We’re very excited to announce that Murray Lachlan Young’s THE MYSTERY OF THE RADDLESHAM MUMPS has been nominated for not just one, but two SABOTEUR awards this year.
We’ve been nominated for BEST SPOKEN WORD SHOW and BEST COLLABORATION. The awards are by public voting, and voting is now open, so if you would like to support us do vote here.
The Saboteur Awards are a staple element of the UK’s independent literary scene. Year upon year, the awards celebrate writers, performers & publisher’s personal achievements from the last twelve months in the industry. Through a round of public votes, the awards pride itself on putting forward winners chosen by the public, rather than by a board of peers.
These nominations come at a particularly key time for us. It’s just over a year since we first opened the show at the Lakeside Theatre (University of Essex). Since then the show has been performed some 30 odd times to audiences of over 3,000 with our digital elements (the soundtrack, the VR, the tablet game, and so on) reaching a further 4,300 people. Of course, right now we would have been on tour with the show – but Covid 19 has sadly put our plans on hold. However, if you’ve not seen the show yet you can listen to our studio album free of charge here
As well as being nominated for Best Spoken Word Show its brilliant to have been nominated for Best Collaboration in recognition of the fact that Raddlesham Mumps is so much more than a show. So this is a great moment to recall all our collaborators who have helped to bring the world of Raddlesham alive. We have delighted in telling this story effectively over five platforms – a book, a studio album, a tablet game, a VR experience and of course the live performance!
The Book
Artist and fashion designer extraordinaire JULIE VERHOEVEN illustrated the utterly beautiful edition of The Raddlesham Mumps, published by brilliant small publisher Scotland Street Press.
The studio album
Here’s a true aural pleasure – Murray narrating The Raddlesham Mumps with Arun Ghosh’s spine tingling evocative score in its full studio glory. You can buy the CD here – and listen to it in full here. You’ll be hearing not only the work of Murray and Arun, but also of studio engineer Idris Rahman of Rockit Studios
The VR and tablet game What do you mean you haven’t played these yet? You can play the prequel prequel game on any Android tablet or phone for free -its available here . And similarly, if you have Oculus Go, try our Virtual Reality experience – available here . These were both made by the fantastic team over at MBD Ltd.
The stage show of course had a range of collaborators – headed up by brilliant director Nina Hajiyianni – artistic director of Action Transport Theatre and ably supported by Eastern Angles Associate Director Scott Hurran. Our designer is Bek Palmer, with music by the afore mentioned Arun Ghosh. Movement is by Laura Williamson Biggs, lighting by Julie Kearney; our brilliant co-performers are Joe Allen and Simone Lewis supported by stage managers Thomas Vowles and Esther Malkinson
Last but not least throughout our whole journey we have worked hand in hand with the brilliant team at University of Essex. We opened the show in the heart of the campus (at the Lakeside Theatre); our experiment in telling the story in various forms was supported by the University’s EIRA project; and our success (or otherwise) was monitored, cajoled and supported throughout by our Creative Mentor Dr Liam Jarvis and the dynamic pyschology duo Dr Loes Van Dam and Prof Paul Hibberd from whom I have learnt so much. Already Loes and Paul work on the project has been presented at conferences in the UK and Europe
“For a University, participating in collaborative projects with industry gives our research real world application and impact. Carrying out research into the audience experience of VR, which includes a family setting, really excited us, as we have explored how this affects the dynamic and enhances the overall experience of the artistic piece. The other- worldly nature of Raddlesham Mumps lends itself to a VR representation and the end result heightens user’s immersion into the tale.” – Emma Wakeling, Knowledge Exchange Manager, University of Essex
THANK YOU! Its been quite some collaboration!!!
Finally we would like to give a huge shout out to Arts Council South East who have been supporting the project financially from the very beginning. That funding has come from National Lottery funds which means we owe a huge THANK YOU to every single lottery ticket buyer –
We would love you to vote for us if you can If you can do (vote here).
And in the mean time dont forget The Raddlesham Team have also released some fantastic resources – fun for all the family, or in school settings too!
- Downloadable activity sheets are at the Raddlesham Mumps site – available here
- Interactive digital versions of those sheets on the MBD Ltd site – available here
And if you’d like to listen to the studio album of The Mystery of the Raddlesham Mumps you can do so below! We hope you enjoy!
For more information about the project see www.raddleshammumps.co.uk