Pulling the Trigger

The play of Cosmic Trigger has just started a new run in London, at The Cockpit Theatre.

Beautifully timed to coincide with that, Hilaritas Press has released an audio book version of Cosmic Trigger (the original book, not the play), read by the actor who plays Bob on stage - Oliver Senton.

For more details, to listen to a sample, find out how to purchase, etc, go to the Hilaritas Press.

You can also read more details about how the project came about, here.

Review of the London performance of Cosmic Trigger

“A Perfectly Finished Work of Art Right Where I Am Sitting Now.”: Cosmic Trigger -The Play

by David Whittaker | in Reviews | Sun, 7 December 2014 at the Sequart Organization

Read the whole review here.

Cosmic event in London

The previous post has received a few updates, as reviews and other stuff has arrived, but we lacked a programme in Liverpool, and now we have one.

Seems someone else may have played Burroughs in Liverpool and London (?) and so on, but this gives a rough guide, and certainly more information than we had at the Find The Others festival.

Again, this post may get updated with further information, reviews, etc - as they come in.

[updates below]

First thoughts from Tingtinglongtingtingfala...

Beccy Strong (who played Ishtar) - photographer

Pulling the Cosmic Trigger on Ransom Note

(It’s not true unless it makes you laugh; you don’t understand unless it makes you cry).

And this is more or less a summary of the whole show...rather than a review:

Nerve Reviews - The Cosmic Trigger Experience

This just in... events in Liverpool last weekend

23 As 142 de l'Ere Pataphysique

Early reports of the Wilson festival imply that it counts as an astonishing moment in time.

Our Reporter, Bogus, remains a bit inarticulate at the moment (he claims he got possessed by a Pooka) but tells us that the play previewed on Friday night, when the cast and technicians had still not completed a full run of the material, to a knowing audience of maybe 80-100 (?).   He says it knocked everybody out - and a buzzing atmosphere of glee, fatigue, elation and success pervaded the later part of the evening.

Given that brilliant start the atmosphere on Saturday, with the show going on in the afternoon, felt electric - as more and more people mingled in the bar of the Camp and Furnace - old friends and new.

By the time everyone had settled themselves in, and the place felt jammed, it seemed like we would just take off.   For the actors, I guess, playing it to a crowd in the preview had given it that that final edge, to go for it, and what had been a great show the night before just went through the roof - the actors excelled themselves, Scott MacPherson's projected scenery from Amoeba blew people's minds, and the music (both recorded and live - our own Steve Fly on drums) carried us along on a wave; the audience listened intently to catch every word, unless in the mood to participate, and the jokes lifted the roof, especially the in-jokes.  And, of course, Alan Moore as F.U.C.K.U.P. turned up unexpectedly ("Come not in that form!")

Again, Saturday night (the Papal Ball) filled with celebratory moments, hilarity and new friendships.

On Sunday, for the Find The Others conferestival, the whole building opened out, with an art gallery (Doris, Ken Campbell's parrot, as artist-in-residence, with three of her pieces on display), a cinema, a big room for talks, and the main hall with interactive spaces like the Maybe Logic Academy dome (from Immersive Theatres), a stall from the News From Nowhere bookshop of Liverpool, performances and workshops on both the main and side stages, Chapel Perilous, a herbalist, etc.

Sadly, our reporter failed to fill a notebook with proper cast lists, names of performers, artists, etc, so we await coherent details with interest.  You will find some pics and other great stuff on the Facebook page for the play.   Also here, on Jonathan Greet's Flickr page, which contains hundreds (literally) of fantastic images of the play. Here you can see the cast at the end.

Ecstatic review from the Psychedelic Press UK.

Interview with Daisy from the Psychedelic Press

Review from Liverpool Confidential

Greg Wilson's reality tunnel (Liverpool DJ)

Audio interview on Litopia, with Daisy Campbell and John Higgs... Very funny 50 minutes.

The final, surprise event, occurred after Robin Ince's hilarious set to a packed house, when John Higgs told us that the announced talk and panel had been cancelled because he wanted to send us the the main hall, where Daisy Eris Campbell and Greg Donaldson had impulsively decided to get married (and why not?)

You can find the text of John's planned speech on his blog, with some wonderful new pictures of RAW.

And the party continued.  By the end of it, even Harvey looked a bit overwhelmed.

And you can still catch performances in London in the coming week.

Amor et Hilaritas!

Find The Others!

“Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others” 
– Dr Timothy Leary

Daisy Eris Campbell & Co. will stage the Cosmic Trigger play very soon, first in Liverpool and then in London.

To accompany the grand opening, an extraordinary gathering of heads called the Find The Others conferestival will manifest.

  Then the play will migrate to London for a few performances at the LOST Theatre - tickets through this link.

DJ Fly will offer a Maybe Logic Dome experience, as part of the festival...

I think he has something like this in mind...

Cosmic Trigger Play Update

Ho Ho Hail Eris!
An update for the Cosmically Enthused
Hail n that you marvellous cosmic types,

Firstly a quick update for the as-yet uninitiated:

Plan is to stage an adaptation of Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson, with scenes from Illuminatus! woven through, as well as a dramatised peek backstage at the original Liverpool production (directed by my dad, Ken Campbell). To be funded by crowd, staged by enthusiasts and encircled within a festival of Higher Intelligence. We've had a successful read-through of the first draft, done a talk with some scenes WATCH HERE and folk have started sending in money, despite not yet launching an official crowd-funding campaign...

Right, consider yourself initiated. And when you send in your £23 or $23 you will also become a Discordian Pope. And if you're already a Discordian Pope, then I'm excommunicating you until you cough up.

And for those of you who are Popes, here's what's happening:

All I can say is this show seems to want to happen, and bad. I'm surfing wave after wave of good will around this project, and please, keep the support coming....

So, the big news is we have the option on the rights from the Wilson and Shea estates! - Heartfelt thanks to Christina Wilson and Mike Shea for their permission to proceed with this adventure.

And we are days away from a production website. Thanks go to Dom, Gary and Bobby for this.

We have a production company: "This Book Changed my Life Productions", for projects in the genre of impossible to adapt, non-fiction life-changers. Thanks, Greg.

And we have more offers of help than you can shake a stick at. Thanks to Michelle for collating all these offers. We will be gathering one and all when the time is ripe for Britain's Got Cosmic Talent - an open-door audition event for artists, musicians, actors, mystics and ontological guerrillas who feel they simply must be involved. We agree! This event will be repeated when we get ourselves Stateside...

I've been on a crowd-funding masterclass, gleaned many good tips and have a filmmaker on board to make the campaign video. Thank you, Nic.

Thanks too to Nick and Tom for their help with spreading the word.

We have a date and venue for our next jamboree: Liverpool AirSpace 22-23rd February (follow link for some readings from Illuminatus from Liverpool actors). More talks, more scenes, more John Higgs, and songs for a Cosmic musical number or two - thanks to Richard who is on a roll. This will go up on YouTube for those who can't be there live.

And I am working on some really special rewards for the crowd-funding push (which we hope to launch in April):

an exclusive, never-before-heard interview with Shea and Wilson backstage at the NT
Ken Campbell box-set of recordings of his one-man-shows - not previously available!
The audio recording of the original Illuminatus! production
All beautifully presented in collectors' editions - oh yeah baby. Thanks to Nadia and Scott for help with this. This is subject to being able to clear all the relevant rights. Ah, bureaucracy...

And all this is thanks to the donations you have made so far - extra special thanks to Nina and Monk!

YOU ARE STILL WELCOME TO DONATE, OR YOU CAN WAIT UNTIL THE OFFICIAL CROWD-FUNDING LAUNCH - OR BOTH!

Donating before we launch the crowd-funding campaign will get you on the guest list to an exclusive after-show party - only available to the Inner Circle of early supporters.

DONATE HERE email address: cosmictriggerplay@gmail.com

I'm going to ground for January, to get this darn second draft written, so please forgive me if I'm even slower than usual in replying to your emails. And if you see me on Twitter, boot me off.

I'll send a quick note when the website is up and running, and there will be contact details on there for other members of the team to contact if you want to get involved.

One other way you might wish to help is to put together a bit of research for me while I'm writing the second draft. I'll give you a subject and you condense what you discover into an easy-digest page or two. If that appeals, then email with the subject RESEARCH HELP.

See you on the other side.

May you achieve Pure Slack this Christmas.

xx xxx Daisy


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