Here it is…

As promised, here is the Left Lion podcast in all its raw, unedited glory! We are the last fifteen minutes or so. An idea for a drinking game; take a shot every time Daniel or I begin a sentence with ‘Well,’…

Sorry for the short one, I have a dozen things on my plate. I’m at a buffet restaurant (HUMOUR!).

Richie G

http://www.leftlion.co.uk/audio.cfm/id/67

Une Caste de Pod.

Triliteral is returning to the airwaves! Sort of. After our short appearance on BBC Radio Nottingham, we have been interviewed by LeftLion, Nottingham’s première culture magazine, in the form of a ‘podcast’ (I am told that this is some form of electronic recording which people can ‘download’ from the ‘internet’ to their ‘portable music devices’). On Monday night all three of us (this being Daniel, Richard and myself) took to a foamy-walled recording booth to chat about our project, where we covered everything from the submission process to the future of the Festival. 90-year olds from Bristol were also mentioned.

I am ashamed to admit that as this was my first time on air, I took a little Dutch Courage before the recording. Whether this is noticeable or not is yet to be seen- but as soon as the podcast becomes available you can bet your bottom British pound that I’ll be posting a link up on here so that you can listen at your leisure. That’s all for now, or as the kids are all saying: ‘TTYL*’!

*This is an acronym, which stands for the phrase ‘talk to you later’. Such abbreviations are apparently popular with the younger generation. LOL.

Merchandising Frenzy

Our search for venues in which to stage the Triliteral Festival this June is ongoing- we haven’t got anything set in stone just yet, but it’s been decided that it will be held primarily in Hockley, the throbbing heart of Nottingham’s creative scene. With this in mind I have started pondering ways we could cash in and fill up Halden Theatre’s rather empty coffers…surely ravenous festival-goers will be more than happy to part with some dosh in exchange for some tacky souvenirs? So, here are some ideas for possible Triliteral merchandising tie-ins. Disney, eat your heart out.

1. Official Keyrings: a given, really. Nine kinds available, each bearing the title of a Triliteral play. Made in Singapore.
2. ‘I submitted a play to Triliteral and all I got was this lousy T-shirt’ T-shirt. 100% cotton.
3. Richard Pilgrim Pez™ dispenser: Utters the phrase ‘Well Indeed’ whenever it is used.
4. ‘Triliteral: Behind the Scenes’ DVD: watch me stumble around backstage with a camcorder and get shouted at by irritable actors and stagehands. Ah, showbiz!
5. My personal favourite: ‘TriliterAle’. A frothy, home-brewed beverage served at the various temporary bars that will be set up around Hockley during the festival. Malty, with a hint of chocolate. Proven to cure even the worst cases of writers’ block.

Having read these back to myself, they look like nothing more than the ramblings of a madman. This lucrative merchandising circus may just be a pipe dream, but who knows: maybe we’ll be seeing ‘Triliteral: the Video Game’ a few years from now.

Only time will tell.

Richie G

Fringe Benefits.

With submissions pouring into the Triliteral inbox and Baileys pouring down the parched, hedonistic throats of Daniel and myself, we have become increasingly ambitious in our plans for our beloved little fledgling festival. It was Daniel who started it all, with a simple text message: ‘why don’t we take it to the Fringe?’. I have produced at the Fringe in the past, and reading this message made my stomach fold itself and two and my face turn a rather unusual shade of grey. Memories flooded back of endless application forms, fundraisers, and late nights spent drafting and re-drafting a novel’s worth of captions, press releases and plot summaries. And the expense! Oh, the punishing, teeth-gritting cost of it all that very nearly tore apart my university’s theatre group. Could Halden Theatre really afford such an endeavour? Was I going to have to go through it all again? To have to actually work?!?!

Naturally, I began by objecting in a rather half-hearted sort of way. Mainly because I wasn’t convinced it was even possible, and also because the cost of a train ticket to Edinburgh alone would render me destitute. But Mr. Hallam is nothing if not persistent. I have learned that no amount of objections can deter him; once he has an idea, it’s there for the long haul. And after a while, I started to come around to the fact that the Fringe might not be such a folly after all. Provided that we chose an inexpensive venue (given the current state of Halden Theatre’s coffers, we will be performing in somebody’s wine cellar) and make individuals responsible for their own travel and accomodation, it might be do-able. Plus it would certainly help to put both Halden and Triliteral on the map. And gosh, wasn’t it fun last year in spite of everything? Before long, I was brimming with enthusiasm. So it is more or less official; if all goes to plan, one show from Triliteral will be showcasing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010. Only one small problem remains; we don’t have a show to put on yet.

Pah. Details.

Richie G

New Year, New Happenings

While the Christmas period was one of great sloth and overindulgence for Halden Theatre, the arrival of the new year has brought with it an explosion of activity! Well, perhaps not an ‘explosion’…more like a pop or a small burst. At any rate, things are happening!

First of all, we have a new Headquarters! By this I mean that Daniel (our Artistic Director) has moved to a new, bigger, altogether nicer house. I won’t give away the location (Daniel has had problems with stalkers before- you know who you are) but I can reveal that it looms in the shadow of a well-known supermarket, so our meetings from now on will be well-stocked with sweets, crisps, pies, booze and all other things delicious and bad for you. Naturally, we are both thrilled.

Secondly, Triliteral has been on the radio! On Monday 4th January at around 3:40PM, Daniel and Richard (Pilgrim, of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio) took to the airwaves on BBC Radio Nottingham to spread the news of our fantastic festival of fun. Listening to this interview from home, it suddenly hit me how real this all is; the writers’ festival is really going to be happening this year– it was on the radio and everything! There’s no backing out now. Not that there ever was, of course. The contract that I was forced to sign in my own blood made sure of that*.

Also, a slight modification to the rules of Triliteral means that we are now taking scripts from anywhere in the UK, not just Nottinghamshire! So now you have no excuse- get scribbling.

Our website is getting a fair few hits too- not all of them from the UK, I might add. If you are from Mauritius, we would love to hear from you!

Well, this is all. I must be going, as I have Producer-type things to do. Take it easy, and expect a new entry soon!

Richie G

*I would like to clarify that no such transaction has ever taken place, nor does Daniel practice witchcraft (see previous posting). All such references are mere attempts at abstract humour, and Halden Theatre has no affiliation with or interest in the occult/the black arts.

And the bells were ringing out…

Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas from all at Halden Theatre!

Not much to report, quite honestly. We have trekked through the frozen wastes of Nottingham city centre to plaster our posters for Triliteral all over the place, so if you’re in the area keep your eyes peeled. Also I’d like to mention we are now on the lookout for good directors as well as writers to bring Triliteral to life. If you fancy directing a show or three around Easter next year, sling me an e-mail at richie.garton@haldentheatre.co.uk*.

Not to suggest that we aren’t still after scripts, far from it! If you want to send us something, www.triliteral.co.uk is the place to be. Perhaps the Christmas festivities might inspire an idea for a play!

Once again, Merry Christmas, and take care.

*This address is finally working since last night, when Daniel took control of my computer using a form of witchcraft known as ‘Remote Assistance’ and sorted it out.

Messrs. Hallam, Garton and Pilgrim present: The Triliteral Stageplay Festival 2010 Extraordinaire!

These are exciting times for Halden Theatre Company. We have spent the last few weeks preparing for something. Something big, that will shake the East Midlands city of Nottingham to its very foundation. At least, we hope. With the backing of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio, we are beginning to launch something we like to call the Triliteral Stageplay Festival. This is a chance for budding local writers to see their scripts performed live on stage by Halden Theatre, and expose their work to a much larger audience. It is a celebration of all things cultural, and of the union between writing and performance. To find out more, check out our glossy new website:

www.triliteral.co.uk

But for here, I’m going to give a brief account of the last couple of weeks, and the manic process of getting this thing off the ground.

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, seemingly. Who’d have thought that our first stumbling block would be thinking of a name for this festival? We had the concept, the format, the drive- all we needed was a catchy name (by ‘we’ I refer to myself- Richie Garton, the Producer of Halden Theatre, Daniel Hallam, our Artistic Director and Richard Pilgrim, Director of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio and all-round literary star). Late into the night Daniel and I pored over various slang dictionaries, futilely brainstorming in an effort to come up with the perfect title for our baby. Numerous suggestions were thrown around, none of them particularly convincing. We eventually called it a night, later opening up an e-mail dialogue with Richard to see what he thought of our ideas. Of course, he swept in with the perfect name, rendering all our efforts worthless. Triliteral. Like the word Trilateral, referring to the three-pronged nature of the festival*, but…literary. There was never any formal agreement on this title, but it seems to have stuck.

Our next step was to form a plan of execution for Triliteral. The three of us met again at Daniel’s house one Monday night to establish exactly how the festival was going to work. In typical Daniel style, there was a lavish printed agenda for each of us, a PowerPoint Presentation and a sumptuous dinner prepared. We went over everything from press releases and posters to rules and deadlines. I couldn’t help but notice, though, an item on the agenda that said ‘Christmas Party’. A Christmas Party for Halden Theatre? With crackers and hats and the Pogues? How exciting! When we reached the end of the meeting and no party had been mentioned, I had to ask. ‘So when is this Christmas party?’. A pause. ‘This was it,’ said Daniel. Embarrassed? Yes. Disappointed? You have no idea.

So, today was go-day. Today was the day the website went live, and the day we started putting our posters up. This wasn’t exactly as productive as we’d hoped, as a number of setbacks and distractions got in our way. First of all, Daniel and I headed to the Nottingham University printing shop to collect our 60 shiny posters advertising for script submissions. Despite Daniel’s hyperbolic objections to the nippy and snowy weather (‘It’s sub-arctic! It’s a blizzard!’) we trekked to the campus and picked up our posters. However, we were soon sidetracked by an argument over Daniel’s choice of newspaper and a visit to NU’s ace bookshop. After this gruelling escapade, we decided to treat ourselves to a leisurely pub lunch. This made us both quite tired, so we headed to Richard’s flat to show him our posters- once there, he made us tea and told us so many astonishing stories that we quite lost track of time. By six o’ clock, we had put up a grand total of four posters in Hockley. We rewarded ourselves with a drink at the Broadway bar. Well, you have to unwind somehow…

All systems are go for Triliteral! Our great mission is underway! I wonder how long it will be before we receive our first script…

Richie Garton

*The blueprint for our festival is that we will perform three shows a day for three days in June.