Intermission II - Lush Town Live!

One of the most interesting offshoots to come from doing the films has been the creation of a very few special live performances that have been shown at certain international Lush events. These involved writing new, original scripts that riffed off the setup used in Episode Two, with Retro delivering an audience-participation monologue at the bar before Honey enters and sings The Bubbles Have Gone, and about 5 other jazzy numbers. Each script had new product references layered in for anyone who wanted to play along, but most nerve-wrackingly for me was the fact that I had to reprise my cameo as the piano player... Only this time for a full set of songs and in front of a live audience! Now, Sam (Retro), Mat (Barman), and Kate (Honey) are all pros. They can ride the acting horse bareback and tame its kicks and whinnies to their will. I am not a pro. I am a nervous geek. And so the prospect of having to perform a grand piano set when until then I'd never played the piano in public before was not one that I would put in my 'thrilled' drawer. Somehow though, we struggled through it to a great reaction, performing at both the Lush International Press Launch in London and the Lush UK Manager's Meeting in Poole. Being in the huge concert hall of Poole Lighthouse Centre, usually home of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, but that evening home to about 300 Lush managers who all knew every word to The Bubbles Have Gone was an experience that bordered on the surreal - I'll certainly not forget it in a hurry. As petrified by stage fright as I was, it really was great for both myself and the actors to have a chance to do Lush Town in a context that really put an audience right there in front of you, as opposed to sending off the films into the cold dark impersonal cave of the internet. I hope that we'll continue to take Lush Town to the stage in the future - especially as I've now become addicted to 'Rescue Remedy' for my nerves.

The Lush Town: Live! performance at the International Press Launch was filmed for Lush TV, so hopefully there will be a record of it up online at some point, so you can all point and laugh when I play the wrong notes.