'What a stupid thing to teach children' - Romeo & Juliet

At the very beginning of our Romeo & Juliet York run we got a glorious review from a sixth former, a girl from a local school called Hannah. 

At the end of our run, Holly got this email from an American tourist called Chris. 

Little else matters...

Hello!

I don't have a Facebook account or anything but I wanted to tell you and the cast of Romeo and Juliet how much I enjoyed your performance yesterday.  Your email was the first I found after googling the cast (after misidentifying another Emma).  Please convey my appreciation to the cast. 

I'm an American tourist and just wandered in on a whim on my last night in York.  Your show was probably the most personally involving theatrical performance I've ever attended.  The chase around the pews to the first kiss (directly in front of me!), your verbal sparring with Romeo and Benvolio, Juliet's utter heartbreak and collapse, watching her and Romeo too die among us...  Well I could list nearly every event in the play, really.  The ending, too, with no curtain calls, just two corpses completely redeems the play from cliche and the smug expectations of Shakespeare-savvy audience (me among them).

The way my stale high school teachers taught Romeo and Juliet was as a cautionary tale, of what happens when young people fall in love (or feel any passion): badness and doom.  What a stupid thing to teach children, to suppress the most powerful aspect of youth.  Their approach completely ignores the character's genuine, honest feelings, which you all brought out again vividly, unapologetically.  And their approach precludes the audience from feeling any sympathy with the characters.  After all they deserved it by being so dumb, right?  I haven't seen Romeo and Juliet interpreted with such humanity.

I'm so disappointed that the show doesn't start up again until June in London (where I am now) or I would have seen it again.

Well that's enough rambling.  Again, a truly meaningful event for me, the highlight of my vacation in the UK, and a memory I'll hold on to for a long time.

Chris

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Thanks Chris & Hannah, you've made us all feel very proud.

We'll Show You Ours - Cash & Company

On Thursday we opened Romeo & Juliet in St Olave's Church with York Theatre Royal, as part of the York International Shakespeare Festival. Tonight is press night, so I'm deliberately posting this before any reviews of our show come out. We transfer to London in a few weeks. 

 It's an all female cast. We wanted to make an all female show because we should be trying harder to redress the gender imbalance on our nations stages - especially in Shakespeare. And because, in an interview, we were asked -

'So how does it work, with the big fights and then the tender moments - how does that work when it's all women?'

- so making an all female show is important.

But what's more important is this review from a sixth former called Hannah who came to see the show on opening night. For a 17/18 year old girl to watch a production and not even mention the all female story. That's why were making an all female Shakespeare. 

We try to be very open and honest about how we make work. For us, this is a big show. A cast of 6 and a stage manager. 7 people on a weekly payroll. We applied to the Arts Council twice to help support the production, but we were unsuccessful. That's okay, it happens. But our options were lay off 7 artists to whom we'd promised 9 weeks work, or for us to work harder to sell more tickets. 

Our Arts Council bid would have helped us do some nice stuff - offer some paid placements which we had promised to do after last summer, offer healthier up front fees for other creatives, rather than relying on royalties, for me and Brian to get paid for the work we've done - and to plug a gap and help cashflow the weekly costs of the production. I was talking to someone about this and they asked why we don't set up a crowd funding campaign. We kind of have an in built crowd funding campaign just through Box Office. 

So we want to ask for your help. We'd like you to buy a ticket to the show. If enough people do that, then we're fine (ish). Because employing and paying artists is important - something we should work damn hard to do properly. On this occasion, the arts council haven't supported us, so we need to ask you to. 

The show costs £3,000 pw in people, for 9 weeks. 
The venues costs approx £5,000.
Creative fees come to about £2,000.
And a marketing budget of about £5,000.

So rounded up a little, we're looking at £40,000. That's what it costs to make a show which will hopefully mean that an all female Shakespeare is a little less unusual. 


And that's how much it costs to employ and pay -

Holly / Hannah / Sarah / Yoshi / Amie / Emma / Jane / Ed / Tom / Jim

Brian and I shan't take a penny unless everything else is paid.

So before the papers come, now we're open, we wanted to ask for your help. If you're up for helping, then we damn hope you enjoy the show. If you enjoy the show, we hope you might send some other folks our way. If you have a mailing list to hand, can we use it? If you meet with a group of people who like theatre / music / Shakespeare / a good night out - do you want to come on a trip? We can do workshops, talks, anything else thrown in if you're a school and would like to get a bit more for your dollar. We're always up for a chat.

For our York run, head here

For our London run head here

We'll hopefully see you there, and hopefully see you in the pub for a drink after!

Alex

Proud-Making - A review of R&J

On Thursday 7th May, the first night of our Romeo & Juliet, some ambassadors from a local school came - a group of 16-18 year olds. Hannah, one of those ambassadors, wrote this review. 

I can't tell you how happy it makes us to read it. 

It's press night tomorrow (Tuesday), so more formal reviews will follow. But, in all honesty, if a young person early in their theatre-going-life thinks this then I don't really mind what the formal press think. 

Thanks Hannah - we're damn pleased you like our show. 

The Flanagan Collective – Romeo and Juliet 

Utterly captivating: two words to sum up the kaleidoscope of emotions the Flanagan collective and their team have encapsulated in a simple two hours.

Where theatre is at its best is amongst the pillars and pews of St Olave’s church that the group have made their own, as they sing dance and move in a way that enhances an age old story to reveal new depths. In their adaptation of the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet, they have encompassed qualities that are the foundations for the future of British theatre. They haven’t stumbled, like many, on the temptation to catapult Shakespeare into heights where it simply doesn’t belong, yet seem to have deciphered the core of the well-known verse and offered simply this, through creativity. 

To reveal too much detail would be to disrupt the wonderful spontaneity of the piece, a quality that simply makes you feel as though you were meant to be a part of the evening’s events; that you belong in the tale. Their engagement with the audience is spectacular in its ability to make you sit forward in your pew and grip onto the end of tragedy to which we all know the end, as if hearing it with fresh ears. Not only is this credit to the impressive creative overview of the piece, but the outstanding quality of the cast, who behave as though they have been with each other for years. In them we see a shared passion that clearly translates into their roles; a burning desire to tell a story which, in the way they deliver their words, hold much more than simply fable and rhyme. 

This is an absolute gem in British theatre, a must see if only, 5 years down the line, to say you saw it here first. With its energy, passion and drive, this is what Shakespeare was meant to be performed like, even if he didn’t know it. Beg, borrow and steal you way into the audience for this spectacle…you’ll be glad you did. 

http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/event/Romeo_And_Juliet.php#.VVCpLfnF_To

Women & Placements & Pool Tables.

This is our Romeo & Juliet cast - sat looking like a new band on a pool table*, in The Fleeting Arms (a new pub and arts space we've helped to set up in York.)

Amie, Hannah, Holly, Yoshi, Lucy, Sarah. A new company for us. Not a beard in sight. 

Six flipping brilliant makers that joined us up here in North Yorkshire to have some dinner, read a play, have a sing, and have a good old chinwag on Tuesday night and Wednesday daytime. 

As I said in a blog a while ago - we wanted to cast an all female Shakespeare because we're in a position help redress the gender imbalance on our stages. That was why. Like many arts organisations, we are historically guilty of working with too many men. We'll stop doing that. So many brilliant people got in touch to express their interest. We could have made this show hundreds of times over and, I hope in time, we can. 

Yesterday it became more than that though. It wasn't just about redressing a gender imbalance. It kind of superseded that and entirely undercut that. Because now we get to make a show - we get to wrestle with it, imagine it, get it wrong, find it hard, and make it better. 

Romeo & Juliet is a big play. It's bigger than we think when we casually think of Romeo & Juliet. A hell of a lot happens. And when we sit down and ask 'Okay, to put this play on now, in 2015 - what is it about?' the answers are endless. It's about rebellion, it's about a divided community, it's about social fear, it's about passion and recklessness, it's about getting in to fights when you're drunk, it's about accepting people for who they are, it's about realising what's important in life before you lose it. All of which matters, urgently, here and now in our communities, today.

And what's it about when you do it with a cast of six women? All the above. 

Here's another thing. When we made Sherlock in August last year we had this conversation on The Guardian about placements. We said that we would try to do everything we can on each new project to offer a paid placement. And we will do that. We are waiting to hear back on some funding from the Arts Council. If we get this, we have budgeted for a paid placement. But we don't really want to rely on that - we'd like to be able to offer it out. I don't know how yet. But we're working on it. 

But soon we'll put up a call for people's thoughts and hopefully ways we can invite people to be involved. 

Romeo & Juliet is a big show, in the way I mean above. For us, it's also a big show in terms of scale. Six performers, creative team, crew. It adds up to about £55,000 for the first stage of the productions. Of course, we do careful maths and have applied to the Arts Council for about £14,000 of that. But, if you'd like to support the show then we'd like to let you. If you'd like us offer a paid placement, and you think you can help, then please do. 

If you want to support the show, it's easy. Come see it. We want to make sustainable work that is interesting, inventive, relevant and offers new stuff for people along the way. And the best way we can do that is with a whole bunch of audience, community and friends at our sides. So Romeo & Juliet doesn't come with a crowdsourcing campaign, any fundraising stunts or donations boxes. It just comes with a box office link. 

We use the money from ticket sales to cash flow the show - to pay people. We spend very little on set / tech / stuff - it pretty much all goes on people. So rather than have a hoo ha or a ding dong about money, we'd just like you to buy a ticket! We'll even do a show for you in return.

If you'd like to see it in York, head here. If you'd like to see it in London, then tickets will be available here soon. 

If you'd like to have a look at a little trailer, the that is here.

But, whether you can come watch or not, we're excited to be here. To be in an International Shakespeare Festival, to be making our first Shakespeare, to be performing in a new venue, to be rehearsing in our lovely little village, to have six brilliant women making the show with us on stage and three brilliant women and one brilliant man (not including Brian and I) making it with us off stage. And to be telling a story which, when you sit and really look at, is about a heartbreakingly dysfunctional, overly proud and narrow minded society that doles itself out in wars and punishments - a society which doesn't look after the dreams, aspirations and passions of its younger members. That feels important. 

All the best to the best of you all.

*There won't be a pool table in the show. Or graffiti. We're performing it in a church, which is beautiful. But you can come for a game of pool after.

A Whole Lot Of Love (and what happens now...)

On Friday, The Fleeting Arms opened its doors. 
A new arts and community space made, loved and imagined by the creative community of York and surrounding area.
That is a huge thing for everyone within and without that community to be proud of - that this has happened and that it is happening, right now. That grass roots, open space, wide armed and welcoming thing is going on. Outside the usual bounds of hierarchy, competition, capitalism - there is a new arts space open and up and running and there to be used. 
For anyone who is reading this with a drink near by, have a little toast. 

And Friday night was glorious. Full of wonderful people - old, new, borrowed and blue - and wonderful conversations. A good amount of drinking. And a lovely amount of poetry, music, jazz and a midnight ceilidh. 

So. We're open. Next?

On Friday 13th March we welcome The Big Smoke Band. A band made up of 50% Holy Moly And The Crackers and 50% Buffalo Skinners. A band full of old time folk tunes, whiskey, guitars, fiddles and damn sweet harmonies - and a special cocktail from us alongside. They'll be on from 8pm, so get on down. 

On Saturday we will have a pool tournament, because we have a pool table. We'll play as knock out rounds. More rules and regs soon. But with a good soundtrack and maybe some challenges along the way. Fancy dress? Is a fancy-dress-pool-tournament a thing?

And cocktails. Our bar manager, Max, is a cocktail maker - so expect a few tasty treats along the way. 

If you're reading this to catch up on what's happening, then we'll keep you updated. Head to Facebook.com/fleetingarmsyork for regular info. 

For those of you who want the nuts and bolts, see below.

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We are up and running. 

Brian, Brian, Max (our bar manager) and I (Alex), sat down yesterday and did lots of adult things like maths and schedules. 

Our BAR opening times will be 

Tues - Sat / 12pm-11pm
Sun / 12pm-8pm
Mon / Close

This made the most of Max and Amy's (our other bar manager) time behind the bar.

The building can be used inside and outside of those times for rehearsals, meetings, RnD, general work etc. That is absolutely fine. We will need someone in the space to make sure everything is okay until the bar opens. If anyone thinks they will regularly work there one or two mornings a week, then let us know. All bookings are done through a very simple diary in the space.

Lots of people are interested in putting work on with The Fleeting Arms. This is brilliant. We will keep trying to find a good way of talking about it and keeping everything up to date. Please keep spreading the word and, now, direct folks to Facebook.com/fleetingarmsyork for regular info, and to fleetingarms@outlook.com to get in touch.

We would like to keep being transparent about money, time and programming etc. We would like to offer all spaces for free - performance, rehearsal, exhibitions, performance etc - that's important to us.

We need to clear £1,500 per week over the bar. At 50% gross profit on each drink, that covers our running costs of approx £750 pw. So, we need a good night like Friday night every week to help hit this target - one or two events a week which will pull folks in and have a good night at the bar. This weekend we banked £1,080 of which £700 came from the opening night.  

Today we ordered £1,900s of booze, so we will be improving our bar offer - looking at more craft / interesting bottled beers, nice wines and some tasty cocktails. We are required to pay for the drinks orders upfront, so we will be considering cash flow in that respect.

Brian will be setting up car parking charges for the car park behind the pub straight away. These will be rented out and will help to cover our costs on rates.

There are new things that we need to look at - online listings and listings of what's coming up in the The Fleeting Arms, blackboards outside the pub with upcoming events etc. So if you'd like to help and / or be a part of this bit, then please do.

Finally, a huge and very heartfelt thank you for coming on this journey so far. The hard bit is, in many ways done, and the fun is all to come. Hopefully see you there soon.

Much love and here's to a glorious 6 months or so ahead!

A Fleeting Invite - A Little Drink & A Shindig

So we asked if we should open a pop up arts space and a whole host of folks said yes. They not only said yes, they have rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in up to their wonderful-arty-community-helpful-imaginative necks. 

And after gallons of paint, a few skips, a lot of white spirit, trips in vans and a lot of good fun, the time has come for us to open our temporary doors. 

Our little venue will throw its arms wide on Friday 6th March from 7pm. There will be a working bar, there will be music, some art, some poetry, a few little nibbles and a whole lot of wonderful folks. We'd love you to come and join us. There is no charge, no levy, nothing for you to do other than to come and enjoy yourself - a little or a lot. 

So come one, come all. Feel free to bring your dancing shoes. 

The Fleeting Arms is about to set sail!

Ready...steady...go!

Pop Up Arts Space - The Fleeting Arms, A Reverse Jumble Sale

This process has been amazing. From a little idea and a small blog, people have come en masse - weilding paint brushes, floor sanders, light fittings, bin bags, white spirit and art work. There is, it would seem, a huge desire for a open, grass roots art space in this city. I'm damn pleased that this pub landed in our laps and we can help fill that hole a little.

I had expected a few known faces - people who I know who work all the time to make things happen and create in and with a community. But I have met so many people. People have turned up to help who I have never seen before, having been told to come and help by someone else who I equally have never met. Word is spreading and it's just lovely. You are wonderful folks.

Last weekend nearly 30 people came down to help transform the spaces. It's slow going and hard work, but the good chat, the meeting new people, the rolling up of sleeves and getting our hands dirty makes the time and work fly. It's such a pleasure. It bodes for a brilliant 6 months.

So what's next?

Well, the floor is nearly done and the walls are done and some graffiti artists are coming in and the pool table is arriving. So now we need stuff - lots of people have said they have the odd chair, or light, or table. We'd love to have them. We want to make a cafe and bar, a performance and rehearsal space, a  shared open office space and an art studio. So the more stuff, the better. Lights, sound, instruments, tea sets - all very welcome. Let's think of it as a reverse jumble sale*.

We will be in The Fleeting Arms working away over the weekend. If you want to bring anything down, then that's your time. Specifically (and I'm saying this based in my availability, so I can guarantee the building will be open, but I'm sure it will be open more than these times) let's say Sunday 1st 2-6pm and Monday 2nd 12-6pm. If those times don't work for you, then drop us an email and we'll sort a better one.

There's still lots to do and hopefully lots of people to meet, so please do pop in and say hi or get in touch.

Our opening party will be in the 6th March. More on that soon.

FleetingArms@outlook.com

TA!

*All furniture etc has to comply with fire regs, so if you have sofas or armchairs or anything that you want to reverse jumble, then check they have the right labels or we won't be allowed to use them. Thanks.