THE MIDNIGHT GANG By David Walliams Adapted by Bryony Lavery Music & Lyrics by Joe Stilgoe
WELCOME
The power of the imagination is, as adapter Bryony Lavery and composer and lyricist Joe Stilgoe point out in this programme, the governing theme of The Midnight Gang. Bryony’s popular previous adaptations for Chichester include A Christmas Carol and The Hundred and One Dalmatians; while Joe has delighted audiences with his own concerts as well as his music for The Jungle Book. A very warm welcome to The Midnight Gang – the first family show to be produced during a Festival season on our main stage.
DANIEL EVANS AND RACHEL TACKLEY PHOTOGRAPH BY TOBIAS KEY
We are thrilled to be presenting this world premiere adaptation of David Walliams’s best-selling novel. David’s brilliantly inventive books have won him millions of devoted young readers, so there can be no better way of welcoming audiences of all ages to our work. David tells us that it was seeing Frankie Howerd in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Chichester when he was a teenager that made him want to get into comedy. Who knows if there will be young people who find similar inspiration in the performance they are seeing today, and make a career in theatre or the arts?
Few people can have inspired as many young people as director Dale Rooks, with her stunning Youth Theatre productions including the award-winning Running Wild which she also co-directed at Regent’s Park and on UK tour, as well as leading our education and participation programme. Her Festival debut is long overdue. Jennie Dale, who tapped her way into audiences’ hearts in Me and My Girl, has returned to play Matron. And spot the stars of the future among the 11 to 14 year-olds who are playing The Midnight Gang! Please enjoy today's performance.
Artistic Director Daniel Evans
cft.org.uk
Executive Director Rachel Tackley
LEAP
LEARNING, EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION The Learning, Education and Participation Department creates a year-round programme of practical workshops, talks, tours, performances and much more. With opportunities for all ages and abilities we aim to excite and inspire every person that engages with us.
COMMUNITY
CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
Develop artistic, personal and social skills through our workshops, projects, productions and award-winning Youth Theatre for young people of all abilities. Chichester Festival Youth Theatre | Holiday Activities | Arts Award
EDUCATION
Working with local schools to enrich students’ learning, our training and apprenticeships programme enables us to grow the next generation of arts professionals. Playboxes | Technical Tasters | Creative Careers Day | Work Experience
Learn more about theatre, develop performance skills, discover how productions are made and share experiences with others through our workshops and community projects. Talks and Discussions | Community Theatre Days | Adult Classes
FAMILIES
Take part in Family Friendly talks, tours and workshops designed to complement our Festival programme. Storytelling | Theatre Tours | Toddler Classes
cft.org.uk/leap
COMING SOON
SLEEPING BEAUTY By Rufus Norris From The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods by Charles Perrault Chichester Festival Youth Theatre return to present Rufus Norris’s splendidly entertaining and mischievous version of the original fairy tale which ventures beyond the usual ‘happy ever after’ ending! Ages 7+
15 – 30 December #SleepingBeauty
cft.org.uk
K ETS C I T LY FAMI AIL ABLE AV
TH E CAFÉ & THE FOYLE TERRACE The Café in the Festival Theatre is open daily from 10am serving freshly made sandwiches, soup, cakes and pastries. Enjoy our barista coffee or choose from a range of hot and cold drinks including wines and beers. The Café is light and airy and offers al fresco seating and free Wi-Fi. The Bar and The Foyle Terrace in the Festival Theatre are open 90 minutes before the show and both serve a selection of locally produced spirits, beers, lagers and wine by the glass or the bottle. The Foyle Terrace also serves pizzas, quiches, jacket potatoes and salads before the show.
The Brasserie in the Minerva Theatre is open for pre-show dining in new stylish and elegant surroundings. The restaurant serves a contemporary British menu using local and seasonal ingredients as well as an excellent choice of wines.
Enjoy either a main meal or one of our lighter food options before or after the show in the Minerva Bar & Grill upstairs, which offers a more relaxed atmosphere. Open 90 minutes before matinee performances, from 5pm for evening performances, during the interval and post-show.
RESERVATIONS
To reserve a table in the Brasserie or Minerva Bar & Grill visit cft.org.uk/dining for online reservations. Alternatively please call 01243 782219 or email dining@cft.org.uk
THE MIDNIGHT GANG By David Walliams Adapted by Bryony Lavery Music & Lyrics by Joe Stilgoe
JOE STILGOE JENNIFER WHYTE BRYONY LAVERY TUMO REETSANG DALE ROOKS CODY MOLKO JENNIE DALE
THE GREATEST ADVENTURE Bryony Lavery and Joes Stilgoe tell us about their new version of The Midnight Gang How did you get involved in The Midnight Gang? Joe Stilgoe We were just about to put The Jungle Book into the Festival Theatre and I was asked to a meeting with Daniel Evans and Dale Rooks, who said ‘We’d like you to be involved in a show for next season and we’ve got this idea for an adaptation of a book - we’re hoping it’s The Midnight Gang’. So I went home via a bookshop in Chichester where I found a copy and read it very quickly, and thought ‘I really hope it’s this, because it’s just up my alley’. To be involved in something theatrically that suits my memories of childhood and the anarchy of all those Roald Dahl-like stories would be a lovely thing. Then they said Bryony was going to do the adaptation, which I thought was brilliant because she’s so experienced and queen of her world. Bryony Lavery If Dale Rooks asks me to do something I just say yes, because it’s Dale Rooks. Then I read The Midnight Gang and thought gosh, this is a lark! David Walliams likes exclamation marks and big capital letters for when the character is excited, in exactly the same way I do, so I thought well, this is a very good fit. How does the process of adaptation start? Bryony I’ve done some previous collaborations with composers/lyricists and they all work in a different way. With Joe, we find the same things funny and the same things moving. We both started working separately; he marked where he thought the songs might come, and when I started extracting the dialogue from the book,
I kept that in mind. But I normally write the scene that the song may replace anyway, because then one gets the song and the point of the scene mixing together. Then we just sat together and worked out what would work best. Joe As I was reading the book – because your first instincts are the best, I think – I wrote down ‘song here’ at points. I nicked that idea from Lionel Bart; he said that when he wrote the musical Oliver!, he went through Oliver Twist as if he was watching a play or show – you imagine you are being presented with a song at that point. I then sent Bryony about 10 or 12 ideas for songs. Bryony, you’ve done many very successful book adaptations: how much of a free hand do you give yourself in terms of the original material? Bryony It completely varies. My rule of thumb is to try and get all the dialogue and scenes from the book, without my adding anything new. That’s my first pass at it, and if it works, fine. But very often, because I’m transmuting it from one artform to another, I have to intervene if there’s something that isn’t happening dramatically. But I really try always to be the junior writer because the piece is about the original author’s characters and story, and it’s my job to make that story and those characters work on stage – not to provide new characters or put my big footprint on it. Dialogue from books doesn’t always work theatrically because it’s too long, but finding how to get the essence of what people are saying is the joy of adaptation. I find that David Walliams’s work leaps with alacrity from the page to the stage because it’s a very visual book constructed like comedy and theatre, with good sight gags.