R&D Project in Manchester - Day 7
Creative Director David Gibb shares his thoughts on day 3, week 2 of our R&D project at Z-arts in Manchester, to explore adapting ‘Luna Loves Library Day’ by Joseph Coelho and Fiona Lumbers into a musical stage show.
Today we found ourselves in the theatre space at Z-arts, as there was work being done to the windows in the music space we’d used the previous two days. I was originally a bit concerned about how the change of space, not mention the loss of the grand piano, would effect our three performers. However, if anything the theatrical setting gave a new energy to the songs and set pieces that we’d been working on the previous two days.
For the first time we were able to run everything all together which was really exciting. The songs were sounding great and as the actors got more confident with the material, the characterisation really began to shine through.
We spent a lot of time working on the ‘fairytale’ section of the show, in which Luna and her Dad read a book called ‘The Troll King and The Mermaid Queen’, which helps Luna come to terms with her parents separation.
This section is very much the emotional heart of the show, so it was important to make sure that it wasn’t overplayed, but equally that we didn’t shy away from the pain and heartache that a separation can cause within a family. The combination of Joseph’s Coelho’s beautiful writing and the song that bookends this section worked perfectly and I confess to feeling slightly overwhelmed watching this moment play out in real life for the first time, rather than just in my head.
Here’s a video for you:
After a very long but very successful day we all headed out for dinner. Rob gave us a lift in his Fiat Punto and sensing an opportunity for some quality blog content I made sure I took a car selfie of us all en-route.
Tomorrow, the focus is going to be on running the material again and again until it starts to feel really slick, getting ready for the two scratch performances on Friday and Saturday.
We’re all feeling pretty exhausted, but I don’t mind saying that when this week is over I’m going to miss hanging out with these wonderfully talented people.
This R&D project is a commission by Z-arts, supported by Big Imaginations.