What’s a blog? How do I even start one? #bloggingforoldgits #franticgooglesearch
I ask my tech savvy son……lots of eye rolling, and tutting suggests he clearly thinks I’m from the stone age, still writing my shopping list with a bone on a slate. But here it is..for better or worse..our first website blog.
I’m sitting here with a cup of tea in what feels like perpetual silence after the last hectic 9 months. You see I’m now a redundant Director, having consigned all the “Curious incident” scripts, beautiful cards, photos and paraphernalia into a memory box.
It’s been a good 15 years since I’ve felt the post show blues, but this one was special for so many reasons. Theatre’s like family isn’t it. The faces you’ve spent 4 months in a rehearsal room with, not to mention 2 weeks seeing each other every night. Then there’s the subject matter, this time one close to my heart,.. neurodiversity. I know a thing or two about that, but I didn’t appreciate how many other lives it touched. It’s been overwhelming to read so many messages from our audiences about how they resonated with the play, and how much it moved them.
From my heart I hope just a few of those people will see individuals that behave differently through renewed eyes. Let’s embrace them, be patient and kind folks, they deserve that much.
And just like Summer moves seamlessly into Autumn (what summer?????) We move onto the next one. Soon be time to dust the blacks off and set up the studio again for November’s offering. It’s always one of my highlights setting up that performance space on a Friday afternoon, ready to welcome 65 smiling faces into the studio theatre. The actors so close to the audience you can hear them breathing. Some of us love it (I’m one of them!), for others it’s a bit close for comfort, but if you’ve never been to a studio production (why not??????) there’s a few seats left for Hypnosis in November. If you like being crammed like sardines into a tiny theatre space, freezing in winter, boiling in May, then come and join us. Bring layers!!! I promise you it’s worth it!
Back on the main stage, there’s laughter in the rehearsal room where the cast are preparing for ‘Allo Allo under Liz’s watchful eye. That’ll take to the stage in December and we’re expecting tickets to sell fast. Let’s face it our Hinckley audiences love a comedy, and a bit of TV gold, so get the website up and ready when booking opens for that on October 19th.
Talking of websites…I think we can be smug enough to say that NTPD have a pretty impressive website! But, we’re never a group to sit on our laurels so we’ve invested this Summer in enhancing that. Go on….have a good nose around, there’s loads of content, and tons more to come. We’re creating a members page for you all, and you’ll see a few more of these blogs coming up (apologies in advance!). We might even go all out and get some of you involved in the odd podcast….frantic call to tech geek son coming up…!
Grab a coffee and spend an hour reminiscing over the countless photos from past productions, and trust me you’ll laugh at how young we all look on some of them! I love looking at them, especially the ones of my old NTP pals who sadly aren’t with us anymore. I like to think they still walk the stage with us, maybe in the form of the lovely butterfly that visits the stage so often. Those faces may be gone, but they’ll never be forgotten.
Time to stop rambling, thanks to you all for being part of this fabulous society, whether you’re one of the “loveys” on stage, or grafting in the background for us, you all play an equal part in making great drama.
Love Jo xx
