Welsh actor and writer Christopher Orton can really say “And now for something completely different” when he swaps performing in Monty Python’s Spamalot to watching his own play being performed.
A new play called The Road To Port Of Barry Port written by Orton and Robert Gould is the opening work in the eighth year of Michael Kelligan’s widely acclaimed On The Edge project of Script-held performances of plays by mainly Welsh and Wales based authors.
Under his stage name of Kit Orton, Chepstow-born Chris made his West End debut in July 2012 in the role of Lancelot in Spamalot. The successful spin off from the movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail has toured extensively and Chris comes to Wales to watch the performances of his play straight after the end of the latest West End run.
Trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and The Royal Academy of Music, Chris has a long list of theatre credits and has appeared at various concert and cabaret venues in London, performing his own songs and other pieces of new musical theatre writing. Winner of the Welsh Musical Theatre Younger Singer of the World 2008, he has recorded vocals on three musical cast albums - Dracula, Spamalot and My Land's Shore.
Swansea University graduate Robert - a former teacher and author of schools history books - wrote the book and lyrics for three musicals with composer Ty Kroll: Lovers, Alone And Vocalize! With co-librettist/lyricist Jimmy Granstrom and composers Filip von Uexkull, Ty Kroll and Tristan Bons, he wrote The Dying Game, a musical which speaks for the victims of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
He also wrote lyrics for the acclaimed Tim Prottey-Jones albums More with Every Line and Surrounded by the Sounds and is in the process of writing and developing the musical Roundabout with songwriter Joe Sterling. An album featuring songs from Roundabout - Somewhere In My Mind: The Songs Of Joe Sterling, sung by Chris, was released by SimG Records in April 2012.
Together Orton and Gould have written a number of musicals, including Elephant Juice, Grace Notes, Based On A True Story and My Land's Shore. In addition to The Road to the Port Of Barry, Bob and Chris have also collaborated on plays Independence Dai and The Shed.
Chris said, “"I have been performing in Spamalot for the last two years and I didn't think it was possible to top the buzz of going out and performing comedy to different audiences every night and soaking in the laughs and the enjoyment of the crowd.
“That was until I heard something I had written being performed by someone else. There is nothing more flattering than somebody picking up your work and putting their own interpretation on it or getting excited by the content and trying things out with it - and THEN hearing the audience reaction becomes something else entirely because you helped create that mood in them.
“I am first and foremost a musician so writing music comes very naturally to me, not so much with script. So when I'm writing musicals with Bob he will write the script and lyrics and I will write the music.
“Writing plays together is a different pot of coffee...I'm more of an ideas man so I will ring Bob with a story suggestion or setting or tiny idea and then by the next day Bob will have written an outline and then we will send emails back and forth until we get it how we want it.
“Being an actor it is sometimes difficult for me to take a backseat. I want to be up there doing it! So watching Road To Port Of Barry will be a mixed bag of emotion. It's a real labour of love for the both of us. We have wanted to see this piece on the stage for a long time. I always thought I would have to be in it for that to happen but I am happy to be in the audience this time. Watching these extremely talented guys taking on the material. And Bob, sat beside me, mad as a brush. Only kidding...he's not that mad!"
Robert said, “Chris and I were introduced in January 2006 by a mutual friend when I was looking at the time for a composer to collaborate on a show I had an idea for. As it happens we’ve still not gotten around to writing that show together. In February 2006 Chris asked me to write some scenes around some songs he had written for a musical called Elephant Juice which we then work shopped at the Royal Academy.
“Soon after that he asked me if I’d like to work with him on My Land’s Shore, a musical he had already been working on for around 4 years. Since then we’ve continued to develop My Land’s Shore together as well as writing Based on A True Story, a few other musicals and three short plays.”
The second new On The Edge production will be Moist by Cardiff based writer Neil Bebber, a one-man show featuring Nathan Sussex from Newport who recently gave a very strong performance in Anthony Neilson’s Stitching at Chapter.
The play will be directed by Mathilde Lopez who made such a strong impression with her two productions for her own company, Waking Exploits, Caryll Churchill’s Serious Money and Pornography by Simon Stephens.
This will be followed by the first production of Mog by young writer Aled Roberts and features the directing debut of much featured On The Edge actor James Ashton.
The final production of the season will be I Am Angela Brazil by Lucinda Coxon.
On The Edge Autumn 2012:
The Road To Barry Port by Christopher Orton and Robert Gould. Chapter, Cardiff, Tuesday, September 11; Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wednesday, September 12 and The Riverfront, Newport, Thursday, September 13.
Moist by Neil Bebber. Chapter, Cardiff, Tuesday, October 9; Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wednesday, October 10 and The Riverfront, Newport, Thursday, October 11 as part of the Comedy Port Festival.
Mog by Aled Roberts. Chapter, Cardiff, Tuesday, November 6 and The Riverfront, Newport, Thursday, November 8.
I Am Angela Brazil by Lucinda Coxon. Chapter, Cardiff, Tuesday, December 11, The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wednesday, December 12, The Riverfront, Newport, Thursday, December 13.
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