Hello, my name is Jonny. I’m a stand-up comedian, playwright, and I write songs as one of half of the musical-comedy group Jonny & The Baptists.
And I’ve a favour to ask of you!
A few years ago I made a show called “Every Brilliant Thing”, a play about depression and the lengths we go to for those we love. In the play the main character makes a list of one million things that make life worth living. We started by asking people to list all the brilliant things in their lives. And they responded with lots and lots of things like:
– Ice cream
– The colour yellow
– The word ‘plinth’
– The smell of fresh bread
– Films that are better than the books they are based on
– My bed
In April, I received a message from David at Trowbridge Town Hall. “We want to make something creative to celebrate Trowbridge. Do you want to help us?”
Together we’ve hatched an idea. To create an original piece of music to celebrate the town. I immediately contacted Paddy (my musical partner from Jonny and the Baptists). But all three of us are outsiders to Trowbridge, so we need your help.
I don’t really know Trowbridge. I come from a town called READING. It’s not the most loved town in the country. Even the people who live there like to joke about it. Most people only know Reading because they change trains there. It’s famous for having a statue of Queen Victoria, that she insisted faced away from the town, because she hated it so much. But I’m proud of my hometown. Our home is what we make of it, not what people say of it. And I want to celebrate the places where we’re from.
So, would you be willing to answer a few questions about Trowbridge?
What do you want to celebrate about Trowbridge? What do you secretly love that others don’t? Where’s your favourite place that few others know about? Who in Trowbridge deserves celebrating? What’s the one fact about Trowbridge you always tell outsiders? And what would you like people who don’t know the town (like me) to say about the place?
We want to make a song from your answers and further conversations we want to have. And then we want you to sing it. And we’ll film it. And share it with the world.
But first, if you’re up for answering these questions for us, we would really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
To get involved, e-mail your response to [email protected].