Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs - 09.03.12

What are the chances, out of all the people in Britain, of finding the sender and recipient of a postcard that was sent more than 100 years ago? Slim, at best, probably.

Francesca Millian Slater narrates a lovely little show explaining her own ups, downs, swings and roundabouts on her journey to find Miss L Gibbs, receiver of said mysterious postcard.

Sent from Lincoln to London in 1910, Francesca tells the audience how she travelled to London to spend hours over newspapers, records, birth, marriage and, sadly, death certificates, all to find a trace of the elusive Miss L Gibbs. Ever given a thought to how many Miss L Gibbs' there could be in Britain at one time? No, me either, but Francesca has.

Francesca brings the original postcard with her to the show and reads us it's intriguing message again: "Be careful tomorrow. A.C." Why does Miss Gibbs have to be careful? Could something have happened to Miss Gibbs the very day the postcard reached her - something we might never know about?

Francesca made her personal mission to find out.

A highly recommended show, and surprisingly emotional, she will have you hooked on the life of Miss Gibbs in a matter of minutes.

And if anyone knows a man by the name of Royston Farrell. please get in touch ASAP.

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

This Is Just To Say... 26.11.12

"Would you call yourself a serial apologist?" asked Hannah Walker of the 12 people gathered round the table for her discussion-come-poetic-performance of 'This is Just To Say'.  How often do you find yourself apologising on a day-to-day basis?  Is 'sorry' always the right thing to say and do we always mean it?

For this exploration of apology, the Room Upstairs was transformed into a cosy, twinkling, confessional as guests drank wine and pondered the 'terribly British' overuse of this get-out-of-jail-free tool.  We measured the validity of one apology against another, we shared our own apologies, we read apologies from people from all over the country and we listened as Hannah twisted and turned the words into insightful, sometimes tongue-in-cheek sometimes heartfelt, verse.

This wasn't an average theatre experience.  You couldn't sit back and let the evening wash over you - the content was too real and too personal for that.  As Hannah gently questioned, explained, and shared her own experiences, we scribbled thoughts and ideas, asked our own questions and confronted our own lost apologies. 

For an hour I shared a conversation with a group made up of friends and total strangers, got lost in thought, and was moved to the verge of tears before laughing so much that my sides ached.  The discussions we had, the lines she spoke and the words I wrote stayed with me long after I had returned home and for me, that's exactly what theatre should do.

- Charlie Kemp, Audience Development and Participation Project Worker