Don't You Love Farce?... A Little Night Music @ Holland Park - August 2020

It's a real thrill to be able to sit here and write about the fact that
I HAVE BEEN TO SEE A SHOW!

When given the opportunity to go to a prestigious outdoor venue, to see a concert production of a musical you love, with a cast of people you admire, it was a no brainer. For one evening, 200 people gathered in the grounds of Holland Park Opera, to see A Little Night Music in concert, produced by Alex Parker and Janie Dee. Back in 2015, Parker conducted a concert version of the show at the Palace Theatre, with Dee starring as the leading lady Desiree Armfeldt, so this is material that they know intimately. With a mixture of old and new cast members, it truly felt like a labour of love that this night happened, and come rain (!) or shine there would be an audience.

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's delightful musical is about love, relationships and the consequences they bring. Centred mainly around a group of inter-connected people across one night in the country, against the perfect backdrop of Holland Park, it really was the ideal setting for this wonderful story to be bought to life again.

Reprising her role as the enigmatic Desiree and wonderfully leading this cast, Janie Dee proves that she is an almighty talent and so incredibly versatile. The fact that the staging for this concert is so simple allows the performances to really shine, and that is no more evident than with Dee's Desiree. She's chaotic but gentle, flirtatious but timid. Her rendition of 'Send In The Clowns' in the middle of a torrential downpour was a particular highlight. Walking out from under the canopy cover to join the audience as the heavens opened will be a moment I remember for a long while yet.

Damian Humbley gave a superb performance as Desiree's old flame Fredrik, beautifully capturing his confusion and his lust for what has passed. The other man fighting for Desiree's affection - Count Carl-Magnus - was brilliantly played by Nadim Naaman. Relishing in the extravagance of the part, both men sing up a storm  and followed Dee's lead, standing in the rain by the end  and joining in the fun.
Two spectacular women have returned from the 2015 concert to reprise their performances. Laura Pit-Pulford is mischievous and bold (almost stealing the show) with her rendition of "The Miller's Son".
But it is Joanna Riding as Countess Charlotte who all but walks away with the night - there's something about Riding that you just can't take your eyes off. With razor-sharp wit and a hysterical rendition of' 'Happy Birthday To Me', she grabs every moment and runs with it.

Full marks to Alex Parker and the 9 piece orchestra for battling through the rain, fighting to keep their instruments dry, and producing a sound that was every bit as full as the 30 piece orchestra we were treated to previously. Hearing strings play a Sondheim score really is a joy that will never fail to bring a tear to my eye.

What this night proved, more than anything, is that there is an audience hungry to return to live theatre as soon as we are told that we can.
This concert had a capacity of 200, and the tickets sold out in 6 minutes. Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent's Park is virtually sold out. I know we're on a reduced capacity and it's meaning that we are stretched on finances, but the audiences are there.

If  you keep putting this stuff on, we'll be there.
Even in the most torrential rain, we'll be there to the end and we will be cheering you on loud and proud.
Theatre came alive again, in a night that will stay in the memory of those who were there for a very long time. We were soaked to the skin, but we were there together, and that proves just how far theatre fans will go to support.

It looks like the interval is starting to be over - slowly but sure, we are back. And my gosh, it feels good to be able to say that.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Even The Darkest Night Will End And The Sun Will Rise...

 

Yesterday, for the first time in 24 weeks, I booked a ticket to a piece of indoor theatre.
And man, how I cried.
I'll be honest, it doesn't take much to set me off at the moment, but the thought of actually getting to sit in a theatre (albeit socially distanced) with other humans, and enjoy a musical is a lot.

The phrase "you don't know how much you'll miss it till it's gone" has never been more applicable than it is now.
I really did know that theatre was a huge part of my life, but I don't think I'd fully realised that it was my life. I've never really stopped to think that it is both my employment and my home. I really do consider theatre my home.
Throughout some pretty turbulent times in the past 8 years, theatre was there for me to escape to, to cry at and to be healed by. There isn't a single time I've been to the theatre and one of those hasn't happened (apart from that year everyone did Macbeth and they were ALL terrible...!)

I'm always booking tickets for stuff. Like, I memorised my card details years ago so that it was just easier! But I couldn't let myself book anything during this time. It hurt too much when an entire year's worth of shows vanished in the space of a few weeks. 

But now, we appear to be moving again.
Tomorrow, I am going to the first musical for 23 weeks (and honestly, if you'd told me it was going to be Joanna Riding and Janie Dee in A Little Night Music I may have told you that Covid-19 was worthwhile to have to live through...) and I'm going to get to see so many friends tomorrow, which  again has been something I've missed. In person, human conversations about theatre, geeking out, has been something I've really missed.

I have two more outdoor musicals booked in August and September, and then in October, we return to indoor theatre. It's sort of ironic that The Last Five Years will be the first proper indoor musical I see after this madness, as it was the first 'virtual' musical produced in lockdown...

It's been an emotional time, and I'm really not ready for the amount I'm going to cry tomorrow when I'm back with  200 other people, watching theatre.
Yesterday, the Government moved us to Stage 4 of the 5 step plan: socially distanced performances indoors. I'll continue to shout at their useless approach to everything until we, the arts, get what we deserve.

But for now, we are moving forward. Even if it's at a snail's pace...

"And we will come back home, home again"
The Greatest Showman, Pasek and Paul

Not Going Left, Not Going Right.

Seeing as how I got a lot out of my first post (talking about the last four months and it's damaging effect specifically on the Arts sector - https://hardtoseethelightnow.blogspot.com/2020/07/trying-to-keep-sane-as-rules-keep.html), I've decided I'm going to write more often. I used to review shows a lot, and when the wheels are back in motion, I'm sure that I'll be doing that again. 

But I think for now, I need this creative outlet so that I can scream less into the void on Twitter, and actually get back to some kind of eloquence in my work.

Honestly though? I'm struggling - more than I have been for a while.

By now, I really thought that things might begin to get moving in some kind of positive direction for the Arts, especially given that the rest of the 'world' is starting to come back to some kind of normal again. In a sense, people can be forgiven for thinking this to be true.

As I write this, the details of how to access the Government's 'rescue package' are available, and my employers are frantically putting together an application that we hope will enable us to come back 'in tact' when we are allowed to re-open (whatever 'in tact' even means).
We have become such a close team in these last five months - much closer than I ever expected us to be - and it's going to make what comes next even harder.
People are going to lose their jobs (me included - I can't program a venue that isn't open until who knows when) and  it's happening all over the sector. 

Plain and simple, the Government's 'bailout' will protect venues in the short-term from closing. I don't see it saving everywhere, but it's likely to help a lot of places mothball their way through until 2021, when we might get some more information from Oliver Dowden, who honestly has no idea how a theatre works - apparently he thinks we can make shows in 48 hours (hint: we can't.)

There are over 1100 theatres and arts venues in the UK. You're kidding yourself if you think the money is anything other than a plaster for the knife wound that is the pandemic. This won't solve all of our problems (I don't actually think it's going to solve any of our problems but maybe I'm being pessimistic). It maybe buys venues time, but the people in those venues and what those venues are able to offer is in serious doubt.

Look, I get it. I get that this is happening everywhere. I get that people are losing their jobs in all sectors. I get that everyone is having a really shitty time. But my point to you is this: theatres have been told that we will not be receiving any more information as to whether when we can reopen without social distancing until at least November.
Can you IMAGINE if that statement had been said to the retail industry, or the aviation sector? The country collectively would be in uproar. Yet, because the arts are still seen as a luxury, and not the absolute necessity that they are, we are being left totally until the last minute.

As you read this, theatres up and down the country are in the process of postponing or minimising their annual Pantomimes, which create the revenue they need to stay open for the following year. For most smaller venues too, Pantomime is where the money comes from for the community projects they are able to do with young people, the money that enables them to takes risks on shows they book to make their programme more diverse in all areas.
Losing a whole year's worth of that money is a terrifying prospect, and a prospect that will cause most venues to streamline their staffing.
At least 5000 people have already lost their jobs in the Arts, and that number will skyrocket when the employers have to start contributing to the furlough scheme in September.

Oh, and if somebody could explain to me what the difference is between sitting on a plane, wearing a mask, for three hours, packed in like sardines, and sitting in a theatre, wearing a mask for three hours that would be great.
(We either should be doing both or neither - convince me otherwise...)

I'm sorry that this all sounds so bleak at the moment, but I'm just tired, and angry and hurt.

When your life is also your career, and you're watching them both crumble before your eyes it's really hard.

We're stuck. In the middle of the floor. Not going left. Not going right (thank you Mr Sondheim). 
We just have to cling on and keep fighting for our lives and our livelihoods.

Hear my song
It'll help us get through til tomorrow
Hear my song
It'll help us survive all the pain
Hear my song
It's the one thing I have
That has never let you down

(Jason Robert Brown - Songs For A New World)