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

Another Beautiful Email

People don't often take time out of their day to say something is good. 

Sure, people will take time out of their day to complain. Plenty of people have done that in our time. One chap once wrote to us to ask for a refund because the free wine in Sherlock wasn't very nice. 

But with Romeo & Juliet a glorious and humbling number of people have taken the time to say why the show was important to them. Frankly, it's the most wonderful feeling - to know that someone else thinks what you have created is important. Because we love it - anyone that makes any work will know that you can pour your heart and soul in to something. I think the whole lot of us have poured our heart and soul in to Romeo & Juliet. That doesn't mean that it will be good, but it does mean that it's well cared for. 

But emails like this, they help fill your soul back up...

Hi Alex,

Good to meet you the other day.

I just wanted to say HUGE congratulations to you and the cast, I absolutely loved the show: it was some of the bravest, most energetic acting I have seen in a very long time. On a personal note it also reminded me of when I met my girlfriend years ago and everything that went with falling in love with a girl, so doubly loved it for that reason - it's just a great thing for society all round, helps you feel like part of it (society) when someone doesn't make it an issue and just presents it as what it is!

So thank you for that too. 

Good luck with the rest of it!

Louise

I'm genuinely proud of how few people have talked to us about it being an all female version. No one, when they have finished watching the show, has talked about it as a lesbian love story or questioned the all female narrative. Because it plays like a damn good story - regardless of where you sit on the gender spectrum. It's about finding someone who turns your world upside down, and about turning your world upside down for them. 

And that is a wonderful and terrifying feeling regardless or time, place or person. 

Alex.