PINEAPPLE PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL
Robin has a long-running association with Pineapple Performing Arts School (PPAS), the award-winning Performing arts school whose home is at the legendary Pineapple Dance Studios in London's Covent Garden. As Drama Course co-ordinator for the school, Robin is very involved in the continuing development and delivery of drama training at the school, where the
goal is to give anyone who comes through the door a greater confidence
and technical skill set to take back into their performances, or into their working or social environments.
Over the years Robin has written and directed numerous sketches, links and monlogues for the school's regular termly showcase performances, as well as some through-narrative scripts specailly written to link dances and songs into a simple story. These pieces have been performed at London Theatres including the Shaw Theatre, the Mermaid, the Bloomsbury, the Bridewell, the New Players, Stratford Circus and the Leicester Square Theatre.
"PCUK - A Mid$ummer Night's Remix" - Robin's modern blank verse urban reworking of Shakespeare - proved so popular that after several successful showings, P.P.A.S. decided to make the show their first foray into the competitive frenzy of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Directed by Robin, with blank verse in a modern street idiom, specially written raps and exuberant street-dance, the show was an instant hit with Edinburgh audiences and was selling out by the end of it's single week stay.
Go to the PCUK page....here or click here for a link to the show's storyline told via Robert Day's superb production photos and extracts from the script.
YAP - BREAKIN' OUT!
(Big Dance, 2006)
Most of the Y@P team are now in full time work as choreographers, teachers and performers.
AFTER SEEING Y@P (Youth at Pineapple) wow audiences at numerous events, The organisers of the 2006
London BIG DANCE initiative offered the group a three-night run at the then brand-new UNICORN THEATRE,
near Tower Bridge. The challenge was to come up with a format that
would allow the dancers - outstanding young performers from the school with talent not only in
street-dance, but also singing and acting - time to recover between one high-energy dance sequence and the next. The solution Robin came
up with was to work all the group's dances and numbers into a series of
linked scenes depicting life in a prison. In Breakin' out, the prisoners at an unnamed correctional facility tell their
stories, write letters home, deal
with life on the inside and share dreams and memories of life on the
outside. Sometimes poignant, occasionally spooky, often very funny, and
with songs and exuberant Street Dance, popping and locking, the show
was a huge success - so much so that a further performance was requested
and organised at the BUTTS THEATRE, COVENTRY a few months later. Click here to read an extract....
VIVA LAS VEGAS!
(a slighty dicey love story)
Another through-narrative show - this time for an end of year performance by the whole school. The storyline involved Casey and Troy, a slightly naive couple who have taken their meagre savings to Vegas to get married, but not - emphatically not - to get drawn into the gambling or the nightlife. Troy's first plan is to get the diamond ring he always wanted Casey to have, but could never afford - but a misunderstanding over exactly what he means by asking where he can buy a "rock" leads to an altercation with some of Vegas' less savoury characters, and he is swindled out of most of the money. When he threatens to gamble the remaining cash to try and recoup his losses, the couple fall out, and storm off in opposite directions. Casey and Troy each follow their own odyssey through the back streets and bars of Sin City, learning about themselves along the way. Finally they come together again. but will Troy still risk losing Casey on a last throw of the dice?
Below are titles and brief descriptions of some of Robin's other writings for PPAS. For further details, if you are interested in looking at scripts, or if you would be interested in commissioning Robin, please contact him on robinkingslanduk@gmail.com
MONOLOGUES
Flight Attendant
Aisha
Since leaving school, Aisha has worked in her local convenience store - stacking shelves, stock-taking...The offer of a place on a management incentive scheme has the unexpected effect of making Aisha do a little “stock-taking” of her own. She realises that she has dreams and aspirations beyond the aisles of Premiere Stores. So she marches up to the tannoy microphone and makes a personal customer announcement...
"I'm not slaggin' off this store - it's just not for me. I want to do more with my life, you get me? I want to... learn to water skate, and... see the sun set behind the pyramids and... and....dive off them rocks in that gaffe in Spain or wherever - you know that... Catupulto... I want to.. Live a bit before I die.... you get me?"
SKETCHES
Vic and Dor
Vic and Dor have won an around the world cruise. Vic tells us all the reasons why he - and of course Dor will have no truck with foreign climes, cultures, foods or people. Meanwhile, behind the oblivious Vic, Dor is silently packing her suitcase...
"..It's not that I’ve got anything against abroad. I’m sure it’s lovely if you like that sort of thing. We just don’t see what’s to be gained by going there. I mean, the Notre Dame’s a lovely castle, but we don’t need to visit it. Her sister went last Easter and brought us back a plastic one that we can look at whenever we like. And it’s got a thermometer on, and it plays that “Alfie Maria” – and the real one won’t do that, will it, Dor? No!"
Mafia World
Organised crime is looking for legitimate business opportunities, and they've noticed how well Disney have done with theme parks based on their back catalogue. So, Tony and Luigi are here to encourage you to visit the brand-new "Mafia World". It's an introductory offer you can't refuse!
Check in
When asked at the airport if they packed their bags themselves, the two sweet little old ladies are sure they did. But then, little details come back to them... That nice Mr. Esco-something in the white suit, who asked them to carry his extra talcum powder samples, and said something about donkeys.. or was it mules....? The young officer gets increasingly alarmed... but the two old ladies have one final surprise in store...
Entertainment
When a couple survive the sinking of their cruise ship and wash up on a desert island, they know the priorities are to find food and shelter. But then another survivor appears... Gavin, the ship's entertainment rep, who just has to make a game out of everything!
LINKS & INFO
Sometimes all that's needed is a little time while groups change over. Sometimes a little more is required. - some material to give the show a little variety, or a context to the theme.....
A Guide to the 1980's
One Pineapple show was a compilation of dances and songs from the nineteen eighties. To accompany and link the sections, Robin produced a series of "Guides" to what went on in that decade, accompanied by a powerpoint presentaion for each subject, often using the juxtaposition of image and words to comic effect. Various subjects were covered, including TV, Inventions, music... and news. Click here to see a sample of one of Robin's witty run-downs of the highlights of the eighties.
the Sound of Musicals
This show was composed of sequences - some scenes some dances, some songs - from popular movies that either began life as - or went o to become - stage hits. The layout of the theatre and size of cast necessitated some "time-filling" as groups made their way from far-flung changing areas. Once again, Robin wrote voiceover introductions, accompanied by power-point images, telling the stories of the original shows and how they made it to the screen. These included some surprising facts. For example, Click here to see how Dirty Dancing made it to the screen.