Author: Hannah Marie DArcy

We have done it, show day is complete and rather successful with us selling 80% of our available tickets. we had a good audience that laughed at the jokes made throughout the show and overall it was a enjoyable experience for all involved, including us as the actors.

so what happens next. well first of all have all taken a well deserved break.. to skegvegas! I mean Skegness! (and look how cute, we got matching friendship bracelets

 

(Jarold, 2017)

However, what happens next for fragment theatre company and our show ‘exit this way’. In the case that fragment theatre had the chance to take a tour, the show would have to be significantly scaled down in order to fit to the Arts Council England policy of sustainability and resilience, because as mentioned in a previous blog post, this would be the way that we would get funding for the show. And due to the large set we had, the show would be impractical to tour, limiting us as a company from many venues. I would then apply the show into festivals such as Newvolutions to develop  the show into something that could be toured locally and eventually nationally.

after our first successful the show, the idea would be to create more shows to take on door, of course sticking to out manifesto/ slogan ” we speak to someone, anyone, everyone”.

If you take a look at my previous blog ” applying to arts council funding” you will be able to see that maybe this isn’t the end for fragment theatre at all…

stay tuned.  oh and see below a selection of pictures from our show!

(Odonell,s.2017)

Citations

Odonnell, S. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company. Lincoln: SO Photography.

 

“In the early twentieth century drama started to signal its dissatisfaction with its defining processes. For example, Chekhov’s plays distinctly refused to engage with ‘action’ in favour of atmosphere and mood[…] Post dramatic plays differentiate themselves from representational theatre by offering actors and audiences theatrical experiences that are not tied to the vicissitudes of either character or plot but seek to investigate broader issues, free of drama’s limitations” (Dramaonlinelibrary.com, 2017). As a company it became quickly evident that we enjoyed making jokes on the stage and interacting with our audience straight away, which is when our show took a post dramatic approach, making it easier for us to do this. So for example on the stage we have created an ‘on/off’ position, This term was given to us in Alexander Kelly’s workshop, a workshop that myself, Brodie, Joe and Ben attended and has inspired us through out our creative process.

(Odonell,S.2017)

The chairs at the back of the stage represent the ‘off’ positions for the actors. Meaning that when an actor is sat here they are just being themselves and not having to put on a character. The person sat on a chair will continue to be themselves until told otherwise by the ‘hosts’ of the show.  as well as this within the show they was a constant blur between process and product. An example being in ‘the creation of Laura’ scene. As the actors brought Laura to life using lines such as ‘she loves mayo on everything’ and ‘Laura has a credit card with a high interest rate’. This is something that was played with in the process but then brought to life on the stage.

which links in to another element running throughout out show and that being ‘Metaphysical’ through the show characters would continuously jump in and out of character. Our show contained many ‘metaphysical’ elements as will be explained.

As Atraud  states “What takes place in the theatre is an imitation of the “performance of being” which is taking place in nature. The theatre imitates this performance not by referring to it but by doing it”(Atraud,A,1958) theatre is traditionally used  to produce a  whole new imaginary world for the audience, however our show does not do this.  Through out ‘Exit this way’ we make our audience completely aware that they are in fact watching a show. This is done through many means such as the costume, the actors upon the stage all wore their fragment theatre shirts, on the back on which stated our production roles, reminding the audience that we are just a normal group of people in a theatre company. we also used line within the script such as ” A show, within a show” (Atkinson, 2017). This is a portrayal of metaphysical theatre. See below a photo of us breaking from our normal show, into another show, becoming ‘Cake girls’

(Odonell,S. 2017)

Another main aspect that influenced our show was the idea of D.I.Y theatre, meaning do it yourself. Anyone that came to see our show will see that some of our props were badly made with cardboard and things that were lying around on props day. See Below images our home made props.

 (Odonell,.2017)

by doing this it helped us to bring alive the ‘fun and silly’ aspect of our performance that we wanted our audience to enjoy with us.

 

Citations

Artaud, Antonin, The Theater and Its Double, trans. Mary Caroline Richards. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1958.

Dramaonlinelibrary.com. (2017). Post-dramatic theatre – Drama Online. [online] Available at: http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/post-dramatic-theatre-iid-2516 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Odonnell, S. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company. Lincoln: SO Photography.

 

 

 

 

Too see the official budgeting sheet and what our money was spent on, visit the technical document page on the Blog.

I’m not going to write a lot about the budgeting in terms of Fragment theatre company, due to it being all evidenced on the budgeting sheet.  However, due to the large beginning budget we had ( £575.75) it made this process quite easy. Most of the money within the budget was spent on props through out the process with a total of 53 props through out the show and a total of £290.73 being spent on these.

organisation was a skill I had to learn through out this process, making sure I kept every single receipt in my ‘producer’ folder was essential in order to be able to keep track on where all the money was going.

it was my job to designate people to buy certain props, giving them a budget in which they has to stick to, this was to ensure we did not go over the budget. Microsoft excel was a computer programme that became my best friend throughout being the producer of Fragment theatre company.

when keeping track of the money it was important to think about the quality of the purchase, as we intent to be a long running theatre company the props need to be a good standard of quality in order to last. meaning that the cheapest option wasn’t always the best.

I the end of this process I believe I successfully had control as to where the money was going, meaning that the whole show came in within budget. Including buying gifts for those that helped us along the way.

Today is the day I began to put our show forward for further funding with Arts council England. This application was more of a ” see if I can do it for the future ” application.

I began researching into what it is Arts council England look for when making the decision to give funding or not with an application.

The first thing I looked into was the five ‘goals’ of the Arts council, them being:

• Excellence
• For everyone
• Resilience and sustainability
• Diversity and skills
• Children and young people

The Arts council look at Art and theatre as a way of bringing together people, people from different cultures and backgrounds, and this is a matter in which our final show fully intends to explore. if successful, with the correct amount of visual evidence our Company could be eligible for funding from £1000 to £10,000.  Within my Application I will 0nly be asking for £800.

If granted this money will cover Marketing Costs, Small Venue Hire, and paying accommodation for the Actors. all props have already been bought and the show itself would be extremely ‘tamed down’ for touring purposes, meaning that we would not have the elaborate lighting states  as seen in the main show and the performance would have a much more ‘D.I.Y’ aesthetic.

an example being;

rental of a venue- Skipton auction mart, Yorkshire – £150 per night of venue hire – seats 353 people (price includes staff on the night)

Hire of technician- £50 per night – supplied by Skipton auction Mart

cost of Accommodation for Actors – (£400 at skiptons travel lodge- includes breakfast)

Travel for company- £100 (From Lincoln central to Skipton Station) – Including rail cards.

van hire to transfer, costume, props and ‘D.I.Y’ lighting – In kind (We know a man with a van)

meaning that are total for touring this show to the other side of the country would in total cost us £700

if we sold tickets at £7 per ticket, and worst case scenario only selling 40% of the seats available we would make £987 from ticket sales

giving us a profit of £287 overall.

working this out provides reassurance that it would taking our show to the other side of the country and having a completely different audience could actually be completely possible!

When filling out the application form, I paid close attention to the ‘cheat sheet’ supplied by the arts council website.  See below image.

(D’Arcy, 2017).

I Filled in the application relating our show to the Arts council guidelines as much as possible. an Example being significantly explaining how out show is of ‘excellence’ and is for ‘every one’ and can even apply to a ‘diverse’ set of people. that being three ‘Arts council goals’ already completed.

(see below photos of me at the beginning of the application for Arts Council Funding 2017)

(D’Arcy, 2017)

The application process takes a long long time, so who knows, but Maybe Fragment theatre will be making a comeback!

watch this space!

 

Citations

Artscouncil.org.uk. (2017). Individuals | Arts Council England. [online] Available at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/why-culture-matters/making-case/individuals [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017].

D’Arcy. H. (2017) application of arts council : University of Lincoln library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fragment theatre fundraiser!

“A key skill for any producer is the ability to be able to put together a budget that accurately reflects the cost of putting on a show” (Seabright, 2010, 31). Recent discussions within our group have taken place, this discussion involved the topic of set and props within our show. To create the aesthetic we desire (which will be revealed in due course) we are planning on having a large set, this large set includes scaffolding along the entirety of the back of the stage, alongside televisions that will be used throughout the show.

Now, for such extravagant set, we are probably going to need an extravagant budget. Which is where my role comes in to play as the producer of Fragment Theatre Company.

After brainstorming a few ideas, some a little bit too adventurous for our own good (including a fun day with bouncy castles and a horse, ridiculous, I know!) I finally came up with the idea of a pub quiz, not quite as exiting but it could still work.

With this is mind I set out looking for venue to host our quiz. After a few options I settled on the University of Lincoln’s student pub, The Swan. The swan was the cheapest option with the most potential of having a large crowd of willing participants.

I set a date for the quiz, that being the 14^th March 2017. Which gave me two weeks in-between to organise everything. First thing first, I needed to create a poster for the quiz, to advertise around the university campus…

 

(D’Arcy,2017).

 

I chose a black and white poster for two reasons, number one being that it was an awful lot cheaper to print, and reason number two was because everyone has bright and colourful posters on the university notice boards and I thought that maybe, in a weird way ,by making the poster black and white it would stand out against the colourful posters!

Within the quiz I designated every member of the group to write a round, so the whole cast was involved with the process.

Each member who came to the quiz was charged £2 to enter, with maximum teams of six (This was because the winning team won 6 Tickets to our show)and a hamper of gifts including chocolate, alcohol and other fun (yet cheap) things! as can be seen in the photo below.

(Nixon,2017)

In the end the quiz was a massive quiz with our company raising over £100! Minus away the costs for the prizes leaving us with an overall profit of 88.90 to put towards our show! A massive thank you to everyone who came along and joined in! you were a joyful crowd! and congratulations to our friends in the theatre company ‘Kick a pigeon’ who came first place!

(Nixon, 2017) – Kick a Pigeon Theatre Company- The winners!

Here is a photo of Fragment Theatre Company at the quiz! And look we even got matching T-shirts!

(Chattaway, 2017)

 

Citations

Chattaway, A. (2017) Fragment theatre company group photo: The Swan Pub

D’Arcy. H. (2017) Fragment theatre poster: University of Lincoln library.

Nixon, E. (2017) Fragment Theatre Company, quiz prize: The University of Lincoln, Minerva Building

Seabright, J. (2010) So you want to be a theatre producer? London: Nick Hern Books limited.