The weather in Cornwall has been truly amazing. We hiked for 14 miles yesterday through all sorts of amazing landscape, wetlands, woodland, beach, field and cliff edge. Cornwall, as always is stunning. After three days of very little but fresh air and log fires I am starting to get excited about everything Night Light.
With auditions proving very interesting and brilliantly fruitful I am just awaiting confirmation on a full cast for Romeo and Juliet. I finished the script edits on Friday and I think it’s going to work great.
We are making steady progress on design, Rhys is meeting the set builders on Friday to discuss the build. The puppets are looking stunning and Max our puppet master is working wonders with some of the mechanisms.
Last week we heard that we would be supported with an arts council GFTA which has taken the pressure off a lot and opened the doors to even more creative possibilities. So that is brilliant. We are grateful for the support and committed to spending the money wisely.
The show is sitting very clearly in my head now that I have actors in the parts, Night Light Theatre is a company which lives and dies by it’s people. The only way I know how to work is through productive, often brutal honesty in the rehearsal room- I have to be able to tell a performer exactly what I think of their work and not only are they not offended by the note but they are determined to build on it. I love it when the room is full of people reaching for the most creative and exciting option available.
I am also starting to see our publicity campaign a lot clearer, I can see posters and how they might look, digital content, viral stuff too. I think we will have a lot of fun with getting this show ‘out there’, wherever ‘there’ might be. I know sarah has a lot of ideas about that too and for the first time ever I am a bit excited about the marketing side of a show. I don’t know why- maybe that will change. I can see potential for an online devising network too- a place where young theatre makers are able to ask questions of people who are dealing with similar creative problems.
It’s so clichéd, but just three days away from the office, away from the building and away from Cambridge has really helped me to re focus on what it is I want this beast to grow into. I am excited by it again.
I am currently sat on a massive sofa with a fire raging by my side, I can’t really feel my legs after yesterdays adventure and I am feeling confident that we are on the right track. Maybe it’s the magic of Cornwall, maybe it’s because I needed to get away from theatre for a bit to be able to say ‘yeah, we’re doing ok’. I don’t know. I think with all the talk of NPO’s and the decisions that are being made about the artistic landscape of the country it’s very easy to become entangled with the politics of theatre making when in fact I really have no interest in that side of it at all. Having said that- I am very interested in bringing companies and artists together and as part of that I am planning to ask some questions about the arts in Cambridge when I get back to the city.
Why does the Junction, the Arts Theatre, the corn exchange and the ADC Theatre have no communication? Why has the Arts theatre decided to make a studio space when the Junction is surely there for that exact purpose? Why does the corn exchange have no educational facilities? I’m going to find out. Not because of the politics, but because of the principles of it. Maybe that’s the same thing?
Lets find out.
That was Rich in Cornwall.
Coming up soon-
Meet the cast of R+J, I will be interviewing them all!
Also what is ‘Kindling’ and how can you get involved with it.
Plus- Tom and Philippa talk to me about The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
