With reference to Sherbet Lemon Theatre’s company manifesto: “we want to create a relaxed atmosphere where everyone can feel comfortable and involved in the action around them” (Sherbet Lemon Theatre, 2018), and this is what he aimed to do throughout our process.
Way back, before we even had a performance topic, we knew that we wanted to do something different with our seating in order to make audience members feel comfortable, involved and close to what is happening on stage. Once we had decided on our topic of sleep, this idea of an intimate stage space was put into action. We planned to flatten the auditorium space and sit audience members on chairs which formed a circle around the playing space in which the action took place. If you’d like to read more about how our set was designed and brought to life, visit our set designer Amanda Mason’s blog by clicking on the ‘Set Designer’ tab.
Figure 2 and 3 are of the set of The Truth about Bedtime…
As you can see from Figures 2 and 3, the layout of the set and audience created an intimate space in which all were included within the performance.
However, in order to create this set and produce the atmosphere we wanted, we had to cap our audience at 80 people. The downside to this is that we then automatically lowered the amount of money we would be taking in from ticket sales, meaning Sherbet Lemon Theatre would have less money towards our next show. However, we believe that our show and the lasting impact we have on audience members is worth more than the money.
Also, our initial 80 tickets sold out before the day of the show and when a subsequent 14 tickets were released they told out too. This gives up a good indication that there is a demand for our show, and we are in a good place when it comes to making money from ticket sales.
A big thank you to all those who bought a ticket and attended our show, we are very thankful for your support and we hope you enjoyed The Truth about Bedtime…
A very sweaty Sherbet Lemon Theatre after their debut performance.
Looking back and reflecting on Sherbet Lemon Theatre’s debut performance of The Truth About Bedtime… I can only beam with pride and joy. The response we have received, for me, can only be a testament for all of our hard work over the past 16 weeks.
As this may be my last blog post for a while, I wouldn’t want to spend it telling you the ins and outs of how show day went and how it can be improved for next time. However, if you’re a bit inquisitive like myself and would like to have peek at how things went, you can have a look at my stage manager performance report here.
I think for me, one of the greatest things to see happen on show day was our aspirations with our audience truly come to life. It has been a goal for all of us to really connect to our audience, ensure that they were comfortable and to spark feeling within them. I think this was recognised throughout all aspects of our performance, and the positive feedback we have been receiving only reaffirms this. Firstly, our intention of using verbatim engaged and connected us to our audience before we even stepped foot onto the stage. I believe that by using verbatim and engaging with the public before the show is a great way to ensure they feel a part of the show, especially through using their words within our performance. This element within itself, I believe, would meet Arts Council England’s (ACE) criteria perfectly. ACE articulate that they “invest public money to make great art that has an impact on everyone’s lives” (ACE, 2018). And what better way to include everyone? A show about sleep using verbatim!
We also extended our pre-set to half an hour, allowing enough time for our audience to come in and grab a hot drink, some biscuits and familiarise themselves with the space and the actors. This was achieved as one audience member commenting “the hot drinking chocolate and the blankets before the show were a really nice touch and I loved how the cast engaged with the audience before the show and during” (Donna, 2018).
For me and my job, I ensured that everyone with accessibility needs would be catered to on arrival. As engagement for everybody is vital to Sherbet Lemon Theatre, I ensured and liaised with Front of House that all people with accessibility needs, which was a total of four people, would not struggle when experiencing our performance. This was important to all of us as it further enables the inclusion of all people to engage with our production.
E.G. White, engaging with our audience during pre-set.
I am unbelievably happy with how everything went and how our audience perceived the show. Sherbet Lemon Theatre have had so much fun creating this, and on top of all of the great responses, I don’t think we’re ready to let The Truth About Bedtime… go just just yet. We’re currently in discussions about how and where we can go with show next, each time making the performance more inclusive for more people!
I have learnt a lot from stage managing this production, lots about communication and organisation, and will take this experience with me through my career.
Theatre is to be engaging and inclusive to everyone, and whether Sherbet Lemon Theatre do take The Truth About Bedtime… further or not, I have thoroughly enjoyed making the production inclusive to as many people as possible.
Sweet Dreams,
C.M.
Works Cited:
Arts Council England (undated) What We Do. London: Arts Council England. Available from https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do-0 [accessed 25 May 2018].
McConnell, H. (2018) Sherbet Lemon Theatre after their debut performance. [image]
Lincoln School of Fine and Performing Arts (2018) We’re enjoying the pre-show hot chocolate and pyjama party at @SherbetLTheatre‘s show! [image]. Available from https://twitter.com/LSFPA_Lincoln/status/998630673618530304 [accessed 22 May 2018].
Donna, P. (2018) Comment left on blog post. Available from https://sherbetlemontheatre.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2018/05/22/show-day/#comment_count. [accessed 24 May 2018].
So that’s it, the shows over and Sherbet Lemon Theatre have retired, for now. The Truth About Bedtime… was a success and we as a company are overwhelmed with the response we have received. We have received feedback from our friends, family and even members of the pubic as to how entertaining they found our performance and how much they enjoyed it, giving us confidence to perhaps pursue our show further in the future. I am so proud of everything we have achieved over the past four months and wouldn’t change this experience with these girls for the world.
Now we have reached the end of the process it seems appropriate to evaluate the success of our debut performance and consider how I may have improved in my role as performer and fundraiser to further our success.
In relation to my role as a performer, I felt happy with the performance I had given on the night of our debut show. However, there is always room for improvement and I feel for myself this is in the form of projection. When performing in a large space, such as the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre auditorium, it is essential that actors project to be heard by all audience members. The nature of our seating meant that if I hadn’t projected it would have more than likely been difficult for those who were not sat on the first row to hear me when I spoke. I received feedback from an audience member regarding a difficulty in hearing all that was said throughout our performance. Whether this was on my part or on the part of my fellow cast members it is certainly something to note for the future.
(Sired, 2018)
(Sired, 2018)
(Sired, 2018)
In regards to my role as fundraiser this was mainly a role I took on throughout the creation process rather than on the day of the show. However, it was my fundraising events that raised the money required to put on our performance, providing the funds to buy the set, props and costumes. We were fortunate enough to have raised enough funds to buy everything we felt we needed in order to perform our debut show, therefore, I would say my role as fundraiser was a success. For the future, taking our performance further, I would perhaps aim to raise more funds dedicated to dressing the seating area. We decided to place blankets and pillows on the seating in order to create the comfy and cosy environment we desired. For our debut performance this was successful, however, in the future if we took our performance to larger spaces we would require more to dress a bigger seating area.
(Sired, 2018)
(Sired, 2018)
(Sired, 2018)
Our debut performance of The Truth About Bedtime… was on the whole successful and hopefully you haven’t seen the last of the Sherby Lems yet.
