BABYLON - after the week

So we had a brilliant week at The Fauconberg Arms. 

We wrote a lot of songs, came up with a lot of ideas and most importantly got a good handle on what the show COULD and SHOULD be. It's by no means there yet - there's lots of story to suss, structure to sort. We need to be bolder with the politics, make it more visually arresting, drive some of the characters harder and be less subtle with some bits and pieces. We need to see more of the action - become more involved in the revolution.

Sharing on Friday was great, very useful to have such a warm audience and to have something to work towards. 

Lots to do and play with - we can't wait to get on with the next stage.

For now, though, here's how a few things looked and sounded. Everything here is from rehearsals or the sharing, recorded on phones. So forgive the quality, or the odd slipped note or tripped line, but it might give you an idea. 

There's another video here...A video of a song called Hold Stronger

BABYLON - Instructions, Friday 21st June

From the joys of writing music, then realising we've got to do some acting too. 
Using instruments as instruments and wheelbarrows as instruments.
Playing outdoors and playing indoors, entertaining people having their lunch in the pub. 

Our first sharing of BABYLON is tomorrow night. 8pm, The Fauconberg Arms, Coxwold. 

Firstly, we'd love you to come, that goes without saying. But here are some things you might need to know...

1) BABYLON is a show about kings and queens and civil wars. It's about a shared history and abour the stuff which we should keep near and dear and take good care of. It's a big story which has 3 main threads - The Election, which is the beginning / The Farmhouse, which is the middle / After, which is the end - these dont necessarily run in chronological order. It's set in the future.

2) Serena plays Hetty, the new queen. 
     Ed plays Ollie, an adviser to the queen.
     Jim plays Billy, a farmer.
     Conrad plays Tom, Billy's brother.
     There is also the Governing Officer of the country, some officials, newscasters and other bits and pieces which the four cast will share between them. 

3) It contains swearing

4) Please DO keep your cameras or phones on. Please DO take pictures, videos and recordings. Please send them to us afterwards and we'll use them to make a little trailer of the sharing. 

5) This is a sharing, not a finished performance. It's free and, if you want to, you can pay what you think afterwards. There will hopefully be some other artists and musicians here too to entertain you. We would like to talk to you all afterwards and see what you thought - please tell us what you thought. We'd like you to have nice evening with each other so please eat and drink and be merry and perhaps sit on a big table with some new people.

Now you can watch this little video for a cheery Thursday morning...http://telly.com/UONEIQ?campaign=&fb_landing=1#_=_

We'll hopefully see you tomorrow evening, 8pm, at The Fauconberg Arms for the very first glimpses of BABYLON. 

Cheers,

Dom, Serena, Jim, Conrad, Alex & Ed

BABYLON - A Video

Day 2 of BABYLON at The Fauconberg Arms in Coxwold is just as sunny and joyous as day 1. We couldn't ask for more beautiful weather, surroundings or hosts. It's just great. 

Now, on Friday we'd like to make a video and we'd like to ask for your help. 

It would be great to capture whatever that night feels like - however the sharing goes, what the music sounds like and what you all think, and what other artists or musicians come and join in. But our hands will be tied, cos we'll be doing all the stuff. So I'd like to see if we can make a crowd sourced video. 

It would be great if across Friday night you're able to to film, record, photograph, write about anything that you think is interesting or useful or exciting. Then if you can send it all to us we'll chop it in to a trailer - evidence of how it's gone this week. Doesn't need to be fancy, can include your thoughts and reactions. Filmed on your phone is fine. 

If anyone fancies this then great. You can send all the stuff to alexander@theflanagancollective.co.uk once you've got back to somewhere with internet. 

If you'd like to help us crowd source a BABYLON video, then head to The Fauconberg Arms in Coxwold this Friday for 8pm - we'd be very grateful indeed.

Ta very much.
The Flanagan-gang

BABYLON - The Fauconberg Arms

So this morning we all gathered at The Fauconberg arms. Our new show, BABYLON, has official commenced and we're off at full speed. It's a show about Kings, Queen, Civil Wars, people we should care for, those we should have loved harder and held tighter. 

We have had various read throughs and long chats over the weekend. It's play about us, about people and the perhaps the responsibilities we have to be good to each other. Oddly, for me, it's not a play about the beautiful things - that's quite refreshing.

We are:

Me (Alex) - I wrote Beulah and have written BABYLON

Dom - is one of the four artistic directors of Belt Up Theatre, he directed my play The Boy James and he's directing BABYLON

Jim - is composer and sound designer for Tortoise In A Nutshell. He also wrote the music for Beulah with Ed and has toured in the show since the word go.

Ed - runs the brilliant folk & puppetry company, The River People. He wrote the music and performed Beulah with Jim.

Serena - If you've seen Some Small Love Story, then Serena has toured with the show since the original production in 2011. She's also been a key play in no end of Belt Up shows.

Conrad - Conrad is a singer, songwriter and the front man of the circus folk band, Holy Moly & The Cracker's who have graced many a LittleFest and toured If The River Was Whiskey with us.

So today is full of music in the countryside, working in a beautiful country pub in the Yorkshire Moors. We've set ourselves a challenge, we will present a sharing of where we're up to this Friday at 8pm at The Fauconberg Arms, Coxwold. It's free,  you can pay what you think at the end. 

We'd love some friendly faces and plenty of feedback at the end - it's a big show we're making, so we'd love to know what you think.

We're surrounded by instruments, paper and green fields. There's plenty of harmonies flying around, instrument swapping, thumping of drums and plucking of strings. BABYLON is a agogo - we're a-rocking and a-rolling. Pick up your banjos and head to see us on Friday. 

More soon. Keep up with our comings and goings on twitter @FlanCol

Alex