Calling all ambassadors!

The Coliseum receives an enormous amount of support from individuals and groups across the borough. This varies from our Front of House volunteers as well as people who volunteer with the Education and Outreach  and other departments, people who participate in our education activities, customers who donate their time and money and - of course - audience members. We have recently launched an ambassador scheme which aims to utilise this support and help spread news about what’s going on at the theatre.

Coliseum ambassadors will serve as an unbiased voice for theatre and share their experiences of the theatre with the wider public. We’ll be asking those interested to help do things such as distribute posters and leaflets, blog about us and post on our social networking pages. Incidentally, you can follow us on Twitter @OldhamColiseum and you’ll find us on Facebook as Oldham Coliseum Theatre. Ambassadors will be able to spread positive news about the Coliseum on a personal level which is really valuable to getting the word out there about all the different things we do.

The role of a Coliseum ambassador is unpaid but there are a lot of benefits rolled into the programme. You’ll be able to get free tickets to see selected Coliseum productions so you can recommend shows with confidence – you need to know what you’re talking about! Ambassadors will also get the chance to work alongside the Coliseum’s team of professional theatre staff with opportunities for regular training and advice about working in a professional theatre. You’ll see behind the scenes and get a chance to boost your CV.

If you’re interested in joining the Ambassador Programme then get in touch with Claire Phillips, Head of Marketing at clairephillips@coliseum.org.uk or call 0161 624 1731 to discuss it further.

Scene from The Glass Menagerie rehearsals at the New Vic in Stoke.
Harry Livingstone (Jim) and Katie Moore (Laura)

The Glass Menagerie – our next Coliseum production is being produced with the New Vic Theatre and I’ll be travelling down to Stoke tomorrow evening to see the opening performance. Last week the cast came up to Oldham to visit the Coliseum and see Deathtrap. They absolutely loved it and it was great to see both casts in the bar afterwards talking about the production and how things were going in Stoke. Deathtrap is only on until Saturday so make sure you come and see it before the curtain comes down on the final performance.

And finally; we have found our chorus for panto. Auditions were held last Sunday with an overwhelming turnout – more girls than ever turned up to be in for a chance to appear in Dick Whittington this winter. The level of talent was sky high making it pretty difficult to narrow it down to just 18 but the successful auditionees have now been contacted and will be coming into to be fitted for their costumes in the next few weeks.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Time for some business planning...

It’s that time of year again - business planning time. This plan is an extremely important tool that steers the entire organisation for the next three years. It outlines the key objectives that the theatre aims to meet during those years such as a different type of programming or developing the theatre’s audience. It’s really exciting to explore what the Coliseum could be doing in the future.

We started thinking about the business plan for April 2012 – 2015 earlier this year when the theatre applied for National Portfolio of Organisations (NPO) status from the Arts Council. This was part of the restructure of Arts Council funding that has been introduced following savage government cuts. Thankfully the Coliseum came out of the process unharmed and was one of five building based theatres nationally that actually had their funding increased.

The planning starts with our senior management team but it will eventually involve everyone in the organisation. We had a staff day last week during which everyone contributed ideas to the vision of the Coliseum. This is really valuable as myself and other senior managers can find out what’s important to staff and they can have their say about how we operate which is a fantastic opportunity.

The staff day was also a great chance to visit the new venues that the Coliseum will be inhabiting in 2012 - there’s been a lot of talk about it but there’s nothing quite like the reality of seeing where you’ll be actually be working for six months. We visited the old library on Union Street which will be our producing hub while the Fairbottom St. building is refurbished. The library will host all aspects of production including wardrobe, technical stage management and rehearsal space. We then visited a potential box office venue in the town centre – nothing is confirmed yet but we’re hoping to have a central booking office that will be convenient for you to book your tickets. Later we took a tour around the Grange Arts Centre to see where we’ll be producing Taking Steps in February.

Now, a worrying amount of audience members have come up to me to talk about the theatre closing in the New Year. Let me take this opportunity to make this very clear, the Coliseum is not closing in 2012. The company will be producing theatre in and around Oldham while the Fairbottom St. venue is refurbished and we will return to our usual home in October 2012.

While we’re still here though, make sure you come and see our current production of Deathtrap. The show is getting a great response from both audiences and critics. Pop into the theatre and see what everyone’s talking about.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Confidence and thrills all from the Coliseum

You may have read the article in the Chronicle last week about the inspiring work being done by Remploy based on Ashton Road. Remploy is a nationwide employment service for people experiencing complex barriers to work. Working with leading employers and through their own businesses they enable individuals to identify, develop and make the most of their abilities to enjoy rewarding and fulfilling employment.

Our Outreach Department at the Coliseum has recently undertaken a project in partnership with Remploy to use drama techniques to increase participants’ employability. Our drama activities are designed to develop the confidence of the project's partcipants, take them out of their comfort zone and challenge them both physically and psychologically. These included learning stage directions, understanding voice projection and vocal techniques, improvisation as well as actually learning lines from the John Godber play Teechers.

The participants were all unemployed, lacking motivation, money and confidence but were willing to challenge themselves to better their future. The group came from a range of backgrounds with a variety of different experiences of trying to gain employment.

At the end of the project the group performed an extract from Teechers in front of students from Huddersfield University who evaluated the success of the project and Remploy staff. The participants left with a great variety of new skills and had fun while gaining them.

Back to the main stage, Deathtrap has been open for a week now (where does the time go?) and the audience response has been fantastic. As with any play, you never quite know how the audience will react but seeing the audience’s reactions as they watch Deathtrap is a great experience. On a few occasions the twists and shocks have made people literally jump out of their seats. If you haven’t already seen it, I’m sure many of your friends and family who have are dying to talk to you about it but can’t let slip any of the plot for fear of spoiling it for you. Come along and find out what happens for yourself.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Ghost lights, the Scottish play and why the Green Room is called...the Green Room

Last week I let you into the vast world of theatre traditions and superstitions, many of which originate from the very early days of theatre and performance. There are just so many that I could write several columns on the subject but I’ve cut it down to just two, so here’s the second round.
One of the most famous theatre superstitions is to not say Macbeth in the building otherwise it brings bad luck. Some think this is because of the witch craft and sword fights in the play. An infamous story from the Coliseum’s history is actor Harold Norman’s death who performed in the play in the 40s. The safety tip fell off the end of the sword used in a fight scene and Harold ended up with a fatal stab wound, dying in hospital a few days later. It is reported that he had actually uttered the word Macbeth many times before the house opened that night.

The real reason it was bad luck was because the play is considered to be a seat filler and would only be programmed when a theatre was in financial trouble - usually closing soon after. Although that’s not the case these days, actors and crew will still refer to it as the Scottish play in the auditorium to make sure the current production is not cursed. There have even been stories of cast members acting out odd cleansing rituals if the play is spoken including turning three times, spitting over their left shoulder, swearing, or reciting a line from another of Shakespeare's plays.

Theatres leave a ghost light on stage during the night after everyone has left the building. The superstitious reason for this is to keep any ghosts in the building happy resulting in less hauntings for the theatre. There are even far-fetched tales of ghosts putting on their own plays in the dead of the night. In reality though, the practical use of this light is simply to prevent people from falling into the orchestra pit, bumping into the set or knocking over props. It could be said that by preventing this it stops actors and crew from harming themselves and becoming future ghosts – but I’m not too sure about that.

Many of the superstitions have derived from practical reasoning but that need has disappeared and the traditions have remained. For example; the green room is named such because it used to be painted green as that colour is relaxing for the eyes and for the actors and green costumes are considered bad luck and this stems from the practical fact that the colour green absorbs light, so if an actor wearing a green outfit was standing onstage next to someone in white then they would fade into the background and not be seen.

The list is endless but I’ll stop there. Even in the 21st Century many of these odd rituals still take place at theatres across the country.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Do you really want me to break a leg?

The world of theatre is full of odd and rather eccentric traditions, phrases and rituals many of which have been out of date for several decades but they have left a legacy in the theatrical industry. You may know the sayings but not the reasons actors abide by them so here’s a quick rundown of the most common ones.

It’s unlucky to whistle on stage and this harks back to the early days of theatre when sailors were used as backstage crew while their ships were in port. Sailors knew how to rig and change scenery and this is why we use the terms ‘crew’ and ‘rigging’. They also used a series of whistles to communicate scene changes and if actors were to whistle on stage then they might confuse the cues. Whistling on stage is still deemed bad luck even though – now in the 21st Century – we use headsets to speak to each other backstage.

When people use the term ‘step into the limelight’ it refers an early type of stage lighting where lime was heated until it glowed and illuminated the stage. The stars of the show would step into the limelight to be seen and a phrase was born…

Actors often wish each other luck by saying ‘break a leg’ and there are a few theories as to the origin of the phrase. The first is that it’s bad luck to say good luck so the opposite would be to wish someone to break a leg. Another is that when an actress does a courtesy at the curtain call she is breaking the line of her leg so you’d hope she breaks a leg on stage. Another refers to the narrow cloths at the side of the stage that are called ‘legs’. If the cast get several encores then the legs will have to be raised and lowered many times so if they’re lucky they’ll have so many encores they’ll break a leg.

A tradition that we stick to here at the Coliseum is to not say the last lines of a pantomime production during rehearsals. When we come to the end of a panto dress rehearsal and the characters wrap up the story with rhyming couplets, the cast just say “dah dee dahs” rather than the actual lines. This is because the show isn’t complete without the audience so it’s unlucky to finish without them. It makes for an interesting experience for someone who’s watching the rehearsal and doesn’t know this tradition.

There are many more of these traditional superstitions and sayings so next week I’ll tell you about a few more.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

Blood curdling screams and memory sharing...

It’s all a bit nerve wracking here at the Coliseum. We’re nearly at the end of our second week of rehearsals for the thrilling Deathtrap and blood curdling screams can be heard all over the building. Actors have taken to strangling each other all week – but of course it’s all in the script. There are few fight scenes which are starting to take shape. Renny, our regular fight director, has been working the actors through the sequences and how to use the props (including a gun, garrotte and cross bow) without actually causing themselves harm. Its tricky stuff, the last thing you want to see on stage is an unconvincing death scene.

Less screaming over in the Education and Outreach Department where there are a couple of new recruits; Richard Hall has just taken the position as Head of Participation and starting in September Paul Adams will fill the role of Creative Development Officer.

Richard previously worked for the Festival of Diversity. Paul has a long standing relationship with the Coliseum and it’s fantastic to now have him as a full time member of the Coliseum team. He has worked on many different Coliseum projects over the last few years and built up a great deal of experience from working with young people, delivering workshops and studying Performance Theatre at University Campus Oldham which has an affiliation with the Coliseum.

Paul also has also set up his own theatre company – 2Tour Theatre – based in Mosley and they are currently working with dementia patients at Calderdale Hospital on a project to recreate their memories. This new company will represent stories told by patients to help the staff better understand who they care for. Another example of how fantastic art can be in contributing to people’s wellbeing.

Now a seamless link onto our memory sharing event we’re holding in October. We have recently been granted Heritage Lottery Funding which will enable local young people to explore the rich history of the Coliseum, archiving past publications for public viewing and creating a performance.

The first event from this project is on 12 October when we’ll be hosting a reminiscence event; sharing photographs from our vast archive, screening a film of the theatre’s history and hearing stories from special performers who have graced the Coliseum’s stage.

The event will be a chance for our patrons, staff, past performers and audience members to come together, share memories and celebrate the past 125 years and the many more years to come.

If you want to come and join us then book your free tickets via the Box Office on 0161 624 2829.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

This week's news from the Coliseum...

After our period of annual maintenance we’re getting back into the swing of things this week, the cast arrived on Monday to start rehearsals for Deathtrap. It can be a little like the first day at school – some of them know each other, most have worked here before, although Russell Richardson who is playing lawyer Porter Milgram is completely new to the Coliseum, but you may recognise him from his many appearances at Bolton Octagon. Regular attenders to the Coliseum will recognise Helen Kay who performed in Absurd Person Singular and One for the Road and Roberta Kerr who was more recently in Blithe Spirit and Quartet. Steven Pinder, who lots of you will recognise as Max Farnham from Brookside, returns after a great performance in our production of Absent Friends. Most of the cast are locally based and regularly attend our performances and they know all about the Coliseum, its atmosphere and its audiences. Andrew Cullimore who plays Clifford has worked at the Coliseum before on rehearsed readings and our writing festival Wordsmith but will be treading the boards on our main stage for the first time this September.

Steven Pinder (front, left) in Absent Friends 2010

On the first day of rehearsals staff from all departments came down to the rehearsal room for a quick meet and greet. The play’s designer talked through a scaled set model – Deathtrap is set in a converted barn with the walls adorned with guns, handcuffs, maces and battle-axes so – as you can imagine – the model looked really impressive. I can’t wait to see it on the main stage. He also showed us all his costume designs. Both the set model and the costume designs give a genuine impression of what the production will eventually look like – although most of the cast are mainly interested in what they’ll be wearing! Next we had the first read through of the script. This was the first time the cast had all been in the same room and we started to get the words off the page and the play on its feet.

Deathtrap is a classic thriller and there’s a great amount of comedy thrown in as well as surprises. This is a fantastic play to work on and it’s been a while since we had a thriller here. The production is fast-paced which will keep the audience guessing right up until the last scene - just when they think they might have it sussed out, another twist comes out of nowhere. As a director I need to make sure the shocks really do shock, there’s a moment when I can guarantee you’ll jump out of your seats…but I can’t anything away!
See you at the theatre,

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director

A Summer of Steel Wire Ropes...

For many people summer  means long hot days, relaxing in the garden or on a beach somewhere glamorous, like Filey. For the hardworking and handsome members of the Technical Stage Management team it means dirty sweaty days, inspecting and testing our lifting equipment, organising and repairing our masking flats, and this year, preparing our equipment for the move out of the building.

The inspection and testing of our lifting equipment is something that we do every six months, during the summer, and again after Pantomime. It involves the inspection of every moving part of our counterweight flying system, checking for any imperfections in the steel wires that hold the lighting and scenery over our heads for the rest of the year. Just to throw some numbers at you, the inspection of the flying system involves the individual checking of:

·         750 metres of Fibre Ropes

·         3km of  Steel Wire Ropes

·         20 cups of coffee (6.5 litres I reckon)

·         214 Pulley

·         And over 1000 separate nuts and bolts

The Counterweight Flying System

The grid space where we spend some of our summer

All this before we get to the separate rigging steels, slings, and fixings that we use to fly scenery and lighting. After many years of practice it still takes two of us 40 hours, not including brew breaks, to check all our equipment to comply with LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations).

This is also the time we get to make any necessary repairs to our black masking flats, often the only decent repair we can make is to re-cover the whole thing with new material. This is something we need to do every few years and it’s a job that takes up the whole stage, which is why we have to do it during our ‘Dark’ period.

So next time you see that there are no shows on at the Coliseum for a few weeks, remember that the Technical Stage boys are still working as hard as they do when there is a production on, unless of course we are on holiday. In Filey.

- Technical Stage Management Team

Our Creative Development Officer talks about a recent project...

Hello,

My name’s Amy and I work as the Creative Development Officer in our Education and Outreach department.  I have been working with our Outreach Officer, Carly, on a creative project for a group of young people who do not usually have the opportunity to attend the theatre.

We worked in partnership with Nacro, a crime reduction charity, to arrange for a group of young people to get involved in theatre, many of whom are homeless and not in formal education, employment or training.

It’s rare that we get to bring groups like this into the Coliseum, but with support from the Big Lottery’s Young People’s Fund, we have been able to offer an access fund to cover the cost of lunch, transport and resources. This is so important.  For this type of group, if support isn't available, these aspects can become real barriers to taking part.  The support from the Big Lottery and from Nacro staff meant the group could come to the theatre each session to work in our studio space, where professional actors are usually in rehearsal.  This made the project feel really special for participants and staff alike.

We began the project with a fun series of creative games and exercises, to help participants relax and get to know each other, before moving on to develop characters and storylines.  It’s really important at the start of this type of project for group members to have fun and feel like they are achieving something straight away.  They grew in confidence during these first few sessions, learning that they could take part, create, and have fun doing it!

We then started to explore possible themes for the project.  The group decided that homelessness was the common topic that united them all and chose to focus on this.  They wanted to challenge stereotypes of homelessness through the project, and were given the chance to perform their work as part of the Coliseum Open Day on Saturday 2nd July 2011.  This opportunity, although daunting for some members of the group, gave us a positive goal to aim towards and the motivation to produce something that would both entertain and challenge the audience.

With this in mind, participants set about making comedy sketches and writing rap music about their experiences of homelessness.  They wanted to challenge negative ideas of homeless people by demonstrating their own creativity and sense of fun.  Group members also worked in partnership with Square 1 Recording Studio and Training Academy to create a track to accompany their performance.

Participants had a lot to deal with on the day of the performance at the Coliseum’s Open Day and generally coped really well under pressure.  They performed their piece to 60 people, many of whom made the point of congratulating them afterwards.  We were so proud of what they achieved, as were Nacro staff.  The group went on to enjoy the rest of the Open Day, getting their faces painted and having a go at learning circus skills!

We are so pleased with the impact that this project has had for members of the group.  Although it has been very demanding, they have been really engaged and positive about their experiences.  Each individual feels that they have developed transferable skills to take away from the project and many have been surprised by how much they’ve enjoyed doing drama!  We’ve learned a lot from them as well.

We are now working with participants to develop their CVs and to complete their Bronze Arts Award portfolios, so they can hopefully top off their achievements with a nationally-recognised level 1 qualification at the end of it all. 

Here are a few quotes from the participants:
“The production was aimed to relieve the negative stigma attached to youth and homelessness. Even if the audience didn’t understand what we were trying to get across, we all still had fun.”

“I’ve learned that I can take part in things.”

“Thank you so much for putting up with our antics!”

“I would love to do performance art again.”

More than meets the eye...

Did you know that on top of the eight main house shows we produce at the Coliseum we also host a variety of other community events during the year? Opportunities are available to everyone, from children to the over 60s, to showcase their work on our stage. A majority of these happen during the summer once our season has come to a close. We have supported this type of work for many years and will continue to do so for years to come.

Last week the theatre was awash with nearly 300 children from local primary schools who had been working on a Shakespeare for Schools project over the last term. The name Shakespeare can be a little daunting – especially at school – but this was a fantastic way to introduce young people to his work. Nine schools were involved altogether and the children performed extracts from the Bard’s best known plays on the main stage to an audience of family and friends. The corridors were echoing with the sounds of “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

On Monday we hosted A Celebration of Dance where secondary schools showcased their work that they have been rehearsing all term. The show was a mix of different dance styles; tap, jazz and street led by Laura Mulholland who choreographed the spectacular dance sequence in Totally Over You  - the youth show that kicked off our spring/summer season. Many of the kids involved would never have thought they’d get the chance to perform on the main stage at a professional theatre.

Dance sequence from Totally Over You

Tuesday saw the return of the totally unique over 60s Silver Stars talent show organised by Age Concern. I was on the judging panel again trying to pick a winner from the singers, dancers and musicians. I really look forward to it because there’s always such a great atmosphere in the auditorium and our staff love popping in and seeing who’s on stage.

Tonight we have Judith Barker’s Imagination – a showcase of the fantastic work being produced at her self-named drama school. Judith has a long history with the Coliseum and is a friend of the theatre; she appeared on stage for several years when we had a resident company of actors alongside her husband Kenneth Alan Taylor. We’re always delighted to welcome her back and support her talented pupils one of whom did a brilliant turn in Brassed Off in 2008.  

Next week sees the return of Oldham Theatre Workshop in their annual summer slot. We have a long association with OTW and I always look forward to seeing their show. This year it’s Prom! The Musical set on the night of a school prom (surprisingly enough) where things don’t run smoothly…

As you can see, there is a vast range of activity that goes on at the Coliseum besides the plays we produce. We regularly welcome amateur companies to perform during our season and also have a wide range of drama groups that also get the chance to perform their work here. It’s really important element of what we offer the local community.

See you at the theatre,

Kevin Shaw

Artistic Director