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Dear John

Making the most of a festival appearance

Question:
Like many other performers, I'm working at various festivals to get seen, but with so many people doing the same thing, how do I make the best use of the exposure?

Answer:
Festivals, be they theatrical, musical, comedy or a combination of many different branches of the arts, are a great opportunity to bring your work to the attention of new audiences, not to mention potential new employers. But they are far more than just another shop window for your existing work. In many cases, there is also a lot of opportunity to show different aspects of what you can do, to gain experience working in less traditional venues - or indeed in very traditional venues. More than anything, a festival is as much a shop window for you to look in as it is one for you to be on display in - the more you know your own individual strengths as a performer or writer and the more knowledge you can gain of what individual theatres and producers are looking to achieve in terms of their own programmes, the better the chance you have of finding a company whose needs and your skills fit well. To illustrate that point from two angles, here are two people involved in the current diverse festival at the Almeida Theatre.

What the experts say:

Jenny Worton

Jenny Worton is the artistic associate at the Almeida Theatre. She was previously the literary manager at the Tricycle Theatre and worked in the literary departments of the Bush Theatre and the National Theatre. She has worked freelance for Out of Joint, the Young Vic and the National Student Drama Festival. For Radio 4, Jenny has abridged Dario Fo's autobiography My First Seven Years and written two short stories for broadcast. For the Gate Theatre, Jenny wrote the text for Carrie Cracknell's I am Falling, which will be revived at Sadler's Wells later this year.

"For the Almeida, our current festival offers a great opportunity to work, not just with new writers and on rehearsed readings of material that would normally fall a little outside our remit, but also for us to collaborate with companies such as Tiata Fahodzi, whose work we respect and admire and who have worked hard to establish their expertise in their particular field.

"Just as with two performers or writers collaborating, working in tandem with another company in this way means that when it all comes together, the final productions, both in terms of flavour and audience reach, are far more wide-ranging than either of us could achieve on our own. If you ask me what we are looking for in terms of readings and new writing which might make us interested in developing something further, like all theatres we are somewhat market-led in terms of our own particular positioning.

"But what really helps us is when a writer has taken some time for a feel for the general run of our productions - after all, a new play that we put on in the middle of a programme of more established productions will have to look like it fits.

"What also helps is when a writer or production has been put together with the aim of making the best use of our particular performance space. One of our agendas with our cheap ticket offers is to allow creative people as well as new audiences to be able to easily access our space and get a feel for what we are all about as a theatre."

Sandra Bee

Sandra attracted huge attention and a wide fan base for her portrayal of Petronella, the dance hall queen who took the first series of BBC2's hit drama series Brothers and Sisters by storm. She went on to display the more dramatic and emotive side of her abilities in Casualty, The Bill, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, In Defence and The Knock. TV comedy has included My Family and the Jack Dee vehicle Tunnel of Love. More recently, Sandra has been seen in the Jennifer Aniston movie Derailed and as Shenzi in The Lion King.

"Having most recently been in musical theatre, I'm delighted to be working at the Almedia and - as a West Indian - to have been invited to work with such a respected African company as Tiata Fahodzi. Much as I enjoy musical work - whether it is The Lion King or one of my own musical comedy shows, it is great to be able to work on such a dramatic piece as Pandora's Box. Although my character Bev has comedic overtones, she goes on an emotional journey that is very exciting to work with from an actress point of view.

"Having a reputation for versatility, one of the big blessings of doing a festival like this is to get the chance to show that, whatever particular aspect of my work I am doing at any one time, I do it to the highest standards. Working with such an experienced actress as Jenny Jules in this piece is yet more incentive to really use all my own drama skills and experience to make the whole piece high quality."

John sums up

Of course, the missing jigsaw piece in connecting companies who might have need of your particular talents and those very talents, is letting the former party know that the latter is available for work and can be seen in action so they can judge the quality for themselves. Festivals traditionally and necessarily put a lot of work into marketing their programme, but you will need to put some effort into marketing your particular slot in the programme also. On that point, it is worth reminding you again that that I'll be joining The Stage's resident education expert Susan Elkin, among others, for two informative sessions entitled So You Think You Want to be an Actor?, which we are putting on in conjunction with the National Council for Drama Training and Spotlight. We will be at the Cabaret Bar in the Pleasance, Edinburgh, at 11am on Tuesday, August 19 and Wednesday, August 20 (2008) and places are limited. See page 31 of the newspaper and www.ncdt.co.uk for details - tickets can also be booked via www.pleasance.co.uk

* Sandra Bee is appearing in Pandora's Box on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 7.30pm and Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 6pm, as part of the ongoing Almeida Summer Festival. Details from www.almeida.co.uk

* Sandra's own website is www.misssandrabee.com

* Feedback/queries are welcome to dearjohn@thestage.co.uk
Please note that letters will be assumed to be for publication unless otherwise indicated. Name and address must be supplied but can be witheld on request.

Also see these Dear John questions:

Self promotion at festivals

How do I expand my act for festivals?

Performing outdoors

Should I alter my performance to suit venue size?

Adapting an act to a mixed age audience at festivals

Using festivals to develop a regular following

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