
So, perhaps most importantly, we’ve found boxes big enough! Granted, we may still have a search ahead of us to find the box, but in the mean time we are now the proud owners of two cardboard beasts that will serve us well throughout rehearsals. And what an end to – what was becoming – a rather fruitless goose-chase (excuse the mixed metaphors)! We’d emailed and searched and hunted and pleaded, but have eventually managed to get our hands on the not-so-little devils. And now the real work can begin.
With our first booked performances creeping up on us, we need to get started – but the last thing we want is to rush what is going to be our debut as ‘AndOn Theatre. We want to test the water, as it were. And what better way to do that than with a scratch?
For those looking a little puzzled, scratches are a devised theatre practitioner’s dream; a chance for a Show and Fail before an audience that subsequently rip you apart. Sound scary? Well, of course, no one likes to be criticised, but scratches offer outside feedback and advice from precisely the sort of strangers that will be paying to watch you a few months down the line. The opportunity to present a Work in Progress is one that should be neither sniffed at nor shied away from, and the plan is to get one or two of these under our belts, to make sure our (ahem) adoring public shall be getting the very best of us.
We’ve also been busying ourselves with maximising on another gem: social media. With the website up and running, and Facebook and Twitter giving us a friendly helping hand, the Internet is unquestionably the most effective way to get yourself and your work ‘out there’. So we’ve made a trailer. A little snapshot of what’s to come and what’s worth staying tuned for. Bear with us while we get it all ready to go and then give us a hand (if you wouldn’t mind) in making it go… everywhere. The Internet may be the tool of all tools, but that’s only because of the people that use it. Give us a ‘like’, a ‘share’, a ‘re-tweet’ or a ‘comment’, and help us get a leg up, so that we can start harnessing our art, and using it. Theatre is the most influential medium of change, but not if nobody sees it, or even know its happening.
Right, well, shameless plea over, and onto an amusing co-incidence in the world of ideas, and why ‘AndOn Theatre and McDonalds’ Head Office have a common interest. Have a little look at this:
http://m.thedrum.com/news/2013/03/18/ad-day-mcdonalds-boxes
On the one hand, I’m thinking, ‘well, we must be onto something here, McDs are doing it, too’, which is probably the optimistic opinion to stick with. On the other, however, ‘the cheeky bleeders nicked our idea’… clearly the irrationally stupid approach!
Either way, we found it quite a funny turn up for the books, and embrace the fact that kids do love a box, and so do we!
Until next time, Happy Easter from Josh and Ray.