Target reached!
We'll use the additional money raised through the crowd fundraising to increase our ...
The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps
Colchester, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We want to turn my latest book for children - The Mystery of Raddlesham Mumps - into an audio book, a live show and a unique VR experience
Hello - I'm Murray Lachlan Young. I'm a poet, writer and broadcaster.
I'd love to ask for your help in turning my epic poem for young and old 'The Mystery of Raddlesham Mumps' into a stage show, an audio book and a unique VR experience!
The story
Our story opens after a funeral.
As a result of the death of both his parents our hero - the 7 year old Crispin (or Crispin de Quincy de Faversham Clumps-to give him his full name) inherits his ancestral home – Raddlesham Mumps. He finds himself in a huge empty house with only an ancient butler for company. And when that butler, Kenilworth, begins to tell him of the bizarre and hilarious deaths of his deeply eccentric ancestors our story takes flight on darkly comic wings.
All 3 elements - the audio book, the live performance and the VR experience mix dark story telling and poetry with a brilliant score and a touch of panto in a long, long gothic tale which will make you and your family shudder and laugh out loud. The Mystery of Raddlesham Mumps is - in the words of our first audiences at a very draft test performance...
Brilliant….. Gripping….. Captivating….. Breath taking…..
wonderfully absurd……loved the silly and scary bits
Epic…… Wonderful characterisation…..Really funny….
And remember...
Your support will help us turn the poem into a brand new stage show and VR experience which we are planning to tour in Easter and Autumn 2019. It will also help us make an audio book - complete with a fantastic score by Arun Ghosh - which will be ready in December 2018!
The team
This summer the book was launched at the Edinburgh Book Festival (published by Scotland Street Press).
At the same time I was working with a team of brilliant collaborators experimenting as to how we could turn the book into both a stage show and an audio book.
I've been working with theatre director Nina Hajiyianni, composer and musician Arun Ghosh, movement specialist Laura Williamson Biggs and associate director Scott Hurran. You can read a bit more about them all a bit further down!
The rehearsal room was electric, so now we're keen to push on and create the full show, the audio book and the VR experience.
And thats where we need your help
Your support is going to be vital in getting us from the page and into both the recording studio and onto the stage. Here's how we will use the money we raise through this crowd funder
- - to help us pay for the costs of hiring a leading London studio together with engineer costs for the audio book/CD
- - help us pay for pre design work on both the live show and the VR experience
- - to help pay for rehearsals - your support will contribute to the costs of our rehearsal process
- - increasing our stage design budget - we've some big ideas and your support will help us realise more of those ideas live on stage.
We hope to record the audio book between Nov and Dec 2018. Rehearsals for the stage show are planned to begin again in January 2019, with the show touring in Easter and Autumn 2019. Keep an eye on murraylachlanyoung.co.uk or matthewlinley.co.uk for all the latest tour updates
Follow our progress on social media
You can follow Crispin on twitter @crispinmumps
And The Making of Raddlesham Mumps has a facebook page at fb.me/RaddleshamMumps
Whats in it for you
Lots ....we hope! Firstly you'll know you are supporting a great project with a team of brilliant artists. Secondly we've a range of brilliant rewards - hopefully something to tempt everyone! You can 'buy tickets ahead' for the tour, or order an exclusive crowd funder only edition of the audio book. You can even sponsor a whole performance - or have me come and perform in your own home!
Whatever you choose your support will be really making a difference - so THANK YOU!
A bit more about the team
Finally we thought you might want to know a bit more about the brilliant team of people who are helping to bring The Mystery of Raddlesham Mumps out from the page and onto the stage...
Nina Hajiyianni (director) is a director and theatre maker who specialises in creating authentic work for children and young people. She is Artistic Director of Action Transport Theatre (ATT), a National Portfolio Organisation funded by Arts Council England, based in Ellesmere Port. Recent credits include the critically acclaimed; Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf (with Unity Theatre), Happily Ever After and STATIk. Nina has also directed large-scale community plays including Fire From Heaven for the Dorchester Community Play Association. As a freelancer, Nina has worked with Live Theatre, Northern Stage, Welfare State International and many other companies in the North East. Nina served as an Executive Committee member of ASSITEJ, the global association of Theatre for Young Audiences and as Chair of TYA UK for 6 years during which time, the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering and World Festival was hosted in the UK for the first time.
Arun Ghosh (composer) is a British-Asian clarinettist and multi-instrumentalist, composer and music educator. Awarded 'Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year' at the 2014 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, he is a renowned innovator of the modern IndoJazz style.
Well regarded as a theatre composer, he has contributed scores and sound design to over one hundred productions (including works for Manchester Royal Exchange, The Globe, NYT, Library Theatre, Cardboard Citizens, Bolton Octagon, Belgrade Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, Unicorn, Stratford Theatre Royal, Polka, Tamasha and Watford Palace) since his debut in 2002; Storm by Lemn Sissay at contact, Manchester. Arun leads his own band, touring nationally and internationally. In association with British Council, he has run international music residencies in Morocco, Kuwait, UAE, Ukraine, Kenya and China.
Laura Williamson Biggs (movement) is a professional performer with over ten years’ experience of choreographing, devising and performing for contemporary art companies.
Laura has worked with Ben Wishaw, Aneil Karia, Nerina Pallot, Deptford Goth, Wave Machines (winner of 2011 MVA for choreography) Stuart Bentley, Secret Cinema, Future Shorts, Sony, Geffen Record, 59 Productions, The Mostly Everything People, UNIT Dance Company and Murray Lachlan Young amongst others.
Scott Hurran (associate director) trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and RADA. He is currently Artistic Associate at Eastern Angles, and Associate Artist at the Mercury Theatre. Theatre Directing credits include: Macbeth by Shakespeare, Brainstorm by Company Three, Our Town by Thornton Wilder (Farrar Theatre) Hidden by Nicola Werenowska (Uk Tour) Counting Stars by Atiha Sen Gupta (Assembly, Edinburgh Fringe,) Shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, The House of Bernarda Alba (Kings Head Theatre), Three to Four Days (Theatre 503) Immigrant (Theatre Uncut, Young Vic), The Grandfathers (National Theatre Connections, Theatre Chipping Norton and Oxford Playhouse), and The Seventh Continent (Prague Quadrennial)
With huge thanks to Pooch Purtil for his rehearsal photography, Matt Shears and Rich Swainson for helping us put the video together!
This project successfully funded on 5th December 2018