The Meeting of the Waters
Today was a chance for the two companies producing Journey to the River Sea to meet each other. Although this project has been planned for ages, this was still the first time some people from Theatre Centre and Unicorn had met. Theatre Centre provided lunch at their offices in Aldgate, East London, just around the corner from the Whitechapel Art Gallery. It wasn't a meeting with lots of business - that's going on anyway. Thomas, Theatre Centre's Administrator and Emma, Unicorn's Marketing Director have already been e-mailing possible images for the show's publicity back and forth. Chris, Unicorn's Executive Director and Charles, Theatre Centre's General Manager, have been making it possible to imagine a show on a challenging scale. The cast size is just one example - Ros and I worked out early on that we would need at least eight performers, which is a large cast by the standards of most British theatre companies at the moment. It's essential to be able to work on that scale at times, but you need the support and expertise of producers like Charles and Chris if that's to be possible. And I bet that isn't the last mention of money in this blog...
The two companies are very different. Theatre Centre is a smaller team: a touring company without a building to build and run as Unicorn has. So Carolyn, Unicorn's new Theatre Manager has no direct counterpart there. Marijke, Theatre Centre's Production and Company Manager, does elements of jobs Andy, Petrus, Ana and as yet unappointed others do for Unicorn. Becky (Theatre Centre's Office Co-ordinator and Tour Booker) and Rhona (Unicorn's Assistant to the Artistic Team) have overlapping but different roles, as do Michael (Theatre Centre's Associate Artist) and Alison (Unicorn's Education and Youth Director). Both companies currently have management placements on a Fast Track scheme from the Independent Theatre Council, Deborah Townsend at Theatre Centre, while Paul Brewster at Unicorn has inherited my formerly script-piled desk there.
Tony from Unicorn talked about the long parallel histories of the companies, both over fifty years old and shaped by charismatic founders, Brian Way (Theatre Centre) and Caryl Jenner (Unicorn). Journey to the River Sea is just one way in which the companies can work together in the new Unicorn Theatre - other Theatre Centre shows will be seen there, at least. But this co-production will be a significant collaboration in the new theatre's opening season. Tony's determined that the Unicorn is not the Children's National Theatre - 'we're all the National Theatre for Children', he said.
For Theatre Centre, Ros talked about what had drawn her to Journey to the River Sea after hearing it recommended by Charlie Lee-Potter at a Literature Festival in Spitalfields in 2002. Ros celebrated that the book was by a living author, and talked about Eva Ibbotson's remarkable writing life. She talked about Eva Ibbotson wanting children to be able to lead 'big lives', and about what an exciting heroine Maia is. She talked about Finn, the child of an English father and Amazonian Indian mother, and Clovis, the boy actor who make up the trio of children at the heart of the adventure. And Miss Minton, the governess whose lost love, like the three children being orphaned, brings out a sense of bereavement which simmers throughout the novel. She talked about the book having the spirit of her favourite childhood stories: The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Women, and the many fans it has. A recent article on children's writing called it a classic already.
The two companies are very different. Theatre Centre is a smaller team: a touring company without a building to build and run as Unicorn has. So Carolyn, Unicorn's new Theatre Manager has no direct counterpart there. Marijke, Theatre Centre's Production and Company Manager, does elements of jobs Andy, Petrus, Ana and as yet unappointed others do for Unicorn. Becky (Theatre Centre's Office Co-ordinator and Tour Booker) and Rhona (Unicorn's Assistant to the Artistic Team) have overlapping but different roles, as do Michael (Theatre Centre's Associate Artist) and Alison (Unicorn's Education and Youth Director). Both companies currently have management placements on a Fast Track scheme from the Independent Theatre Council, Deborah Townsend at Theatre Centre, while Paul Brewster at Unicorn has inherited my formerly script-piled desk there.
Tony from Unicorn talked about the long parallel histories of the companies, both over fifty years old and shaped by charismatic founders, Brian Way (Theatre Centre) and Caryl Jenner (Unicorn). Journey to the River Sea is just one way in which the companies can work together in the new Unicorn Theatre - other Theatre Centre shows will be seen there, at least. But this co-production will be a significant collaboration in the new theatre's opening season. Tony's determined that the Unicorn is not the Children's National Theatre - 'we're all the National Theatre for Children', he said.
For Theatre Centre, Ros talked about what had drawn her to Journey to the River Sea after hearing it recommended by Charlie Lee-Potter at a Literature Festival in Spitalfields in 2002. Ros celebrated that the book was by a living author, and talked about Eva Ibbotson's remarkable writing life. She talked about Eva Ibbotson wanting children to be able to lead 'big lives', and about what an exciting heroine Maia is. She talked about Finn, the child of an English father and Amazonian Indian mother, and Clovis, the boy actor who make up the trio of children at the heart of the adventure. And Miss Minton, the governess whose lost love, like the three children being orphaned, brings out a sense of bereavement which simmers throughout the novel. She talked about the book having the spirit of her favourite childhood stories: The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Women, and the many fans it has. A recent article on children's writing called it a classic already.
posted by Carl Miller at 6:05 pm
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