slightly tentatively but gaining confidence and momentum as the show proceeded.
   Andy Lawrence, the sole performer of this delightful piece, conducts his audience with consummate skill, slowly and considerately delivering his gentle tale. Each scene of the story allowed him to offer up yet another inventive and intriguing character or device, much to the uncontained delight of the audience. He even finds time to put the puppets aside with some inventive audience participation, indulging in a hilarious piece of brain surgery - thrills and coos as strange objects are drawn out from the patients head.
   In world full of brand names, mass marketing and corporate middle ground children's entertainment, it’s a rare thrill to meet a children's performer who takes as much care and effort and his work as Andy Lawrence. It's a show riddled with surprises, humour and some excellent puppet work. The love and care he takes in the creation of his work is inspiring, and is well-rewarded by the attention given it by the audience. And there's certainly enough here to keep any child diverted. A happy, gentle and loving show well worth a visit by children of all ages!

Wet Wednesday in Edinburgh

Not much happened today.  We did the show and the audience was a bit smaller than it has been, but that's because all the 2 for 1 offers are finished.  Our show was cancelled this afternoon so we just went to play air hockey for a couple of hours.

Still no reviews.  It's the most frustrating about being at Edinburgh.

Settling in....

It's amazing how quickly we settle in to the routine of Edinburgh.  It's only our third show but with it being our 6th year in a row it all soon feels like home.  Bit tired today as I sat up watching the news until 3am.  The riots in London seemed dangerously close to our composer's home in Enfield so I thought I'd better keep an eye out for him.

Today's been a nice sunny day here in Edinburgh.  Lovely audience in again today - so nice to meet so many regulars.  Thanks for supporting the show. Did a photo shoot this morning with a couple of the other puppets at the venue.


Went to see The Beta Males this afternoon.  Sorry lads but I thought your show was very disappointing (because you're bound to read my blog).  I wonder if you need to be under 30 to really enjoy sketch comedies.  Once you've seen a couple of 5 start shows, other ones have trouble matching up to them.  


No celebrities spotted today.