Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: Production Diary 2

At AussieTheatre we are beyond excited for Squabbalogic’s next production, the punk-rock portrait of America’s seventh president, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Director Craig Stewart is sharing with us behind the scenes glimpses of how the collaborative company is tackling the cult hit in this Production Diary.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Over the last week of rehearsals for SQUABBALOGIC’s Australian Premiere of BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON we have started putting it together! Up until this point we have been rehearsing in a non-linear way, so it’s great to see the show coming together and to start getting the feel and flow we are aiming for. One week of rehearsals to go before bump in!

In the process of putting all our separate pieces together as a whole we are discovering how to succinctly tell the story of Andrew Jackson. The story of Andrew Jackson’s life is a fascinating one, and the show presents a whirl-wind mash-up up of events from AJ as a child through his militia/duelling/murdering days to his Presidency and his legacy. The show crams a whole lot into its 90 minutes. Along with making sure that the show is always entertaining, fun and fast our overriding goal has always been; how can we best tell the story of BBAJ.

The book of BBAJ (Alex Timbers) was nominated for a Tony Award and is absolutely brilliant. It’s in turns hilarious, heartbreaking, shocking, offensive and touching and amongst all the craziness it still tells a clear and important story. And as BBAJ deals with elements of American colonial history that many Australians may not be familiar with, it is even more imperative that we are always in service of clarity. I was very pleased then that our first couple of runs have gone so smoothly. We seem to be hitting the right balance of comedy and sincerity, and we have been constantly fine tuning to present the best of all possible BBAJs.

One of the most exciting things about producing a show like this for the first time in Australia with

SQUABBALOGIC is the constant discovery we are still making about the musical and our performance of it. Even at the point of running the show we are still making ourselves laugh with new ideas and still exploring the text to make the most of it for us and, most importantly, our audience.

Want to see lots of new and truly original musicals? That’s what we are here for.

Tickets on sale now! Use the code word “PUNK” to get an earlybird special of a 28.87% discount on full priced tickets (special available until 14^th August). Head to www.squabbalogic.com for all the details.