Hello

Pentabus continues to be busy over these summer months, and scripts are pouring in for WE ARE HERE, our invitation to playwrights to submit plays for a slot in our 2012 season. We have set up a London PO Box for this, and every week I head up to see what has been delivered, unsure whether to bring a bag or a wheelbarrow….so far a bag has been sufficient, but I would love it if one of these days I turn up as usual and they bring out bursting mail bags for me to carry home! (wheelbarrow safely ready in preparation for this event. I am certain it will happen.)

We had a board meeting at Birmingham mac a couple of weeks ago, which was a great opportunity to check in with everyone, to review and reflect on recent projects, and to look forward to future exciting projects. I have to say, I had never heard of Birmingham mac until recently and on arrival I think I actually vocalised a little gasp to myself, as the place is amazing! Bright, airy, accessible, busy and filled with activity, it seemed to me exactly what an arts centre should feel like. Apparently it has recently been refurbished and it is obvious they have thought really hard about the redesign, as I think it is really successful as a building. I look forward to getting to know the venue a bit more, and have another opportunity to do so this week, as I will be there for a Pentabus Meet and Greet. Oh yes. As part of our commitment to new work, I am dedicating a lot of time this year to meeting with playwrights, both locally and nationally, and to see as much new work as possible, to identify those whose ideas might resonate with Pentabus and who might be interested in what we do. Catherine from SCRIPT has been incredible in getting the word out to regional writers that we are keen to meet with them. So meet them we will. I am very much looking forward to meeting what I hope will be a diverse mix of playwrights who are all doing interesting work in the region. I will report back after the event…….!

While all this is going on, I can’t help but mention what is going on in the back of all of our minds (as I’m sure it is in most regularly funded organisations across the land); the looming shadow of the spending cuts. Uncertainty is the main issue-we just don’t know what the future holds. However, what we are certain of is the value of the arts, and the value of what we do as a company. And it is incredible to see the strength of opinion when it comes to defending and fighting for the arts, in both individuals and organisations. I read articles, twitter posts, empassioned emails, blogs, facebook status updates on a daily basis, from people who are all articulating the obvious value of the arts in our economy. Surely these kinds of facts and figures cannot be ignored?!

To quote directly from the Arts Council website (link: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/why-arts-matter/) facts like:  ’the arts budget is tiny; it costs 17p a week per person - less than half the price of a pint of milk.’

‘For every £1 that the Arts Council invests, an additional £2 is generated from private and commercial sources, totalling £3 income.’

‘The UK has the largest creative sector in the EU, and relative to GDP probably the largest in the world.’

The Arts Council has put together a really strong set of reasons why any cuts to the arts should be carefully considered, I urge anyone who is interested to click on the above link and take a look, it makes for some interesting reading. And if what you read makes you want to do something, then I reckon a letter to your local MP might just make a difference.

Meanwhile, it is business as usual. And there is plenty to be getting on with!

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/why-arts-matter/

I am back home in London now, got back late last night and it feels very strange not to be in lovely Ludlow any more! The show is officially open and has begun its tour of village halls and theatres large and small. Last week was full on, with everyone returning to rehearsals after four days off for Easter, which seems a very long time in theatre terms….With one day at Pentabus before we all transported ourselves to Shrewsbury, we spent the time easing our way back into the show, and managed to fit in a dress rehearsal or two. Actually, the four days off seemed to have done wonders for the show, with everyone sparky and refreshed (and full of chocolate!) it whipped along with a new energy and momentum that was brilliant to watch.

To start at Theatre Severn was a real luxury, with plenty of space, time, facilities, multiple dressing rooms, and of course let us not forget the automatic soap dispensers. We arrived on the Wednesday, but stage management and the creative team had been there for hours before us rigging and focusing lights, testing sound levels and of course, building the set. It looked fantastic in the space, but there was one big worry about sight lines. We had decided not to put it on its rostra as we had thought that it would sit better in the space. However, getting there and seeing the rake of the audience, and seeing the actors onstage, we decided that perhaps it would be better for the audience if it was raised up. No easy task, it meant dismantling the entire set, building the rostra and then reconstructing the whole thing. Not only that, but Alex had spent a good many hours focusing the lights to the correct position. Moving the set up and back would mean he would have to start from scratch. But after a long conversation, everyone agreed that it was worth doing. As soon as the decision had been made, it was action stations as the team pulled together with almost super human speed and efficiency to get it done. Coming back the next morning, the set was in its rightful position and looked brilliant. Phew.

We had time for a tech/dress rehearsal, and a photo shoot, before the first show that evening. The show had been sold out for weeks, and Brian Viner, his family and friends, and Nick Warburton and his wife were all going to be part of our first ever audience. terrifying. would they like it? would they laugh? would they feel like we had done their lives, and their stories justice? we would soon find out as all of a sudden it was getting on for show time. It was a fantastic first show, the company did a brilliant job and the audience seemed to respond very well. Speaking to Brian and his family, and Nick, after the show, they all seemed delighted with what they saw, which was a relief to hear! Throughout the whole play I could not stop thinking how strange it must be for Brian and Jane and their children, watching a version of their lives onstage that they have had no control over! They had been so generous in just letting us get on with it in rehearsals, and it meant a lot to the company to get the Viner stamp of approval I think!

There was time for the actors to have a very quick first night drink, then it was back to work to dismantle the set and pack everything away in the van, as our destination the next night was a tiny village hall in Clee. From 250 to 47 seats in 24 hours! Winding through tiny country roads, we would occasionally see a poster advertising the show, which was the only sign to me that we were heading anywhere close to the venue (thank god for sat navs). It was a gorgeous little village hall, the sun was shining, and by the time the actors and myself arrived, the set was already up and looking lovely in the cosy and intimate hall. What a difference. The first row of audience would literally be a few inches away from the performance space. We had time to do a quick line run onstage, for actors to get used to the intimacy, and then their evening meal was being very kindly provided for them before the show. I left them in the sunshine, talking about playing a game of British Bulldog on the grass as a warm up…..

I’m now not seeing the show for a little while, returning to see them all in Abergavenny, and I will be very excited to see how the show has evolved.

So Easter beckons and temperatures plummet. Again. Snow. Sleet. Biting winds. I realise I mention the weather in most of my blogs, but when in the countryside I tend to notice it much more and it can make so much difference to my cycle ride into rehearsal. (yesterday’s cycling involved a lot of swearing at the wind as it threatened on a few occasions to blow me off the path right onto the A49. I took it personally.) As well as going into tech, this week has been all about cars. At the beginning of rehearsals, we were all hit with a horrible cold; every morning we arrived to find yet another person coughing and spluttering, I don’t think anyone escaped. Nasty. And now, it seems our cars are catching car plague. My battery keeps dying, Sarah’s car has exhaust problems, Claire’s car hit the garage to get some bodywork replaced….. who will be next?

Anyway. Back to the show. We have just finished tech-ing this very morning and are about to do our first official dress rehearsal, a brilliant way to end before the Easter break. It has been a full on few days, but very exciting to see everything come together. Alex’s ideas for lighting are truly beautiful and Benet’s music fits the world so perfectly. The creative team and stage management have been working all hours (Alex even slept at Pentabus HQ the other night. Commitment indeed. Nothing to do with the fact he had been accidently locked out of his digs. Oops.) and James has pretty much emptied the charity shops of Hereford in order to put the finishing touches to the set and the seemingly hundreds of costumes. We had a bit of a costume parade on Monday, where we went through every costume and every costume change for every character. Matt and Sarah, who play Brian and Jane have it fairly easy as they are the only ones who do not change characters. The most Matt has to do is take off his jumper and Sarah has to wrestle with some slightly too tight rubber gloves, but this is nothing compared to what others have to do during the course of the play. Iain I think wins hands down for most costume changes, as he plays over 15 characters. I don’t think he has much of a chance to breathe during the show, as soon as he walks offstage, it’s off with one costume and on with another, sometimes having only seconds to change. The challenge for everyone has been not to bring the total frantic-ness of these offstage transformations onstage with them-otherwise all an audience will see is a slightly out of breath actor with half a coat on. They have to make it all look easy and effortless. And by the time we reach Shrewsbury next week, they will have it nailed.

Backstage is a whole other show, what with the costume changes, offstage animal noises, packing, unpacking and repacking the various boxes that become part of the fete. At one point, Titch and Sarah form a two person band, banging drums, blowing whistles, ringing bells to support the onstage action of a march in London. Experimenting with just how enthusiastically they need to bang those drums has been an important (and pretty funny) part of getting the balance right-there was one point where the offstage banging and whistling threatened to become just a bit too entertaining! Probably only for us though, not sure an audience would feel the same….

Cake has also featured heavily this week, particularly yesterday, where not only did we manage to comsume hot cross buns, chocolate and lemon cake and donuts, but Nick, the writer, had very kindly sent us a box of delicious Chelsea buns. Strangely we had room for them too. Oh, and some fish and chips. Well. It is hard work being in tech. Gotta keep those energy levels up for all those quick changes. Not sure what my excuse is, but anyway…..
There was also a brilliant article published in a local magazine about Brian Viner, where Pentabus get a good mention. Excellent.

At the end of the day today, everyone will head back to their various corners of the country for easter and we will all return on Tuesday, ready to throw ourselves back into a final day of rehearsals before our big move to Shrewsbury. Happy Easter!