Trip to the National

A couple of weeks ago Sarah Hunt was kind enough to get us a on to a tour of the National Theatre, it was a great experience giving us a chance to see one of the biggest and best established theatres in the country. We got a tour of the whole venue: front of house, backstage and the admin, and had a chance to meet some of the people who work there, from editors working on the recordings of shows and carpenters designing sets and props to Charlotte Wilkinson (Art Director) and David Sabel (head of Digital Media). It was interesting for me to see such a large theatre company because for the last three summers I worked for a small summer theatre company, and being able to compare how the two were run was pretty cool. I was particularly impressed by the Olivier Stage and the drum lift they have there, especially the fact that it had been in operation since the 70's, although I feel sorry for the engineers below the stage operating it, barely getting to see the light of day. After the tour we got a chance to watch a couple of plays put on by the National Theatres connection scheme called Children of Killers and Frank & Ferdinand. Both were very well written and directed, dealing with difficult subject matters in a mature and interesting way, and I think the young actors did a very good job with the materials they were given. All in all it was an insightful experience, in a place which has a lot to offer and is run by intelligent people.

Who wants cheap cinema/theatre tickets?

Tired of paying stupidly high prices to go and watch a film thats a piece of shit? Do you think paying 20 pounds for the privalige of watching a show at the theatre is wrong? If so then maybe I have found the solution. I want to start my own venue! The idea came to me while watching a screener of a documentary on the Arcola Theatre named I'm Going To Make A Miracle, a great film by the way and the fact it was made for 500 pounds deserves a huge well done, where Mehmet Ergen a young Turkish man who barely spoke any English came to London looking to work in theatre, couldnt find anything as he couldnt speak the language, and decided to open his own. He got friends to help him find seating from where ever they could find it (in the end they nicked it all from an indian restaurant that was closing down), put together a make shift stage in an abandoned factory which they squated, and started offering the stage to who ever wanted to use it. Ten years later and the Arcola is one of the most respected theatres in London. Mehmet is living proof that if you are determined and genuinely want to do something, and if need be are willing to go through untraditional methods, you can get what you want. So I've basicaly got the same idea but with one difference: Theres going to be a projector thrown into the mix also. Now, I know playing films to a public audience is a copyright shit storm, if you dont own the rights that is, but there has got to be a way around it, I'll look into it and see what I can come up with. And frankly, even if there isnt, I'll do it anyways and worry about issues when they appear. So I still need to find a space big enough to put a stage and a screen up, get a projector, find some seating, sort out a stage, let people know there is a space going for anyone with interest in putting on productions, find an audience to actually come to it, then make it all happen. As you can see its still in its alpha stages, but watch this space as hopefully in the upcoming months the prince charles cinema will have a rival in the making... Oh, if and when it does all come together I'll make sure I have all night 8pm to 8am showings. Hells yea.