A
SUPERCOLLIDER FOR THE FAMILY
1997
A
scientist, working for the Military
Industrial Entertainment Complex is
given the mission to build a
Supercollider for the family. We follow
his globe-trotting exploits as he puts
together the machine and meets various
other agents. Meanwhile his wife is
walking around the world on a tightrope
and his feelings for her contrast with
his thoughts about particle physics and
his employers. But how will his Guardian
angel bring everything together?
1997 had been a mad
year. Since the previous year's festival
I'd worked on 'You Don't Know Jack',
Planet Mirth and done a month's run of "Twelve!"
and so I only wanted to do a brief run at
Edinburgh. Ted Smith offered me a week and
a half before Mel and Sue would take over
the slot with their 'Big Squeeze' show. I
wanted to do something more sci-fi than
"Twelve!" had been and as I had been
reading a lot about the failure to build
the Superconducting Super Collider at
Waxahachie Texas, it seemed like an ideal
match. Also I wanted to do something more
romantic than the previous show had been
and this story could include both.
The opening
description of the guardian angel (with
Simon Oakes' absolutely beautiful music
playing underneath) is one of my favourite
pieces from any of the shows. But the
script pretty quickly moves from the
pastoral to the scientific. I enjoyed
writing the description of the
accelerator, as it contained just pure
science; equally the scenes in New York
and Tripoli which are just pure silliness.
Floating Bob and Boris, whose mood defines
those around him as he controls the
Bagpuss Effect, were neat characters, and
the sequence at the hospital is a
highlight too. The walking wife is based
on Ffiona Campbell's globe-trot, with
traits from various exes, and the final
reunion in the canyon is something I'm
very proud of.
I have to say, Supercollider is possibly my favourite of all the shows and it is a shame it didn't get the audience it deserved at Edinburgh and since. Running for only a week or so, and with a mediocre review from the Scotsman, it never pulled people in until the last couple of days. That was after The Times review that called it 'the best feel good movie that never got made' came out and word of mouth had spread well enough to let people know what sort of show it was. And then it came off. I ran it at The Old Red Lion pub theatre in early 1998.
The
show was directed brilliantly by Erica
Whyman. I had worked with her the previous
year on 'Oblomov' and as well as being
amazingly patient to work with me, she is
extremely talented. I forget whose idea it
was just to have a set of 3 chairs and
various pieces of string of different
lengths strewn around the floor, but she
made some marvellous stage pictures with
them. Malcolm Rippeth's lighting design
was fabulous - the canyon especially. I've
already mentioned Simon Oakes' music but
let me repeat what a great job he did. The
poster was by Joe McCleod using a picture
by either Andy Lane or Kevin Dutton, I
think probably Kev. Ted Smith produced for
Stone Ranger, and they made badges and
beermats designed by Paul Garner.
I
brought the show back to the Edinburgh
Fringe in 2001 for another limited run
and performed it in 2007 at the
Latitude Festival and in 2012 at the Green
Man and Port Eliot Festivals.
"WHEN HE SMILED, SUMMER
ALWAYS SEEMED TO BEGIN"Read a script extract from A Supercollider for the Family
PURCHASE BOOK
A Supercollider for the Family is included in the eBook of More Trees to Climb available from amazon.co.uk
PURCHASE SOUNDTRACK CD
Almost the Right People
(containing music from many of my shows) is
available right now from my webshop
