This page has examples of previous work, quotes & information to compliment our National Lottery Project Grants R&D Fund application for Tim Casson’s Rural R&D inspired by Max Porter’s ‘Lanny’
About Max Porter’s ‘Lanny’
Max Porter’s Lanny is a critically acclaimed, Booker-longlisted 2019 novel.
A lyrical, unsettling portrait of an English village haunted by folklore, gossip and the disappearance of a singular child. Described by The Guardian as “a joyously stirred cauldron of words” and by The New Yorker as a “dark, wonderfully tactile reimagining of the folktale,” it has become one of Porter’s defining works.
Published by Faber & Faber and now in multiple international editions, Porter’s work has been translated into around thirty languages worldwide, with Lanny a major driver of that reach. A Sunday Times and independent bookshop bestseller on release; Lanny is seen as both an experimental literary success, and contemporary cult classic of British fiction.
Creatives & Mentors
Lead creatives for the R&D include:
Samuel Parker (Puppetry)
Samuel is a multi-disciplined performer & maker from Bristol. Alongside his work as a performer, Samuel works as a puppetry designer and fabricator. Working across a variety of different scales and styles his interest lies in creating puppets that facilitate and encourage the freedom and creativity of the puppeteer; working to find the balance between ergonomics, movement quality and aesthetic. Previous work includes Disney’s The Lion King, War Horse, Dragons & Mythical Beasts and Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City and ARCADE for C&F. (pictured left)
Paul Rogerson (Music)
Paul has a background in music production, composition & community music delivery, working with institutions including Symphony Hall Birmingham & BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Paul composes music for film, theatre and dance as well as being inventor of interactive musical instrument Khoros. Paul co-founded his company, Restoke in 2009 with Dance Artist Clare Reynolds, composing for, and directing their productions. for C&F Paul previously composed for PREPPERS, The Allotment Project, and SHED STORIES. (pictured right)
collaborating Performers for the R&D include:
Bethany Rose Edwards
(with Tim for C&F: The Allotment Project)
Matthew Winston
(with Tim for C&F: Night at the Theatre, PREPPERS, SHED STORIES, Men of Burnley)
Ben Wright
(previously worked with Tim at Skånes Dansteater & Opera North)
Mentors for the R&D include:
Jake Smith
(Eastern Angles)
Leo Kay
(This is Unfinished)
Sue Buckmaster
(Theatre Rites)
Artist’s Statement
“From the first page, I was captivated by Lanny, and by Max Porter’s extraordinary ability to hold the magical and the everyday in the same breath. This sharply observed portrait of contemporary rural England - alive with folklore, creativity and community tension - feels both timeless and urgently current.
Having grown up rurally, its village setting resonates deeply: it evokes a rich theatrical landscape, while also offering the exciting prospect of developing a work with Rural Touring in mind - which will ultimately return this story to village spaces, where its questions can reverberate in new and potent ways.
I am fascinated by Porter’s exploration of intergenerational relationships, of nurture under communal scrutiny, and the celebration of childhood imagination, artistic seeing & nature. Porter’s use of text as texture, and an almost ‘polyphonic’ approach to capturing and simultaneously representing a range of community voices, also ignites my own ongoing exploration of how artists can give voice to communities.
This R&D inspired by Lanny is an exhilarating opportunity to expand my practice in new ways beyond my previous practice with Casson & Friends - for the first time combining movement, immersive sound, puppetry and narrative-led theatre.”
Tim Casson, Director & Choreographer
Previous Work by Tim Casson
About Tim’s Work
“Casson is a choreographic provocateur in the way he blurs the distinction between audience and performer by combining or inverting the two”