Love letters

Sarah Stead • Published 25 Jan 2010 14:00 0 Comments

Editor's Choice: Going Postal

SEMAPHORE towers run by gangsters, backstreet pin exchange shops and wizards are all in a day's work for Christine Moran - because she's directing The Progress Theatre's production of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.

It is one of the more self-contained stories from Pratchett's Discworld series, but that hasn't stopped characters from other novels sneaking into the production, which is a real labour of love...

"Moist von Lipwig is the hero of the piece," says Christine, who has been involved with Progress for 17 years.

"He's a conman about to get hanged but the patrician of the city says 'look, if we're not going to hang you then you're gonna sort out the post office.

"The post office is in a bit of a state, there are letters hundreds of years old because klacks have taken over. It's a bit like letters and emails'.

"But the klacks' system is run by crooks and once Moist von Lipwig starts sorting the post office out, they aren't very happy.

"Added to the basic plot there's all the little extra bits and wonderful Terry Pratchett characters.

"I've got 37 characters played by 22 actors so it's a challenge as a director - it's a challenge just getting them all in the same room!

"Quite a lot of the production team are Pratchett fans - a production like this attracts them - and we've snuck in a couple of characters from other books like Otto Chriek the vampire photographer and Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler.

"It's absolutely a production of love. For example the pin exchange shop - which is like an underground forerunner to stamp collecting - has lots of different pin magazines and everyone connected with the show has designed one each.

"They might not even be seen by the audience but it's there and it's fun. We do this because we love it and it's things like that that make it even more enjoyable.

"A lot of the show takes place in the post office but there are other locations too so we had to come up with a set that could move the action from one place to another quite smoothly.

"My husband Aiden designed the set, it's got some revolving sections and is fab. We work together quite a lot.

"We have a bar in the theatre and he's made pub signs to turn it into The Mended Drum and The Broken Drum - pubs from the Discworld books - which will change during the interval.

"People who don't know anything about Terry Pratchett won't know but they're not excluded. If you're a fan you'll get more out of it but it doesn't matter if you're not."

Going Postal runs from Thursday, January 28, to Saturday, February 6, at The Progress Theatre, Reading.

It is expected to sell out so book tickets, £8-10, by calling 0118 960 6060.

Tweet

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 21 Jan 10

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

If you are registered with us, you can login here. If you are not registered, do so now.
Once logged in you wont have to complete word verification each time you post.

Prefer not to register?

Screen Name *required

Email (not displayed) *required

Usernames must be 4 - 20 characters. Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users can also take part in competitions and other features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our The Guide archives.

Follow @rdgchronicle