Audience: 8
Technical: There wasn’t any communication beforehand so I was a bit apprehensive. I got there far too early (12pm) with the technician called at 4:30pm. However, the venue is a dream, Scott the technician was brilliant – calm, friendly and reassuring – the grid has a trampoline on it (a mesh you can walk on) so the whole process was absurdly quick. I genuinely don’t understand why all studio venues don’t get one installed (apart from, presumably cost).
Marketing: Really really hard. I’ll be honest, as a marketing director for a theatre I feel increasingly like a fraud that the one show I seem to be bad at marketing (that’s not strictly true, there are others), is my own. That said, I have limited control over the most effective channel – the venue. I wonder if I should have been more proactive in trying to engage. A fine line between being enthusiastic and overbearing. I don’t know. The audience were really lovely, and I tried to make it okay that there were 8 in, but it does feel harder.
Pre-Show: Did a proper warm up and got to have a chat with the lovely Robin about marketing stuff as well. I was panicking that after the no-shows yesterday that I’d have an audience of one!
The Show: The first third needed a bit more dynamism, the middle was fine, and the end was okay – I could have been a bit better I think. It flew by though – the audience was warm and friendly and very lovely.
Post Show: Absolutely nailed the get out AGAIN. If performing doesn’t work out then small-scale touring show get outs should be my thing.
Rating Out Of 10: 7
Nice Feedback:
“On the strength of watching this evening, I’d say Sam is working in the wrong job and needs to become a fulltime playwright and performer immediately, but in fact he seems to be maddeningly brilliant at all his jobs. Do see it if you can.”
Final Thought: Thank you to Gareth and Claire who sent me a lovely e-mail after the show. I had a 2 hour drive home and invariably I get lost in a dark cycle of negativity about what I could have done better, so to get such a lovely e-mail when I got in made my day.