I feel this show was a long time in the making.
We originally had an idea many years ago now about an Alice in Wonderland themed piece set within a 360 screen with the audience in the middle and the dance happening around the edges. Thankfully the Arts Council didn’t give us funding! A great idea but a hard one to do on a lot of different fronts. So this led us to think about a traditional face on theatre show with a 180 screen instead.
At some point Rob was working with Heather Dyer and brought home her book The Flying Bedroom. I thought just by seeing the cover and title this would make a great show. Reading it – it felt like a perfect fit to what we wanted to achieve – a magical adventure story. So the process began and here we are today fortunate enough to have the time to develop the show even further.
The new version of The Flying Bedroom is mostly about the development of the digital projection. Last year was a real experiment to see if this concept even worked – building the digital projection in a 3D games engine and integrating 2D illustrations. As it was a games engine it also ran in real-time and therefore each show was a little different in what you would see. As beautiful as last year’s projection was, it was sparse. There was one crab on the beach for example. Rob really wanted to populate the environments more to have more creatures and more movement in the backdrop. He has also had more time to turn more of the illustrations into 3D versions.
After last year’s short tour we wanted to make a few changes to some of the scenes, so my job will involve re-choreographing two scenes and adjusting the text a little if need be. We also have a few musical changes too.
During our rehearsal stage, we will be working with an actor for two days to help us deliver the text, which will be a great experience for us. Then when all the set is up and the projectors are running we will look at all the transitions where the bedroom takes off in the projection and how best to compliment that with the movement on the stage.
Last year we were really blown away by the positive feedback from children and families, we were going to be happy if just a few people liked it, but everyone did, which really means the world when you just want to make the most magical inspiring theatrical experience ever for children and their families.
Tour Schedule
* Workshops available to book through the box office
27/3/18 1pm & 3.30pm (Both performance Audio Described by Anne Hornsby) *
Venue Cymru
01492 872000
28/3/18 1pm & 3.30pm *
Galeri, Caernarfon
http://www.galericaernarfon.com
01286 685222
29/3/18 1pm (Relaxed performance) & 3.30pm *
Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli
01758 704088
3/4/18 1pm & 3.30pm *
Neuadd Dyfi
01654 767251
5/4/18 2pm *
Garth Olwg, Church Village
01443 570075
6/4/18 4.30pm
7/4/18
Sherman, Cardiff 10.30am *, 1.30pm *, 4.30pm
http://www.shermantheatre.co.uk
029 2064 6900
10/4/18 1pm *
The Welfare Ystradgynlais
01639 843 163
11/4/18 2pm
Span Arts at Queens Hall, Narberth
01835 869323
12/3/18 1pm & 3.30pm *
Borough Theatre, Abergavenny
www.boroughtheatreabergavenny.co.uk
01873 850805
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