Theatre & Event Production
It is hard to remember a time when I haven't been involved in some sort of event. Growing up in Blewbury, with their Blewbury Players group producing three or more shows a year, I experienced a community where the major events of the year - certainly for me - were performances. As I grew older I took part in more and more activities with entertainment as their central purpose; I learned to play the French Horn, touring to Venice & Bonn, and playing in the Royal Festival Hall with the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra. at this time I was regularly performing and working backstage in the school productions, and even managed to set my hand to technical work at the Oxford Playhouse. As time went on I became involved with the first student radio station in the UK with a full FM license - Oxygen 107.9, presenting on occasion, and regularly producing for them.
At University I became even more involved, singing with the college choir, playing in orchestras, and doing still more radio work. My work with the theatre increased as I took part in many shows at The Playroom, a delightful small studio theatre in central Cambridge. Meanwhile I took over the running of entertainments at my college. Corpus is only a small place but the quality of events really matters even then, and together with a team of friends we had the technical and artistic expertise to bring the events to a level never seen before. The natural progression from that success was to run that most prestigeous event in the college calendar - the May Ball. Paradise was the result.
Once my time at Cambridge had been and gone, I looked again for theatres to help out at. This time, the Cotswold Playhouse, care of the Cotswold Players was my destination. I fell for this place from the moment I walked through the door, and the people are just as welcoming as the theatre is. Since then, I've Stage-Managed, handled set construction, produced the lighting, and generally had a whole lot of fun. It isn't all indoors though, in the Summer there's a great show at Chavenage house; a very professional project in the huge gardens, and beautifully done too.
Paradise: The Corpus May Ball 2003Top
Corpus has traditionally been an old-fashioned ball based in fairytales. We instead asked people to look forwards, to their fantasies and dreams. "Paradise". Over three days the college was transformed into a variety of exotic locations, each exquisitely themed. During the build-up the atmosphere was immense, as the marquees were constructed, and we started building a waterfall on the balcony above the chapel. Every drop of anticipation was satisfied, too, as inside the aged courts of the college we hosted 4 stages of music. From Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills to the Number 1 DJ's the Scratch Perverts, from bebop to ballroom, entertainment was never in short supply. Food and drink kept on flowing from a huge number of of stalls, and there were plenty of opportunities to have fun whilst sitting down, too.
In 2002 my time as Entertainment Officer on the college JCR was coming to an end. It had been very successful and fun, and now I was looking for bigger brighter things. 2003 was to be a May Ball year in college, and I was the right person, in the right place, and at the right time to take it on. Soon after application I had been accepted, and was soon running a project with a nearly £80k budget and a team of 16 each working for some of the hardest exams in their lives at the same time. The ones who made it through turned out to be some of the hardest-working and nicest people I've ever met.
I've never been one for the old-fashioned look, always choosing a modern concept for a project. Paradise was no different - I wanted to display a set of values from the outset: modern, fun, unpretentious. A selection of wildly tinted computer-modified photos fitted the bill, with a distinct brand image linking the graphics. As a team we followed this concept through to the end, producing a clear, easy-to-navigate Ball that was thoroughly different to anything before seen at Corpus.
Visit www.corpusmayball.com for information on the latest Corpus May Ball
The Cotswold PlayersTop
Based at the Cotswold Playhgouse in stroud, the Cotswold Players are a group with the ability to pull off some of the most difficult shows in theatre. Not only that, but the auditorium itself is something to be proud of, as it has been transformed from an old chapel into a fully operational proscenium arch theatre. The people are just as interesting as the building, though, which makes it a great place to be, either as a customer or a worker
Recently I stage-managed for Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's most difficult plays to perform convincingly, which we managed to great acclaim. We also produced Noises Off, becoming the first amateur group to build the full stage as in the text - something some professional groups don't even manage. As a member of the construction team that sort of accolade is a great reward to have.
Visit the Cotswold Players site for details of up-and-coming productions.