I’m writing this week about the first-ever big Theatretrain show in 1993. We performed it twice at the Bloomsbury Theatre. I learnt a lot of interesting things. In that year, we had only three centres, so there were about 180 performers in all.
For the first half, which was drama, I commissioned the composer Olga Thomas-Bosofskaya to write themes that helped us tell the story of life. Starting with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but moving through the different stages we all experience —infancy, growing up, adolescence, dating, marriage, having children, who also grow up, retiring from work, grandchildren, and so on. Olga played live on stage while many of the tracks were prerecorded. This enabled us to rehearse the three groups separately and bring them together the week before. 31 years later, we still work the same way.
In the second half, which was dancing and singing, Robert led everyone with a band of 4 players through 12 hits from the 1960s. I remember being amazed at the power of the singing. It was partly good teaching and partly superb sound mixing of the mics. At the time, I was still teaching acting at the Italia Conti Academy, so some of the technical staff there helped me. The audience reaction was amazing, and I quickly realised that large-scale theatre was the way to go. The excitement in the building was so intense; you could feel it. No one else was doing that kind of work, and as far as I know, that continues to this day.
Two other memories from the day stand out. After the matinee performance, a lady turned up at the stage door. and said,” I’ve come to pick up my daughter.” I said, “She’s just finished the first show and now we’re getting ready for the second.”
“I can’t help about that, “ she said, “I’ve got our dinner to think about. My husband’s waiting.”
It was a wake-up call about other people’s lives. No one from that family had watched their daughter, and for them, validating their daughter’s hard work was pretty low down on what was important to them. That made me think of the value different people attached to the work. These days, I like to think more parents value the arts in their children’s lives.
At the end of the evening, I was left with 27 pieces of heavy 8 x 4-foot steel deck. My friend Phil and I manhandled all 27 of them out into the street. I can still recall the effort that was required. I made a mental note – don’t rely on people who tell you they will help; hire professionals to do the job.
A lot of valuable lessons were learnt that day.
