It’s one of the most unlikely hit documentaries of the year – a film following a group of bus drivers from Dorset who put on a stage adaptation of Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi horror film, Alien (famous for its scene of a succubus exploding out of John Hurt’s chest).
The show is a resounding failure but they have a second chance at glory after they are booked into a big theatre in the heart of London’s West End.
Filmmakers, friends and former London housemates Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey are with the bus drivers every step of the way, recording their efforts on camera and also helping them gate-crash London theatre land.
Their documentary Alien On Stage, warmly received at the SXSW Film Festival last month, is screening this week at BIFFF (Belgium) and later in the month at IMAGINE in the Netherlands. WME is advising on the US distribution. This is a feel good story both on and off the screen, “an exuberant celebration for underdogs everywhere,” as one reviewer put it.
An unlikely chain of coincidences led the two intrepid neophyte docmakers to Dorset in the first place. A musician acquaintance whose girlfriend lived in the market town of Wimborne told them that, while visiting her, he noticed a poster in the local supermarket for an amateur stage production of Alien. By then, the Dorset bus drivers had started a blog on which they posted rehearsal footage. Kummer and Harvey became obsessed by the project. On opening night, they drove all the way from London to Wimborne to witness it in the flesh.
“Seeing it, I thought this is incredible. Everybody needs to see it,” Harvey, a freelance stylist and university lecturer in art and design, remembers of her emotions on opening night. “First of all, I just thought it was wonderful. I fell in love with it. I wrote a review and sent it to them [the Dorset bus drivers].”
Back in London, Harvey promptly decided she had to see the show again. This time, she hired a mini-bus, filled it with all her friends, and took them with her back to Dorset. They were as enthusiastic as she had been. “That led to me making the bold move to ask the bus drivers whether, if they could get a day off work, they would consider coming to London [to restage the show].”
The original idea was for the company to perform Alien in a working man’s club in north London but Harvey secured a much more prestigious venue – the Leicester Square Theatre. “It was just a random connection because I used to work in a cafe in Soho. Somebody in Soho knew another business owner in Soho who happened to own the Leicester Square theatre.”
In Wimborne, in spite of Harvey’s enthusiasm, the show had actually been “a crushing flop” when first performed at the local Allendale Centre. It was taking the bus drivers some time to realise that the production they had mounted with such seriousness was, in fact, a comedy with fantastic cult potential. Now, though, thanks to Harvey, they had a chance to perform in the heart of London’s West End and reach a far bigger audience than they had attracted in Dorset.
After Harvey “accidentally got them into a West End theatre,” she and Kummer decided to make their documentary.
Kummer is a freelance video editor and filmmaker who has made corporate videos, promos and short films. Harvey had no practical experience at all – but they didn’t let that put them off.
“We borrowed the equipment. We just went for it,” Harvey remembers. Kummer taught her how to do the sound and they learned how to do the interviews by trial and error.
“They [the bus drivers] were very open to the idea. I don’t think they realised it was going to go ahead and become a big documentary. I think we didn’t realise that necessarily either,” Kummer says. “There was just a mutual respect, a mutual love of hanging out with each other. We just really loved what they did. They were very open. They seemed to be very up for it.”
Dave Mitchell, who works as a day shift manager at the Wiltshire and Dorset bus company, was the show’s director. Highly organised, he provided the filmmakers with the introductions they needed to the cast and technicians. By the night of the West End premiere, Kummer had secured extra equipment in order to do the show full justice. They had five cameras and a GoPro.
Initially, Kummer and Harvey did the filming at the weekends. However, when it came to editing, they mounted a Kickstarter campaign so they could take time off work in order to complete their dream project. “I got to the stage where I realised this had to be my absolute focus and that nothing else could get in the way. Otherwise, it [was] never going to get done. I owe it to everybody to tell this story because it is just too good to not make,” Harvey explains.
The filmmakers created a website and reached out to Alien fan groups. Through sheer chutzpah and single-minded perseverance, they got the film both finished and noticed.
Early on, the two directors fretted that the bus drivers might be upset that everyone was laughing at the show. However, the drivers didn’t appear to mind.
“I think they were also just happy to know the audience was enjoying itself. They took it in a way that, ‘well, we’re just here to entertain people and people are having a great time – that’s the most important thing’.’” Kummer notes.
The doc’s festival success has yet made its directors rich. “I am speaking to you now absolutely penniless,” Harvey says of the sacrifices she made for the sake of Alien On Stage. Not that she, Kummer or the bus drivers have any regrets. As Kummer puts it: “we’ve been really lucky that Alien audiences have been completely excited to see our film. Anybody we’ve talked to at any point in this process, when we’ve said the pitch that it’s about a group of Dorset bus drivers doing a stage adaptation of Alien, people immediately go: ’that sounds amazing’…
And, yes, if the bus drivers put on another production, Kummer confidently asserts: “we would definitely go back!”
