Encouraging The Crowd: Putting Them Bottoms On Seats (UPDATED)

Update: While the below is still all correct fact, I have just had a telephone conversation with the Flash marketing team and learnt that there are a few reasons for the increased prices this year which are out of their control. It is sad that the increased levels are quite so much, but as I originally said costs are there to be covered, so it looks like the prices are there to stay.

What I will make clear however is that none of the below should appear negative towards the event. Flash 2014 was wonderful, and I am certain having previously seen those that are to perform, 2015 will be more the same. My only gripe is with the price hike. If your wallet can stand it, there is nothing more that I would recommend higher. These may be student shows, but don't be snooty about it, these are up there with many a professional performance you will see, and you might just be at a performance of a superstar of the future. Open your wallet wide and go.

Two of the highlights last year for me in my new world of theatre going were the weeks of the National Theatre Connections and the University Of Northampton's Flash Festival. During these weeks there were multiple performances: twelve in Connections (some play repeats, but different performers) and fourteen different shows in Flash. If you attended all of them (I didn't quite make it, but was close), they would have set you back £123 for the privilege.

This year the price goal posts have changed quite a bit. There are again fourteen Flash shows, while the National Theatre Connections at Royal & Derngate have been increased to fourteen. Connections have increased in price just by a single pound coin to £6 a show, which in theory is nothing to worry about. Unless you might want to support all the shows that is. Flash however has undergone the most radical and painful to the pocket change. There was a crowd encouraging Festival Ticket in 2014 which allowed you five shows for £21. This lovely and friendly ticket dropped the individual prices from £8.00 a show to a gorgeous £4.20. This year the festival ticket has gone and been replaced by a rather cumbersome and generally pointless "General Public Route" ticket for Saturday (an option on Wednesday as well, I believe), £15 for three shows. While this will be great for what are described as "general theatre-goers of Northampton", it is inflexible and offers nothing for those that may be able to attend at other times. So without that option and the festival ticket gone, it is bang £8.00 a show, thank you very much.

Now, don't get me wrong. £6.00 and £8.00 for an hours entertainment it perfectly fine. However these are feature weeks and positively glow with the idea that you might attend all the shows. Therefore the money ratchets up a great deal. As I said above, last year the two full weeks would have cost you £123, this year however to fully support all of the shows and performers of these two weeks, you are looking at £196.

That quite frankly is too much, and is I am afraid very disappointing. During Flash last year, I sat in pretty empty venues on many occasions (other than students that were performing in other shows) and Connections was quite often similar. This year there might be another empty seat for a few shows as well. Costs have to be covered certainly, but increasing prices it not going to solve it. The only thing that will help the situation are bums on seats, and offering no incentives at all will sure not put them there.

Review of & Juliet at Milton Keynes Theatre

First performed in 2019, & Juliet has become quite a global success, and now, as part of a UK Tour, it has arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre for a two-week run. Featuring a book by David West Read, it tells the what-if story of the survival of Juliet at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet . Primarily a jukebox musical, it more specifically features the works of Swedish songwriter Max Martin (and friends, as the credits describe). The question is, does & Juliet provide more than the standard of many a jukebox musical before it, and does it honour the tragic tale from which it has sprung? Our story opens with William Shakespeare presenting his latest work, Romeo & Juliet , for the first time. However, when his wife, Anne Hathaway, learns how he intends the tale to end, she is away with his quill and planning on her reworking of the story. At the core of this touring production's success is Geraldine Sacdalan's powerhouse performance as Juliet. Her Juliet ...

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...

Review of Tambo & Bones at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Tambo & Bones , first performed in 2022, is a deliberately provocative play by Dave Harris, currently performing at Royal & Derngate, one of the co-creating theatres of this touring version. It is a powerful piece created in three acts that does not shy away from controversy and offence. However, does that all culminate in a piece of theatre worth your attention? Our opening sees Tambo and Bones, two black entertainers, named in history from names inspired by their accompanying instruments (here the tambourine and bone castanets) tasked with entertaining a white audience in the Minstrel show they find themselves involved in. Following their discovery, from a moment of audience observation, that everything is not what it seems, Tambo and Bones embark on a crusade of fighting back at history that has seen them trodden down. Writer Harris doesn't mince his words in describing the power whites have held over blacks for centuries. Without question, moments are deliberately uncom...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

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