It's Wednesday, almost 6pm, and I just sent a message to my Not Such Stuff cast: "Hi ladies! Hope you're all doing good! Just a little message to say I am talking to a theatre venue about an early-Feb date to stage Not Such Stuff! Nothing concrete yet, but I hope to know more in the next week or so ❤️ Xx". It feels incredibly good to be able to officially say, we are back at it!
As mentioned, nothing concrete yet, but with the PM's nearly-confirmed message that theatres will be able to run on full capacity from 19 July I have (re-)started pre-production. February 2022 is still far away but this is a self-funded production and thus spreading the cost is a big priority for the producer. Aka me. Unfortunately, due to limited space I have had to get rid of the set pieces I had already bought but costumes are still needed! 8 months is enough to shed the Covid-pounds, right?
I was lucky enough to produce a show for KDC Theatre in June, running at limited capacity at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre in London. Based on the demand for tickets, we could have sold out full capacity easily. I'll never understand why football matches are allowed to have full capacity audiences and theatres are not; it's not like we are all hugging each other and screaming in each other's faces in the theatre. Can't get more static and organised than during a theatre show! But hey, we were able to put on a show without too much trouble and we had a great time. It felt so good to be back in the theatre making art!
Not Such Stuff has gone through some changes during Covid times. Not because of the pandemic but more because of the extra time to think about staging and storytelling. A director's mind never rests and is always critical. I think I've landed on the near-final version of the show but there are still a few ideas floating around in my head that I need to properly consider. But I'm getting ahead of myself - there are months to go and a thousand things to do before we get into the rehearsal room! First things first: get the cast all confirmed and scheduled in. Ladies, here we go (again)!!
