Press Release : March 24 2021
Keeping the Stage Light Burning Bright
Weekly Stories from Around the World – Free Online
Keeping you company until we can welcome you back into the Theatre again
Produced by Suse Crosby and Phil Nair-Brown
Fresh from the success of the online Ghostly Christmas Advent Calendar, multi-award winning Wick Theatre bring you another selection of filmed stories starting at Easter.
The stories in the Advent Calendar, still available on line, have been viewed all around the world. Across Europe was a surprise, but the fact that they have been viewed in Australia and New Zealand came as a shock. To honour that,the net they have cast for stories has extended to all around the world.
“We were bowled over with the response” explains producer Suse Crosby, “people took time write comments and feedback how they were enjoying them, which wass so wonderful to hear: it took the place of theatre applause” she says.
This time produced by Suse Crosby and film maker Phil Nair-Brown, Guy Steddon who was integral to the design of the Advent Calendar, is still very much involved in supplying ideas for stories. “While things are still so uncertain as we continue to climb out of lockdown and winter, we felt it was important to keep you company, until we can welcome you back into the theatre again” Suse adds.
Instead of the focus on ghost stories and all things scary, these stories are a mixture of everything. From Aesops fables to Shakespeare sonnets, from Grimm fairy tales to contemporary pieces; these have a different flavour to the Christmas Advent Calendar, sometimes showing a slightly different style of story telling. “Some of these are brighter, more in keeping with how we move from Spring eventually into Summer” says film editor Phil Nair-Brown.
These stories feature Wick Theatre Company members who have been regulars on the stage over the years, who are just as keen to come back to perform as we all are for it to be safe to return to theatres again. There are also at least three contemporary pieces of fiction whose authors have given permission for the pieces to be performed on film.
“We continue to have discussions about when we can put a live show on again, but everything is still so uncertain” continues Suse. “Until that time, we wanted to make sure that people know we are still thinking of ways to entertain our audiences” adds Phil.
This series launches on Good Friday with Rumplestiltskin as collected by the Brothers Grimm, read by Guy Steddon. The plan is one film per week, at 5.00 pm each Friday. The title and the times are affectionate homages to well known children’s programmes from the 70’s onwards which Wick Theatre hope will be recognised by many now adult theatre goers.
All films will be free to view on the Wick YouTube Channel and Facebook page. Previews and links will also be on Instagram and Twitter.
ENDS
NOTES
1. “Wickanory” will be on YouTube and Facebook, with previews and links on Instagram and Twitter. These are completely free. The series launches on Good Friday: 2nd April 2021.
2. Press contact: Suse Crosby 07729 812274 suse@susannecrosby.com
3. Designer & Producer Contacts: Suse Crosby 07729 812274 suse@susannecrosby.com and Phil Nair-Brown philbrown1301@googlemail.com
4. Web link: www.wicktheatre.co.uk
5. Company Twitter: @WickTheatre
6. Company Facebook: @WickTheatre
7. Company Instagram: @WickThtr
8. Company YouTube: Wick Theatre Company
Wickanory – An Online Success
writes Suse Crosby in Wick’s Company Newsletter issue no. 59 October 2021
We were delighted to offer Wickanory: a weekly short story on film, free to all our members and general audience members through various internet platforms. This was following our hugely successful Ghost Story films last December, and as we could not yet be back in the Theatre, it was a weekly gift to keep us all entertained. Our aim was to “keep the stage light burning bright” with weekly stories from around the world – and that’s what we did.
There were 15 films altogether, starting on 2 April and finally finishing 1 August, with 13 people taking part in all. It started with Rumplestiltskin and ended with a collaboration of seven of the readers producing the timeless classic Desiderata.
These were very different stories to the Ghost stories and at a different time for us all: climbing slowly out of lockdown, with a national road map showing what we could expect and when we could perhaps return to outside activities including seeing people in person. The result was that less people were seeking entertainment on line as so many of us were starved for human contact, and things on line had been by that point done so much. Yet amidst this time of increasing appetite for live events rather than online, we reached 445 people on Facebook with our launch film, and through April and May this grew to astonishing numbers. The amazing film maker Phil Nair-Brown who co-produced with Suse Crosby made a partially animated film which reached 329 people but with that and Dan Dryer’s performance of 8 O’Clock in the Morning, it helped raise the number of people checking out the Wick Facebook page in May to 972, and then even higher, reaching 3289 people.
As June came along and people were increasingly looking outward our reach became less, but there was still some amazing feedback on all of the films, for all the individual styles, performances, and choice of material. Joel Fishbane had given Sue Goble permission to read his story and was so pleased with the result he retweeted it with a recommendation on Twitter. We continue to do well on YouTube as well, gaining more followers, with the highest number of views being for Suse Crosby reading her own story The Picture.
Some people took the time to give feedback as well which in the absence of audience applause, we are very appreciative of. It means so very much when you get such wonderful feedback with hearts and kisses!
People continue to find and watch all of the films we have produced – and as long as Facebook and YouTube exist, they will carry on doing so. Wick Theatre will look forward to continuing to entertain with our ghost stories and short stories from around the world. We’ll take a look back in a year, and see how we’re doing!
