Lord Hail & Mr Frost
Lady Snow
The North Wind
Rob demonstrates turning
Spring to Winter
The North Wind & the Linnet
Children meet the Old Giant
The Giant's spring garden
Artwork by Espen, Age 10
Who's playing in my garden?
The Selfish Giant
By Oscar Wilde
Adapted by Sea Legs Puppet Theatre
Since building a wall to keep the children out of his garden, the only visitors the Selfish Giant gets are Lady Snow and her friends. One morning he hears the most beautiful music coming from his bedroom window and is delighted with the sight that greets him.
Set in a magnificent steel sculpted garden, the story is told using beautifully crafted puppets, a brilliant musical soundtrack and superb storytelling.
For children age 4+
Selfish Giant Crew
Producer - Rob Ashman
Director - John Cartwright
Puppetry & Performance - Rob Ashman
Puppet Makers - Rob Ashman / Matthew Hart
Music - Jack Bishop
Lady Snow Vocal - Lorna Dale
Set - Jaz Asbury
Giant's Wall - Matthew Farmer
Set Painting / Dressing - Karen Hughes, Tobias Armitage, Dominic Harbour, Pete Boydell,
Costumes - Rhona Muckart
Photography - Michelle Gerrard, Dominic Harbour, Espen Quinto-Ashman
Artwork - Carole-Anna Quinto
Video Trailer - Matthew Hart
Background to the making of
The Selfish Giant
In January 2007 I began producing The Selfish Giant. It took a while to settle on a script that I was happy with and went through a lot of drafts and collaboration with several people.
The set for The Selfish Giant is possibly the most exciting I have ever worked on. The main challenge we have had in the devising of this show has been how to transform spring to winter and winter to spring in an instant. The solution we have come up with is a giant rotating 'egg' with a handle on one side. One half of the 'egg' is spring. The other is a steel sculpted winter garden. I literally 'turn' spring into winter before the audiences eyes.
At first I had carpenter, Tom Straker marked out as the set builder but after consultation with him about the set design he suggested it would be a lot more practical to make it out of steel. So I approached Jaz Asbury who very thankfully agreed to take on the project. From the first meeting I knew that the set was in safe hands. Jaz is incredibly imaginitive and has excellent problem solving skills - a vital quality for such a project. He went away and after a couple more preparatory/design meetings, made the set in a few days in early September 2007. When I first saw it in his workshop I was amazed, if not a little daunted. I always get a strange feeling when I see a production coming together. To have something that until then one has had to visualise , suddenly appear physically before ones eyes brings to the surface mixed emotions of excitement, awe and yes a little fear. It's like: "Wow, this 'dream' is really happening and I'm going to live and breathe it for the next year or so."
From September 2007 I seemed to be writing endless daily lists of things to do. I would write a new production plan every few days or so and this went up to writing a new one, sometimes several times a day towards the final two weeks. The project simply grew.
Towards the end of August 2007, it became obvious that if I were to hit the October 10th deadline I would have to commision another puppet maker (apart from myself) to make the winter puppets. I immediately thought of my old friend and colleague Matthew Hart. Matt got me into all this puppet lark in the first place when in 1996 we co-founded Sky in the Pie Puppet Theatre. I'm so glad I brought Matt in. He has performed wonders and the Winter Puppets are a hit.
Another important feature of this production is the music. From the first draft it was clear there was going to be a lot of music and songs. I already had it in mind that I wanted Jack Bishop involved. I worked with Jack on Peter & the Wolf in 2006. I had already been performing the production for 3 years with recorded music but wanted to bring in a live musician for a couple of theatre bookings at Number 8 and Presteigne Classical Music Festival. I knew that I would need somebody who could play to a high standard on several instruments. Jack was eventually suggested and was only too happy to get involved. Jack is one of the most talented and proficient musicians I have ever known and so of course I am delighted he has played and recorded all of the music for this production. As it has worked out there is an almost continual musical soundtrack to The Selfish Giant incorporating genres from Jazz (Lord Hail) and baroque (Mr Frost) to rock and pop (The North Wind/Children's song) and various others inbetween. We will be making a C.D of the soundtrack available to buy in the near future.
As the production neared its deadline I brought in more and more people to carry out the many making tasks involved. Rhona Muckart who has worked on several previous productions made the children's costumes. Several set painters were brought in and Karen Hughes has done a fantastic job on the set dressing - lots of sewing involved!
Finally John Cartwright who has been involved to some degree in the majority of Sea legs previous productions came in to direct, bringing his usual imaginative and creative solutions and acting as the all important outside eye to this most beautiful of Sea Legs productions.
And so today, 26th October 2007 I would like to publicly thank everyone who has worked on this production. We can all be very proud of what we have achieved. This week I have been having a well earned rest and enjoying the company of my beautiful children, Espen (11 years) and Freya (18 months) and reflecting on the first few perfomances (see below).
Dress Rehearsal - October 9th - The Ballroom, The Green Dragon Hotel, Hereford. (courtesy of Caroline Tiller)
Premiere - October 10th - Finstall First School, Bromsgrove (2 Shows)
October 12th - Llanfaes C P School, Brecon.
October 14th - The Courtyard Theatre, RSC, Stratford upon Avon - Private party.
October 15th - Brampton Abbotts Primary School, Ross on Wye.
October 16th - St Paul's Primary School, Hereford.
October 18th - Weston under Penyard Primary School, Herefordshire.
October 18th - St Mary's Primary School, Fownhope, Herefordshire.
I now look forward to continue experimenting, developing and polishing this wonderful production.
Needless to say if you would like to book The Selfish Giant for your venue/ event I would be delighted to discuss dates with you.
Best wishes
Rob Ashman