Late Night Musings on a Day Glo Zoom Through the World of Juliette Burton (A Review of Types)

It's 2am.  I have awoken abruptly which is normally a key indicator that I either want to do something creative or read.  Both activities is almost guaranteed to induce sleep.

Some hours ago, I was sitting in front of my laptop awaiting entry to East Riding Theatre's presentation of Juliette Burton's '(Re)Defined' show.  It was the first time outside of the odd work meeting where I have used Zoom for pleasure and initially, I had a horrible feeling it wouldn't work.

The structure of the show was similar to the Greenwich Theatre production that I attended in person but with the added bonus of getting to see people.  The Zoom format seems an absolute boon for creative people who wish to share their wares.  The 2020 equivalent of a one person show in a small venue where the audience are all given equal attention if they wish it.

After I realised that I was initially invisible (Juliette mentioned that she couldn't see many people or I may have imagined that), I somehow managed to work out how to turn my webcam on.

In a show about definitions and how we choose to perceive ourselves in the light of our characteristics, conditions or mental status etc.  I think I have always defined myself by my sense of distance.  I am the guy on the periphery, not exactly a voyeur or wallflower.  More of an observer, trying to understand where I fit in.  I certainly don't like looking at myself on screen but it felt right on Zoom and in the context of this show, I let myself come out of hiding.

It was also nice to see people I had been in the company of at the Greenwich Theatre show.

Juliette Burton took centre stage, beguiling the audience and making us laugh or cringe as she offered snippets from her life and the videos that she has clearly worked hard on with her various collaborators including Robert (co-star and joint writer of the lovely film about socially distanced dating).

The brilliant aspect of Zoom that in theatrical or comedic terms could probably be defined as heckling or simply talking non-stop over the performers was the chat that went on throughout the show.  The audience could and were encouraged to interject.  As Juliette described, it must be really hard performing in an environment where you can't hear the laughter of the audience or experience the vibrations of positivity that come from a happy audience.  You have to pick up the mood from random comments in the chat and emojis.

Emojis are probably the nearest a performer can get to an audience member emitting a belly laugh from the centre of a venue.

Juliette was also very gracious with her time and allowed a question and answer session afterwards.  The amusing thing about question and answer sessions is the fact that they always divide audiences,  I have seen mass exoduses prior to q and a's in the theatre for a variety of reasons but when you are at home and a performer has shared her hard work with you, it's only fair that you stick around (although, you are forgiven for not sticking around if you need the loo etc ;-) )

Juliette kindly answered my questions about the artwork on the wall behind her and about the glitter design on her face.

I was fascinated to learn that the act of applying the glitter and make-up is self-empowering.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me because make-up is a powerful signifier in some cultures (an assertion of individualism and position).  Also a way of standing out and making yourself noticed or noticable.  Also I kept thinking of clowns (sorry, Juliette) and how their unique make-up helps to define their performance style.  Historically, professional clowns also trademark their facial designs.

Again, as with my previous blog entry, I won't spoil the show as there is one more performance available online in a couple of weeks and to focus too heavily on certain features of the show may spoil it slightly.

Needless to say, having seen myself on screen, I still feel a bit like a moth drawn to the light.  But my respect and admiration goes out to Juliette.  She can hold an audience entranced for a ninety minute period even when her image freezes momentarily through technological dropouts (didn't lose any of the content when this happened and it enabled a greater reflection on the importance of the glitter!  Tee hee!)

Online, she performs to a row of boxes.  Onstage, she performs to rows of stalls.  But in essense, she performs to the hearts of the audience, however they are framed.  She gives out positivity in an era of uncertainty.

She doesn't like Digestive biscuits but hey, she can be forgiven that transgression.

Juliette, keep shining and reflecting and please remember that when things are horrible, you have empowered and offered comfort blankets to your audience.  They may be metaphorical blankets, but no less warm and reassuring to their recipients.

Keep glittering, Juliette.  The world needs more positivity.

                                                                               Barry Watt - 21st November 2020.   

Afterword.

Juliette Burton has a website where you can learn more about her work and see lots of great stuff.  Also there is a link to a future online show provided by the Museum of Comedy in London:

https://www.julietteburton.co.uk/#top

Heck, here's the link to the show on 3rd December 2020:

https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/shows/873613171

Zoom is an online platform allowing lots of frustrated workers to keep in touch with each other and to discuss the relative value of biscuits during a pandemic.  Also it allows performers and creatives to keep in touch with audiences:

https://zoom.us/

East Riding Theatre who kindly hosted the performance last night have a website and they have future virtual performances available:

https://www.eastridingtheatre.co.uk/

The Greenwich Theatre have a great website too and future productions coming up.  Please support your local venues:

https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/

Digestive biscuits are of course the staple ingredient of any healthy diet (Juliette, I humbly apologise for my comment that you could be a spokesperson for the biscuit ;-)):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuit

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Photos

Juliette Burton - A Day Glo representation of a kind performer 

Juliette Burton and Robert - An image from the wonderful film about dating circa 2020

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                                                        BW

Prosecco is a State of Mind - An Evening with Juliette Burton

After a wonderfully awkward bus journey and pretty long walk that led me from New Cross to Lewisham, where I passed my first place of paid employment, sadly no longer in existence (it was a comic shop that suffered and benefited from leaks, rodents and lots of brilliant customers).  The shop still stands but I don't know what it is any more.  Then I walked to Greenwich.  A short(ish) walk past the pub that has been converted into flats and the bookshop that has now become a barbers.  I am sure that analogies can be made between the act of page turning and hair removal.  Both require temporary loss that leads to momentary gain.

Anyhow, I got to the Greenwich Theatre at about 7pm.  I was met by a nice usher who examined my confirmation printout (I still can't get used to displaying e-tickets on my phone.  Am I the only one who is nostalgic for the feel of card in their hands?).  She wore the now customary 2020 accessories of visor and mask.  She explained the new methodology of the theatre scene these days, which can be defined quite simply as social distancing whilst desperately trying to retain the sense of togetherness that the theatre instills.  The bar experience was a case in point.  Two tables with cash card readers were placed in front of the bar and I was advised to sit at one.  I was then served and paid on the card reader before taking a seat on one of a handful of tables laid out in a sensible and respectful manner.

Of course, the tables filled up really quickly and one of the ushers let us know that the auditorium was open so to go in as quickly as possible as the seating was unreserved.  In a manner that I can only describe as slightly out of character, I ended up necking a glass or more correctly, plastic beaker of red wine in about five minutes.  It took me a little while to realise that actually it made sense to get the audience into the auditorium to allow late comers to use the bar.

In the spirit of open disclosure, I frequented the toilets and the urinals were alternately out of use to allow for social distancing (having said that it is a curious fact that most men seem pretty uncomfortable urinating next to each other anyway).  I then headed into the main auditorium.

The seats where the audience were permitted to sit were scattered throughout the auditorium.  On stage, a screen prompted the audience to define themselves and their town in five words or less.  I had done this earlier in the day after reading an email from the Greenwich Theatre with the request from Juliette Burton.

A mysterious female hand moved random combinations of words across the screen.  A polymorphous collection of fears, aspirations and hopes.  The strengths we embrace and those characteristics that restrain us.

Over the public announcement system, the owner of the mysterious hand of fate advised us the show was due to start about ten minutes late due to latecomers and that we should go and get drinks etc and that she was drinking prosecco (which we were asked to bring back and leave on the stage).

Juliette Burton came on stage and beguiled the audience with her honesty, humour and short videos.  I also ended up involved as she read out my definitions from earlier in the day and the question that I had asked her.  I stated that my town was defined by 'a walrus and apocryphal stories' (anyone who knows my home town will be familiar with the walrus (one of the older exhibits in Horniman Museum who went on a bit of a tour several years ago).  Also the apocryphal stories refer to the alleged plague pits that are apparently located opposite the Horniman Museum (maybe under a kids' paddling pool and playground?) and the so-called Honor Oak (the oak tree where Queen Elizabeth the First rested on a trip to Lewisham located on One Tree Hill).  Also the witches' altar that I remember my fellow pupils telling me about when I went to primary school.  This too is located on One Tree Hill.  I assume it refers to a concrete block but I have never been sure.

More touchingly, at one point in the show, Juliette asked me to help to define the mental health conditions that she has dealt with and explored over the years and I felt as though it was not my place to judge her and I offered that opinion through my mask.  I also then felt in a safe place to offer that I had and do suffer from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and depression from time to time.  This admittance seems more important than ever these days.  I feel that if I can be honest with the people around me, they will hopefully open up if they feel they need to with me.  Growth and understanding are only possible when mental health issues are no longer stigmatised.  As Juliette wisely said, people who suffer (or who have suffered) from mental health issues are often more empathetic (and also she added, 'better in bed' but I wouldn't know about that).

I am not going into lots of details about the jokes as that would spoil your experience if you haven't seen Juliette yet.

I found Juliette engaging, charming, funny and fundamentally honest.  Her costume changes subtly allowed subliminal messages to flow through the air and into the psyches of the audience about her qualities as a human being and her desire to shine (also her belief in the human race).  As her last t-shirt may have read (my eyesight is not brilliant), 'Redefining beauty'.  This summed up how I felt about the show.

You may be interested to hear that although my journey home was wet and awkward, my mood was elevated and reflective.  Thank you, Juliette and Greenwich Theatre.

                                                                                                 Barry Watt - 3rd October 2020

Afterword.

Juliette Burton has an excellent website that it is worth looking at:

https://www.julietteburton.co.uk/

Greenwich Theatre has a website and I strongly recommend that you support the theatres that you care about if this pandemic has taught us nothing, it has certainly revealed that nothing lasts forever:

https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/

Horniman Museum and Gardens is a lovely museum in Forest Hill.  They also have a great website:

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/

For more on the lovely walrus, please check the below link:

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/object/NH.H.44

More information about One Tree Hill can be read below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Tree_Hill,_Honor_Oak

If needed, mental health services are still available.  If you need to talk to someone urgently, The Samaritans are one option:

https://www.samaritans.org/

Additionally, the charity Mind offers lots of useful information:

https://www.mind.org.uk/

Promotional Image.

Promotional poster for Juliette Burton's show, 'Redefined' which I strongly recommend.

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Caught in the Light of the Moment - An Interview with Emily Hamilton, Wedding Photographer and Volunteer.

I have had the pleasure of working with Emily Hamilton in her capacity as a volunteer within the hospital I work in for some time now.  She exhibits an intelligence, high levels of empathy and has a good sense of humour.  Now I have written her reference for her, she has kindly consented to allowing me to interview her.  Emily owns her own business, Emily Rose Photography and has been rightly flagged up as one of the best wedding photographers by Cosmopolitan magazine.  I have been particularly interested in learning about her creative endeavours and professional work, so without further delay... 

When did you become interested in photography?

I can’t remember exactly when it became an interest of mine. It’s always run in the family
- my Dad was never without his film camera when I was growing up, so I spent a lot of
time in front of a camera and we, as a result, now have albums full of our family
memories which has become incredibly special to me. I suppose this ties in with what I
love so much about what I do - capturing memories. I had little compact cameras from a
young age and then got my first DSLR camera when I was 16 and from that point, I was
completely hooked.

Who are your influences?

The first photographer that inspired me was Tim Walker - I created some quite ethereal
styled shoots when I was studying. Now, I find inspiration from photographers such as
Benjamin Wheeler, The Ferros, James Frost, Chris & Ruth and The Kitcheners.

When did you decide to start your own business, Emily Rose Photography and what
inspired you to become a wedding photographer?

I started my business in 2013, when I was 19 years old. It was a year after I finished
studying at college. I had a Photographer tutor there who was just incredible - he gave me
so much support and really believed in me pursuing photography as a career. When I left
college, I was accepted to study it at University, but at the last minute, I deferred my
place as a challenge. I wanted to give myself a year to see if I could get into the industry
without a degree. I completed some internships and did a few different projects. It was
that next summer that my tutor contacted me and told me he had a couple looking for a
student photographer to capture their wedding. I was extremely against it - at this point, I
was wanting to get into fashion photography and had never even been to a wedding. My
tutor pushed me to do it and I eventually agreed. Turns out I actually really enjoyed it and
managed to book more in!

Do you feel that in a photographic composition regardless of your original
intention, occasionally the physical space becomes the focal point? Are there any
buildings or places that you feel have had a ‘genius loci’ (a strong sense of
atmosphere rather than an occupying spiritual presence, although I guess that too
could apply)?

Absolutely - I really love some venues in particular that have so much character and just
on their own are beautiful to capture, but I always find it even more powerful when you
then add the couple in and play them together to create a certain atmosphere in the
photo. I also try to look for symmetry - I love big windows, pillars, clean open spaces,
quirky doors etc and placing the couple in the centre. There’s one venue: the Asylum
Chapel in Peckham and it’s got this eerie feel to it with its derelict, peeling walls, but it
can so easily become a cosy den when filled with candles and flowers.

What for you are the important characteristics of photos of a wedding day? Do you
find that couples prefer spontaneous shots or more structured shots? Do you spend
lots of time with the couples in order to identify and develop their photographic
needs? Personally, I prefer more spontaneous shots where the subject is not
always aware that they are being photographed.

I personally aim to mainly capture natural shots of the day as it unfolds and try to blend
into the background as much as I can. When you look at a photograph of people looking
straight at a camera, smiling against one of people looking at each other and laughing, you
will most likely feel so much more emotion from the second. I always do a mix of the more
‘posed’ shots of different family members together so that the couple have the two
different sides (especially as some guests personally do want those group photos to frame
etc).

Most of the couples that book me express how important it is for them to have natural
shots of the day and usually say that they feel awkward having their photo taken. I’ll
always try and figure out their ‘vibe’ and how they are together - if they’re quite silly, I’ll
aim to capture that side of them in their couple photos, sometimes they’re a bit more
serious and I can then get them being a bit more romantic and emotive.

During the current Coronavirus crisis, what have you been doing?

I have been volunteering in a hospital in London alongside you! I’ve been absolutely loving
working in the staff well being hubs and helping to put a smile on people’s faces. I’ve also
been focusing on a plan for next year and getting weddings booked in to look forward to.
I’ve managed to use some time to update my website and share my work from last year, as
well as other random jobs - I’ve been designing a marketing brochure for a local business
which has been good fun! I’ve also been focusing a lot on looking after myself.

When you are not working professionally, what do you like to photograph?

Landscapes - in particular mountains, forests and cities. I really love buildings, so tend to
wander through London streets and capture the town houses. I adore golden hour sunlight,
of course, and my favourite time of year to photograph is Autumn/Winter - a huge goal of
mine is to get to somewhere like Norway or Lapland and just spend a week taking photos
of snowy forests and the night sky.

Historically, photography is usually seen as the medium through which to capture
the moment. It is interesting to look at older images taken by family members on
film and how the film stock has degraded over time (faded colours and
pigmentation). What do you believe are the main differences between shooting on
film and using a digital camera? Do you feel that some experimentation or indeed,
the occasional ‘mistake’ that generates something unique and memorable could be
being ignored or deleted in favour of the perfect shot? Have we become more
utilitarian and less creative as a result of being able to take hundreds of shots using
our cameras rather than 24 shots on a manual camera using film stock?

I think using digital definitely forces us to have to be more creative, because you have to
almost make the more experimental shots happen, rather than it being a mistake as made
by film. I do love the less technically perfect shots - they usually do convey more emotion
and are unique. There are elements of film that I do feel is missing from digital, for
example light leaks and I love accidental double exposures - these are of course able to be
achieved in digital, but there’s something really special about them when they’re a pure
accident. Film also just has something magical about what it produces and I think it’s very
very hard to match that in digital.

I’m also definitely guilty of being trigger happy with my camera - on a wedding day I’ll
take around 3-4,000 photos and I do wonder whether it would be beneficial for me to one
day spend some time going back to basics, using film and being more aware and thoughtful
in how I compose my images. One technique that’s become quite popular within wedding
photography is purposefully capturing slightly blurred images, particularly in black and
white. And something I especially love to do during the dancing part of the evening is to
‘drag the shutter’ where you end up with cool light trails from a slow shutter speed, but
the flash freezes the people in the photo so that they’re in focus and for me, it creates so
much more energy and almost makes you feel like you’re there in the party.
I’m definitely grateful for digital however - I love knowing that I am able to have the
confidence I’m going to be able to get those technically ‘perfect’ shots, but also be able
to experiment and get some unique ones also - I’m not sure I’d be able to comfortably
photograph a wedding solely on film and would probably spend the entire time living in
anxiety of how they’re going to come out!!

I really do not like having my photo taken unless I am ‘acting up for the camera’, I
trust the photographer wholeheartedly or my photo is taken surreptiously. Do you
like to be photographed? Why do you think that so many people are adverse to
their photographs being taken? Could it be partially due to self-esteem issues? I
know that some tribal groups feel that the act of photography takes away their
souls. Do you find that generally people are happier to have their photos taken in
a group situation rather than alone?

This is a really tough one that yes, probably does go quite deep. I personally am
completely mixed on the prospect of having my photo taken. If I am with other people, I
will happily have it taken and feel relaxed. If I’m on my own, I really do struggle. I feel
awkward and uncomfortable, unless as you say, it’s someone I know very well. For me, I
think it used to be a self esteem issue, which I have now more or less grown out of, but I
think the thoughts around having my photo taken are naturally still there. Maybe that can
be a new goal of mine!

But I think this is why I find my job so important - I know how horrible it can feel not
wanting to have your photo taken, so it’s why I try so hard to put my clients at ease and
show them my weird and silly side so that it doesn’t feel too serious or scary. People
always photograph beautifully when they’re showing natural emotions, so I’ll always try
and provoke some giggles with a ridiculous joke or story. A lot of people definitely prefer
to have their photo taken in a group, however there’s a large number who love acting up
for the camera, which I absolutely love!

Please can you share a selection of your favourite photographs with me and
talk a little bit about how and where you shot the photographs and what they mean
to you (on an emotional level etc)?

Bekki & Joe - I took this photograph the day that Lockdown was announced. This couple
were meant to get married the following weekend which of course was cancelled, so they
decided that day to go ahead with a ceremony with a handful of family with a live stream
set up so their guests could watch online. Joe’s Dad conducted the ceremony and during a
reading, Joe & Bekki were suddenly struck by this stream of light that isolated them both
from the rest of the room and it gave me shivers!

James & Ruth - this was my first wedding of 2020 and it was a venue I’ve adored for a long
time. I had been so excited to get to this day after a quiet winter off and it was a wedding
that will stick in my mind for years to come. James & Ruth were just the coolest, most
chilled couple that really made sure their day was all about what is most important to
them - their friends and family and all being together.

This was such an amazing day for me. Kew Gardens has always been a venue I’ve wanted
to photograph and last year I had the opportunity to work alongside a photographer that
I’ve admired for a long time and it truly was one of the most magical weddings I’ve had
the honour of being a part of. The team we worked with were incredible and every part of
the day wowed me - the couple had this gorgeous willow tree installation at the top of
their alter and light tunnels that housed their guests dining tables inside the Temperate
House.

I spontaneously booked onto a workshop in the Canary Islands last year and spent a week with a bunch of other photographers on a tiny island. The trip didn’t start off so well - I nearly missed my flight because I left my laptop in security (not like me AT all!!) but I think I cried every single day while I was there because I was just so happy. I took this photo on our first day - we went out with a really talented photographer called James Frost and explored our surroundings during sunset and it was just magical and the first time a while where I truly felt proud of what I had produced photo-wise.

Emily & Andy - These are my pals! We went on a ski trip in France and being the biggest lover of snow and mountains, there was no way I was not getting some photo’s while we were there. So Emily & Andy stepped up and let me capture them messing around outside our chalet and when I look at them, it takes me back to one of the most fulfilling weeks of my life.

What are your future plans?

I want to continue with my career as a wedding photographer for as long as possible. I’ll be looking to incorporate video at some stage. I’m also planning to set up a co-working club for freelancers as working alone is the one part of my job I struggle with. I am now also looking into continuing with the hospital and keeping my involvement going for the foreseeable future if I can.

Many thanks for allowing me to interview you, Emily and good luck with your future endeavours!

Afterword.

Emily has a very well designed website where you can see further examples of her work and contact her:

http://emilyrosephotography.co.uk/

The Cosmopolitan article by Abigail Malbon listing Emily as one of the fifteen best wedding photographers is below:

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/worklife/g31678960/wedding-photographers/

Many hospitals offer people the opportunity to do voluntary work for them.  This takes a variety of forms.  If you are interested, please see a selection of the below links or check out a hospital near you:

https://www.kch.nhs.uk/about/get-involved/volunteering

https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/careers/other-types-of-work/volunteering/volunteering.aspx

https://slam.nhs.uk/about-us/get-involved/volunteering-and-other-opportunities/

https://www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/vounteering-roles/

Emily has kindly allowed me to use her photographs and they are copyright to her.  If any of the subjects of her photos would like me to remove the photographs, please contact me.  I am using the images to illustrate Emily's work.  The images in the Additional Images section below are respectively copyright to Emily, me and to the photographer who took her portrait.

Additional Images.

Emily Hamilton

My portrait of Emily Hamilton.  Would you believe that Emily laughed at this perfect representation of her character?  Hours of revision and the finest work I have ever completed on cardboard.

One of Emily's finest creations, a happy bird heading off to a post Lockdown party.

This is not a flower, it is a fridge.  I think Emily agrees with me now.  This is Emily's drawing.  It's amazing how versatile she is with a blue pen and a head full of ideas.

                                                                         Barry Watt - 19th June 2020.

Movement through Lockdown – An Interview with James Haddrell, Artistic & Executive Director of the Greenwich Theatre

I have increasingly become more interested in fringe and smaller theatres, they regularly offer a more eclectic output than the West End theatres with their long run productions and occasionally prohibitive pricing.  The fringe scene offers an entry point for new creatives and a freshness that is sometimes lost when you consider the output of some larger theatres.  Over the years, I have attended numerous productions at the Greenwich Theatre and have regularly been astounded by the vitality of their performances.  Productions such as Smooth Faced Gentlemen’s ‘Titus Andronicus’ with movement, paint and paint brushes standing in for the brutality and horror of Shakespeare’s most extreme play.  Also London Classic Theatre's production of ‘Equus’, the rarely produced yet startling psychological play written by Peter Shaffer about the boy who blinds horses and the psychologist who seeks to help him (whilst simultaneously trying to understand himself as he undergoes a crisis of faith in his profession).  I vividly remember the horse costumes, the skeletal frames and heavy masks worn by the cast. 

As a result of the current Coronavirus situation and the closure of theatres and art venues internationally, I decided to ask James Haddrell, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Greenwich Theatre if I could interview him to learn more about his role within the theatre industry and how the Greenwich Theatre is coping during the current crisis.  He kindly agreed. 

What does your joint role as Artistic & Executive Director of Greenwich Theatre entail? Also prior to working at the Greenwich Theatre, did you always work within the theatre industry?

I started my arts career in cinema, working in marketing for the then independent Harbour Lights cinema in Southampton. I moved from there to the Warehouse Theatre in Croydon, a fringe venue with a strong focus on new writing. From there I moved to Greenwich Theatre as Press Officer in 2001. I have worked there ever since, first as Press Officer, then Marketing Manager and then in 2007 as Executive Director.

At that time the role of Artistic Director did not exist. The Executive Director led the company and programmed the venue, but there was little artistic creation at the venue. That has changed during my time, hence the change in job title. We now produce on a semi-regular basis, co-produce every season, and run an over-subscribed and ambitious artist support programme.

The ‘executive’ elements of the job remain though, so my job is a fusion of running the business, leading on strategic and commercial decision making (supported at all times by my Commercial Director, Simon Francis), and leading the artistic identity of the company.

What do you consider are the unique characteristics of the Greenwich Theatre that differentiate it from other venues?

Greenwich Theatre occupies a very important position in the theatre landscape. In London there are few venues of the scale of Greenwich where regional companies can showcase their work. National touring companies looking for London dates have limited options available to them. At the same time, fringe companies looking to grow their work need a stepping stone up to the mid-scale. On the fringe, financial risks are relatively low but the cost of presenting work grows exponentially as you move to larger venues and that cost can be prohibitive. Greenwich offers a low-risk platform for those small companies to try out their work on a larger stage.

Throughout the years, I have attended a number of productions at the Greenwich Theatre ranging from ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ (which starred Mark Rylance and Jane Horrocks) through to more recent productions such as Lazarus’ ‘Lord of the Flies’.  Do you feel that offering an eclectic range of short-run productions is important for presenting theatres?  How do you select the productions that you choose to stage?

It’s always a balancing act for us. The short runs can be challenging in terms of marketing, as the opportunity for word of mouth is limited. At the same time, a diverse programme can be problematic – the notion that presenting a wide range of theatre can bring in a wide range of audience members is often a mistake. A venue needs an identity. That's certainly easier to achieve when you are a producing house – we all know what a Royal Court or an Almeida show looks and feels like - but it’s also possible when you are a presenting house. At Greenwich Theatre, there is huge diversity in subject matter and style of work on stage, but wherever possible the work divides into a small number of strands - work by some of the country’s most exciting emerging companies, new writing for children and families etc.

In terms of selecting work, again, it’s a balancing act. I am naturally drawn to new or young companies who display a strong artistic sense - but who may need support in stepping up from the fringe to the mid-scale. Occasionally we work with brand new graduate companies, but more commonly we present work by companies who have made at least one or two shows already in a smaller space and who need the opportunity to grow. When we produce our own work, I am interested in a range of ideas - in recent years we have produced the new play Gazing At A Distant Star, the rarely revived Michael Frayn play HERE, and the European premiere of Tracey Power’s adaptation of The Jungle Book. In each case the shows we selected satisfied a particular need - Gazing launched our new studio and was suited to a small stage space and offered a chance for a gifted writer who had so far only had short pieces staged; Here was produced for the local festival Greenwich Performs and was designed to uncover a rarely performed but significant piece of writing; The Jungle Book launched an aspiration for an annual summer show for families.

I guess, at its heart, our programme is about taking work which has huge potential and giving it the chance, through mentoring, co-production, full production or just access to a decent scale London stage, to fulfil that potential.

In your recent article in the ‘South London Press’ newspaper (24^th April 2020), you spoke about the economic problems facing presenting theatres (those theatres who primarily rely upon touring productions rather than producing their own shows).  Please can you talk a bit about how the Greenwich Theatre is funded?  Does the majority of its income come through box office sales or through grants etc?

The story of Greenwich Theatre’s funding is an important one. When I took over as Executive Director the venue had debts of around £250k. The annual turnover was about £1.2m per year, and 60% of that came from grants - from the local authority, the European Social Fund and various project funders. Now the company has virtually no debt, the turnover still averages £1.2m per year, and less than 10% of our income comes from grants. The grant income that we do receive comes from the local authority, and we have just been awarded an Arts Council England emergency response grant of £35k, but we have increased earned income and donations exponentially to replace lost grant income over the past decade. That means this period of inactivity is particularly challenging for us, with almost no income.

In the light of the Coronavirus pandemic, theatres internationally are being adversely affected by the enforced closure of all venues; do you feel that there are adequate measures in place i.e. Government grants etc to ensure that theatres and art venues of all sizes will be able to survive?  Also do you believe as I am starting to feel that a centralised charitable fund could be established to support the smaller theatre companies, theatres and their associates who may not have sufficient resources to survive the prolonged closure?

To this point, no, there are not sufficient measures in place to support arts venues through this period. The furlough scheme is useful, and we are certainly making use of it, but our industry also relies heavily on freelance workers and to date the government is only offering income support for that group of artists to the end of June, while the earliest any theatre is talking about reopening in this country is September. We are not eligible for the government grants as our premises are considered too large, and we are resistant to the idea of incurring additional debt to get us through this period when we’ve worked so hard to clear our inherited debts.

Arts Council England has made a major commitment to the industry with their emergency grant provision, stopping all project grants and awarding funds to artists and companies on an emergency basis instead. However, the £160m set to be distributed can only go so far. It sounds like a huge sum, but venues like us who are not part of ACE’s National Portfolio of regularly funded companies could only apply for up to £35k - and for us, £15k of that will be spent on audience engagement activities while we’re closed, so the total of support funds is only actually £20k - and we estimate losses to July of around £250k. There are obviously savings from being closed as well, but still we are looking at a deficit for the period of around £100k - and audiences are not going to flock back to venues when we reopen. Sales are going to be slow as confidence gradually returns, so losses are going to increase. This is not to suggest that we are disappointed with the ACE grant - it is a huge testament to the faith that the funder has in our work - but it is important to acknowledge the scale of the crisis that we’re all facing.

A central support fund is a great idea. However, it’s worth saying (although I know this sounds brutal) there are inevitably organisations that were already operating with business models that put them on a trajectory towards failure. Bailout funding should be allocated where it will genuinely save an artist or an organisation, not where it will temporarily shore up an operation that is destined to fail anyway.

In your ‘South London Press’ article on 11^th May 2020, you talked about the current trend of providing streaming media online of theatre productions such as the National Theatre’s weekly offerings of their NT Live archives and you interestingly and validly point out that many theatres, although they can offer archival recordings of their productions, they will not match the production values of the National Theatre’s output (owing to the fact that the NT recordings have been created with the intention of cinema exhibition), so thus, most recordings may only be of interest to a more limited audience, who can accept the limitations of a single camera setup etc.  Personally, I feel that the NT Live productions and the other streamed productions offered by the Globe Theatre, BBC and Hampstead Theatre etc at least enable shows that would otherwise be forgotten to be shared.  One positive of the streaming phenomenon that you identify is the possibility for a greater engagement between the audience and the producing companies via social media.  Do you feel that there could be an argument to suggest that a larger number of shows could be streamed or offered once their runs are completed, providing the theatres and the production companies etc receive royalties for the productions? I suspect that this could only work with the larger theatres unless the NT Live and other pay-per-view streaming theatre channels would be prepared to support the fringe theatre scene.  But I would be interested to hear what you think?  Also how has the Greenwich Theatre engaged with social media during the Coronavirus?

This is a really interesting question, and something we’ve been thinking about ourselves. Providing access to shows to people who can’t get to a theatre is a very valuable endeavour, - one that theatres have been made to consider during the pandemic and one that I suspect will continue beyond the reopening of venues. We are looking at the mechanics of live streaming shows as they happen, so that audiences can either attend in person or watch online. I also think that the costs of producing very watchable recordings of plays has come down in recent years - I’m kicking myself for not filming the work that I’ve directed over the past few years. I think there’s an argument that all Arts Council England funded companies and venues should allocate a percentage of their grants to making their work available remotely - something for the industry to consider as we go forwards.

During the shutdown of theatres we’ve been running Greenwich Connects - a programme of activity which uses social media and digital platforms to reach audiences, actors and industry creatives, to offer entertainment and structure. We stream a show every Friday but have been exploring additional activity around the streams as you point out. We challenge actors to submit monologues on twitter every Monday, offer industry advice sessions on Instagram on Wednesdays, are part of a national Facebook streaming of SK Shlomo’s family beatbox sessions on Thursdays and issue a writers’ challenge every Sunday - and now that ACE have confirmed their funding, there will be more to come, including the relocation of our annual Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival onto a range of online platforms in July.

Please can you talk about any outreach or community programs/projects that the Greenwich Theatre is involved in?

Because of the nature of our funding, all community and outreach projects are dependent on both project funding and partnership working. Last summer we supported a free outdoor production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which I directed, presented in Thamesmead with a cast of professional, amateur and student performers. We run regular activities in schools and were on the verge of launching an after-school club at Eltham Hill Secondary School when the schools closed down (so that will now commence in the autumn). We have plans for a range of online workshops, particular for children and families, which are about to be announced…

As a regular theatre goer, I feel as though I should be doing my bit to support the theatre industry during the Coronavirus but it is hard to know where to start as I cannot support every theatre and company whose work I have enjoyed over the years.  As a theatre practitioner, what would you advise?

This is a tough one. I read your blog about the challenges you face in deciding who to help, and I found it really useful as someone sitting on the other side of the table seeking donations. For me, a donation or act of financial support should be linked to a sense of future engagement or involvement - don’t reward the theatres or companies you’ve loved in the past, help those that you are most likely to engage with in the future. I know that probably won’t narrow down your list much! I’d also say, where you can, instead of making a donation, look at purchasing a membership or a season ticket for future work. We would clearly all value your support at this tough time, but the value of that to us and to you increases dramatically if it’s linked to a commitment to future visits. We want to see you again!

Once the Coronavirus has passed, how soon do you anticipate that theatres will be able to reopen and do you feel that the whole experience could open up more useful dialogues concerning the Government’s support of smaller provincial companies and fringe theatre?  Also a more thorough investigation into ticket pricing, particularly in relation to West End theatres?  I am starting to feel that by imposing Broadway pricing onto many West End shows, less tickets will be purchased by the average audience member.  I have seen seats for future West End shows being offered at £150 plus for ‘premium’ seats.  Even allowing for theatre running costs and casting etc, is it ever possible to justify charging that amount of money for seats?  I will not pay those prices but it worries me that smaller venues will suffer as the result of audience members spending that amount on a West End show, when essentially they could see six or more shows for the same amount if they focused on local and fringe theatres.  Is there a sense of community between the fringe theatre scene or does it feel like every theatre fighting their own corner to survive?

The reopening question is an interesting one, and won’t be the same for all theatres. The challenge is making the economics stack up between the number of people in the audience and the cost of the show on stage. The West End will likely be closed until next year, as running a typical West End show to 25% capacity, which is the best we can hope for with socially distanced seating, doesn’t deliver enough to pay the rental on the venue and the costs of the activity on stage. For smaller venues, the same challenge exists but the margins are more navigable. At Greenwich we are reopening in September with small shows, rehearsed and performed with social distancing rules in place - some on the main stage, and some in the studio with cabaret style table seating. You would be pushed to run a show like that in a 1000 seat venue as it would be lost, but for us it will work well. I think that may bring more focus onto smaller theatres, as they’ll be up and running before the major venues, and the importance of investing in the grass roots of theatre production will become very clear.

West End ticket pricing has been an issue for me for a long time, and it has even been raised in the House of Lords as a concern, well before COVID-19. The reason prices are so high is often that a lot of money has been spent in creating the show, and the recoupment can take years. Producers know that a multi-year run is always far from guaranteed, so they need to protect their investors by making the recoupment period as short as possible. However, you’re right - if people spend £150 to go to see a West End show it’s going to use up their budget fast. I hope that the period of time when smaller venues are open will attract new audiences to try out those smaller spaces and then balance their theatregoing between the two in future, where previously the huge marketing investments of the major theatres grabbed the attention of most people and used up the money they could realistically spend on going to the theatre.

The fringe theatre scene has always had something of a community spirit but I think that has grown as a result of COVID-19 and it will be interesting to see whether that continues.

What are your future plans both within and outside of the Greenwich Theatre?

At Greenwich I am looking forward to getting the venue open again and seeing our audiences, albeit in a new way. We had to postpone an in-house family show that was fairly well developed but that will return next year, and we have started looking at plans for a small-scale in-house production for this autumn. We are also interested to see what we can keep as a legacy of this period - in terms of online engagement, streaming capacity etc.

Outside of Greenwich I produce, direct and project manage on a freelance basis and have a new musical, a community play and a sonic arts installation all in the pipeline for next year - more news on those in the future!

Thanks, James for letting me interview you and good luck for the future!

Photos (Thanks to James for providing two photographs of him at work).

James Haddrell

James Haddrell

Greenwich Theatre

Afterword.

Many thanks to you, James for letting me interview you.  All productions, companies, plays, publications and organisations are copyright to their respective owners.

The Greenwich Theatre has a website which is listed below:

https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/

Smooth Faced Gentlemen who produced the excellent 'Titus Andronicus' have a website too:

http://smoothfacedgentlemen.com/

London Classic Theatre also have an excellent and informative website exploring their past, present and future work:

http://londonclassictheatre.co.uk/

Lazarus Theatre Company produced the astounding 'Lord of the Flies' and continue to imbue classic plays with a Brechtian slant:

https://www.lazarustheatre.com/

Please continue to support your local and fringe theatres when the current Coronavirus has passed.  Creativity and artistic expression are not limited to the West End!

                                                                                            Barry Watt – 30^th May 2020.

When the curtains closed... Theatre in the age of Coronavirus and beyond.

I last saw a theatre production at the Royal Court Theatre on Saturday 14th March 2020.  A friend's son was in 'Shoe Lady', a beautifully performed exploration of the costs of modern life and our reliance on objects to perform our daily rituals.  Since then, following the initially half-hearted advice of the Government, that perhaps, theatres and other places of social gathering as a method to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, which was picked up and acted upon by Society of London Theatres and UK Theatre who advised the closure of venues.  The Government's policy seems to have become more emphatic concerning the closure of venues.  I don't work within the theatre industry but it is my major love.  As an audience member, I seem to invariably attend at least, two productions a week.  Importantly, I am not tied to any one venue or group, although I am a member of one organisation.  As is the case with most people, I have favourite theatre groups and individuals whose work I will try to support.  I do not perceive any radical difference between amateur or professional companies.  For me, it's all about the play or production.

Now that the preamble is out of the way, this blog will probably be a bit jumbled and confused but as an audience member that's how I am feeling at the moment (honestly, I think everyone is feeling the same owing to the often conflicting information that we are being fed by the media etc about the Coronavirus.  The stripped shelves in supermarkets are perhaps indicative of this feeling).  Shortly after the theatre closures began, the emails began offering refunds, ticket exchanges, credits or requesting that people donate the ticket refunds to the theatres.  Like many theatre attendees, I am looking at a lot of cancelled performances.  I am aware from news broadcasts and from observation that enforced closure of theatres will be damaging for many venues.  The Arcola Theatre sent out an email fairly quickly and explained how the suspension of productions for an indefinite period of time will be damaging for themselves and for other people working in the arts.  The productions bringing in the capital necessary to put on future shows.  But as they stated, the closure was necessary for the health of the public and their staff.  They also requested donations.

Actually, this blog is probably a response to their email and the many emails, I have received since.  At the moment as someone who loves theatre, it is hard to know what to do for the best.  I have this horrible image that when the Coronavirus passes, a number of venues will close and a number of important groups and individuals will not continue to produce work.  But as an audience member, I don't know how best to support the industry.  I can't afford to donate the cost of the tickets to all of the theatres and groups, especially with the acute realisation that when the Coronavirus passes, the world economy is likely to suffer, which will impact upon everyone.  At the moment, in some cases, I am accepting a credit and in other cases, refunds.  I am making the decision based on my somewhat limited understanding of how theatres receive their funding.

From my limited perspective as a 'bum on seat', I understand that the majority of a theatre's funding or indeed, the livelihood of many companies is based on ticket sales.  In real terms, there are potentially hundreds of theatres, festivals and groups in the UK that as an audience member, I can support by attending shows.  Of course, I guess other revenue streams are also generated through programme sales, confectionery, drinks and other peripherals.  The closure of the theatres prohibits these sources of income too.

At the moment, I have noticed various websites offering streamings of shows for a fee.  Also at one point, I noticed that The Old Vic were contemplating offering access to a filmed recording of 'Endgame' for those who had paid to see the show, prior to its cancellation.  As a short term solution, would it be possible to film more productions in closed environments (i.e. closed to an audience) and offering them via various websites online for a fee?  In fact, would it be possible to make all existing recordings of shows available?  I appreciate that there would be issues concerning royalties and obtaining performance rights but would it in theory, be possible?

I perceive that when the Coronavirus crisis ends, it may be a useful time to explore how theatres are funded and the wildly erratic ticket pricing.  How can the West End theatres justify charging £170 for tickets for future productions such as 'Good' (okay, they offer slightly cheaper restricted view seats but £50 plus for an Upper Circle seat seems wildly out of touch if they want to attend more frequent attendance at the theatre).  I think that will be the key to helping to support the theatre industry after the Coronavirus passes, making the tickets more reasonably priced and indeed, to refocus the audience towards the variety of shows on offer.  Just because your favourite actor is going to be in a show doesn't necessarily mean that it deserves a high percentage of your monthly wage packet!

To close, I don't need to but I will, I want to make it clear that I deeply respect the work of Elf Lyons, Lizi Patch, Bryony Kimmings, Arrows & Traps, Kneehigh, Complicite, the Arcola Theatre, the Bob Hope Theatre, the South London Theatre, the Barbican and anyone who believes in the importance of variety.  I want to throw out this question to everyone in the theatre industry, how can I support you all in the future?  But also the bigger theatres who receive more in the way of funding from various organisations could be reducing their ticket prices.  This can be a time of reflection and I feel sure that whether I like it or not, the theatre world will not be the same when this ends.  Stay strong and keep being you!

                                                                                                  Barry Watt - 21st March 2020.

Moving Forward with the Twirl of a Cane - An Interview with Ross McGregor.

Back in 2019, I was granted my wish of interviewing Ross McGregor, Director, writer and founder of Arrows & Traps.  At the point of the interview, the company was about to undergo significant changes, possibly even ‘permanent hiatus’.  Since then, they have staged three more shows at the Jack Studio Theatre, ‘The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde’, ‘One Giant Leap’ and most recently, ‘Chaplin: Birth of the Tramp’.  Two of the shows are currently touring or about to start touring (‘The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde’ and ‘Chaplin: Birth of the Tramp’).  I felt that now was the time to request another interview from Ross McGregor as the last interview read like an ending and judging by the continuing quality of the company’s shows, Arrows & Traps are nowhere near coming to an end.  Ross McGregor has very kindly agreed to answer my questions again.

When I last interviewed you, you suggested that Arrows & Traps was about to go on ‘permanent hiatus’.  What has motivated you to continue with the group?

In some respects, that has still happened to some degree.  The way that we used to work - large casts, and just one venue with 15-20 dates - that model is finished with, and we won’t be returning to that.  What we are trying to do here instead is to move to a touring model, with an opening run at the Jack Studio Theatre, and a regional tour of the UK following that.  The idea is to build a book of shows, that use multiple casts, with multiple casting combinations that can tour simultaneously and constantly as needed.

Since ‘Gentleman Jack’ and ‘TARO’, you have produced two very different yet engaging productions, ‘The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde’ and ‘One Giant Leap’.  ‘One Giant Leap’ in particular was a funny take on the never-ending conspiracy theories concerning the 1969 Moon landing.  Do you find it more creatively satisfying to produce works, which are not based on existing novels and plays etc?

I think of the types of work we have produced, I find the historical biographies, like TARO, Gentleman Jack, The White Rose and Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp the most satisfying to write, as they require a fair amount of research, and in all the cases mentioned above I knew very little about the subject or their history before I began researching them, so the process of educating myself is most enjoyable.  In the case of One Giant Leap, it wasn’t so much about the moon landings as an ode / love letter to making a theatre company, these rag-tag bunch of creative people all going through the trials and tribulations of making entertainment, against the setting of having to try and pull off the greatest conspiracy theory in history.  I never understood why critics said that show should have ended with the moon landing musical sequence - because the story wasn’t about the moon landing - it was about the characters.

In relation to ‘One Giant Leap’, at one point, the cast perform a song from ‘Hair’.  Would you ever be tempted to produce an existing musical or even to write a brand new one?  I can imagine Arrows & Traps working on one of the contemporary musicals and creating a work that feels unique and vital.

I certainly wouldn’t be against it.  I love the idea of it, but musicals are so much harder, take far more organisation, and often end up being super expensive.  Unless you write them yourself, I suppose, but I sadly don’t have the musical skills to do that.

Your current show ‘Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp’ which has just finished its run at the Brockley Jack Theatre but soon to tour is an emotional journey for the audience, using re-enactments of scenes and routines from Charlie Chaplin’s theatrical life & films, whilst documenting key events from his life.  It offers Chaplin as an adult and as a child.  What inspired you to work on a project based on a universally recognised cultural icon at this moment in time?

Again, I knew very little about him before I started.  Writing a mute character interested me, and I’d seen a couple of videos on YouTube about his practical effects in his films, and at about the same time my girlfriend bought me a DVD of City Lights as an unrelated birthday gift.  So for me it was a way to write a story about how experience shapes the art we make, and how genius can sometimes come at a price, for both the person and those around him.  I wanted to write something honest about Chaplin, that showed how brilliant he is, but also how difficult he was at times, and to give a small insight into how he became who he did, and where he got it from.  And I also wanted to write a homage to all mums out there.  There are so many plays about fathers and father figures, I wanted to write one about mothers.

I understand that writing this production required the support of the Chaplin Estate.  Did they help to provide you with research material and/or do they have to authorise any project that focuses on Charlie Chaplin?  Did they restrict you from exploring any aspect of Chaplin’s life or work that you would have liked to have explored?

No, they didn’t provide much in the way of research materials; they trusted me to make my own choices.  They don’t need to authorise a biography about Chaplin, no, anyone in the public eye who’s deceased is fair game for writers, as long as you don’t libel or slander anyone.  Chaplin may have passed on, but his grandchildren are still very much around, and I didn’t want to embarrass or anger them with a controversial take.  In terms of copyright and protected property, the character of The Tramp is restricted so in order to use him, and have someone on stage that dressed in the bowler hat, the toothbrush moustache, and the big shoes, I needed their permission for that, which I got.  In terms of censorship, I am aware there are parts of Chaplin's personal life where he doesn’t come off well, particularly where his wives are concerned, but that was never the focus of the piece, so it never came up in discussion with the estate.  They were helpful and supportive throughout the process, and they were kind enough to provide the footage from The Great Dictator that we used at the end of the show.

Structurally, the play uses the device of having the adult and younger Charlie Chaplin on stage regularly mirroring each other?  You have used this creative device effectively and movingly before.  Do you feel that in many respects, linearity is a hindrance and that ultimately, in the case of play writing and indeed in biography, it is more realistic and emotionally powerful to focus on key events as the catalyst for the ongoing movement of the play (or for the documentation of a life)? 

Most of my plays involve the past and its importance on the present, and I don’t personally find memory to be a linear process.  At the end of the day, you’re not making a documentary, you’re telling a fictional story based on real events, creative license is used quite liberally, characters are amalgamated, tweaked and given lines they never said in real life.  Ultimately, you use what works to tell a good story, keep what works and cut the rest.  Generally, if I had included everything I wanted to use at the start, every single show I’ve ever written would be five hours long, and nobody wants to see that.

Your decision to cast Lucy Ioannou as Chaplin as a child and young man has resulted in many astounding interplays between the adult Charlie played by Connor Moss who seems world weary and driven and the young Charlie who performs the majority of the acrobatic routines.  Do you feel that the current theatrical leaning toward gender blind casting highlights the point that most roles need not be determinant on gender?  I am starting to realise that personally it makes little difference who plays the roles so long as they can accurately represent  the characteristics and emotions of the character.  I saw an all-male version of Genet’s ‘The Maids’ at the Edinburgh Festival in 2018, which helped me to realise that gender really doesn’t matter, so long as the characters and themes are successfully presented.

It really depends on the play.  We operate a gender-blind casting on some roles, not on others.  It really just depends on the part, and what you’re planning on doing with it.  Should there be a female Macbeth?  Female Hamlet?  Sure, absolutely.  If you find someone amazing then go for it.  Why not?  As long as the story’s clear and everyone knows what’s going on, I can’t see a problem with it.  In terms of the Tramp - once you put on that hat, the moustache, the jacket, the shoes, the massive trousers - it’s hard to tell what the performer looked like originally anyway.  The casting was racially blind, and gender blind, and we cast the best person for the role - that’s generally my principle - not too worried about the traditions.

In relation to the above question at a Q and A at the Brockley Jack Theatre you gave around the time of ‘The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde’, you suggested that you preferred working with female actors (sorry, if I have misquoted you)?  Please can you talk some more about this.  As a slight aside, I particularly liked your Mabel Normand scenes in ‘Chaplin’ where you challenge the language used which has constantly undermined her position as a significant performer in her own right.  Do you feel that in the light of the #MeToo movement, there will be a re-evaluation of the importance of previously somewhat neglected performers in all mediums?

That isn’t really what I said, but I understand how it could be seen as that.  The question I was asked was about casting and whether or not I had a policy with regards gender-blind casting, which I don’t especially - I believe in the best person for the job, and offering as many people opportunities as possible.  I do think that where possible you should widen the casting as far as possible, in all directions.  My comment in the Q&A was about the fact that it has been the usual experience of mine that female actors come to the audition more prepared, and the standard that you’re presented with on first meeting is generally higher at the audition phase - but that’s not a comment on talent - I don’t think one gender is better at acting than any other - it’s just been my experience that female actors seem to come with more of the scene down - and perhaps that’s due to the highly competitive nature of the industry where they’re concerned.  The ratio of men to women seems about 1:10 to me, and there are always more male parts than female, particularly in the classics.  There is a balance problem, and I don’t know whether the answer is to cast a female Lear or Othello or Hamlet or whatever, or to write more new stories from a BAME/female/LBTQ perspective.  It’s probably both.  And in answer to your Mabel Normand question, history is filled with untold stories, male and female, discovering them and bringing them to a wider audience is one of the best parts of running the company for me, and I think there’s certainly room for, and an audience for, #herstory pieces.  You only have to look at success stories like Call Me Fury, or Faust: Damned Woman, or It’s True, It’s True, It’s True for that.

The comedy routines in ‘Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp’ are almost exact re-enactments of the scenes from Chaplin’s films (and stage routines), do the cast have previous experience of training in clowning?  I notice that you have a Clown Director listed in the programme.  What does their work consist of?

We do homage various sequences, but they’re all inventions of the production in rehearsal.  Yes we eat a boot at one point, and use synchronised side steps like in the boxing match in City Lights, but at no point have we copied a full sequence.  There’d be little point in doing that, you should just watch the films, Chaplin did it better than we ever could.  The cast do have movement experience, yes, either through working with me on previous shows, or being trained in physical-theatre drama courses like Fourth Monkey Company like Lucy Ioannou, Conor Moss and Laurel Marks did.  Toby Wynn-Davies was a travelling clown in Latvia at one point in his diverse and decorated career, Benjamin Garrison is a professional drag queen as well as an actor, and Clare Astor has worked before with music hall and dance - so there’s experience there that I was glad of in the room, in terms of timing, ensemble and physical stamina.  A clown director, in this case, made sure the jokes landed and were clear - as well as honing some of the Chaplinisms and working with the cast to start playing and enjoying themselves - if the clowns aren’t breathing - you aren’t laughing.  Things like that.  It was just handy to have another set of eyes in the room, to be honest, I really valued the work that Stephen Sobal (clowning director) and Sarah Case (vocal coach) did on the show.

I have noticed that you regularly use modern music in your productions.  For example, in ‘Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp’, in addition to using music hall songs (most notably as the audience arrive to take their seats when Clare Aster as Hannah Chaplin sings a couple of songs including ‘The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery’), you also use the Divine Comedy’s ‘National Express’ and a cover of The Cure’s ‘Friday, I’m In Love’.  The songs you use are relevant to the context in which they appear.  ‘National Express’ linking to Chaplin touring and the song connected to the experience of travelling.  Do you feel that using music in unusual contexts helps to unlock further levels of a production?

It really boils down to personal taste.  Those songs are what were playing in my headphones when I wrote the piece, I felt like they fitted, and I’ve always used modern music in my shows - I don’t have a profound reasoning behind it, other than we can’t afford a composer, it makes the show stand out, and I personally love the melding of a classic story with modernity.  So yes, we’ve used Destiny’s Child in TARO, Britney Spears in Dracula, Space Oddity in One Giant Leap, Kashmir in Jekyll & Hyde, the list goes on.  It’s part of the company aesthetic now, to be honest, nineteen shows in, people seem to expect it now, and we always get lots of emails after the shows asking for the music playlist.

Upon seeing the play, I left with the feeling that Charlie Chaplin was a deeply complex character, a charming, creative man to some and a highly driven obsessive to others.  I was also interested to learn of his issues with cleanliness.  Whilst writing the play has your opinion of Chaplin changed?  Do you share any of his traits as a creator?

I didn’t really have an opinion on Chaplin before I wrote the show, as I knew nothing about him.  But yes, he’s certainly complicated, and not really that happy - at least not until he met Oona (wife #4).  The obsessive showering is true - sometimes up to five a day - but I assume Los Angeles was quite unbearable in the summer, and didn’t have much in the way of air-conditioning.  He was also very concerned about hygiene generally, and that might have stemmed from his mother, perhaps, whose madness was induced by syphilis, and subsequently Charlie became fastidious about germs in his adult life.  Yes, I think I am quite similar to Chaplin - I run a fringe theatre company, we’ve done 19 shows in six years, and we’re still going - a sane person without obsession would have stopped 4.5 years ago.  I suffer mood-wise if I’m not incredibly busy, am always working about three shows ahead of myself, and yet never watch my own work as an audience member because I can’t stand to see all the tiny flaws or errors, making my own work brings me great joy, watching it makes me cringe, so I try to avoid it whenever possible.  I have found it bearable to watch a recording of the shows, but only 3-6 months after the last performance.  So I guess I share Chaplin’s high standards, and his prolific output - I’m certainly not a genius however, and I think I’m possibly a little easier to get along with than he was, work-wise.

I have noticed how Arrows & Traps have begun to tour the shows more widely.  How do you choose where to perform and what has inspired you to share the works of the company around the country?

Some venues were arranged by a tour booker, others we knew from reputation, the rest we did some research, looked at where other companies were going, and made our own enquiries.  The move to touring is a practical decision - London is prohibitively expensive, and fringe theatre cannot ever hope to render a living / working wage for anyone involved when the venues are less than 100 seats, and the weekly hire fees are in the thousands.  The fringe is a great training ground, a wonderful place to try things, to hone your voice and your working style, to network, make connections, form teams, try things out in front of an audience that know their theatre, but as a viable, valid career on the London Fringe?  Absolutely not.  The only people making any money on the Fringe are the… errr… hold on… the… wait… there must be someone….

What are your future plans?  I recall reading somewhere that you are working on an Orwell project.  I can imagine you producing a version of ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’.  Also you continue to be supportive of the works of other either temporary or permanent members of the Arrows & Traps team such as Beatrice Vincent and her play ‘Before I am Lost’ (Cobalt Theatre).   Do you find working on the projects of others easier or harder than working on your own?    

At the moment, the company are busy touring Jekyll & Hyde throughout the UK, with dates running until April, and then we begin our tour of Chaplin: Birth of a Tramp, which takes us through until June - complete listing for both shows can be found here: https://www.arrowsandtraps.com/tourdates.

After that, I have a new show opening at the Jack Studio in September, which is top secret for now - but yes, you’re right, it might be an Orwell.  Outside of Arrows & Traps I’m about to start work on a piece for 2021, which takes the story of Sophie Scholl, a young woman I wrote about in my show The White Rose in 2018, and incorporates a live performance of St Matthew’s Passion - it’s a very large project involving two choirs, a children’s choir, two orchestras, and four soloists.  In general, I prefer working on my own projects as I have more creative freedom and I feel like I’m building something, but there is a certain pleasure about working on someone else’s project as less of the pressure and stress is solely on you, it’s less financially draining, certainly, so there’s that.

Many thanks, Ross for allowing me to interview you again.

Photos & Images (Many thanks to Ross for allowing me to use his photo and the promotional images for the touring shows).

Ross McGregor

The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde

  Chaplin: The Birth of a Tramp

Afterword.

I would like to thank Ross McGregor again for his willingness to answer my questions.  All references to cultural works such as songs and plays etc are copyright to their respective holders and creators.

The following links will enable you to purchase tickets for the touring shows:

https://www.arrowsandtraps.com/jekyll-and-hyde-tour-dates

https://www.arrowsandtraps.com/chaplin-uk-tour-dates

https://www.arrowsandtraps.com/tourdates

Also just visiting the Arrows and Traps website will restore your faith in the future of fringe theatre:

https://www.arrowsandtraps.com

Additionally, I recommend the Jack Studio Theatre for their eclectic productions and their continuing support for fringe theatre and performance:

https://brockleyjack.co.uk/

                                                           Barry Watt - 02/03/2020.