When playwright Tim Price found out he would be collaborating with one of his idols, Gruff Rhys, for a new National Theatre Wales production, he could hardly take it in.
Having admired the work of the former Super Furry Animals front man for years, he was suddenly about to get to know him on a personal and professional level as the two joined forces to devise the immersive gig Praxis Makes Perfect.
Tim Price during rehearsals. Photo: Dan Green/National Theatre Wales
The pop-up production, which opens tonight in Cardiff, accompanies the album of the same name created by Gruff and LA-based producer Boom Bip, released on 29 April, and is directed by Wils Wilson.
Taking place at a secret location in Cardiff, it will see audiences pulled into a fast-paced imaginary world centred on key events in the life of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.
Feltrinelli was a political activist and publisher, best known for bringing some of the greatest works of the 20th century, including Dr Zhivago, to print.
Tim told me: "We went to Italy to research it together, which was an amazing experience.
"Preparing for the whole production has been mad - it's been very intense and the whole team feel like a family.
"We have had to evolve a live show around Feltrinelli and the events of his life so it's not like any other play I have ever done because I haven't had to write a script.
"It's been a collaborative process right from the word go. Everybody involved has had to be tuned in to what the others are doing as it is music-based rather than script-based."
Neon Neon and their band will take to the stage with a cast of professional actors at every performance, but each gig will be completely different as a large part of it depends on interactions with the audience.
People will be invited to play basketball with Fidel Castro, be tortured by the CIA and help smuggle a manuscript out of Russia.
Fidel Castro and Giangiacomo Feltrinelli play basketball. Photo: Feltrinelli Foundation
Tim says none of the elements of the production would have been possible without each member of the creative team.
"Everybody has been brilliant because we have basically all put the show together in the space of a pretty intense two weeks.
"We have one of the hardest-working casts in the world because they have to sing and dance and the crew have been amazing because of the amount of bizarre prop requests we have thrown at them, from Che Guevara's hands to basket balls."
Tim feels that the special glue holding the performance together is Gruff's aptitude for telling a story.
Neon Neon's 2008 début album, Stainless Style, was inspired by the life and times of playboy engineer, John DeLorean and Tim believes Praxis Makes Perfect gives a real flavour of Feltrinelli's extraordinary life, from the people he met to his death in suspicious circumstances in 1972.
Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys look on during rehearsals. Photo: Dan Green/National Theatre Wales
He said: "Gruff has been amazing. He is very thoughtful, generous and open to collaboration, which has made the whole experience a pleasure.
"The creative exchange with him and Boom Bip has been brilliant - I would just love to do it all over again with them in the future."
Praxis Makes Perfect opens with a press night in Cardiff tonight and runs until Sunday before touring other venues and festivals across the UK, including Village Underground in London, Mayfest in Bristol and headlining the theatre stage at Latitude Festival in Suffolk.
See our blog post on Gruff Rhys talking about Praxis Makes Perfect, plus Tim Price on his previous production The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning.
