BP News

The Artistic Director's Blog

Monday

To The Shrew rehearsal. All seems to be going well with Keith Swainston being inventive with business (stage-speak for ‘comic action’) and Jules and Zara having great fun as the leads. I am always surprised at how much sitting around there is at rehearsals and somehow out of this great sea of inactivity comes a stonking good play with so much energy it could power Hitchin for a week. Keith is taking his cast to see the RSC version of The Taming of the Shrew. Amanda Hadingue, who was with the BPs for yonks, is in the RSC this year and we’ll try and get to see her after the show for all the backstage gossip which makes the evening feel even more worthwhile!

Tuesday

We had chosen a summer musical for 2009 but the licences were summarily withdrawn from amateurs after the pro rights were taken up - so we’re looking for another. Nicki P suggested Summer Holiday which looks promising. Well it has the word summer in it so it must be a runner… sadly it has 42 songs in it too (all of Cliff’s oldies) and a cast mainly made up of manic youngsters so it isn’t really what we’re looking for. Lots of suggestions rolling in and we will announce the chosen piece very soon. It must be something for all ages that will act as a sort of end of Year party for the Society like Little Shop did in 2007 and the The Shrew is doing this year.

Wednesday

Mike Jones is taking over poster and programme design so expect things to start looking up on that front. I am trying to get all the posters for the coming half of the season (to Jan 2009) done right now so we can start plastering the theatre during the run of Deckchairs and The Shrew. I think publicity is the biggest prob for the QMT at the moment. While popular shows sell themselves because they already figure in the national psyche for some reason (Dad’s Army for example), other shows must be advertised to flog tickets. In most theatres it’s the biggest expense after the show itself and we might need to splash out a bit more than we are at the moment – with Len’s (ahem) agreement of course.

Thursday

Charles Plester is directing five shows! The next Fringe presentation is Deckchairs and it’s made up of 5 short plays all with the resonating theme of – oh do I need to say it? Well that’s a tough call for Charlie P as he’s down rehearsing most nights with one pair of ladies or another. The truth is, it’s not easy doing so many shows at once so make sure you come along to the performances and make it all worth while!