Heading to the South West…

This week the Atom and Luna team head down to the South West - to Helston in Cornwall with Carn to Cove and to Exeter Barnfield Theatre (thanks to the Northcott Theatre)

With the show just opened in Harwich we caught up with the team to think about the week ahead

(Atom and Luna - photo Luke Whitcomb)

Q: So you’ve just had an open dress rehearsal in Ipswich and your first two previews in Harwich - how has it gone!

Murray:
It’s going brilliantly - I absolutely loved it!

Matthew:
We’ve been having a fantastic response.  Our feedback wall in Harwich was full of five star reviews which was lovely.  One of the audience even e mailed the company that night to say

we were absolutely blown away. The set, the costumes, the sounds and the incredible acting all made for a truly memorable evening. I see a lot of theatre, it's my passion, and this has to rate as one of the most compelling things I have seen this year. Please pass my congratulations on to all involved and thank them for reawakening the childhood magic. 

Bek:
We’ve been asking the audience to describe the show in 3 words - and we’ve had some fab responses so far. “Hypnotic, fun, puppet wizardry’ was one of my favourites, ‘funny, magical, so good’ another

Matthew: 
I rather liked ‘for the child in us all’

(The Atom and Luna feedback wall from Harwich, photo Funnelwick Limb)

So now your going to be performing The Chronicles of Atom and Luna in Cornwall and Devon, are you looking forward to coming to the South West?

Murray:
I feel a really close affinity to the South West, in fact I lived here for many years and my mum still does. It’s an area which has inspired much of my writing and there are  echoes of the regions myths and folklore in the story of Atom.and Luna.

As a poet I’ve always enjoyed my tours to the South West, and my verse play (The Incomers) and childrens show (Modern Cautionary Tales.for Children II) both premiered in Exeter.  In fact come to think of it we even once rehearsed one of my plays Running Stag in an empty shopping unit in Exeter (with the support of the now gone Bike Shed Theatre)

Matthew:
I trained at Dartington so the South West has always been a special place for me. More recently I've really enjoyed bringing Nina a story about me and Nina and The Ballad.ot Maria Marten to Exeter Northcott

Q How do you think South West audiences will respond to the show?

The Chronicles of Atom and Luna - photo Luke Whitcomb

Matthew:
Fingers crossed they will love it as much as the Ipswich and Harwich audiences have so far”

Bek:
For me it’s a cracking adventure story with lots of different elements which adults and children will love!  Its a really good story, brilliant told and that feels really important right now!

Murray:
Atom and Luna combines myth and nature in equal measure - and it’s always felt to me that the South West is very connected to both nature and myth!

Q One of the stars of the show is Mr Hare - and Mr Hare has a South West connection?

Bek:
Ah yes and no!

Mr Hare actually started as a drawing for Tales from the Forest - but then at our first R&D we knew we wanted to experiment with a hare puppet.  I’ve previously worked for Exeter based Theatre Alibi and I knew they had worked with a puppet hare in The Crowstarver so we asked if we could borrow it for the R&D in Wrabness.  We were delighted when Alibi said yes!

(The Alibi Hare, photo Theatre Alibi)

They are actually very different puppets - our Mr Hare is somewhat larger for one thing and they are made and operated in different ways.  But we learnt so much about what we wanted from our Hare, by working with the Crowstarver hare so I think of them as half siblings!

Q And is it true the show now actually has 2 hare puppets?

Matthew:
Yes! It’s true - hare does have an understudy!!!!

Bek:
Funnelwick Limb does a lot of work in schools, so we made Hare a twin who can visit schools, and keep hare no 1 company on tour!

Murray:
He does sometimes come out to meet the audience after the show - he's proving to be very popular. He can get through a lot of paw shakes post show!

Q And finally who is The Chronicles of Atom and Luna for?

Murray:
Children and adult children alike!  

Matthew:
We often say anyone aged 6-106 who enjoys magical theatre and a cracking good story well told

Thanks so much for talking to us! Have a great visit to the South West!