For theatre companies, working on a larger scale presents a whole set of new challenges, and partnerships with larger organisations can help. Kate Organ explains.
Foursight Theatre has been touring the small-scale theatre circuits for over 20 years. Based in Wolverhampton, its trademark is telling the stories of women famous, infamous and unknown. Its current touring show tackles one of the most powerful women in recent history Margaret Thatcher in Thatcher, the Musical! and takes in venues ranging in capacity from 250 to 1,200.
Small-scale, middle-scale, large-scale we talk about scales as if they are genuinely separate zones. In what way is Foursight Theatre small-scale? Well, it only has two full-time employees and its office is a converted soup kitchen. Its touring circuit, though, has stretched the length of Britain and the Channel Isles. In its recent history it would spend every summer touring Canada a four thousand mile tour with the occasional three-day journey between venues a large-scale tour by the standards of most expeditions. Productions encompass all physical scales from one-woman shows, to their most recent site-specific piece, which had a cast of 40 and involved building a small airplane! In terms of set construction, cast size and imagination this was large-scale.
With passports newly stamped with a middle-to- large-scale visa, Thatcher has taken Foursight to new lands and cultures, where an unfamiliar dialect is spoken the language of the contra, the first call, second call and off the top royalty. The conventions in this land need a bit of learning beware cash flow issues from slower payments and unexpected charges for car-parking. Enjoy the unexpected welcome ceremonies such as the generous bowls of fresh fruit provided for every visiting company by the Friends of the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.
The title of the show has proved not so much large-scale as epic. At its opening in 2006, press interest took both Foursight Theatre and co-producers, Warwick Arts Centre, by surprise. Not since President Clintons visit to the Arts Centre had there been that sort of world press frenzy. Rehearsals for its opening at Warwick were frequently interrupted by calls for Artistic Director, Naomi Cooke, to go live on Russian Public Broadcast Radio or down-the-line to a Chilean daily to answer questions about whether Gorbachev/Pinochet appear in the show.
The relationship between Foursight and Warwick Arts Centre has been a vital one in making the transition to a mid-large-scale tour. The Arts Centre Director, Alan Rivett, and his deputy, Neil Darlison share a spirit of adventure about what artists can create, and an enviable array of spaces, crossing scale and artforms to enable them to satisfy artists imaginations. Their approach is to trust artists and encourage audiences to take risks too. Their audiences then trust their programming.
Large-scale venues can tend to worry that their audiences will expect Thatcher the Musical! to include a real helicopter on stage during the Falklands War scene! Alan Rivett feels that scale, quality and status have been muddled up for too long. The traditionally named small-scale sector are seeking all kinds of spaces to make work in, and he was really pleased to have Thatcher in the main house, while Peter Brook had chosen to premiere his Grand Inquisitor in the studio in the same week. Companies like Foursight are as likely to want to play in the Gallery or the Foyer next time if the artists are good they will make work to which audiences respond whatever the scale.
Of course, there are some technical, financial and organisational issues that really need to be grasped when crossing from the small-scale to the larger scale touring circuits. Foursight has had generous advice from several producers and promoters. On the whole, though, the most difficult terrain to cross is that which places artists on different sides of an imagined divide, confining their imaginations and restricting what we allow audiences to explore.
Kate Organ is a consultant working with Foursight Theatre on development planning.