And Now For Something Completely Different

Oh Wow!

If you've been wondering how come the posts suddenly stopped mid-Edinburgh Fringe, wonder no more.
The fact is we've been up to our ears in negotiations to bring the show to the West End. And we are going to do it!!  This is a huge leap for the play and for all of us and we are just thrilled to the ends of our hair and toes to have got the chance to join the ranks of those who've managed the fabled 'London Transfer'!!!

Big thank-yous to our partners in crime Leof Kingsford-Smith and his family at CW Productions for bringing us in on the deal and to the Arts Theatre in London's West End (sorry, I am likely to keep repeating 'West End' for some time, now. 'West End'... there I go again!) for having enough faith both in his show 'The Madness of King Lear'  and in ours to invite us for a three-week run in this amazingly friendly and mind-bendingly West End (oops) space. Hey, that was a big sentence!

Anyway, all this has kept me from telling you what a fabulous time we had right up to the end of Edinburgh with more really lovely reviews from Richard Stamp at Fringe Guru and Nick Awde at The Stage.  And then we had more fun at Stratford, where it was such a blast to do the play in the garden of Shakespeare's daughters' actual house! Though we got drowned on the way down, the weather got onside and gave us a
sunny, warm evening and a very decent and wonderfully appreciative audience. That set us up for Tuesday's show (we are up to 28 August, now) at The London Theatre, which was a blast. An audience of mainly friends and family and a fabulous opportunity to see just how small a stage we could work on without tripping over each other! Our director, Roz Riley, and lighting designer, Stephen Dean, worked wonders re-blocking and re-lighting everything to work in the new space while the wonderful Harry Denford, who runs the theatre, couldn't have been more accommodating and supportive.

Right! Back to the West End. The double bill is called Double Bill. Clever, no? You spotted the pun on The Bard's name right away, yes?? Oh do keep up in the back, there!!!!  We open on 16 October and run to 3 November. As soon as tix go on sale, I'll pop a link up on here and also to the Double Bill site, when we have it, and all kinds of other fancy stuff like Facebook pages and Twitter hashtags....

The other fancy thing we are working on is a crowd funding effort to raise some of the mega-bucks we need to do this transfer. Because of the really short time we have to make this happen, we can't go out for corporate sponsorship or government grants etc but we do need help to get from our Fringe-dwelling selves to the majesty and superlativeness of the West End (West End West End West End - sorry!). Soooooo stand by for pleas for pledges and do, please ('nother pun) help us if you can.

Never though I'd write this but here we go....

See you in the West End!!!!

Cheers,
Kath

And another!

Wow! Broadway Baby has also given us four stars! In fact, we like their review so much we've pasted the whole thing into the blog (see below)!

In other news, we are having lots of fun and had a great trip to Linlithgow Palace this afternoon after the show to see where Mary Queen of Scots was born.

Looking forward to next week's Australian Showcase and Reception where the High Commission is hosting a celebration of Australian participation in the Fringe. Turns out we are the country with the highest number of Fringe productions after the UK! Does that seem odd to you?

Anyway, here's what Broadway Baby's reviewer, Jon Stapley, thinks of our contribution:

Killer Queens

Broadway Baby Rating:

The prospect of Shakespeare at the Fringe is often met with a due sense of trepidation. It’s difficult to feel enthralled at the prospect of a group of first-year drama students mumbling a Sparknotes version of Hamlet in front of gaffer-taped black tabs. To do something memorable with Shakespeare in an hour arguably takes a special leap of imagination, and talented company Straylight Australia have managed just that with Shakespeare’s Queens, a whistlestop tour of the Bard’s Royals, real and fictional, that pays homage without being precious and entertains without being cheap.The show is a fanciful dramatisation of a post-death experience for William Shakespeare. In some unexplained theatrical limbo, the great playwright meets two bickering Queens from history, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I. Faced with a dispute between the two Queens about which of them was the better ruler, Shakespeare attempts to mediate by taking them through the many, many Queens who have featured in his plays. And so the three discuss and perform as Shakespeare’s Queens, taking on every role themselves, slipping from idle banter to iambic pentameter in the quickest of flashes. Though the show never feels rushed, it moves at quite a pace, since there’s a lot of ground to cover. Straylight Australia push to the upper limits of their allotted runtime, and if you aren’t paying attention the lightning-quick scene changes may leave you behind.
Kath Perry, who also wrote the bits of the show not written by Shakespeare, is enjoyably imperious as Elizabeth I. Patrick Trumper portrays Shakespeare as a simple working man, thrilled and flattered to hear that his plays are still being read and performed today. Trumper is so likeable in fact that you easily forgive the slightly cheap device that allows him to slip into his natural Aussie brogue for most of the performance. He’s also clearly a versatile actor: his classically nasty Richard III comes as a delightful surprise after spending so much time with his friendly, genial Shakespeare. As Mary Queen of Scots, still clearly not over the whole ‘beheading’ issue, Rachel Ferris snags most of the big laughs with some excellent facial expressions and good comic timing.
What comes across most throughout the hour is the wealth of love on display. The performers are distilling Shakespeare because they love it and wish to share it, and it’s something special to behold. Accessible to Bard aficionados and novices alike, this is definitely recommended.

Second 4 Star Review

We are having a very busy time here - dashing about with fliers and posters to publicise the show, seeing as many other shows as we can and remembering to do 'real life' stuff (like pay bills!) in between. Crazy! But then it always is at Edinburgh.

Also rewarding, though! We can report another fabulous four star review.  This time in Hairline
Our favourite quote is: 'The sniping between Elizabeth and Mary is priceless, as they argue over whose reign was better, whose country is better and who exactly is the regicide here?' And we quite like 'Go'.

Do pop in to see the show if you're in Edinburgh. Or catch it in Stratford on 26 August, or London on 28th.

Kath

'Only' four stars this time!

Well, we are in danger of getting used to fab reviews and are going to have difficulty getting our crowns on soon. We have another lovely review out on 'A Younger Theatre'  If reviews translate to ticket sales, as they should (!), it will be standing -room only, soon.

Would love to see you at the show!!

Kath

Five Star Review

Wow, our first review came out today and we are blown away to have been given FIVE stars by Dan Lentell in Fringe Review. He describes the show as 'a sexy, tempestuous romp' and says it is not only 'well written and very funny' but a 'pitch perfect production, showcasing the best writing and acting talent available'.

Here's the link to the full review.  Enjoy!!

And if you see three actors in Shakespearean garb handing out fliers on the Royal Mile tomorrow, please ignore our over-sized heads and celebratory hangovers!!

Hope to see you at the show.

Kath

Fabulous Edinburgh

Well, now we are up and running. Just finished our third performance in Edinburgh and we are having a fabulous time. Today's audience was so totally in tune with the show it was hard to tell who was having the most fun - us or them!

It is a kind of weird time in Edinburgh in these first few days of the Fringe - things are only just starting to warm up but there's a tremendous sense of anticipation and excitement, like when you know there's a big storm coming despite a clear sky.

Bring it on!

Hope to see you at C eca (which stands for Edinburgh College of Art) soon.

Kath

All Systems - Go!!

Well here we are, just a week out from our trip to Edinburgh. We don't open until the 3rd but have some time for tech and dress rehearsals, as well as jet-lag recovery, built into the schedule. Can't wait!
See you there,
Kath