It's a very exciting time for The Letter J as we prepare to set sail on our first adventure with Grandad and Me at Imaginate Festival and then on to tour Scotland, visiting some pretty amazing locations along the way. We've got a crack team of five who will be making Grandad and Me happen on stage, but there are more contributors who have helped to get us where we are today.....and here they are!
Back: Jon, Andy, Sally Rachel, Jude, Steve. Front: Marta
Behind the scenes clever people:
Rachel Sanger: The Letter J's producer of the first run of Grandad and Me! Doing all the clever bits behind the scenes to make it happen. We'd be nowhere near where we are just now without her input, a true star (and her name don't even start with a 'J', who'd have thought it!). Rachel now works for Festivals Edinburgh and we wish her all the best.
Steve Moffat: Our recently acquired Production Manager, who has been helping to answer all the practical questions that the head honcho's of the Letter J like to fire out willy nilly. 'Can we make the sofa fly?', 'Can we make it snow inside?', 'Can we give the children rocket packs?', are just a few of the impossible asks that have come his way......thank goodness he's onboard to help realise our idea's without putting our audience in danger!
Andy McGeoch: Our meeting with Andy was a chance encounter, but his involvement has been crucial to shaping the visual and audio land/soundscapes of the production. He's a clever little egg who has been tinkering away with all sorts of digital technology and has taken on the task as lead animator on the finished production. Also a fan of the yum yum, he and Ruth have clashed in many an iced bun chomping competition.
Dance/Choreography:
Marta Masiero: Our little girl! She's been working with us since January and has been creating some pretty snazzy moves over the last couple of weeks of development of Grandad and Me. As well as being a great dancer, she's also pretty tiny, so means we can fit her in the tour van with all the props, very useful.
Ruth Janssen: Dancer, choreographer and yum yum connoisseur. She started out as our 'little girl' and got us off the mark with her snazzy moves at our first outing at Tramway through Imaginates Ideas Exchange. Her surname does begin with a 'J' which makes a lot of sense with her exceptional dance moves and ability to sniff out the finest yum yums in town. Here's a link to her fabulous work.
Sally Owen: A recent addition to the Choreography team, Sally has been putting in some delightful touches, helping to bring the many heart of the piece to the fore. She's also been keeping an eye on the rest of the teams yum yum intake and her wisdom and guidance in relation to this is helping to keep run throughs on time and less sluggish.
Costumes/Props:
Helen Gallogly: Helping us out with costumes is our Helen. Textile designer and printmaker, she's been busy making Marta's outfit and also breaking down some of our props, to give them that true nostalgic Grandad aesthetic. Click here to visit her facebook page and see her other fabulous visual work
Fergus Dunnet: Fergus has made a variety of props for the production, a few secret ones that we don't want to give away just yet, incase you're coming to see the show! Needless to say, they're blooming fantastic! Click here to check out all his creative goings on.....
Charmaine Gilbert: Charmaine has very recently got onboard the J train by helping us our with some fabulous props. Dual purpose objects is the name of the game with plant pots that create rocket sounds and umbrellas that recall the soundscapes of sea faring adventures!