GET UP so i can kill you again

Hello again, members of The Dead That Never Lived blogosphere.

As you may know (you’re checking old blogs, so I will assume you do know). The Dead That Never Lived has received a small pot of funding. This money is so we can give the show an overhaul, then do a showcase event in September. Success at this showcase would then lead to a national tour in 2010.

We have three days of rehearsal coming up in June, at the end of which we have to have an all new “Tour Model” TDNL, ready to hit the road.


1. CAST

The first problem is whittling down the cast. We have to produce a tight cast unit that can effectively tour. Our original cast of 13 just wouldn’t be able to work on the road.

Because one of the primary goals of our application is the development of poetry in the North East, I think that some of the work developed by non North-East writers will have to be absorbed by the North East cast.

That would leave the cast as:

Viv
Steve
Simon
Robbie
Claire
Me
Mike Edwards
and
The Fisher Man

You can see I’ve also removed our actors from the cast (Anglea/Amanda/Shirley) as I think that we need to concentrate on developing the acting skills of the poets. Angela, Amanda and Shirley all helped us a great deal with our stagecraft, but I think we need to take the skills they taught us and apply them ourselves.

Both Moxy and Tim produced fantastic work and were extremely inspiring writers and performers. It’s gutting to lose them, and I really want to keep their work in the show.

My initial thoughts would be to ask Steve to try out for “The Impossible Deathbed Lament of Scrooge McDuck”

and Claire or Viv for “Dog-Eared Death”. Claire, I don’t know if you’d rather take a more Producer-type role for this production, whatever you feel most comfortable with.

2. MATERIAL

We also need some new material for the show. So far, the show has:

1. "George Aligayah" by Jon Osbourne (performed by James Fisher)
2. "Sermon Intro" by Ross Sutherland (performed by Ross Sutherland)
3. "The Impossible Deathbed Lament Of Scrooge McDuck" by Tim Clare (performed by ?????????)
4. "Snow White finally succumbs" by Moxy (video)
5. "Andy Lippincott" by Jeff price (performed by Viv Wiggins)
6. "Rutger Haur" by Ross Sutherland (performed by Simon Hymes)
7. "Lon Cheney" by Claire Morgan (video)
8. "Grim Reaper" by Mike Edwards (performed by Mike Edwards)
9. "Autopsy" by Ross Sutherland (performed by Robbie Hurst, Viv Wiggins, Steve Urwin & Claire Morgan)
10. "Dog-eared death" by Moxy (performed by ????????)
11. "Death Never Fucking Stops" by Ross Sutherland & Mike Edwards (performed by entire cast)
12. "Sermon close" by Ross Sutherland (performed by Ross Sutherland)

(Simon and Robbie’s "Election" video, I’d like to use as a viral video to promote the show, but not include in the show itself.)

I reckon that the content comes to about 45 minutes. Another 15 minutes should be easy enough to fill. Before we meet in July, I’d like to encourage you guys to submit works here on the blog that you think might be suitable.

Ideally, we’re looking for work that directly engages with the theme:

A SERIES OF EULOGIES FOR DEAD FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.

rather than poems that just deal with Death in the abstract. Scrooge McDuck is the model, really.

However, submit everything. Better to have too much to choose from than not enough.

Similarly, if you hear a poem read at an open mic night that seems on-theme, befriend the poet and ask them for a copy.

One last thing here: consider writing a piece that could include the brass band. It would be great to keep a band in the show, but we need to find a way of incorporating what they do into the core of the performance.

Hopefully, by the time we get to rehearsal, we’ll have those new poems in place.
3. THE IS NO THREE

That’s it! I’m really looking forward to working with you guys again. You can send me a private email at rossgsutherland@yahoo.com, or call me on 07719446025. I don’t have my diary here in front of me, I’ll ask Claire to put up a post with the exact schedule.

Keep checking back here for more info…please submit poems, and please comment on each others poems, and for god sake, don’t die.

Disjecta Membra,
Ross Sutherland