Draft first, logistics later
All right, luvvies? It got chilly since last issue, but just not quite enough for the proper big winter coat just yet. Soon though. Bring it on.
Coming right up
Merely Roleplayers
Sherrydown Enquirer
Audiodrama work in progress
The first Interactive Soup
Menswear
Monumental Exit
is the new Studio production from Merely Roleplayers. Just released Act 1 this week, so hop aboard now to join us for the ride!
After 67 years, Bilbo Biltong’s quitting the band. Somewhere out there is a star worthy of stepping into his well worn shoes - but where?
Starring Josh Yard as Bilbo Biltong, Natalie Winter as Sue Sherpa, Alexander Pankhurst as Mike Sherpa, and Matt Boothman (that's me!) as Gregg Nevin.
We're playing Fiasco Classic by Jason Morningstar - an incredibly improv-heavy, dice-light game. Most of the rules are in the setup and character creation, and the rest is a daisy chain of minigames of 'who wins the scene?' The playset we're using is Touring Rock Band 2: When the Music Stopped by Chris Bennett, Jobe Bittman, Logan Bonner, Per Fischer, James Gabrielsen, Stephen Granade, Jérôme Larré, Jason Morningstar, Megan Pedersen, Dan Puckett, John Rogers, Steve Segedy, and Gareth-Michael Skarka. As you can probably guess from the episode synopsis, it's a playset all about rock'n'rollers who are well past their prime.
This game goes some absolutely wild places and I can't wait for everyone outside the table to experience it.
While that's airing, I'm hard at work producing Vigil: All Aboard, our next Main House production, starring more Natalie Winter as Gwynned, Ellen Gould as Jess Butterworth, Chris Buxey as Calistarius Softbinding, and Marta da Silva making her Main House debut as new character Harper. This one also goes some places, in more ways than one.
This is the first time I've taken on the sound design for a Merely Roleplayers production, and I've been softly cursing myself for saying ruinous things like "you hear the muffled sound of a body crashing into a pile of typewriters and plastic chairs".
The Sherrydown Enquirer
is now up to date! After releasing the last couple of issues pretty late, I got issue 5 out on time, to coincide with Vigil: Quarry concluding on Merely Roleplayers.
Each issue includes:
all the info a Keeper of Monster and Mysteries needs to run the mystery from one of our Merely Roleplayers Vigil productions (assuming you already have your copy of Monster of the Week)
details of the alternate history and twisted folklore that power our middle England setting, for use with Monster of the Week, Vaesen or any other supernatural horror roleplaying game - or just to shed more light on what's going on in our story
Avert the Hunt in issue 5: Quarry
Face down the Barghest in issue 4: Bad Dog
Root out the Tourist Trap in issue 3: Tourist Trap
Challenge the Winter King in issue 2: Cold Snap
Outwit the Figment Sharks in issue 1: Playtime
Dead Weight
is my cyberpunk audiodrama about deciding what to do with a space station full of awful capitalists: fling it into deep space or commandeer it and instate fully automated luxury queer space communism?
Since my last newsletter, the draft Dead Weight pilot has gone from script to audio, at least for a very select group. Nat put her producer hat on and kindly gathered some voice actor contacts for a readthrough of the script. With a couple of exceptions, the cast were people I'd never met, which is both nerve-wracking (strangers interrogating this fragile thing I'm still moulding!) and incredibly useful (they have no reason not to tell me if something doesn't read right or isn't clear). It was honestly an incredibly cast with some brilliant takes on the characters, with the result that I took far fewer notes than I probably ought to have done, because I was enjoying their performances so much.
I made plenty of notes after the fact, though, as did Nat, and the experience has been steeping in my brainbox for a week and change now, and the path to the next (way better) draft keeps solidifying.
This'll be a pretty substantial revision, but once it's done, I'll be ready to start pitching this around. Of the projects I've got bubbling, this is the most ambitious, with a large ensemble cast and complex sound design, so I need a producer with resources to make it happen. But the fact I've been working on it this long and haven't lost enthusiasm for it yet - plus the reaction at the readthrough - gives me confidence it'll find supporters.
Anyway, that's looking too far ahead. Do the new draft first. Worry about logistics later.
Interactive Soup
happened on 5 October and awarded a handsome £280 for tech to develop a performance all about watching and being watched, using two-way mirrors.
Also, we made too much soup, so you need to come and help us eat more next time. Let's not be sending anyone home with pockets full of soup again.
Keep an eye on the Interactive Soup website and stay subscribed to the Interactive Soup mailing list for details of the next event. Oh yeah, I should say: there will be a next event! That wasn't necessarily a sure thing going into the first one, but the turnout was good, the format worked, conversations with strangers happened, there was no mass voter fraud (I should know, I counted the votes), and we pooled some money for something deserving. An anonymous donor swelled the pot by £100! And an attendee boosted the winner's winnings with a week's free rehearsal space! It was feelgood and useful all round.
So the next soup will likely be in 2-3 months' time, depending on volunteers' resources. So if you're thinking of pitching, you've got plenty of time to come up with your idea and practice.
Accessorise like a man
These are from a visit to Fashioning Masculinities at the Victoria & Albert Museum this weekend just gone. Left: a black button badge with white text saying "Over Dressed"; right: a pale pink button badge with white text saying "Pink is for boys". I saw so many lovely frock coats, and modern suits with amazing flashy linings. Go for the final room: three gender-defying red carpet outfits inside a huge video installation with mirrored walls, which multiply the video and the frocks but also invite you to look at yourself, having spent an hour or two looking at mannequins and models.
Have a look at yourself, and play on!
Matt x