?Words fail me! But I?ll try! Hatstand are brilliant, breathtaking, the best thing we?ve promoted.
When can we have them back?? said Tricia Wilson at Saltfleet Village Hall - a voluntary promoter in Lincolnshire, talking about Hatstand Opera. The company tours regularly as part of the county?s Rural and Community Touring Scheme, explains Sue Roberts. One of the longest serving schemes in the country, it provides a wide range of professional live arts touring to around 100 village halls and other community venues and this year is celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 200 shows.
Artservice, run by myself and Alun Bond, co-ordinates Lincolnshire and two other rural and community touring schemes: Village Ventures in Nottinghamshire, currently celebrating its 10th anniversary with a large-scale programme of events and Centre Stage for Leicestershire and Rutland, a new countywide scheme launching its first season with much demand for work. The established schemes have experienced huge growth: in Lincolnshire a 73% increase in performances over the past four years; and a 52% growth in Village Ventures over the past three years. The number of promoters has doubled in Lincolnshire over the past five years.
The three schemes share the same rationale ? they provide subsidised professional touring across all the performing arts to a range of rural and community venues, from village halls to miners? welfare clubs. These community venues are often in remote areas with poor public transport and dwindling facilities. The schemes work closely in partnership with their principal funders ? the local authorities at county and district level and East Midlands Arts; and Village Ventures and Centre Stage also through the Regional Arts Lottery Programme.
All events are hosted by local promoters selling tickets locally (about 70% of the audience travel no more than three miles and approximately 50% live in the village where the performance takes place). Audience surveys show that around 50% attend professional performances less than three times a year outside the village hall, making the scheme?s policy of bringing the arts to people in their local venues very important. This is certainly something to sing about.
And talking of singing, Hatstand Opera has been a favourite on the Lincolnshire scheme for several years and increasingly with Village Ventures and Centre Stage. Following the commissioning of an opera for Lincolnshire rural touring in 1997 (False Relations by: Wide Angle Opera, composed by David Stoll with librettist Andrew Gallagher), the interest in opera and musical theatre grew apace and Hatstand came along with its own unique style. It is a company of three or four singers, plus an accompanist, who make a big sound in a small space. Fronted principally by its Artistic Director Kirsty Young, the audience is taken on a magical journey through opera ?greats? delighting opera buffs and newcomers alike with witty and clever contextual background and more than a smattering of comic self-deprecation. Kirsty opens the door to opera and invites the audience in. They willingly follow.
Hatstand creates new performances and new audiences and has a huge repertoire as well as loyal following; the company plays a whole range of venues including theatres and arts centres as well as village halls but always with the same commitment. Energy, passion, professionalism and personal links are the company?s trademarks. This may be small-scale rural touring but it?s big on quality, presentation and innovation. Hatstand, also celebrating its 10th birthday, has produced a new show especially for the anniversary schemes in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire called ?Opera on Your Doorstep?, celebrating the many successes of rural touring over the years. Hatstand will show the sheer graft, warmth, hospitality, eccentricity and excitement, which makes village performances unique and so enjoyable.
Performing in village halls and community spaces has also had a significant impact on performers. Accustomed to the relative anonymity of performing in larger conventional auditoria, the intimacy of village halls and the interaction with audience members before and after the show often comes as a pleasing revelation. It?s not just young performers but mature companies with national and international reputations that have become seduced by this more personalised way of working with audiences. Regional touring theatre companies have paved the way for years.
Enjoying opera, drama, dance, music, poetry, storytelling in rural venues is a great experience and hard to beat. It?s sociable and inclusive but it?s not the poor relation ? regional, national, international and intercultural work (everything from Tiako drumming to contemporary dance, physical theatre and contemporary jazz) are firm features in our programming. Enjoying this plethora of work in a community setting, often with food and drink, is a fine thing in today?s fragmented society. What venues may lack in comfortable seating, they make up for in warmth, welcome and the raffle.
Sue Roberts is a partner at Artservice. t: 01544 327877; e: artserv@kc3ltd.co.uk