Ravi Thornton's truly multimedia project Hoax is both a musical and a graphic novel. Here I take a look at the book and the amazing array of graphic talent contained within it. Available to buy from http://www.ziggyswish.com

Comment by Alegna Namrog:

What a brilliant description of not only the Hoax musical and graphic novel, but also the publishing venture of Ziggy's Wish and the story behind Hoax. I knew Rob and feel honoured to have known him since he was very small, and before his illness. The brilliant and moving musical, and the graphic novel are a tribute to his poetry and his struggle through the illness, but also a testament to the bond shared with his only sister Ravi. Thank you to all the artists involved and thank you William.

[Watch the original video here.]

Goodness! Documenting a project's impact can be just as demanding as actually building and running it! But it's important. Really important. Especially with a project like HOAX. And I've been SO THRILLED at the responses we've had to the project so far.

Please 1) check them out here http://ravithornton.weebly.com/reviews--responses.html;
2) keep them coming!, and;
3) help us now add true weight and longevity to the project by supporting, backing, LIKING and FOLLOWING Ziggy's Wish on Facebook and Twitter, as we try very hard to push HOAX's beautiful story far and wide.

My heartfelt thanks go to Conori Blue and Naomi Bridges, who are pouring their time, love and energy into getting Ziggy's Wish off the ground. It'd be really great if you could drop them a line to say hi :)

HOAX is an ambitious project – the first part is a stage play which continues into a graphic novel, Psychosis Blues, which feeds into research at the University of Nottingham. And whilst it might be viewed as having disturbing subject matter, HOAX looks set to open up debate on mental health issues across a variety of mediums.

Acclaimed cross-media author Ravi Thornton explained in the Q&A following last night’s performance that she is interested in audience psychology and despite the intense personal nature of the story she’s brought to the Royal Exchange Studio, she must be objective when crafting it, she also cited that space is a must, both in terms of time and how to tell a particular story.

My Lonely Heart concentrates on the relationship between Rob (Tachia Newall) and Helen (Olivia Sweeney), whom Rob meets one night. Helen awakens Rob’s spirit, and as an aspiring poet, he begins to find words that have previously eluded him. But their relationship and dependence on each other soon begins to become destructive, and Rob’s schizophrenia begins to take hold of him.

At times, My Lonely Heart feels distinctly ethereal, the smoke, mist and sympathetic lighting effects give a dreamlike quality to the first half. Once Rob’s schizophrenia takes hold in the second half, this gives way to a harsher, metallic, grating existence with one particular sequence a vortex of howling emotions.

Rob and Helen’s relationship is sensitively handled. Newall and Sweeney have a tangible chemistry with each other, and the physical intimacy of their relationship is magically realised by Director Benji Reid. The use of simple physical motions and interactions gives a freedom and intimacy to their relationship that is breathtaking.

The staging has echoes of the graphic novel. Lighting effects cast shapes akin to the panels of a comic on the stage, yet also indicate something of the prison Rob finds himself in – or perhaps Helen finds herself trapped outside of. This imagery also extends to some sequences where imagery is projected onto, or around, the actors. This allows for some spellbinding sequences.

All of this is set to Minute Taker’s music which ticks and oozes its way through the production. From romantic to deadly, Minute Taker’s music, plus the vocal talents of Newall and Sweeney create a hypnotic atmosphere. But importantly, the music gives a voice back to Rob, and allow his poems to come alive. Some might say that Rob is a victim of schizophrenia, but the fight between him and those around him to give him some stability is painfully clear.

Success in portraying something as debilitating as schizophrenia can be subjective. Many might expect voices in the head, or irrational behaviour, and yes, there is some of this contained within. But the genius decision to transplant “the condition” to stage as a silent, always watching, character really makes the point clear. Stephen Myott-Meadows initially spends much of the first half patiently waiting for the trigger for his character to come alive. When he does, he moves with mechanical, unstoppable glee, the ‘condition’ coming alive. And as he tinkers and plays with Rob, it’s done in a creepily caring and nurturing way. Not the screaming, howling portrayal of schizophrenia you might have otherwise expected.

My Lonely Heart might be arguably one of the hardest things I’ve ever watched. It’s a big ask to watch an actor deconstruct themselves on stage – more so when you realise that this is a true story. Obviously it is a fictionalised version of this story, but it gives a voice to those who do not have one. In pursuing Rob’s dream of having his poetry published, Thornton has delivered something far more important – a lasting legacy for Rob.

I can’t really convey how important I believe this project to be, spellbinding in its execution, HOAX is not an easy watch, but it is a unique combination of artistic talent giving voice to important, and rarely discussed issues in the context of a compelling narrative. These short words cannot convey what a beautiful delight My Lonely Heart is, and it is abundantly clear that all concerned are invested in producing not only a compelling narrative, but a lasting legacy for an extraordinary man.

HOAX My Lonely Heart runs until 7 June at the Royal Exchange Studio. HOAX Psychosis Blues is available from Ziggy’s Wish with proceeds going to mental health charities.

[Read the original review here.]

"It was a fantastic day in Manchester on Saturday, starting off at Travelling Man selling books pre-launch and doing some signing. Out of the ten total illustrators there were four of us on the day, Julian Hanshaw, Hannah Berry, Ian Jones and myself, plus writer/creator/all-round-supertalent Ravi Thornton. I admit, I felt like maybe I was in some sort of surreal dream sat next to such talented and lovely people, but thankfully nerves only got the better of me a couple of times (and hopefully no one noticed!!). The feedback from people who'd already seen the stage show was fantastic, making it all the more exciting for the final run that night.

"Back at the Royal Exchange Theatre for the final show of HOAX My Lonely Heart; the performance was incredibly moving, with Tachia Newell and Olivia Sweeney portraying Rob and Helen. The live music soundtrack from https://soundcloud.com/minutetaker Minute Taker from the side of the stage was a beautiful addition, and the looming presence of Rob's illness (played by Stephen Myott-Meadows) gave a really sinister feel. The feeling of watching someone mentally unravel in front of my eyes is something I won't be forgetting for a while. Read the 4* review here! Following the stage show we all piled into Sandinista Bar's lower floor for the after-party and further signings. And, after a great speech from Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier, and a heartfelt, moving speech from Ravi we all settled in for a night of good company.

"So there we are! HOAX Psychosis Blues is published and available for purchase direct from Ziggy's Wish. It's on a limited run of 1000 First Edition copies all signed and numbered by the author, and sales from book go towards supporting mental health charities."

"So what have I learnt? HOAX as a whole has taught me many things, one of which being caffeine abuse, but in relation to Saturday I have learnt a very important lesson: People will ask in future "Can you draw something too!" in a book when signing, and I really, really need to think of something to fallback on. Needless to say there are a couple of awfully drawn butterflies in people's books due to my lack of preparation and inability to focus under direct pressure. Oops! There is still lots to learn.
For now, that's it!"

[Visit Rozi's blog here.]

Hoax My Lonely Heart is a cross-media project comprising of a dark new musical and accompanied by a graphic novel which continues from where the musical ends. The writer Ravi Thornton tells the story of her brother Rob and his battle with schizophrenia, using Rob’s own words and the imagery of his poetry. The brutal truth of the place that the writing stems from, is what makes Hoax so haunting and powerful.

The role of Rob is played by Tachia Newell and he is a gripping actor, compelling you to watch him as he shuffles across the space, as well as proving to be strong and commanding in his physical partner-work with Olivia Sweeney as Helen. The plot seemingly follows a love story, an unlikely pairing of poet/kitchen porter and uptown girl/art student who are drawn to the darkness and passion of each other, and yet struggle to maintain their relationship as Rob’s illness advances.

The love story doesn’t feel predictable though because it feels messy and real, their relationship is rooted in our reality as they sing about the grime of Manchester and tobacco-stained fingers. Newell has a gorgeous soulful voice which is not typically musical theatre and, because of that, there is something more brutally honest and raw about his portrayal. Olivia Sweeney has the same natural honesty to her voice, although several of the songs seem too low in pitch for her which can make it difficult to determine the words or emotion she is trying to convey. However, her performance in a pastiche of ‘hush little baby, don’t say a word’ was heart-wrenching in its simplicity of delivery. It truly felt like ‘real’ people singing about their pain.

A third character of The Animator/The Illness exists in the form of Stephen Myott-Meadows, a grim shadow haunting the positivity at the beginning of the couple’s relationship. The Animator grows bolder in his actions, manipulating Rob’s surroundings and manipulating his limbs as the illness takes hold. Yet, The Animator appeared apologetic and subservient in his physicality which was a very interesting decision, making his presence feel less malevolent but a constant anomaly to proceedings nonetheless. It is therefore a shame that sometimes this role was used as a stage manager to push the furniture on and off stage, disrupting the flow of the character.

Benji Reid has cleverly created a sparse production, the studio space littered with a couple of chairs, a bed and the live music of MinuteTaker performed at the side. The projection of comic-book outlines onto the floor, delineating the set, cleverly links this piece of theatre with the subsequent graphic novel. His direction has created moments of delicacy and beauty, contrasted with moments of haunting brutality i.e. when Rob eats his own poetry in frustration. The physical theatre moments are used to elaborate on the emotions of the moment and feel unforced in their direction, particularly the beautiful imagery of the couple slow-motion running on an upright bed to depict the fumbling rush of sex together.

Finally, the credit of this show must go to the writing, whether that credit lies with Ravi Thornton or her brother. The dark imagery, the violence of his poetry combining with its beauty felt like listening to Sarah Kane for the first time. The words take you to a place of beauty in the darkness, and that is successfully recreated in the content and performance of this new musical.

Runs until 7th June 2014

[Read the original review here.]

The latest project from cross-media script writer Ravi Thornton is a musical and accompanying graphic novel based on a poem called ‘Hoax’ written by her brother Rob as he was suffering from schizophrenia.

The musical called Hoax: My Lonely Heart is running in The Studio at the Manchester Exchange Theatre this week and looks at events leading up to Rob’s diagnosis.

The accompanying book, Hoax: Psychosis Blues, looks at the nine years post-diagnosis and features nine of Rob’s poems, each representing an other-worldly section, enfolded within a present-day narrative.

We love Ravi’s work, and after an exclusive chat with her earlier this week, here are five reasons we’re really excited about what she’s doing with Hoax…

[1] The nature of the media and why she chose them

“When I was looking back over his [Robs'] work I was reminded of how his particular illness manifested itself. Sometimes it was so immediate and so in your face and so, sort of, alarming and other times it was just so utterly impassive and distant. Or internalised as opposed to externalised; extremes, really. I wanted to kind of convey both of those aspects and then I decided right, so I can see how sequential art, graphic novel in this case, would work for the more internalised part. It’s a quieter, not less powerful, but a quieter way of telling that part of the story. So you have that space and you have that time to take it in at your own pace. Whereas stage was always going to be a good idea for doing something that was more external and more immediate.”

[2] How the process relates back to the story

Philippines-based artist Leonardo M. Giron (AKA “Glen”) illustrated the real-world narrative and was the only artist to receive the full script and know what everybody else was doing. The other artists only got the script for their part of the story and the small part of the real-world script that led into their section.

“They knew context but they didn’t know what was happening either side. And that was really quite important to me with this project because I wanted them to have that sense that they didn’t know what was going on and that there was an isolation in what they were doing because that’s part of schizophrenia. Everything that went into making the decisions behind it, and the musical as well, are all multi layered and they all work back to the nature of the story itself.”

[3] The incredible range of artists used and her commitment to featuring new creatives

“I tend to very much work for the individual or individuals that I’m writing for, I like to research them as much as I can and write to their strengths, but I also like to push them out of their comfort zones […] There were some artists who weren’t comic artists, who were fine artists, and I knew I wanted to bring them on board.”

Some of the artists she knew through her publisher, Jonathan Cape, and others she knew from the creative community. Alongside big names in the comics world such as Bryan Talbot, Rian Hughes and Hannah Berry are three emerging artists.

Ravi Thornton also feels strongly about empowering women in the industry:

“I knew Rhiana Jade and Ian Jones from other projects but Rozi Hathaway I didn’t know at all. It was just really important to me that I bring somebody into the project who was an unknown, the fact that it’s a female is a bonus. If I’d found the right work and it wasn’t a female obviously I’d go with the right work to serve the story but it happened that it was Rozi and she’s great.”

[4] Local collaboration

Boltonian Ravi Thornton grew up underneath the sunny skies of the North West before moving around and living in London for a while. She moved back to the area a few years ago and is now settled here.

As she was thinking about the Hoax project, Manchester-based director, Benji Reid, a fan of her work, got in touch about the possibility of collaborating.

Thornton was keen on local collaboration and showed him the ‘Hoax’ poem which became a starting point for the staged part of the project. She reckons “Manchester has a really supportive arts community,” and we agree!

[5] The story is about the man with the illness, not the illness itself

“It’s a very honest project but it’s still fictionalised and it was really important to me that what this project did was tell a story of a young man who has schizophrenia and that the story was built on his humanity rather than the illness […] I think, I hope that everybody who reads this will feel it in some way, whether they have any experience of the situation or situations they [the characters] are in or not and that’s because it’s a story and stories can affect anybody.”

Thornton’s work certainly is affecting and the poems in Hoax: Psychosis Blues open a window into Rob’s world.

“I think what this story does is, it takes these very slight moments of reality and then you have these poems which are from my brother’s mind at the time so it’s not necessarily about the illness it’s about it’s him in the midst of that illness. I think the difference is because it’s not a story that I wrote from beginning to end it’s a framework built around those pictures of his mind during those years so it’s a bit different in that way. It’s not me saying ‘Here’s a mental illness piece,’ it’s just ‘Here’s his life,’ and you can just see this man and what he was thinking as he went through that life and I think that’s what makes it really effective.”

Hoax: My Lonely Heart has sold out but you can order her book here and there is a book launch at Sandista Cantina Bar, Old Bank Street, Manchester from 10.30pm til late on Saturday 7th June.

Profits from sales of Hoax: Psychosis Blues through Ziggy’s Wish go towards mental health charities.

Ravi Thornton tweets @ravithornton and you can also find out more about her other award-winning work at her website.

[Read the original article here.]

Mental health issues tend to be an area of society commonly ignored by popular culture. Books, television programmes and films tend to skirt around portraying mental health problems, and when they do tackle them, it can often be a sanitised or unreal experience that follows.

Comics have fared better for their portrayal of mental health problems – self-publishing allows many creators to tell their stories their way, on matter how harrowing or stark their story may be. Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales or Jason Gilmore and Paul Peterson’s The Next Day are two such acclaimed examples.

Now Ravi Thornton’s HOAX enters the fray. Thornton has previously crafted cross-media experiences with her first graphic novel, The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, winner of the Broken Frontier Best Debut in 2012 and later nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Here, Thornton’s latest cross-media experience attempts to answer one question: Can a potent chemistry of poetry, comics and performance finally be the perfect way to describe the realities of schizophrenia?

The HOAX project has been split into two main strands, a stage play premiering this week at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, HOAX: My Lonely Heart and the graphic novel reviewed here, HOAX: Psychosis Blues. The starting point for the project was a poem written by Thornton’s younger brother Roabbi, or Rob as he was known, who committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 31 after a long battle with schizophrenia.

It is this battle and Rob’s poetry that form the spine for the graphic novel and play. His poetry is lyrical, sometimes frightening, yet sometimes hopeful. The jumbled language and stark phrases embody and give voice to his struggle and thoughts. Opening with Thornton’s visit to her brother as he is institutionalised, it follows their relationship over the next nine years, dipping in and out of the life through a series of brief interludes. Thornton’s prose together with Leonardo M. Giron’s artwork produce these snapshots into a topsy-turvy world where you never quite know if this is going to be a good day or a bad day for Rob and those around him.

Interspersed with this are Rob’s poems, illustrated by many up and coming as well as famous illustrators including Bryan Talbot, Hannah Berry, Ian Jones and Rian Hughes amongst others.

Rob’s poetry can be an assault on your senses when combined with the often surreal and different styles of artwork. The range of emotions and sea of imagery contained within the words and illustrations threaten to overwhelm. But this is the whole point – the disorder and contrast of styles conveys the kaleidoscopic nightmare and reality of schizophrenia to those of us who cannot understand what living with the condition is like.

Yet the artists who illustrate these poems bring their voices to them as well. Mark Stafford’s exaggerated and horrific illustrations accompanying ‘Roach Psychiatry’ characterise the blank-masked psychiatrists with a grotesque look as Rob asks “Why play such games with my reality?” whilst Karrie Fransman’s art for ‘A Desolate Spot’ presents a more fragile and withdrawn Rob as he desperately fights against his madness. Fransman’s simplistic artwork balances out Rob’s intense ‘warning’ that he urgently repeats. Rozi Hathaway’s art for ‘A Load Lifted’ provides a powerful and uplifted coda to the main narrative.

Heartbreakingly, just as you start to get an insight into the man and the condition, he’s gone. The last couple of sequences present a freer and happier Rob, unleashed from the chains of his condition. Despite you know that Rob commits suicide at the outset, the concluding scenes of Psychosis Blues are poignant and touching and allow the narrative space to consider the impact beyond a singular act to encompass the thoughts and feelings of those around. In one shocking comment, it becomes clear that Rob’s family were denied the chance to say goodbye in person and highlights feelings of loss, anger and grief.

What is so rewarding about this piece is that Rob’s legacy has lived on. He had a wish to see his work in print and that wish has been delivered in such a unique and emotive way that ensures his legacy is not only one of appreciation of his work, but opens and extends the debate about mental health issues.

HOAX is an extraordinarily powerful and brave narrative for Thornton to have produced and make sure was told. But it is also a beautifully crafted and very real story that commands your attention. It is also a brutal and raw story, there’s no denying, but it is one that gives hope. There is support for sufferers of mental health issues, that despite what they may think there is always a way for their voice to be heard. As Rob’s words tumble onto paper, many sufferers of mental health problems have commented that this is exactly how they feel. For those of us who cannot emphasise, we get a valuable window in the dehabilitating effect of such issues.

There is no sugar coating of events here, everything oozes from the page in its raw honesty. Exhaustively powerful, it is set to be a defining story for those not only suffering from mental health issues, or their support network, but also for those ignorant of them as well. HOAX: Psychosis Blues is certainly one of the best graphic novels I’ve read this year, and is a story deserving of your attention.

HOAX: Psychosis Blues is available now from Ziggy's Wish. Proceeds from sales will help to support mental health charities. There is a signing event at Manchester's Travelling Man this Saturday, 7 June at 3pm and the stage show HOAX: My Lonely Heart continues at Manchester's Royal Exchange until Saturday 7 June.

[Read the original review here.]

An AMAZING opening night last night for HOAX My Lonely Heart! A
great audience, absolutely packed out, and phenomenal performances from cast Olivia Sweeney, Tachia Newall and Stephen Myott-Meadows, as well as composer Minute Taker. So proud!

All those lucky enough to have a ticket for this COMPLETELY SOLD OUT RUN, you're in for a real treat.

In 2012 cross-media creator Ravi Thornton made an immediate impact on the world of comics with the dark and layered fantasy The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, published by Jonathan Cape. Written by Thornton, and illustrated by Andy Hixon, that allegorical offering was voted Broken Frontier’s Best Debut Graphic Novel in our 2012 annual BF Awards. 

Thornton’s work combines performance with the printed page, allowing her narratives to embrace the diverse storytelling potential inherent in different media. Last month I reviewed her latest graphic novel HOAX Psychosis Blues here – one strand of her current HOAX project alongside the musical HOAX My Lonely Heart, opening tonight at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. 

HOAX Psychosis Blues has its origins in one of a number of poems written by her brother Rob (often in collaboration with Thornton) whose posthumous body of work detailing his life in the grip of schizophrenia is both the foundation the book is built on and the emotional territory it explores. With contributions by comics talents like Bryan Talbot, Hannah Berry, Rian Hughes, Karrie Fransman and Mark Stafford it acts as both a standalone entity in its own right and a companion piece to the stage show.

Broken Frontier caught up with Ravi to talk about both strands of HOAX, reactions to Brin & Bent two years on, the power of the graphic memoir, and the cross-media creative experience…

BROKEN FRONTIER: For those who may be discovering your work for the first time through this interview could you give us a little background on Ravi Thornton and your journey into comics to date? 

RAVI THORNTON: Actually, I can’t profess to being a long-time comics fan or aficionado of any kind. My real love was always illustrated prose – the work of Charles Vess, Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley, for example. Then one day I saw my brother’s copy of Slaine The Horned God Volume 1. I was really moved by Simon Bisley’s artwork, and I guess that changed my perception of comics quite profoundly. Not long afterwards, my brother gave me a copy of Audrey Niffeneger’s The Three Incestuous Sisters, and that reaffirmed my growing suspicion that there was much more to the medium of comics than I had thought.

Since then I’ve realised the great breadth and depth of comics and comics arts styles, and gained huge respect for and enjoyment from them. Most of all I love it when it when the two (sequential art and illustrated prose) cross over, and I suppose that’s why I create my graphic novels in the way that I do. About my background? Well I’ve been writing prose for several years, and have always been a highly visual writer, but it was the Niffeneger moment that made me think about storytelling with images as well as words. I had the basis of a text that I thought would work well in this way, called The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. However, not being an illustrator myself meant bringing in a collaborator, which in turn meant writing a script for them to follow. I tried it. It worked. And I’ve been writing cross-media scripts ever since.

BF: We spoke in some depth a couple of years ago at Broken Frontier about Brin & Bent and that cross-media collaborative process with illustrator Andy Hixon and composer Othon who provided the graphic novel’s soundtrack. Given the challenging nature of its narrative, which aspects of both the reactions to the book and the audience’s perceptions of it have most intrigued you? 

THORNTON: I think I was most intrigued at how literally the book was read given its very surreal appearance. Perhaps that’s a naïve thing for to say, because the use of a child as metaphor for vulnerability was always going to be controversial in the sexual context of this tale. I just never thought of it that way when I was writing it.

Of course I had to think about that when Cape’s printers refused to print the book on the grounds of it not only promoting but condoning paedophilia; hence the addition of the foreword revealing that the origins of the story were autobiographical. But in some ways the response to that only intrigued me more. I guess the assumption was that I was a victim of child abuse (whereas actually the book is about a rape I suffered as an adult); yet instead of eliciting a supportive response, that assumption only seemed to disturb the audience more. Perhaps this says something about how we deal with victims of child abuse as a society?

The cover and images from The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone, published by Jonathan Cape

It was only after I went public with the actual origins of the story, that the response to the book became much more sympathetic. I even tested the theory when the US edition came out, by making the foreword more explicit (‘I was twenty-one: he was brutal.’). Sure enough, where previous reviews had been dominated by such words as ‘disturbing’, ‘bizarre’, ‘fucked up’, now we had ‘wrenching’, ‘cathartic’ and most interestingly ‘heart’ instead.

The critical response to Brin & Bent has been amazing. It’s been nominated for and won awards. It’s even being taught, complete with soundtrack, on the second year English Literature syllablus at The University of Nottingham. And it’s very gratifying to hear that, now that the origins of the story are clear, the book is helping to empower a number of its readers. But I think it’s the audiences perceptions of, and reactions to, the storytelling anchors – or lack of  storytelling anchors – that has really intrigued me the most.

BF: I think that’s actually a very interesting point in that it opens up questions about the complexities of the author/audience relationship. Although it was obvious when I first read Brin & Bent that there was a dark truth at its core it still felt that I was also being invited to find my own meaning from the imagery and symbolism of the book, and that was a vital part of the experience. In what circumstances do you feel a narrative with an oblique or representational style works most effectively to convey your message and when is a more direct storytelling approach appropriate to the themes of the material?

THORNTON: I’m not sure I have a rule on themes, as such. I guess it’s a more intuitive process than that. Or rather, I just seem to follow what the story demands.

Having said that, I suppose those demands then conform to my natural writing style, which is quite vivid, but also quietly restrained. So if a story demands a brutal grotesquery, because it was based on such a brutal and grotesque act as rape, then I naturally lean towards conveying that through metaphor, because I’m not really interested in shouting to make my point heard, I’d much rather the audience have to come close.

But with HOAX Psychosis Blues, for example, although the condition of schizophrenia is no less monstrous, the story is actually about the man beneath it, which means, as the author, I have to build intimacy; and I find the best way to do that is to be honest and accessible with human emotions. Hence the simple real-world scenes in Psychosis Blues, to give us our empathetic core.

Highly atmospheric artwork from Mark Stafford in HOAX Psychosis Blues

It always comes down to what will best serve the story being told. As a third example, I’ve recently started working on another project that takes the common occurrence of a break up but sets it within a geological and mythological vastness. Why? Because the story is one of questions and searching, which is the story of all break ups everywhere, the world over. In this case the idea is not to present an immediate intimacy, but allow the audience to find that intimacy as they journey through the story by ultimately arriving at this universal human truth.

Hmm. Reading this back, maybe I do have rules!

BF: HOAX Psychosis Blues and HOAX My Lonely Heart are the two main strands of your current cross-media project. I reviewed HOAX Psychosis Blues here at Broken Frontier recently but could you give us the background to HOAX in your own words and what you’re hoping to achieve with your Ziggy’s Wish publishing endeavour?

THORNTON: HOAX tells the story of my brother, Rob, who committed suicide in 2008 aged 31 after a long battle with schizophrenia. The musical HOAX My Lonely Heart unfolds a painful love story in the six months pre Rob’s diagnosis as schizophrenic, whilst the graphic novel HOAX Psychosis Blues charts his life over the nine years post diagnosis through to his death. Both pieces stem from a single one of my brother’s poems titled ‘HOAX’.

The manifestations of Rob’s illness were at once so immediate and yet so distant that I was looking for a way to explore both of these extremes. I chose stage, because of its intensity, as the medium to explore the former; and sequential art, which can revisited time and again, and explored as lightly or as a deeply as the audience wishes, as the medium to explore the latter.

These choices were made very carefully. Although this story is about a man and his humanity, it is set within the context of mental health: a very sensitive subject that people need to be able to enter into at an emotional volume to suit themselves. Thus the musical slams the issue on the table, whilst the graphic novel presents the space around the table in which to reflect. Combined, this presents a very powerful experience – though the two parts also work as standalone pieces.

Interior pages with visualisations of Rob’s poetry from Rhiana Jade, Hannah Berry and Julian Hanshaw

I set up Ziggy’s Wish so that I could raise money for charity through my storytelling – something that’s difficult to do when your work goes through mainstream publishers. I’m not looking to become a global powerhouse, just to create and sell special limited editions of certain stories so that I can give a decent percentage of profits made from those stories to charities that relate to them in some way. With HOAX Psychosis Blues, it is mental health charities that Ziggy’s Wish will support. Other projects will support different charities, like upcoming Scamp and Zoom, for example, which is a picture-book about a greyhound, and will support animal charities with its sales.

BF: Returning to that sense of intimacy between creator and audience again for a moment, the artists you chose to interpret Rob’s poems seem to have been very carefully curated to match subject matter with illustrative style. Did you have creators in mind from the outset as appropriate fits for the individual themes of each featured piece of Rob’s work? How aware of the overarching narrative structure of the book were the collaborators in terms of what they were all working on? 

THORNTON: I had an idea of some of the creators I wanted to work with (variable 1), and also an idea of the storyline and its structure (variable 2). I then started the process of shortlisting from the several hundreds of my brother’s poems (variable 3), to find those that would firstly support the storyline, and secondly suit the creators’ individual styles. It was a long process, and I had to make changes to all three variables along the way in order to finally end up with my perfect storytelling matches. Fortunately, all but one of those matches I was able to implement, largely due to the good graces of the creators involved! And the one match I had to change, due to the creator being unable to deliver, was only made better by the new creator who took their place.

Powerful HOAX imagery from Karrie Fransman

I actually wrote the graphic novel script as if it were ten separate scripts – with each one of these written specifically for the creator it was going to, in terms of the language and tone I used, and how much direction I included. Apart from Leonardo M. Giron, who illustrated all of the year sections that link the poems into a whole, each illustrator was given script for their poem only, plus the section of Leonardo’s script that immediately preceded it. It was important to me that the creators worked in isolation from one another, because the poems they were illustrating were written in isolation, and from a very isolated, and isolating, mental place. So in fact, apart from Leonardo, the collaborators were completely unaware of the overarching narrative of the book. Most of them are still unaware, having chosen to wait until the physical book comes out next month before they read it.

BF: In many ways the artistic linchpin of the whole exercise is that subtle and visually eloquent framing sequence from Leonardo M. Giron. How did you discover Leonardo’s work and what made him such a good fit for those segments of the book?

THORNTON: I was introduced to Leonardo, or Glen as we call him, by writer and designer Rich James Johnson. I’d been talking to Rich about a possible collaboration, but time was against us so he pointed me in Glen’s direction instead. I loved Glen’s work, and sent him a short-story script that I’d written called Day Release. Like HOAX, the short-story was inspired by my brother’s poetry. It was around the time I was planning HOAX in my head, so there was probably quite a bit of subconscious water-testing going on too….

From his portfolio, I knew my work would be something very different for Glen to tackle: not only because the subject matter was all very ‘ordinary’ (not the sci-fi or fantasy that Glen is renowned for), but also because it was so British, and northern British at that (Glen is Filipino, based in Manila). But the way Glen responded to the script and my directions was just amazing. It’s difficult, when you work with so many amazing talents, to identify what really marks out the best of the best – but Glen would have to be right up there.

The subtle storytelling of Leonardo M. Giron is the book’s artistic linchpin

There’s something so incredibly intuitive in his work, a very sensitive understanding of what it is to be an ordinary human person – which in itself, I think, allows that ordinary human person to become extraordinary on the page. When it came to HOAX some months after that, Glen was top of my list. I knew that once he was on board for the interlinking narrative sections, we would have the strongest possible structure in place upon which to build the rest of the piece.

BF: The combination of artists is fascinating in that it includes legends of the British industry like Bryan Talbot and Rian Hughes, some of the established rising stars of the new wave of UK graphic novelists including Karrie Fransman and Hannah Berry, and relatively unknown creators like Rozi Hathaway (who I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more from in the future!). Was that mix a conscious one or a happy coincidence? 

THORNTON: I guess a little bit of both. I knew I needed a certain degree of illustrator clout to help carry a project of this size and scope, particularly in terms of funding and partner support, so when both Bryan and Rian agreed to contribute I was thrilled. Then there were creators, like Hannah, Karrie, Julian [Hanshaw], Mark [Stafford]… who I knew through Cape or their events, knew I wanted to work with, and knew they’d be a good match for the certain sections I had in mind.

An impressive debut from Rozi Hathaway in HOAX Psychosis Blues

And then there were the ‘relative unknowns’. In fact Rhiana [Jade] and Ian [Jones] were already know to me as artists in their own right, and I was keen to champion their work. Rozi was the real wild card. I didn’t know anything about Rozi at all. What I did know was that I wanted to find someone at that level and give them a hand up, because it’s just so tough to get a break in this line of work. I also knew the section that I wanted this particular person, when I found them, to illustrate – a pretty difficult section actually, in more ways than one.

So I set out roaming online portfolios and blogs as I often do when I’m looking for collaborators, and came across one of Rozi’s paintings. I knew as soon as I saw it that there was something in her style that would work for HOAX. I dropped her a line, and she agreed to come on board. It was definitely a challenge for Rozi. She worked long and hard, with more redraws and further directions than all of the other illustrators put together. But it was worth it, and it shows. And I loved working with Rozi precisely because she was willing to work that hard.

BF: You’ve already touched upon the cross-media element of HOAX and how the stage and comics strands complement each other but it would be remiss not to hear from you about the journey that the stage show has taken from genesis to realisation…

THORNTON: Around the same time as I was contemplating my brother’s poetry, and specifically his poem ‘HOAX’, theatre director Benji Reid got in touch, having read my graphic novel The Tale of Brin & Bent and Minno Marylebone. We met and discussed collaboration, and it quickly became apparent we shared an appreciation of finding beauty in the dark. I showed Benji ‘HOAX’. He asked I could develop something from it for stage, so I went away to write HOAX My Lonely Heart…. When Benji saw the script, he was as surprised as I was that I’d written a musical, but saw at once how it could work. I then brought musician and composer Minute Taker on board, having heard him play a gig locally in Manchester; whilst Benji sourced our producer Pippa Frith.

Pippa started the ball rolling with funding for our first stage: Research & Development. Arts Council England were our main funders, but we needed more. I’d started work on HOAX Psychosis Blues as an accompanying piece by this time, which meant we already had something quite unusual and exciting in terms of a project, so suggested that we offer it up for academic research. That’s when The University of Nottingham pledged their support, and their English Literature professor Dr Matt Green became our researcher. On the back of this we were able to secure the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester as a partner, and utilise their rehearsal rooms for a week of invaluable ideas testing.

HOAX My Lonely Heart rehearsal photographs above and below courtesy of Benji Reid All of these things added weight to the project when we went for the second-stage funding that would allow us to premiere the performance and print the graphic novel. The bids we made were successful, then it was full steam ahead to create the musical score for the performance, find and audition the actors, get everyone into the rehearsal room, test the script, make various cuts, marvel at the sheer amount of singing, acting and physical talent in front or us… and make the show.

BF: It’s my firm belief that the rise of the graphic memoir has played a pivotal role in bringing in new readers to the world of graphic novels who were previously unaware of the storytelling potential of the form. Do you have any thoughts of why comics as a medium are so effective in communicating personal experience in such an empathetic way?

THORNTON: I suspect there are several factors at play. In no particular order… One: That our most basic form of understanding, as humans, is that of reading faces. Two: Comics present a multi-faceted landscape which in some ways is more akin to cinema than prose; such that whilst you are following the core strand of the story, you are constantly being fed other information from around that core on the page. This makes for very effective emotional engagement. Three: Comics are immediately accessible because they offer a visual entry level, and then immensely rewarding as the audience discovers further layers in both the visual and the text. Four: It might sound strange, but I feel there is a gentleness to comics, quite apart from the subject matter, which can of course be very violent. There is a dignity, a respect for the skill that has gone into the work of a comic, that reminds the audience of the humanity and the humility behind it. Five: Comics are a very stripped-down form of storytelling, and when you strip things down, you nearly always arrive at the truth.

BF: You may not be thinking too far ahead after the last few months of working so intensively on HOAX but, as a final thought, what can you tell us about what we can expect from Ravi Thornton in the near future?

THORNTON: I’ll be focusing quite a bit on Ziggy’s Wish, tightening things up there, further promoting HOAX Psychosis Blues and getting ready for the next publication, Scamp and Zoom. I’ve also recently started working on a new book with two very interesting illustrators, Alan Dalby and Chris Madden, called The Giant’s Wife. We’re aiming to create something a bit different, something that blurs the line between illustrated prose and comics. And there’s another collaborative cross-media project I’ve been slowly building for a while now, called CIRCUS (working title), that explores whether biochemical triggers can empower victims of abuse. This will involve sequential art, theatre and also gaming, so I’ve quite a bit of writing to do for that.