Sunday, 26 August 2012

The Reviews!


We are so lucky that we managed to gain a lot of good press during our Edinburgh run. Here is a rundown or what we got with links to full articles:



Broadway Baby - ★★★★

"It could have very easily become a vehicle of controversy, but to the credit of the company, family and relationship dynamics took centre stage."

"thought-provoking, serious and tender."

http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=16574


ThreeWeeks - ★★★★

"The skilful cast deliver their lines with excellent timing and imbue their characters with believable warmth"

"a great piece of new theatre that’s well worth seeing"

http://www.threeweeks.co.uk/daily/3wks2012_eddaily08.pdf

Scotsgay - ★★★★

"We could do with more plays of this type and calibre."

http://sgfringe.com/2012/08/12/dirty-blood/


TheatreReviewer - ★★★★

"near perfect performance"

"An entirely satisfying piece of theatre that captures the nature of the Fringe"




Edinburgh Theatre Review (do not award stars)


"Dirty Blood is a well-argued statement on the inequalities and institutional prejudices still surrounding us today."

http://www.edinburghtheatrereview.co.uk/Dirty-Blood.html



We have also had lots of lovely audience reviews! If you want to leave a review about the show, please do it so either on tickit.me (http://tickit.me/items/view/dirty-blood) or by leaving an audience review at the bottom of the Broadway Baby page (http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=16574). 

Thank you for being so supportive. 

Team DB out!

Saturday, 18 August 2012

This is the end...


Producer Claire here. I realise that I was meant to update the blog more often but failed in my duties so here, at the end, I am trying to make amens.

What a run!

This is basically a thank you post as it is the end of the run. I am going to go through each bit individually so it gets the attention it deserves and you can understand just how much effort goes into each and every show on the Fringe. I also apologise if I miss anyone out. Don't worry though, cause you are also thanked!

Anthony Nolan Trust

Just a wee bit to thank the ANT (I must admit I do like the sound of that) for not discriminating and trying to make the world a better place in the fight against blood cancers. We hope we can help you make a difference with out small contribution in the grand scheme of things and we would urge you all to get behind this brilliant and wonderful charity.

theSpaceUk

Our outstanding venue operators, from the technicians to the box office staff to the press officers, you have helped tremendously. You are the most supportive venue I have ever worked with, no matter in what aspect and your staff are lovely to boot! Every single step of the way you have been there for us and I sure hope that we will work together again soon! For anyone looking for a venue for the Edinburgh Fringe 2013, look no further (providing the apocalypse hasn't come)!

Julie Walters and Sir Ian McKellen

Your financial help has helped a small group put on a great performance. We are entirely grateful that you do things like this and help the next generation.

The Reviewers

But it is their job I hear you cry! Ah, but as a reviewer myself (I mainly do comedy and musicals so this venture into 'proper' theatre has now given me a another genre to add to my list for next yearmaybe not) I know what it is like traipse the city everyday by yourself, eat lunch by yourself, wait in queues by yourself, be disheartened by awful shows by yourself, be amazed by other shows by yourself. With the perks of seeing so many shows for free, loneliness can warp any sense of judgement and so can the run of shows in a day. Therefore I thank the reviewers for keeping level heads throughout the day, remember that every show should be judged regardless of mood or the slightly too hot atmosphere in the theatre. (I'll put all the reviews up in their entirety.)

Sofia Lundberg

Who is this wondrous lady. Sofia is assistant director/producer/all round amazing egg. While auditions were being held, she was there helping. When the show was in rehearsal, she was there helping. In general, she was there helping. I have never met her (being based in Glasgow/Edinburgh while they were down in London didn't help) but Calum sings her praises so much I wonder whether we should write a hymn devoted to her. Maybe that is next year's production...

Nicholas Czemerys

Oooo, another unknown name. You know all the pictures, posters, flyers and advertisements? He designed them all and designed them all within the shortest time span ever. He is a talent that any company should thank their lucky stars for having. (He is also a wonderful friend with a really good band called Steady State Regime for some mid-blog plugging).

Dij Davies

Your story inspired Calum. He wanted to do something to help. I hope we made you proud.

The Fleming Family

The wonderful people who manned the door, collected ticket stubs, shook the collections boxes. How can we ever thank you enough? You have supported Calum in every single possible way imaginable and then some more! You are his family and I will leave to up to him to give you a massively gushy tribute, mainly because I can seriously not thank you enough. There are no words for what you have done and what you continue to do. Thank you.

The Cast

They are brilliant, wonderful and charming people who have worked so hard on getting every little thing right for every performance. A cast who spent every day on the battlefield of the Royal Mile fighting for the attention of the Fringe going audience and it is thanks to this that we were fortunate to have good numbers over our two week run. In a year where we were fighting against not only the bigger names but also the Olympics, it is a phenomenal feat to get over the average audience sizes (last year it was about 6/7). They are brilliant actors now and can only get better with experience. All of them, I am sure of it, will go far and for that I wish them the very best. First however, thank you for the show.

The wonderful Calum Fleming

How are you so good at everything? This is an honest question. You hold down a job, go to uni, write a play, direct a play, sort out all the finances and still have the time and energy for a social life. You spent your whole time running around, changing things, flyering right down until the last second before the show, being far more organised than I ever thought possible. As with your family, your thanks are harder to type so I hope everyone knows what I mean when I leave it as just this. Thank you for being a brilliant director, a brilliant co-worker and an even better friend.

Finally...

Everyone who came

Thank you for supporting the smaller theatre on the Fringe. You have made our run successful and it is you who have helped us collect a lot of money for the ANT (still love it).  Thanks for helping us spread the word. Just thanks. 

Monday, 16 July 2012

We have such a talented friend!

Just thought you would like to see the finished poster for the show. Our good and talented friend Nicky Czemerys designed all our promotional material and is helping out in whatever way he can. 

What a star!


 


Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Welcome Stevie Raine!

We thought it may be a nice idea to introduce the actors to you one-by-one. So here we start with the newest member of our cast 'Charlie':


WHO - who are you?
I'm Stevie Raine, a 33 year old actor from County Durham.  I started out in life as a Water Sports Instructor on residential holidays taking people windsurfing, sailing, kayaking and canoeing during the day then by night organising talent shows, beach olympic's and various other entertaining and ridiculous stuff for them. After years of all the children telling me I should be on stage or on the tellybox, I finally gave in did a bit of research and got into acting school and here I am today wishing I'd ignored them!

WHAT - what would you be doing if you weren't acting?
If I wasn't acting I'd probably be a professional stripper, starting out as a strong singer and a violinist at school with an uncanny talent for drawing cartoons and sketching I'd have hoped I'd be able to say something else. I've found though being an attention seeker, a show off, and an entertainer and knowing I'd be getting quite a lot of money for taking my clothes off this would definitely be my alternative vocation. Sorry Ma!

WHERE - where would be your perfect place to perform?
It's hard to pick a theatre or  renowned outdoor performance space as there are so many that I'd love to perform on.  While studying in Leeds though, I walked past the West Yorkshire Playhouse everyday for 3 years and always wondered what it would be like to perform there. Also all my family and friends would be able to come and watch as London is too far for them alot of the time

WHY - why do you think this play will be a success?
It's covering a subject which educated me when I read it, and made me say "Behave, as if a silly law like this actually exists these days" and sure enough it does and it's pretty ridiculous. I think this play highlights all of these ridiculous points beautifully, so whether people already know about or not it will either educate them or cement their already strong views.

HOW - how do you think people will react?
They'll either say "Bloody hell, I didn't know that, that's a shit law. I'm going to have myself a read up on that" or say "I knew about this before, agreed it was stupid, and I'm happy someone is shedding light on it artistically".

Saturday, 5 May 2012

That First Post...

We've been organising this show since December 2011 so it is great to finally start this blog!


I'm just planning to give you a breakdown of some of the cool stuff you should expect from us, and a bit of information about the show that we can confirm. Enjoy!


Venue

We are going to be performing in Theatre One at theSpaceUK@North Bridge. It's an awesome 57 seat venue, and we have a prime time slot, 6:30pm to 7:30pm! It's central and looks very professional, black box theatre in the Carlton hotel. Swish.


Cast

We have one part that is currently being cast, but our current lovely cast members are Michelle Fahrenheim, Edward Nash, Matthew Howell, and Harriet Hare. You'll be hearing more from them soon.

Website

We have set up the Last Draft TC website with all the information on the company. We really hope you'll check us out there and follow/like us on your social networks because we are planning to do several other projects after Dirty Blood. www.lastdraft.co.uk

That's all for now- but expect some videos, interviews, and more updates as we get into full swing after the programme launch!

Over and out,
Cal