Thursday 11 June 2015

3 Days Of Help


Photo by Greg Veit
So last night 11 people came to watch Romeo & Juliet, and they were all people we had invited for free. 

Now, don't get me wrong - those 11 people are great. I'm damn pleased they were there, I'm grateful they came and a number of them have got in touch to say they loved the show. 
But 11 people? That's less people than it took to make the show. 

11 people watching a 6 hander, all female, loud and colourful Shakespeare - all for free - isn't what we were aiming for. 

The show will lose a lot of money, we've come to terms with that. We've come to terms with that because we don't think that money is the important thing about this show. Yes, money is important and we need to think of a lot of ways of making back the dollar that we've lost - but running a show we all care about and believe in and one which, we think, sits in an important place in the here and now, has a more potent currency than simply adding it up in pounds and pence. Making a show which gets the responses we've posted up here on our blog, from such a range of audience members, is more important than pounds and pence. 

Photo by Greg Veit
So this is our honest and genuine question - why haven't more people come to see the show? It has run in York and London, we've made a decent number of ticket offers, we've done a good bunch of online and traditional marketing. We haven't, as far as I'm aware, had anything damning said about the show in the media...

And, from what I can tell, audience's like the show. A lot of people have got in touch to say so, which is just wonderful. After every show we have a nice chat with folks on Twitter who get in touch to say how much they liked it. So I'm interested in why this hasn't translated in to more people coming. 

Because now, actually, with three days to go there is no way we can make back the money we have lost. Let's worry about that later. But by god we have poured so much in to this show beyond cash, and playing to empty houses for the last three days would be hard. 

So I, with my shoulders back and with a nice clear confident voice, would like to ask for your help:

If you are free tonight, tomorrow or Saturday night in London then please come and watch the show. You can have a ticket for a tenner - hell have one for whatever you want - but if we can fill our little space for three nights then we'll finish happy. Three nights at 60 people a night. That's 180 people. 

Photo by Greg Veit



If you've seen the show and like it, send someone else. 


If you've seen the show and didn't like it, let us know why. 


If you have no desire to see the show, let us know why. 




Something, along the road, hasn't worked with how we've tried to get audiences in. And audiences, let's not forget, are just people like you and me. So I'd love to know, if you haven't come and don't want to come, why you haven't come and don't want to come. We thought this was an exciting idea and we do think it's a good show. It goes to Hungary next month, we're looking at a UK tour in Autumn and we're chatting about taking it to India and New Zealand in 2016. We're well behind it. We're backing it to the hilt.

We've asked 13 artists come and pour their energy, creativity and imagination in to something which, genuinely, we are all very proud of. But if that's not right, then we should learn from it. 

But right now, I'd just love you to come and watch one of the next three nights. 

Tickets are here. Get one for a tenner with promo code 'romeo'. If you can't afford a tenner then drop us a line on @FlanCol and we'll see if we can do one for less. If you can afford more than a tenner, great. 

We'll see you there with party hats on, the music turned up loud, and ready for a good old drink and dance. 


Alex, Brian, Emma, Amie, Holly, Sarah, Yoshi, Hannah, Ed, Jim, Jane, Tom & Tabitha

1 comment:

  1. I wanted to express in words how much I enjoyed Romeo & Juliet and during which, stumbled upon this blog. I think I was one of the only non- invitees in attendance the other evening and it was for me, as an observer, disheartening to see such a fantastic production without a full audience to appreciate it, so I cannot begin to imagine how devastating it must be for the company.
    It was a rather last minute decision on my part to see the play that evening and I confess I happened upon it by chance. I am generally keen to seek out smaller theatre productions and I was intrigued by the sound of an immersive version of a classic Shakespeare play and the dynamic that would be brought to it by a cast of six women. I can genuinely say that I haven’t enjoyed a play that much in a long time. I should qualify this by adding that I go to see a reasonable number of plays, many of which are bigger West End productions; but this just proves that glitzy scenery, a big stage and lots of big lights do not a show make. Rather it is the talent, energy and passion of the actors and in this production of Romeo and Juliet that is exactly what was delivered. I could go on praising, but really just want to express thanks to cast and crew for such an engaging evening’s entertainment.
    As for the issue of ticket sales, maybe there is no magic formula for a sell-out show. Perhaps the good weather counted against you, discouraging even the most avid theatregoer…
    Here’s hoping that people come to their senses and realise what they’re missing out on. Wishing you all the best for the tour.
    Rachel

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