EDINBURGH 2018: Guest Blog - Danyah Miller

Danyah Miller guest blogs for BroadwayWorld ahead of taking Kika's Birthday to the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

During a Q&A at the end of one of my performances of Kika's Birthday at Little Angel Theatre in April this year I was asked 'How long did it take you to make this show?'.

I explained that, because it was created for two different spaces (one in the round and the other 'end on') the rehearsal process had taken five weeks, including 10 days' research and development rehearsals and two technical and dress rehearsals, one for each of the theatres.

This process had been dived into four separate periods, spanning back 10 months. The audience gasped a little at how long it had taken to get the show 'from page to stage'. In my mind I flicked back to the process, remembering all the fun and the challenges we enjoyed in creating this show.

Our first development rehearsals were in July 2017. Samantha (director) and I were joined by Alison (designer), Jenni (co-devising actor) and Matt (stage manager). This rehearsal helped us to come up with the overall concept for the show, what our 'rules' would be.

Together we played with a variety of provocations, but one thing we were certain about from the start was that during the show I would bake a cake. A small oven was purchased and I began to mix ingredients whilst improvising around the story of these tiny mice, preparing for Kika's birthday.

We agreed that everything on the stage should come from one of two worlds: that of the kitchen and that of a party. Alison brought in utensils, Jenni taught me some simple balloon modelling.

This three-day rehearsal was followed two months later by a week of play. We sketched out the arc and world of Kika, played games and improvised with all the wonderful props that Alison had been busy making or collecting in the gap between our rehearsals.

It was December before we gathered again for two weeks, followed immediately by our technical, dress rehearsals and opening performance at Orange Tree Theatre immediately prior to Christmas. The show was wonderfully received by critics and audiences alike.

As I travelled home after that April Q&A session, the question remained in my mind. I contemplated the timescale more closely. I realised that this show, as with others that I have created, from the first idea to first performance took considerably longer and was more complex.

In 2001, John's and my baby daughter was born. Just a year later, we moved to Paris where I trained at the famous Lecoq school. I shared many stories with Sofie.

Back in London in 2003, Sofie and I spotted a tiny mouse creeping cautiously up our wisteria bush and nibbling seeds from our bird feeder. Sofie said that this little mouse was French - bien sur! The first Kika story was born.

It grew and changed later that year after I attended an inspiring workshop about celebrating birthdays. I introduced many of those ideas into our own family traditions, including the birthday path and special birthday breakfast. Birthdays remain amongst Sofie's most favourite and cherished days.

The story was told before Sofie's birthday each year but remained between the two of us until John suggested that he turn it into verse and find a way to publish it, so that we could share these magical birthday secrets with others. In 2012 we self-published the poem with enchanting illustrations by Fiona Macpherson, a talented artist friend of mine from my school days.

In 2014 Samantha, who was at that time was working at the Almeida Theatre, had seen me in I Believe in Unicorns by Michael Morpurgo. As a result she'd invited me to run a storytelling workshop for their applied theatre students. We agreed that at some point it would be good to work further together.

Sam and I kept in contact and when she moved to Little Angel Theatre as artistic director we again promised to work together. On 1 February 2017, we decided that Kika's Birthday was the perfect show for this collaboration.

I smiled, the true gestation for this story, this show, this collaboration was nearer 16 years than 10 months..... Well, you should never rush a good thing, should you!

Timings and ticket information for Kika's Birthday are available on the edfringe website.