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International theatre producer Giuliano Crispini comes to Guernsey this week as part of the Guernsey Literary Festival which runs from 16-20 September.
The writer and creator of the critically acclaimed Guernsey play, ‘Lotty’s War’, will be running a playwriting workshop on 20 September.
"It’ll be a fun and very full session but I’m looking forward to it. We have a fantastic local actor Oliver Davies as well as actress Daisy Ward from the UK helping us out so participants will be treated to some very fine work," said Giuliano.
The workshop promises to be an exciting whirlwind of practical exercises and insightful tips to help unlock the story every person has in them. Suitable for complete beginners through to seasoned playwrights, the workshop will go through the basic building blocks and get participants well on their way to seeing their creation in a theatre.
"Talent is never enough," said Giuliano. "When you look at some of Britain’s most successful writers, Alan Aykebourne, John Godber to name but two, you could say their success is purely down to their exceptional talent. In reality it’s nothing of the sort. They’ve had some real stinkers in their time. Their secret is they know how to get their plays on stage."
Giuliano has also been commissioned to turn Lotty’s War into a novel due for publication in 2016. The novel will have its first reading in the town Church on Sunday 20 September at 1pm.
"This all came about because I was approached by a film producer who wanted to turn Lotty into a film. To cut a long story short, I thought it best to build the brand of Lotty a little more and over a wider audience base first to give her the best chance of attracting a decent budget and cast. A novel is the best and cheapest way to achieve the jump over the pond to the American market."
"I thought it only right that Lotty gets her first outing in her homeland of Guernsey," he said.
Giuliano began his career as an actor and director working in theatre, television, film and radio. But it was the creation of work that really appealed to him and he soon found himself falling into producing.
Starting with small one-night performances in studio theatres round the country, Giuliano’s productions have got bigger and gone farther afield over the years. His career has seen him working with a huge range of famous people, from the likes of Lesley Joseph, Coronation Street’s Beverley Callard, to the Opera worlds Sergey Romonovsky, the Verves Simon Tong, and singing sensation Beverley Knight.
"It’s Lotty who has served me well over the years," said Giuliano. "People can’t seem to get enough of her. We gave her an outing for 10 weeks last year with an all-star cast and due to the success of that tour, we have her going out for another 10 weeks next year before a possible west end run."
Giuliano is currently writing a new show called ‘The Story of Betty Corrigall’ with musician Simon Tong from the Verve and Hannah Peel from Magnetic North.
"Betty is really exciting as it’s based on truth. It’s set on the remote island of Hoy in the Orknies where, during World War II an unmarked grave was discovered on the peat moor by soldiers. In the coffin they found the perfectly preserved corpse of the young woman, Betty Corrigall, who died in 1776. She was buried in no man’s land by the local Minister because she hung herself after she found herself pregnant out of wedlock – or so we are led to believe. It was a few years after her death that it was discovered that a serial killer lived among them who was none other than the Minister himself."
The piece is neither a play nor musical but something in between.
"We’ve had a wonderful time working on that seamless blend the Celtic islands seem to have of storytelling and folk music. Simon’s and Hannah’s music is beautiful," he said.
Giuliano will be running the Introduction to Playwriting workshop on Sunday 20 September 9:30-12:00 at Les Cotils and the reading of Lotty’s War will be at the Town Church from 13:00- 14:00.
