|
I
started CLICK in 1995 after being inspired by the mantra
“This looks like a good barn, lets do the show here!” It
wasn’t quite a barn, but one of the first shows I
produced, “A Slice of Saturday Night” by the Heather
Brothers was on a stage my dad built out of toilet doors
and bricks he found at a tip which the cast and I coated
with lemonade to stop us slipping...and my mum made the
costumes! The cast was a group of my friends who weren’t
even based in the same location, but just wanted to get
together and have fun – and do something positive with
our Uni holidays. We sold out, got a couple of great
local reviews and gave our proceeds to the local charity
we had also run some workshops for – The Hastings
Gateway Club, and a couple of years of this later we had
won Two Mayoral Awards and The Gateway Award for
services to our community.
CLICK is formed on the basis of 3 key premises:
1.
The arts as a confidence building and self expressive
pursuit should be ACCESSIBLE TO ALL, therefore, unlike
most groups we do not charge a playing nor audition fee.
We fund our productions out of ticket sales. We don't
ask for previous experience, just commitment, a positive
attitude and the willingness to learn and "give it a
go".
2.
As long as we retain the integrity of the author we will
CAST ON TALENT NOT "TYPE". Being of Chinese ethnicity
myself, I know how hard it is to be considered for
anything other than "Princess Jasmin" (who I once played
3 times in one year!!), a rice picker or a prostitute
(who knows martial arts)... However the stories that we
tell are inclusive and their themes common to everyone.
Why can't there be a mixed race middle class family for
"That Face", why should "Horse" be the only ethnic
minority in "Full Monty", and why should Annie in
"Calendar Girls" be 50...don't 30 year olds also lose
their partners to cancer? We have addressed all of
these, and pledge to continue...timely, perhaps in the
light of the current Equity realisation that South East
Asians are still under-represented on stage and screen.
3.
The wellbeing and enjoyment of the Production Team and
Cast is of foremost importance and a happy company will
in turn result in a happy audience. I put my company
first. This philosophy has been derived from almost 20
years of hoping that a team and a cast will work for
me...for free, and something I believe can be
influential within any managerial approach.
My PhD (awarded December 2012) was on the training of
frontline service workers who engage in "emotional
labour" - the regulation of one's emotions as part of
the job (Teachers,Nurses, Counsellors etc) - a similar
direction to actors. My recommendations were based
around acting - ie. if I expect my actors to perform I
need to support and nurture them emotionally. It is not
possible to expect staff to perform if the only focus is
on how happy the client is. Like audiences, you cannot
please all clients - but if you have an emotionally
sound staff - you are likely to please more than
average! (If you would like to read my thesis "Love's
Labours Redressed: Reconstructing Emotional Labour as an
interactive process within Service Work, you will find
it by
clicking here)
To date we have had the opportunity to work with some
fantastic creative personnel on projects such as the BBC
on their Shakespeare festival (for which we are part of
a Guinness World Record); the Young Performers Group
enabling a local school group to perform at London’s
“Haymarket Theatre”; the Romero Trust, producing the
London Premiere of "Romero The Musical" (commemorating
the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Oscar
Romero) which featured on Vatican Radio; and with
amateur and semi-professional performers on highly
celebrated productions including "The Full Monty"
(attended by Alan Duncan MP, and the Mayor of
Hillingdon); "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (attended
by the Deputy Mayor of Milton Keynes); and "Calendar
Girls" (attended by the Mayor of Milton Keynes, as well
as being part of a(nother) Guinness World Record for the
largest number of productions of a single play in an 18
month period).
Internationally we have also worked with “Malaysiana
Muda” (Malaysian Youth) in a Youth Cultural Exchange
project to raise the profile of young people in Hastings
and in Kuala Lumpur, and most recently with Little
Penang Street Market and the Penang Players on an Arts
Exchange in support of their local charities - raising
over 2000RM, and look forward to more such projects.
Our teaching team also offer LAMDA examination classes,
as well as bespoke workshops on Confidence Building and
Self Presentation Skills (notable clients include Brunel
University Business School).
For more information about our productions, classes or
workshops, please email
audrey@clickproductions.co.uk
|
