rustyquill

Deck'd with ceremonies

Added 2023-05-29 15:00:05 +0000 UTC

Hi folks,

It’s a really exciting week here at Rusty Towers: launch week for Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later. You may already be able to find the podcast feed available on your favourite podcast player (though some take a little longer than others, so please bear with us as we work on getting it available everywhere). Also available to listen to now is Sam Jones’ official soundtrack for the show, which you can listen to on Spotify. We are always blown away by Sam’s incredible music for our shows, and Cry Havoc is no exception. You’ll hear this suite of music throughout the twenty-episodes of the podcast.

We’ll talk more about Cry Havoc later in this newsletter, but first we have a few more important things to discuss!

Firstly, you may have seen on our social media pages, but over this weekend we were at MCM Comic Con in London! We had an absolute blast, but a highlight for us was being able to meet some Magnus fans and cosplayers at the event. Alex had a wonderful time especially, hanging out at a couple of fanmeets, chatting to people and sneaking into the back of photos. A huge thank you to everyone who was there and made our weekend so memorable – we’re blown away at how amazing the cosplays were!

(Image description: a group of people at London’s MCM Comic Con. They are standing on grass, in front of a white wall or fence. The people are cosplaying as characters from The Magnus Archives. Alexander J Newall can be seen lurking in the background.)

Next up, we’re really excited to see the first photos as people receive their Rusty Quill Gaming dice! Don’t worry if you haven’t received yours yet – shipping is very much in progress, but may take a little longer for folks depending on where they are based. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the team at Dice Dungeon, who can give you specifics about your order. If you’ve received yours, we’d love to see photos of them in their new home!

This month has been a fantastic month for the RQ Network, with us welcoming three new shows into the fold. If you’re waiting for something to listen to before starting Cry Havoc, why not show some love for these other new shows from very talented creators.

Deviser – A dark sci-fi from Harlan Guthrie, creator of Malevolent. In this series Son wakes up aboard a spaceship bound for earth in an effort to recolonize. What he discovers however will change everything he knows about his world and himself. Listen now.
Spirit Box Radio – A cosy horror podcast from creator Eira Major. Sam may not have any experience in radio hosting or in the arcane arts, but somehow he finds himself forced to take over the running of the radio show for fans of the paranormal. Listen now.
Westside Fairytales – A horror and dark-fiction storytelling podcast with stories spanning multiple genres, subjects, and locales that all take place in the same universe written and produced by Tyler Bell. Demons, desperate souls, and eldritch horrors. Strange and varied original stories that will linger long after you’ve finished listening. Listen now.

Now, back to Cry Havoc! We’ve reinstated the weekly schedule at the bottom of the newsletter, but this week we are officially launching the trailer and first two episodes of the show. Rusty Knights and Rusty Nobles will get access 48 hours ahead of the public release tomorrow: Tuesday 30thMay at 4pm BST. The public feed goes live with the first two episodes on 1st June, also at 4pm BST. The first episode, After Caesar, introduces us to our main players: Mark Anthony, the charismatic man of the people and Gaius Octavius who’s a stressed and awkward control freak. Together, they are attempting to bring the chaos of Ancient Rome under control after the death of Julius Caesar. In the first episode we’ll also meet Fulvia, Mark’s wife, Octavia, Gaius’ theatrical sister and Lepidus, the third part in the shaky “triumvirate” coalition trying to calm the chaos in Rome.

Regular readers of this newsletter will know that we always key people involved in new shows to answer a standard set of questions for an interview. We sent our usual questions to creator, David K Barnes, and he came back with this, introducing us to the themes, the inspiration and everything in between for Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later.

Hi David! What’s Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later about?

It’s an epic about power, politics, money, and murder – with lots of juicy drama and jokes!

Yes, but what happens in it?

Oh. Er.

I’m waiting.

What do you know about ancient Rome?

Not much.

That’s OK. I wrote the series to be totally accessible, so you don’t need to know anything going in. After all, we don’t all have an Ancient History degree do we? Ha ha!

Was that a brag?

Sorry.

Christ almighty.

But honestly, even if you’ve only dimly heard of Ancient Rome, you can jump into this series. And if you do know about Rome, there’s lots of geeky references and jokes you’ll enjoy too.

So, Cry Havoc is set in the Roman Empire is it?

Not quite. We’re at the end of the Roman Republic, when Rome was still run by a group of wealthy guys called the Senate. They were making decisions and taking votes. Sort of like a democracy, except the people in charge can totally ignore the poor.

… I mean ... *gestures at the world*

I know, some things never change, sadly. But then along comes a statesman and military general called Julius Caesar-

I’ve heard of him!

He was basically already in charge, but he decided he wanted to rule forever. And some senators weren’t keen on that, so they killed him. But then there’s a war and the killers get killed, and that leaves lots of big problems to deal with and nobody to deal with them.

Oh no!

And that’s where Cry Havoc starts: a great big crisis, with two guys – Mark Antony and Gaius Octavius – trying to run the country together. Really, really badly. And this is the road by which the Republic will fall apart and become the Empire.

Like Star Wars.

Exactly.

Right. Enough of the history. Describe this show to me without referring to history at all.

Imagine it’s a high school movie, and the greatest jock – loves sports, hates studying – has to team up with the greatest nerd – vice-versa – to run the school together. And neither really know what they’re doing. And they can’t stand each other. It’s like that.

Sounds fun!

I was really drawn to the idea of two people placed into a situation of responsibility, who each have crucial skills that the other lacks – and then seeing how that situation can really spiral out of control. Do they help each other? Betray each other? What happens to the world around them? It’s a story where one hangover can have enormous consequences.

It’s not just about those two guys though?

No! There’s also Gaius’s sister, Octavia. She’s meant to be a respectable Roman lady, but she drinks too much, sleeps with other women, and – most scandalous of all – she likes theatre.

Gasp!

In fact, she runs a theatre company, the Palatine Players, who stage comedies making fun of her brother. Then Octavia wants to write one herself, something topical, something really dangerous and up to date. And her desire to do that will lead to all kinds of trouble…

So Rome’s in crisis, the two leaders can’t work together, the sister’s doing topical comedy…

Also, the army hasn’t been paid and the soldiers are getting… impatient. They’re sharpening their swords, if you know what I mean. There are conspiracies afoot, and plague, and food shortages. Not to mention rumours of mysterious cultists. Oh, and pirates.

Pirates?

Ancient Roman pirates, yep.

Things can’t possibly get worse for Rome can they?

Of course they can! Because guess who turns up? Queen Cleopatra of Egypt.

I’ve definitely heard of her!

Egypt is Rome’s most important ally. What do you do when your friends are in desperate need of help? You squeeze them for everything you can get – and that’s exactly what Cleopatra’s here to do! She’s already achieved so much in a world that’s out to tear her down, and she never takes no for an answer.

Is Cleopatra a main character too, then?

Yep. Mark, Gaius, Octavia, Cleopatra – and completing our quintet, there’s Charmian. She escaped a life on the streets to become Cleopatra’s handmaiden and confidant, but she’s never forgotten where she came from. She’s good at being unnoticed, which makes her an excellent spy. But there’s also a part of her that yearns for something more…

Like what?

Well, I won’t give any spoilers – but Charmian will meet Octavia in peculiar circumstances, and it turns out that they’ve got pretty good chemistry together…

It sounds like you’ve been wanting to write this series for a long time.

I’ve had something like it in mind for years and years, though it always felt too ambitious to try it. After all, it’s a fully scripted and produced historical comedy podcast series with a huge cast. But after the success of my indie sitcom podcast Wooden Overcoats (2015-2022), which ran for four seasons, I felt much more confident in tackling the subject. And then Rusty Quill gave me the opportunity to try it out.

What was the inspiration for the form Cry Havoc finally took?

It’s been in the works since 2020 and the pandemic, when I was getting really wound up by the UK government’s failure to take COVID seriously – and then I realised I could channel all that into a series about the fall of the Roman Republic. But this couldn’t simply be an angry rant about politics, it needed to be a comedy with characters we could enjoy (whether we’re rooting for them or not), with romance and excitement and escalating stakes.

Did you work with anybody else on writing it?

Yes, we have a team of eight other writers from around the UK and the USA, all of whom brought their own perspectives, experiences, and interests to bear upon Cry Havoc. I worked with that model on Wooden Overcoats and you just get so many more ideas that way. I really enjoy it; it’s stimulating and keeps you on your toes. I give massive thanks also to our historical consultants for their invaluable expertise, particularly Dr Emma Southon whose irreverent approach to her subject is so inspiring! And then there’s our director, Amani Zardoe, without whom we simply wouldn’t have a series.

A fruitful collaboration?

Absolutely. She’s thrown herself into every step of the production from start to finish to make this series as good as it can be, and that includes the writing process. Even before the writers were assembled, I’d spent many hours with Amani discussing characters and story, really interrogating what we were doing. We talked over every draft of every script, and even when I thought I’d nailed an episode she’d suggest an extra beat or tell me where dialogue needed extra polishing to make it really sing, and I can’t remember when she was ever wrong. It’s the kind of creative partnership that makes you glad to be working: always kind, always enthusiastic, and always doing whatever they can to help you achieve your best.

Is there any area you’re especially proud of?

Getting twenty episodes of a brand new show together is more than I’ve ever done before, and I reckon they were all worth making, so I’m enormously proud of that.

Finally, why Rome? Why do you care?

I love the subject. I wrote my university dissertation about the series I, Claudius and how we view history through a contemporary lens. Ooo, and I also wrote a script where Detective Columbo winds up in Ancient Rome and investigates the murder of Emperor Domitian.

None of these words mean anything!

Fair, but the point is I’ve been really interested in Ancient Rome for ages – and especially the way it’s been represented in TV and film. Rome lends itself to these big, melodramatic epics, full of great thespians declaring things in togas and stabbing each other, while scheming mothers plot the downfall of dynasties to get their children closer to power. I love all that. But the Romans took themselves very seriously indeed, so it’s been really fun to turn around and put them in a comedy.

Has that ever been done before?

Yes, but don’t mention it.

I won’t.

You’ll be able to find Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later wherever you find podcasts on 1st June at 4pm BST. You can find out more about the show, including the full list of cast and crew on our website. If you want to support the show, you can leave a rating or a review, or buy some merch! We’ll be uploading exclusive, brand-new designs to our Redbubble, Teepublic and Crowdmade stores later this week. Here’s a small sneak peek of a gorgeous portrait of Queen Cleopatra, designed by April Sumner.

(Image description: A cropped picture of a hand-drawn portrait of Cleopatra, a character in Cry Havoc: Ask Questions later. This sneak-preview cropped image shows a woman with long dark curly hair, looking off to the right of the image. She is wearing an ornate headpiece and earring. The portrait is drawn using a single dark brown colour).

Finally, Rusty Nobles, you are cordially invited to celebrate the launch of Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later with the cast and crew of the show, plus other Rusty Quill folks, at 5pm BST on Friday 2nd June! As with our previous events, we’ll be sharing a link to the Gather space on the day, so keep an eye out on Friday for that.

Here is our full schedule for this week: