Apart from the variety I also enjoy the problem solving as the audience generally only experience one performance of any given show and it is my responsibility to get it as the creative team intended from the start to the end without the audience being aware that anything has gone wrong. Over the last 12 years the work of the Exeter Northcott has expanded dramatically with the development of the Participation and Education Department. We now run two very successful participation companies; Northcott Young Company (NYC) for 13-21 year olds (which will be celebrating it’s 10th anniversary next year) and the Northcott Community Company (NCC) for over 21’s. For example, I stage managed the NYC/NCC production Goodnight Mister Tom. The only difference for the technical departments between this show and a Northcott Theatre production with a cast of professional actors is that Goodnight Mister Tom rehearsed for 12 weeks as opposed to the usual four. It also has 41 cast members, seven musicians and 10 NYC/NCC members working on the show backstage. The sheer number of people involved alone adds a new challenge to my job but it’s great! The professional theatre world is fairly nomadic, you work with people intensively for eight weeks and then at the end of the run of the show you never meet them again, whereas with NYC/NCC members, we get to know them really well and enjoy watching individuals skills and confidence develop, be that a 13 year old who wants to be an actor or a
75 year old who fancies having a go – it’s brilliant watching people get so much out of being involved in theatre. It’s sometimes easy to lose touch of what theatre is about when you’re so busy producing it, but working on these community productions is a real reminder of what theatre is capable of; from community and society development to just telling a story. The most crucial element to theatre though is most definitely passion and the Exeter Northcott has it in abundance and with the continued support of the people of Devon and our stakeholders, Exeter Northcott will become an important part of far more people’s lives whether as an audience member or as a participant. •
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