Bubba & Luvvie review

HOT REVIEWS    - (see links below)&

“Beautifully written...” –  (Guardian Series)

“Highly inventive and charming…” –  (EXTRA! EXTRA!.com)

“Idiosyncratically compelling.” –  (LondonTheatre.com)

“You’ll be in for a treat! – (RemoteGoat.com)

“Intriguingly unusual.” –  (LondonTheatre.com)

“Revelation after revelation break upon us like waves!” – (RemoteGoat.com)

“Strachan’s direction… imaginative and engrossing…” –  (EXTRA! EXTRA!.com)

“Witty and highly wrought, loaded with savage put downs and pithy epithets.” –  (EXTRA! EXTRA!.com)

“Well written… directed… acted and well-worth seeing.” –  (LondonTheatre.com)

“These two actors do a staggeringly fine job!” –  (LondonTheatre.com)

“An intensely intriguing etching of romance in the underbelly of society.” –  (Camden New Journal)

Links:

LONDON THEATRE – www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/reviews/bubbaandluvvie2010.htm

EXTRA! EXTRA! – www.extraextra.org/Reviews_London-2010.html

GUARDIAN SERIES – www.guardian-series.co.uk/leisure/reviews/8276032.Bubba___Luvvie/

CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL – www.camdennewjournal.com/reviews/theatre/2010/jul/theatre-review-bubba-and-luvvie-kings-head-theatre

REMOTE GOAT – www.remotegoat.co.uk/review_view.php?uid=5665

MORE GLOWING REVIEWS!!!

GLOWING FEEDBACK!

I’ve honestly never heard such glowing feedback for a play – it’s soooooo wonderful. People seem deeply and powerfully affected by the play, the story, the acting, the projected images, the lighting and sound – it all seems to be adding up to exactly what our team set out to do… give the viewer a very strong and powerful emotional roller-coaster of a ride through their own heart and soul.

Is that rude? Presumptious? Pretentious?

Here’s some more of Zuzana’s & Agnieszka’s photos:

Bubba pays Luvvie back!

Calmer time for our couple!

COLOUR, COLOUR, COLOUR!!!

Ah, the lighting works a treat in places, not so well in others – we’ve completely maxed out the electrics in the theatre, using every available channel on the board and every ounce of wattage the fuses could supply – thus, we had to find compromises somewhere – where does the director draw the line – do we light the faces and let the under-world take care of itself and pull back on some of the extremes… or, do we go the way of cutting back on the basics in favour of highlighting some of the extremes? I chose the latter path – we have some glorious and exotic lighting states but unfortunately also some flat ones, and some lighting problems with faces – given that this play is about the shadow-lands, this path seemed, to me, to have added appeal.

Gerard (Bubba) with back-lighting and projected moonscape.

Added to this mix are our projections… I’ll leave these for another post, however, their presence and the light thrown by our 6000 lumen projector even when dormant, was very much part of the decision making process on where to draw the line with traditional lighting versus a blend of expressionistic ‘inner-world’ states as well as fantasy and a blank slate of nowhere-ness.

BUBBA in a watery HELL or thereabouts!

ZUZANA’s PHOTOS

We’ve had a wonderful first few days – PRESS NIGHT on Thursday – Friends Night Friday – and now tonight, Saturday, we have a Gala Night with celebs… we hope.

The feedback on the play has been absolutely 100% positive – people are hugely impressed with the production, the story and especially the acting. We have a great many comments about the lovely chemistry on stage – Mia Soteriou and Gerard McDermott work so well together.

We also have two highly talented Stills Photographers – check out some of Zuzana’s B&W shots below – more colour ones tomorrow!

Gerard McDermott about to fly!

TECH RUN AMAZING!!!

Long long wonderful action packed art-filled days of blissful image, words, people, actors, technicians and text – I love it though for some it’s gruelling. My Grandfather used to say that anyone could write but only a writer could re-write! My point is that it is in the editing that the final surprising 10-20% of astonishment is found, in that final subtle honing of the look, feel, presentation of the artform. Well, I do hope we’re achieving this.

BUBBA (Gerard McDermott) struggles with his demons… and LUVVIE!

We are projecting images on to a giant 180 degree cinerama screen at certain key moments during the performance – why? Good question! Hopefully for the viewer there is a feeling of connection, a triggering of something just below the surface, or perhaps above their normal range of vision – this is what the screen is meant to be evoking or simulating, those spaces within ourselves, our hearts, our minds, our sub & super conscious, that talk to us, scream at us, silence us, scream at the world, fight us, console us, urge us on – the MIND or MINDER… what is it? Is it the same as the psyche? the sub-conscious? the soul? – are they all aspects of US-ness on another plane? None of us really seems to know for sure – Jung was a master in the field of the way in which we use image and symbol to create meaning within and around us. Hopefully our cinerama screen projections give a sense of this hidden yet ever-present dream-like sub-conscious-super-soul-state that seems to co-exist with us at all times and that seems to both monitor, condone and refuse our piercing the void at all times. Making sense??? Mmmmm….

LUVVIE (Mia Soteriou) in her dreamstate!

So, this is our Tech Run – loads of work, prep, changes, tweaks and never enough time. We have a passionate, dedicated team and I am so grateful for their involvement, effort and creative energy.

Eoin Furbank & David Alcorta plot the lighting!

We finish our tech-run today, our third day – it’s an enormous task. Hopefully all our work, energy and passion will be transformed into a glorious experience for our audience. The God/s willing!

NEARLY THERE…

Lordy, these past few days have been hectic – doing run-throughs with the actors who are frantic; sorting out the various aspects of sound & lights prior to the Get In and Tech runs etc; last minute things to sort out re the program, marketing, PR, press, staff, wardrobe, wigs, parking, fans… and on it goes – all crazy and exciting and below bubbles nervy anticipation – are we ready? Will the audience like it?

Now we have to keep going strongly to the finish line…

The Glorious Life of an Intern!

Super intern Meridel gives us a great insight into her day working with the PR and Marketing team…

There may be very little of the glamour associated with theatre in the long and arduous task of tracking down every arts correspondent at every major newspaper, magazine, radio station and TV Show in London and personally making sure they know about the upcoming press night for ‘Bubba & Luvvie’… but as Becks says, we are making progress!!

I’m learning the art of being cheerfully friendly enough to charm people into taking my calls which, whether or not it comes to anything in the end, makes me feel productive. It’s clear from the excellent reports we’ve heard from rehearsal and tech today that it will most definitely be worth our hard work.

In all, I can’t believe how much work has gone into this, but am excited to see the culmination… less than a week away!!

Hand written by Meridel after collecting and delivering a few thousand leaflets, posters and business cards to the King’s Head!

CINERAMA play…

WOW, hot damn, piece after piece, layer upon layer of our Bubba & Luvvie production is melding, coming into place… and as the structure develops the inner-rhythm and spirit of the play comes out to dance!

Mia Soteriou & Gerard Mc Dermott… at play!

Today we trialled the projections – we’ve hired a top-of-the-line Panasonic projector plus we’re working with one of the UK’s leading creatives in the field – what we did today was very much trial and error but it all happened so fast that it seemed like magic – we stapled bedding sheets to the ceiling and hung them in a large arc at the back of the stage to replicate where we plan the screens will be – then we projected lo-res examples of the video clips we plan on using throughout the show – by doing this we all get a taste of what the production might look like up on stage – then the lighting and sound and set designers can make adjustments and additions, building, building the sturdy structure upon which the play may dance and the spirit of the piece may soar!!! The God/s willing!

Mia Soteriou & Gerard Mc Dermott… dancing!

Screen Builders: Belle & Cristen

- example of low res projection -

It might not look like much above but the transformation gave an explosive jolt to all the creatives present at this meeting because they can see and feel clearly how this will translate on stage.

Angus

Moving Along…

Welcome to Cassie who’s new in the office, helping out with Marketing and PR on Rebecca’s team – great blog below – we’re enjoying the King’s Head space for rehearsals that’s for sure – things are moving along though the actors worry about learning their lines and there are a million small production and design details to sort out, all par for the course, of course – still it can be stressful and exciting in equal measure.

Gerard McDermott, feeling his way into the Captain Joe monologue.

Bit of an arty film shot, couldn’t resist – again, Gerard McDermott just sensing his way through one of the many monologues in Bubba & Luvvie.

Set Designer, Belle Mundhi, talking with actress Mia Soteriou about wardrobe… (Belle is a wiz in that area as well).

See you all tomorrow – once again, welcome to Cassie and also to Razanne and Laura who are also joining the team as we zero in on opening week…