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POST-SHOW POST

9/3/2019

A big post-show hello from all at 3-T and a huge thank you to everybody who came along to support us in our magical ‘Dear Brutus’ by J.M. Barrie! We were, yet again, overwhelmed with the wonderful reception we received from our audiences who were enthusing about, not just the piece itself, but the set, costumes and overall magical ambiance we managed to create with sound and lighting too. We had a wonderful 4-star review from All Edinburgh Theatre and a glowing report from NODA Scotland President, Stuart McCue-Dick. We loved every minute of it and are just sorry that it ended so soon.

Of course, with the show now over, I have the unenviable task of selecting next year’s offering and I know that it will be incredibly difficult, if last year was anything to go by. I have already been reading scripts, have a few ideas in mind, and will look forward to revealing our choice as soon as possible. However, after finishing ‘Dear Brutus’ and then heading straight into directing and performing in a production of ‘The Sorcerer’ with Dunfermline Gilbert and Sullivan Society, I think that a holiday will be on the cards before any decisions are made.

Our move to the Church Hill Theatre this year was a success on the whole and they were incredibly helpful with all aspects of the show. It would have been nice to have filled it with slightly bigger audiences (although we didn’t do too badly) but hopefully as time goes on and more and more people hear about us then our numbers will increase. We did pretty well for a play though in just our second year, as they are generally a much harder sell than musicals.

It was lovely to have an increased cast this year and great from my point of view as director to work with some new faces who all had different levels of experience, as well as the familiar faces of course! I will be trying to keep the numbers up again this year if possible to try to get as many people involved as I can. Although my ultimate aim is to perform one play and one musical per year, I will probably be sticking to a play again for 2020 to allow us to build up some funds for a more costly musical undertaking. After coming in at a loss last year we have, thankfully, made a small profit this year! Hurrah!!

So, I will get back to the script-reading, between the multiple theatre visits we are currently doing to support our Threepenny family and friends – and what a treat that is proving to be! Our lovely Rebekah is wowing audiences this week with her wonderful performances of Eliza Doolittle in ‘My Fair Lady’ and making everybody here at Threepenny very, very proud. I know that there are some fantastic productions still to come too in what is affectionately known as the ‘amateur season’ in Edinburgh. The wealth of theatre talent (both onstage and backstage) we have in Scotland is astounding and we are very lucky to be a part of the wider amateur theatre family.

If you want to look at our show photos or read our reviews and audience feedback for ‘Dear Brutus’ then head to our web page threepenny-theatricals.org

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Sorry...I got lost in the enchanted wood!

14/11/2018

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Wow! Is it really November? Already? I must have lost track of time wandering in the enchanted wood! It seems to have been non-stop over the past few months so I’m sorry that the blog has taken a bit of a hit! It’s been exciting and frustrating and full-on at the same time and I seriously need a holiday. But hey! There’s always Christmas right? Oh no! I mentioned the ‘C’ word! Mind you, you can’t escape it now that we’re into November and I really must start doing something about it. Another thing to add to the ‘to do’ list!

We seem to be reasonably organised on the ‘Dear Brutus’ front but we had our share of setbacks and speedbumps early on with a bit of cast reshuffling and rehearsal venue changing. However, we’ve been rehearsing regularly for a couple of months now and all is going well. Everybody seems to be having fun and there are some fantastic characters developing. We’re well on the way to being off books by Christmas! The set has been designed based on re-use of the flats we built for ‘Elephants’ and Dad is preparing to start work on it. We’ve also discussed the extra bits and pieces we need to bring in with John Urquart. We’ve organised costumes and taken measurements. We have a props list and already have most of the props and furniture. Our flyers are printed and our posters are on the way and we’ve spoken to the theatre about lighting and cloth bars and set and get-ins and get-outs. We’ve got Mike Pendlowski organising our lighting, Neil French on sound and Rene Hogg as Stage Manager along with her wonderful crew. Liz Landsman is helping us organise costumes and Gillian Robertson is our props organiser during the show. Tickets are on sale and what we really have to worry about now is getting an audience to make all the hard work worthwhile! Whilst our move to a bigger venue is a blessing in some ways, and we’re delighted that it’s now easier for our disabled friends to come and watch us, we do now have a massive number of seats to fill! Plays are generally a harder sell than musicals but I’m hoping that the magic of J.M. Barrie will be a New Year treat for Edinburgh audiences.

I’m constantly trying to think of new ways to market the show and it always feels like an uphill struggle. With such a small cast compared to some of the other amateur companies, even if they all liked and shared on Facebook or Twitter (which some of them don’t – cast take note), then our reach on social media is still pretty poor. Constantly ‘boosting’ our posts to reach a wider audience costs money that we really don’t have in the budget. Paper advertising just doesn’t give you the return these days and advertising in other programmes is also costly unless you have a reciprocal arrangement with the other company.
I tried to contact the Lyceum this year to enquire about advertising in their Christmas show programme which would have been the perfect audience for us given that their show is J.M. Barrie's classic ‘Wendy and Peter Pan’. Unfortunately the reply was short and to the point stating that they don’t have advertising in their programme. This will not stop me from standing outside their door handing out flyers however!
We’ll try to organise postering sessions with the cast (combined with Christmas pub visits), which is standard amateur theatre marketing strategy – so if anybody wants to join us then please let us know!!

We’re also trying to get together material for the programme, which shouldn’t be too difficult a task as there is such a huge wealth of information out there on J.M. Barrie. When you start doing a bit of research you really can get sucked down a rabbit hole and just delve deeper and deeper. He was a hugely interesting man and there are so many questions that are still unanswered about his life and the lives of those around him. We’ve recently been looking at Gerald du Maurier who played many of the leading roles in Barrie’s plays (Including Mr Dearth in ‘Dear Brutus’) and his famous daughter Daphne who we believe may have been the inspiration for Margaret in the play. There’s also a really interesting connection between Barrie and George Bernard Shaw who wrote ‘Pygmalion’. With our lovely Rebekah taking on the role of Eliza in the King’s in March, it was great to discover that Barrie and Shaw were great friends and Shaw appeared in more than one of Barrie’s crude early movie experiments, now sadly lost.

So, it’s still all go, and just when you think you’ve got a handle on one thing, three others appear that you weren’t expecting!
Some lovely and exciting news amidst the chaos is that we were runners-up in the NODA standard programme competition for our 'Elephants' programme from last year, thanks to all Ross's hard work. We now have a gong on the mantelpiece.

So, that’s us up-to-date for the time being. I really hope that I’ll see you all in the theatre in February, although I’ll probably manage another blog post before then. Please don’t leave your ticket purchases to the last minute – I’m not sure my nerves could stand it!!!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

1/7/2018

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We’re one year old today!! I can’t believe that we started our Threepenny Theatricals adventure just a year ago. In fact, quite a lot had gone on behind the scenes since February but we officially launched ourselves into the world on 1st July 2017. It has been a fantastic year! There were a few ups and downs but, on the whole we really couldn’t be happier.

What an exciting month June was for 3-T! The show announcement at the beginning of the month and then preparing for auditions, which were held on 24th. Ross and I even managed to squeeze in a short holiday to Menorca in the middle. The auditions were almost as nerve-wracking for us as they were for the poor auditionees. As all the cast were invited last time around, we didn’t have to hold any, so this year we were all biting our nails wondering if anybody would turn up! We got a few sign-ups straight away and then it seemed to go quiet for a while with a few people saying they’d have liked to join us but couldn’t commit to our rehearsal evenings. I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough people to cast the show. Then in the last few days there seemed to be a sudden surge, with quite a few new faces signing up too. Of course it was inevitable that some people who wanted to audition wouldn’t make the date, so we had to organise 5 auditions beforehand, and I can’t thank the people enough who let us borrow their living rooms and rehearsal spaces for these extra sessions.

Audition day didn’t run quite as smoothly as planned. We rushed across town from one of our extra audition sessions straight to the audition venue with 15 minutes to spare and managed to get everything set up just in time. We were only 2 auditionees in however when a children’s party started up in the hall above us. It sounded as if a herd of elephants had joined in the World Cup and was about to fall through the floor! There was no way that we could expect people to audition with that amount of racket going on. Luckily we had been using the stage area in Murrayfield as a ‘waiting room’ for people, so we decided that the only option was to swap the rooms round. We asked everybody to wait while we moved all our stuff and rearranged the furniture. Then just before we started up again I heard somebody at the piano in the main hall right next to the stage area. I rushed down to see what was about to happen there and discovered a friend from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. He told me they were about to have a rehearsal! Horror! Thankfully they were very understanding and moved their music as far up the hall as they possibly could and kept the noise down for their whole rehearsal, which was incredibly kind of them. I’m now very glad that I sang for a few of their Fringe shows and got to know them - and that they are such lovely people!!

I have auditioned myself many times before, sat in on auditions before and read in for auditions before, but it was the first time I’d actually held any myself. I know the feeling of dread that many people feel and I am one of the world’s worst for getting nervous auditioning – to the point of physically shaking. I wanted to make it as friendly and non-threatening an experience as possible to help people give their best possible performance. We weren’t disappointed on the day. It was fantastic to see what a great wealth of talent there is out there and it was proof of why Edinburgh’s amateur theatre scene is flourishing - and very far from ‘amateur’.

I tried to give people as much opportunity as possible to do their best and often asked people to read a section again if I thought they could do it better. It’s amazing the difference a second chance can make, along with a bit of direction, and it’s interesting that second chances are what our play is all about!
The day seemed to fly past and we were seeing people non-stop. We only managed to squeeze in a cup of tea around 5pm! Finally we wandered along to the pub to have a chat about the casting and I made my final decisions – not ‘under the influence’ I hasten to add! Although I was delighted to have a cast, I knew my least favourite part of the process would be having to tell the people who hadn’t been cast. I’ve received a few of those letters/emails/phonecalls myself and know that awful feeling. It never gets easier and I didn’t want to have to do it to anybody else. I only hope that those who weren’t cast realise how difficult it was and how decisions can come down to the minutest things. Just because a person doesn’t get cast it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have done the part brilliantly too. I’m sure that they will all go on to find something else just as exciting and magical to do as ‘Dear Brutus’. With the fantastic theatre scene we have in Edinburgh, Fife and the rest of Scotland, I’m sure they will.

Now all I have to do is rewrite bits of the script, design the set, find costumes, block the show, write the props list, think about sound and lighting, marketing, programme material etc. etc. etc…..I suppose I really should get going and make a start!

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At last!

4/6/2018

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So! I finally took the plunge and announced our 2019 show! I’m really delighted with the choice after 4 months of searching. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find a modern play with increased cast size, relatively simple set and an engaging storyline…at least not one as good as ‘Elephants’! And I'm pretty sure that was my problem. By searching within the same genre and constantly making comparisons, I was setting myself an impossible task. The thrill of the first production – particularly when it got such a fantastic reception – was always going to mean that everything else was a poor second. By choosing ‘Dear Brutus’, I feel like I’ve moved into a different realm, both in the style of the play and in Barrie’s magical storyline! Other than the quality of the production and of the acting, there are very few comparisons that can be made with ‘Elephants’.

‘Dear Brutus’ does still provide all the essential elements I was looking for – comedy (both dark and light), pathos, and depth in Barrie’s intriguing exploration of human nature. That’s not to say I’ve picked an easy option by any means. We have given ourselves a challenge in a much more complex set than last year and I’m already working on how we’re going to ensure the audience feel the J.M. Barrie fairy tale magic! We will also have to haul out the period costumes and ensure that our performers are comfortable with early 20th century sensibilities. We’ll have a larger cast to work with and therefore much more organisation to do. We’ve also moved venue for both rehearsals and show, so we’re working with a more convenient rehearsal space and a much larger theatre space. This provides many advantages but many new challenges too. I do love a challenge though and I can’t wait to see how everything comes together.

As the play is out of copyright there are options open to us with certain aspects of it. Barrie was a firm believer in his work evolving as it was performed and indeed there are marked differences between his original stage production and the published version of the play. There have been many variations over the years and I will take lots of time to study the play and the possibilities before deciding what to do with our ‘Dear Brutus’. Of course, being out of copyright also saves us a bit of money, although that genuinely was not a concern in my decision-making. I would have been happy to pay performance rights for the perfect play and I'm just lucky that the one I chose doesn't require it.

I am a firm believer in doing my research and have joined the J.M. Barrie Literary Society with a view to picking their brains about the author. I have also discovered some incredibly interesting fairy folklore in my exploration of the play’s themes. It is amazing what you learn when you are studying for a new production and I can’t wait to delve into the J.M. Barrie story.

Our audition date is set and our venue booked. I’m just ironing out all the finer details before we launch the auditions to the world. I can’t wait to see our auditionees having fun with the fantastic characters that Barrie has created. This will be our first set of auditions for 3-T and it’s both exciting and nerve-wracking. Hopefully lots of people will want to be a part of our exciting new project and join the Threepenny family for ‘Dear Brutus’. Keep watching this space to follow how we’re getting on!

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The Search Continues...

24/4/2018

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Hello from beneath a pile of scripts! I know you haven’t heard from me in a while but I’ve been slogging my way through a growing library of scripts trying to find ‘the one’ that will follow on from our wonderful ‘Elephants’! It’s been a long process and I’m finding it really difficult to settle on a genre. I loved the ingenious mix of comedy and drama in ‘Elephants’ but every other black comedy I’ve read so far just hasn’t quite measured up. There are many, many pure comedies and farces out there and I do love a good belly laugh, but then I feel we’re missing out on depth in the piece. Conversely, with pure drama, I miss the laughs!! I feel that I also want to try to have a slightly larger cast – build things up a bit with the second one – so some plays have been discounted purely on the basis of very small casts. We also have to take cost and space into account. We are hoping to go back to the Assembly Roxy for round 2 but it requires a static set as there are no wings. I know that very imaginative things can be done with minimal sets but we had such a wonderful response to our ‘Elephants’ set that I really don’t want to disappoint with our next effort. Period pieces can be costly on the costume front, so that’s another issue to consider. Complicated sets and costumes therefore also get assigned to the ‘maybe later’ pile. A few weeks ago I compiled a ‘short list’ of possibilities that I thought had promise. I organised a read-through evening with some of my lovely, patient and accommodating friends and by the end of the night we had all agreed that none of them was ‘the one’! Short list 2 has now been prepared and script reading evening number 2 is coming up soon. I’m hoping that this one may be more fruitful.

Meanwhile, the kittens Frank and Myrrh are still little bundles of mischief and have recently been introduced to the outside world after their….ahem….*whispering* ’operations’! They’ve been having daily walks with their little harnesses on attached to leads. Strangely there’s been a bit of role reversal. Myrrh, always the indoor adventurer and the first to try any bit of mischief, has taken a while to get used to the wide open spaces and is a bit timid about venturing too far. Frank, on the other hand can’t get enough of it and seems desperate to be set “free from his fetters grim”. They’ll get a few more forays with anxious parents attached and then they’ll be let loose to discover the delights through the cat flap and hopefully return safely home!

Despite my script difficulties, what I can say is that I have been overwhelmed and hugely encouraged by the number of people still talking about ‘Elephants’ and how much they enjoyed it and asking to be informed about auditions for our future productions. I’m hoping that I can post details very soon and am very excited about growing our little company over the coming years.

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And....breathe...

1/2/2018

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Hello again!...at last! Apologies for the delay but, as you can imagine, I've been a wee bit busy over the last couple of months! I'm sitting here still pinching myself wondering if I actually just dreamt last week and how well it all went.

So how did we get here?...Well...The final run-up to the show was reasonably smooth and we scheduled an extra rehearsal in a different venue so that we could get another full run in just to be sure. The last few rehearsals saw the pace of the dialogue pick up and get more natural and everybody found little additions to round out their characters. We introduced kittens at the last 2 non-theatre based rehearsals and they stepped up like true little professionals. They loved their mobile home - a pop-up enclosure that we could move between rehearsal venues and which would eventually live in the dressing room in 'kitten corner'.

My original 3D set design

I was nervous but looking forward to getting into the theatre and couldn't wait to see our fabulous set built on the stage and get a chance to start dressing it to make it look like a real 'home'. Rene and her crew arrived at about 12.30 on the Wednesday and we started to unload the set from the van. Despite a couple of measurement problems which were quickly overcome by the experienced crew, the set was up really quickly and then we had a bit of blacks adjustment and some furniture for our living room to borrow from the 'snug bar' of the Roxy - 3 flights down! Once we got everything in place I could get down to dressing, using much of the contents of our house and garage and some of our Christmas decorations which we had deliberately left out of the loft for set-dressing purposes (and are incidentally still not in the loft). I was delighted with how good it all looked and can't thank my Dad enough for all his hard work in building it, Ross for his diligent measuring based on my original 3-D design and Mum for her impressive painting of all the woodwork. I think you'll agree that they fulfilled my design ambitions and more!

Our dress rehearsal went incredibly smoothly, which every theatre person in the world will tell you is usually a bad omen. But we weren't having any of that! We had a few wee props issues to sort out, unsurprisingly after one theatre run, but Gillian was well on top of it with helper Gianluca and they made it all look easy. I can assure you that it wasn't. This was such a props-heavy show! They provided real, hot food for the Christmas Eve dinner, had everybody's personal props to hand when required and did a brilliant job of making the house look messier and messier as the situation on stage deteriorated. They were a dab hand at creating the half-eaten mince pies that were left strewn around the set, although I'm sure they must have been sick of them by the end of the week!

Mike worked hard on the lighting states on Thursday morning and we had a quick check over them in the afternoon. Neil had set up his sound cues well in advance and had been bringing them to rehearsals but we did a few final tweaks before opening. I have to tell you that I am one of the most nervous people at an opening when I'm going on stage and this time I had double - possibly even triple nerves, as Director and Producer too. However, I knew I had a great team and I just had to get on with the business of going on stage and performing. One of the best feelings I have ever had was hearing the audience laugh for the first time in the first scene. When you've been rehearsing for a long period of time you get used to the jokes and you wonder why you ever found it funny. I was terrified that an audience either wouldn't find it funny or would be scared to laugh because, as a black comedy, the humour was based on sensitive subjects like mental health and death! I needn't have worried - our Thursday night audience were amazing and lifted the show to a whole new level. The audience reaction made me fall in love with the play all over again and I was standing behind the set when I came off stage for the first time with the biggest grin on my face!

When we got to the bows it was quite overwhelming how enthusiastic the audience were and then when I walked downstairs to the FOH area afterwards and felt a buzz of excitement from the people milling about and heard words like "brilliant!", "fantastic!", "wonderful" and "amazing" it made all the months of hard work worthwhile.

When we took the final bows on Saturday night it was quite a wrench to think that we'd be leaving the Llewellyn family behind. And watching our wonderful set being removed piece by piece was very, very sad.

But here we are on the other side! The journey was long and bumpy but thankfully the wheels never actually came off the bus. We might have lost a nut or two along the way but we held it together helped by a bus load of laughing, singing, talented, crazy, funny, supportive cast and crew....and kittens of course. Their aunty Liz took brilliant care of them throughout the show in 'kitten corner' and they were spoiled with new toys and playthings virtually every night - and lots of cuddles. I think we just may have tired them out!

So what's next you ask? CATS? No, I jest! But believe me I'm working on it already and I hope you'll join me on the next adventure!!

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A Letter to santa

28/11/2017

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I can hardly believe it’s almost December! Around about now children everywhere are posting their letters to Santa or probably emailing/Facebooking/Instagramming/Whatsapping him in our digital age. Personally, I prefer the idea of writing the letter and then putting it on the fire to miraculously arrive with him completely fresh and un-singed via the chimney (but I’m old fashioned like that). I digress...
The clock is ticking on our production and we’re ramping up on the preparation in both the performance and technical aspects, so there are a few things I’m sure Santa could help me with (you’re never too old to send a letter to Santa, right?). We’ve been doing everything from choosing wallpaper for the set (yes, we have that wallpapering job to look forward to) to heading to the recycling centre to rake around for an old telly! Everybody is pitching in and rehearsals are really getting quite intense now too as we all try to get off book. The sheer quantity of dialogue is quite overwhelming – particularly to those of us used to bursting into song every five minutes! It’s slowly coming together though and prompting is required less and less with every run. Only 3 more rehearsals to go before the Christmas break, so no time to relax!
No 1 on my letter to Santa…Make the words stay in my head and come out of my mouth at the right time!

We’ve also been doing some serious preparation for an exciting cast announcement. I’m not giving anything away, but in a couple of weeks we’ll have some fun news to share with you all, so watch out on all the social media channels.
The programme is another thing that we’re already thinking about and finding time to chase advertisers, write a welcome message, write and edit biographies, design graphics, develop content and organise photos is a bit of a nightmare, along with the day job, Christmas shopping and life in general.
As you can see it’s busy, busy, busy, so you’ll have to forgive me if I get a bit behind with the blogs and social media posts - but there’s lots of good stuff amongst the madness!
No. 2 on my letter to Santa...An extra day in the week!

One of my favourite experiences as a Director to date has been watching the cast grow as performers. A good example was when I asked one of the young cast members to do a particular action that would just give her character a bit more of a sinister edge. I was then delighted when she not only did that action but then carried on the theme adding in odd subtle touches of her own to her performance that really caught what I was trying to get across. It showed not only a great understanding of her character but an understanding of what I was asking - and there is no better feeling as a Director than when your cast ‘get it’!
I’m certainly learning a lot with this first production and anybody who tries to tell you it’s easy has obviously never tried it! Running a theatre company – even one as small as ours - is a lot of hard work, but there are lots of little triumphs along the way. When I look back at all we’ve achieved so far and how well it’s all coming together I feel quietly proud.
So the final thing on my Christmas list?...An audience to come and see all our hard work! Thank you to those who have already bought tickets – I know you won’t be disappointed! If you haven’t got yours yet then please do get your order in and come and support us. We’re nothing without an audience!
P.s. Santa – there’s an extra mince pie in it for you if you tick off everything on the list!

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#lovetheatreday

12/11/2017

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It's been a busy couple of weeks but I finally managed to get back to the computer for the next blog instalment. We did a photoshoot for 'Elephants' last weekend at our house and because the show is set at Christmas, Ross and I spent most of Friday and Saturday pulling our Christmas decorations out of the loft and putting them up all over the house. Thankfully the neighbours and the postie already know we're mad so I'm sure that Christmas decorations at the beginning of November didn't surprise them in the slightest! The photoshoot went brilliantly and we got some fantastic shots for our programme and marketing campaign.
At our rehearsal on Thursday I remembered that I had signed the Company up for the Twitter campaign #LoveTheatreDay in association with The Stage magazine. The idea is that everybody with a love of theatre, or a job in theatre, or an actual theatre building or company can sign up and spend the day sharing posts about what they do and why they love it. I decided to get the cast to each do a short video - just a couple of sentences - about why they love theatre. Of course when you ask anybody to do something like that at short notice and you sit them in front of the camera and press the record button you have no idea what's going to happen - and most of the time they don't have much idea either. We got some hilarious moments and some of the outtakes are better than the 'official' videos. They were all at least brave enough to do it spontaneously in front of each other, whereas I chickened out and said I'd do mine at home. I then had to think of what I was going to say of course, but the last couple of weeks really answered that question for me and reminded me of one of the main reasons why I love theatre.
Obviously I love going to see theatre and for around two and half hours being transported into a different world and escaping from whatever kind of rubbish day I might have had. Theatre does something that television never can and involves all your senses. As a performer I love getting the opportunity to play such a wonderful variety of characters and acting on stage in ways that I would never dream of in real life, or expressing emotions freely and sometimes to extremes. Of course there is also nothing like that feeling of drawing an audience in and making them feel it all with you. To make an audience laugh or cry and take them on an emotional journey with you is one of the best feelings in the world. As a Director, planning how I'm going to help the actors and production team make that happen and working with them developing the best possible show is something I'm also growing to love. Hopefully our finished product will do everything we've planned.
However, although the show and its success is the ultimate aim of everybody involved, I find that one of the best things about any company or production is the close bonds you develop with the other members of the cast in the weeks and months leading up to the show. That's why so many people talk about their 'theatre family' or their 'show family' and I think its something that only theatre people really understand. When we did the photo shoot at the weekend we made a day of it. We had great fun! We all ate together, laughed together (with and at each other), made idiots of ourselves in front of the camera, shared ideas and stories and it was a fantastic 'family' experience. Rehearsals have been that way too with birthday cakes, celebrations, encouragement of cast members for other auditions and most recently the #LoveTheatreDay videos.
So why do I love theatre? I love everything about being in an audience, being on stage and being back stage, but more than that I love my 'theatre family' and my own little 'Elephants family' in particular!

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the community of theatre

30/10/2017

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Apologies for my third blog post being a bit late but we spent the weekend at the NODA Scotland conference in Peebles representing Threepenny Theatricals. For anybody who doesn't know, NODA is the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and is the organisation that looks after the interests of all the amateur theatre companies in the UK who wish to become members. It provides a huge amount of invaluable advice and support on every aspect of running an amateur theatre company.

The annual conference in Peebles is a highlight and there are workshops and discussion groups on everything from Vocal Technique to Techie Talk as well as a ball on the Saturday night, a midnight cabaret from a guest company and a sing-along in the bar every evening. We went as new members to introduce our company and publicise our show and, quite frankly, to find out what all the fuss was about! We had been hearing about it for years from friends in other societies who told us what a fantastic weekend it was. Well they weren't wrong! We had a great meal on the Friday night with live showtunes accompaniment on the piano (which of course everybody sings along to when they don't have their mouths full - and sometimes when they do)! On Saturday we went to a discussion group called 'It's Good To Talk' where representatives from lots of companies get together and discuss anything that they might be having issues with. It's really interesting to hear from other societies who might have found solutions to the same problems you're having. A major topic of discussion seemed to be online marketing and translating it into bums-on-seats! Lots of interesting tips and ideas came out of that. I then let Ross go to the Techie Talk in the afternoon and he found out some useful information on set-building and get-ins.
The ball in the evening followed and then we were treated to a fantastic cabaret by Carnegie Youth Theatre who showed us a phenomenal amount of young talent. After a late night we didn't have to get up too early for the AGM on the Sunday morning which marks the end of the conference.

All-in-all it was a great weekend but the thing that I actually found most valuable was getting a chance to talk to members of other societies and share ideas. Not just at the official meetings but at all the 'unofficial' drinks in rooms we were invited to by various friendly groups and chats around the dance floor or the bar. It's amazing how supportive all the amateur companies are of each other and joining in and being part of the NODA community makes for much more collaborative relationships. When you can tell your story face-to-face and other companies can understand your aims and your issues then they really do make an effort to help you where they can.

This sounds like a bit of an advert for NODA but it's actually an advert for a closer amateur theatre community, however we may make that happen. The NODA conference just demonstrated how valuable the amateur companies are to each other and how we should all make the effort to support each other. It shouldn't be a competition because we are all in the same boat. We obviously can't all go to every other amateur show in the country but it is definitely worth going to as many as we can. Even if we might not see a production as 'our thing' we might be surprised at a different interpretation or find a new favourite show! Most importantly we will be helping the other companies to survive and carry on that business of showbusiness that we all love so much!

If you want to find out more about NODA you can click HERE.

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KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

22/10/2017

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Blog post number 2! This week I thought I'd talk about the importance of family and friends in getting any venture like ours up-and-running. At first glance it may not appear that the people around you have the necessary talents to help you with setting up your theatre company - but that's where you might be wrong.

I was luckier than some in that my husband and most of my friends were already involved in the theatre in some way or another but it isn't just theatre talent you need.

If you think of all the jobs involved in running a company and putting on a performance there are actually very few of them on stage. You're going to need people who can do accounts to help organise the finances of the company and keep the budgets on track. You're going to need people who know the ins and outs of social media to make sure that your public profile is kept in the forefront. Artistic people to create your flyers or paint your set. People who love sewing to organise your costumes and do repairs. The list is pretty much endless. The point is that your family and friends will probably want to help but might think that they have none of the talents you need. However, even something as simple as a fantastic smile and a warm personality can be put to great use front of house selling programmes or raffle tickets and helping people to their seats.

In Threepenny we're keeping quite a lot in the family because they have an amazing array of talents. My husband is Production Manager for example because I'm the artistic one. I know how I want the set to look, I can even design it in 3D and give everybody a great picture of how it's going to be - but I can't be bothered with the measurements. He'll go along to the theatre, measure the space to within an inch of its life and then plan my set out on graph paper and work out exactly how many flats we're going to need and all their sizes. He then hands that to my Dad who is the king of DIY and has been doing joinery projects all his life. He is now over half way through building the set. My brother-in-law has a degree in Sound Engineering and loves all kinds of music both listening and playing. Although he doesn't use his degree in his day job, he still has a keen interest and is going to help out as our Sound Designer, providing all our sound effects. My Mum has already been assigned a job front-of-house because she has a really warm personality and will make people feel welcome. She's also our assigned wardrobe mistress in charge of repairs (we don't need costumes per se as our play is modern dress) because she's been a keen seamstress all her life and has spent many years making costumes for me. She's also keen to help out with the edible props and devising ways to keep the costs down on copious amounts of Christmas cake! My sister is very artistic and will (although she may not know it yet) be drafted in to help with the dressing of the set. Our company Business Manager Gillian is also helping out with props because she has the talents of persuasion and resourcefulness. She is our chief haggler and telephonist. I have a distinct aversion to the phone (possibly something to do with not being able to gauge people's true reactions to what I've said because I can't see their face) whereas Gillian has absolutely no problem talking to people in any way.

That neatly brings me on to something else I think is important. Don't be scared to ASK people for help - even complete strangers - because you'll be amazed how much some people are prepared to do for you when you tell them what your project is. An example of this for 'Elephants' was when we were thinking about building our own set. The set is split into two parts - the main part being a living/dining room and kitchen and a small side set of the inside of a shed. We thought it would be much easier to use an actual shed for the walls rather than trying to manufacture something. My husband and I were driving to our local garden centre one weekend and they have a shed company right next to them. I spotted a dismantled shed lying on the ground which made me think of the show. I suggested we go in and ask if they had broken bits of shed that they might be able to sell to us cheaply. My husband duly went in and asked and it turned out that the shed lying on the ground was brand new but had been returned because the slats in the walls had started to separate. We explained what we needed and a few phone calls were made. To cut a long story short we ended up buying a whole brand new shed (minus the roof) from this lovely company for only £60. It definitely pays to ask!!

Having said all that the most important thing once you have all those lovely people helping you out is to never take them for granted! The words 'thank you' have an amazing amount of power and cost you nothing (although a box of chocolates and a few beers or a bottle of wine would probably be appreciated too). Much as you may want to, it is virtually impossible to do everything yourself, so ASK for the help you need, APPRECIATE the people who give it and remember that everybody has a talent for something.