Antidote, Silence and Walking in the Park: Director's Blog 40

" Absence is of the most useful ingredients of family life, and to dose it rightly is an art like any other."Freya Stark (1893-1993), was a British explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as several autobographic works and essays.


Good Morning!
Having maintained a blog silence for 48 hours I feel motivated to write again today, if at the very least to share the process of uncoupling myself from something precious that I have had the privilege of contributing to. You know what I mean its that old letting go nugget again!  Never ceases to challenge me! Today I jumped off the Good Ship Cinderella to take a break from Barking, the theatre and the office to spend a few short days on my own in the wilds of the Essex countryside! 

Its a funny thing  and I always find it without fail, that to have a chance of making any piece of art that you are going to care about and defend to the death, there is no choice but to bring all of yourself to it. Now this is both rash and essential. Its seriously not for the faint-hearted this ride.


Again I can hear some of you shout perhaps:
"Its only a panto for goodness sake!  Calling it art is a bit precious and pretentious isn't it? Why do you consistently make things so serious? All we want is to get the audience to laugh, boo, hiss and gasp with wonder at the magic of the transformation and fill the theatre to boot!"

Yeah well, of course that is absolutely the case.


The thing is that here in my blog, I am sharing with you some of the deliberations, decisions, processes, pains, joys and life cycle of making any piece of drama, or art for that matter. I do hope that as well as my sharing it with you, it might be of some small use to you when you too are involved in time limited projects of a similar nature.

And that's just it for me. Normally you wouldn't be privvy to this expose I guess, and actually I am still a bit shocked that people find it interesting. It is after all just a little naked!

My early ambition for the blog was entirely a simple one. To keep communicating with the team. But I am grateful for the many messages of support and interest in the blog. Its quite humbling and very new to me to meet people who are readers, and to know that they have got the inside track on me, Arc and the making of a panto! and that I know nothing about them. But I guess that's how it always is for any writer. Gosh did I just call myself a writer?? mmm .... needs a ponder. I do also really like the comments people put at the bottom here, and it feels like a good use of this medium to encourage a conversation.

Having time here in the countryside to slow down and reflect on the past 6 months of Project Cinderella I can observe from a slight distance the highly charged steam roller affect that I have brought to the process in order to get a year's work done in 6 months!
I suspect of course that it would perhaps be easier for those around me to deal with me if I wasn't so fiercely strident in wanting to make the show the very best it can be. 

Like it or not Team Cinderella had to pull out all the stops and more if this were to be the case. I guess that sometimes aiming at less might be a more comfortable and certainly safer option (and some would say more realistic). But you know what, I could never do that in a month of Sundays. I know that the whole Creative Team feels exactly the same as me about this. Its really not worth doing at anything less than your best. In fact I would say that Phil and Owen are more disciplined and stricter than Olly and I, but I guess that comes with the absolute skills nature of their disciplines and the somewhat lazy ones of ours sometimes. (Not mine of course!!?)  Although I do my best to keep up with them - honest! I might just be tempted to take a few more little tea breaks left to my own devices! But don't let on to them.

I know for sure that there are simpler and cheaper means of putting it all together and there are a number of panto-in-a-box businesses that do very well thank you out of selling the off the shelf package. They can have many shows on all over the country and make a sensible profit from them.

Unfortunately much as that commercial option might appeal,and with my producer's 'cold light of day'  hat on of course that may very well be the best and most cost-effective option. However with my director's hat on - truthfully I just couldn't do it.
I guess it might be easier to buy in a show at half the price its cost us to put it together. With the same audience figures as it looks like we will achieve, then the chance of making a real profit becomes possible for the theatre. That would kind of make sense at some level. Especially in these austere days.

Anyway that is a time old tension and always will be in any art making exercise, in which you have to produce quality, attract an audience and at the very least not lose any money! Its what we deal with on a daily basis, and actually its ok, we have had to learn to be pragmatists, artists and business people. I quite enjoy the challenge sometimes if I have the energy!

Probably not right now though, hence the little break. Long days, going that extra mile and sheer hard work, love and commitment by the whole team is what travels you through this task. If it were not for that pulling together of team and shared ambition you wouldn't stand a chance in hell.

But what's also been extraordinary and special on this pantomime commission is the belief and support for Arc in the first instance from the Council Arts Development Team. Its a faith that I am thankful for. It was always a risk to commission Arc as it was our first panto, but testament I feel to the over 25 years we have been resident in Barking and Dagenham and to the quality of our theatre work and national reputation which the council have totally supported during this period.