Reviews - An Existential Treat!

We have had an amazing week in the Victor and Gord world. The responses form our audiences have been just fantastic. Tickets are flying out so get yours now in the usual place - www.projectartscentre.ie. We've had technical hitches, near heart attacks and packed houses. We've had reviews and post-show discussions and groups from Galway! The support has been great and will hopefully continue into the coming week. A second week is strange for us as the show has only ever done a few nights before. Everything changes and evolves as it runs and we've had something surprising and something new almost every night. The guys are becoming pros right before our eyes and are really taking to the time we have had to develop and work on the piece. The new additions of video and music have really come together and enhanced the whole piece but as you can read in reviews below, the central focus on the heart is still there and still strong. As the guys over at culch.ie said, we plead with you to see this show!

The show got some great shout outs last week in the press, with a great panel in the Ticket in the Irish Times, the Critic's Guide to going out in the Irish Independent and LeCool Dublin.

We were also featured on dublinartsevents.blogspot.com, who were lovely about the show!

Check out our reviews from the Sunday Independent, the Metro Herald and Culch.ie, all of whom loved the show and the ever charming and entertaining Victor, Gord and Jay!

So come on down to the world of Project Arts Centre, where it's all happening this February, tickets are only €15 and interest in the show is mounting so book early to avoid disappointment!

Up, Running and Stunning

And so we opened last night to the most wonderful reception a show could want. Despite a small technical hitch, Victor, Gord and Jason were absolutely stunning and blew the audience away with their humour and humanity; the ever present lynchpin of the show. 

And the reaction was just overwhelming. The audience were so responsive and really jumped on board for the Victor and Gord journey. Generous applause and laughter filled the Cube and many people stayed to have a drink with the team! Thanks so much to everyone who came.


We also were featured on IMEALL on TG4! The whole first 5 minutes is about the show. Thanks to the brilliant Imeall team who visited us in rehearsal to film. Watch the clip!

Totally Dublin also published their great interview with Director Una McKevitt which you can read here.


Finally I'll leave you with the words of our first review today from CULCH.IE
"I would plead with you to go see this. You will laugh, you may cry, but you’ll definitely enjoy it."










Photos by Senija Topcic at Lollipop Photography

WIN TICKETS!!

We have our first preview tonight so we've decided that now is the time to prove your comment skills in our very first VICTOR AND GORD ticket competition! Win tickets to the show for this FRIDAY 19th FEB at Project Arts Centre.


It's easy - just answer the question below in the comments box and the best/funniest/most inventive/unique/amazing answer wins a pair of tickets to see the show! 


WHAT IS JASON TALKING ABOUT IN THIS VIDEO???

The Talented Alan Early

Yesterday morning I woke up with a rhythm in my head.  I thought it was a song; all I had was the rhythm of the lyrics but couldn’t match it with a melody.  I spoke the words out loud to try and find the tune and then I realised; it was a piece of dialogue from Victor & Gord that had snuck into my dreams.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been engrossed in all things Victor & Gord.  Having designed all the marketing material (posters, flyers, viral) and now helping to create video inserts for the show, it’s little wonder that I’m dreaming about it. 

Una first approached me in August and asked me to create a viral for Victor & Gord Cubed.  Following its success at Absolut Fringe, Una asked me back again but this time as an even more involved member of the V&G family.  Since rehearsals started I’ve been attending as much as I can and, along with Una, working out how best to integrate footage from the past shows into this one.  

The video is more than just a reference point to the previous shows, however.  It’s a chorus, where earlier stories and experiences reflect what Vickey, Aine and Jay have to tell us.  It’s a delicate balance; making sure you don’t have too much video that might distract from the performers but at the same time making sure you have enough to enhance their performances.

Meanwhile, as the days are counting down to the opening, I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished show.   It’s a treat that can’t be missed.

Alan

DESIGN ?

Hi...

I'm Ciaran and I'm a new addition to the Victor & Gord family... I had a one night fling with the V&G machine back in the earliest stage during the Project Brand New incarnation and a minor flirtation when Victor & Gord, Ali & Michael played on a floor designed by me during Queer Notions.  But this time around I'm involved in a more structured way as part of the team.

My role is as designer, which has a very loose definition in terms of a show like Victor & Gord.  Basically what I am doing is helping to shape the where and how Una stages things.

For me as a designer for theatre, I feel it's always important to keep focused on what the show is trying to say, the story that we are trying to tell.  With Victor & Gord this is very important as it is real lives told by real people live on stage, nothing more and nothing less.  In the process we have considered many options but as the days have ticked by and as the show began to take shape again following development, I am again concentrating on the show as simply Victor & Gord and of course Jay too and their stories.  That is where the power of the show in its previous incarnations.

In writing this blog post I thought about stories and reading books when I was younger.  Particularly the stories of Roald Dahl which are so vividly told through the words but I also remember the illustrations by Quentin Blake that accompanied them - picking out various descriptions and I suppose physicalising them.  So in a way, what I suppose I am doing here with V&G, is helping to illustrate the stories.  Now while I am not drawing it out as clearly like the Quentin Blake illustrations, I hope that I can help to focus you, the audience's attention on things and also with the videos from Alan Early we can highlight and help you to visualise and further engage with the guys stories, in a subtle and unobtrusive way.

Come along and see!

A moment with the Director

Rehearsals last week focused on putting all the new material together with material from Septembers show. Jason made the observation that while in September he was often asked to 'elaborate, elaborate' this time everyone's more likely to be directed to leave some detail out of their stories. This is because we have SO MUCH new material, which is funny considering there's half the cast there was in September!

On a personal note it was really great to meet up with Ali, Fergus and Michael last week. Fergus popped into rehearsal and I met Ali and Michael for coffee in Leon. I gave each of them a copy of Septembers show as we're using footage from it in this new show and I wanted to be sure they were happy with that. Although they're not physically present in this new show they are still very much a part of it as we are projecting images and some scenes from September's show onto the backwall of The Cube. We tried it out for the first time yesterday and it looked amazing.

February 8th was the anniversary of Jason's mother's death. In Catherine's honour Jason made us a fantastic dinner after rehearsals in Áine Beamish's city pad and we went for 1/2 price pints in PANTIBAR. Panti gave us a great shout out on her blog last week.

I know things are going to get stressful this week, that's just the nature of it but I'm just going to say for the record, so far so good! Having the support of Project Arts Centre has made all the difference to us. We are being so well looked after by our Producer Lara Hickey and the team we're working with - Alan, Ciaran, Fiona - have really become a part of our Victor and Gord family.

As the show gets closer the nerves creep closer to the surface but so does the excitement!!

We looking forward to you joining us on our new adventure.

Una 

Encounters as Gaeilge...

Imeall were in to us in rehearsal the other night and I believe we showed them what we're made of. There was a veritable army of us, producers, designers, performers, directors...

The guys performed two different pieces we're working on at the moment and Una talked to the camera all about our history and origins. Vickey was ag labhairt as gaeilge with them but I have no idea what she said at all!

You'll all have to tune in on Wednesday 17th February (our opening night!) to catch it.

Coming to the end of week 3 now, none of us can believe how fast the rehearsals are going. Doing tests on projections in the space, programme going to print, invites flying out all over the city and planning runs next week already.

And finally...stay tuned here for details of a very special public appearance of Victor and Gord next week...ooohhh.

Televisually coming at you!

Victor and Gord are being joined by the folks at Imeall tonight as TG4 are taking over rehearsals at Smock Alley Cafe. Chatting to V&G&Jay, to the gaffer Una and filming extracts - the show is set to air on our opening night so mark the date - FEBRUARY 17th!

Check out more info on the show on the TG4 website

...and finally...I wouldn't be a real producer unless I reminded everyone that you can book tickets ALREADY for Victor and Gord at (01) 881 9613 or even easier online at www.projectartscentre.ie...there, duty done!

Lara